Acadia East Campground — Hotel in Gouldsboro

There’s nothing like arriving from out of town to get to your campsite after a day of traveling to learn that it has been double booked. We arrived at the Acadia East Campground to find another couple set up at the Cadillac Mtn site. We booked directly through the Acadia East Campground website. After chatting with the couple at our site who drove all the way from Colorado to be there, we found out they booked the same site through AirBnb for the same dates as us. We thought “Cool, we will just call the customer service number that was given to us for our booking and get this sorted out.” When you call the customer service line, you get a busy signal. There is another number listed on the website, and that as well is not an active number. The other couple called the number they were given through AirBnb and left a message.

Tom and Zach are listed as the owners or operators of the campsite and were impossible to reach through their “customer service” phone line. After numerous tries of calling and texting the phone numbers, we started to reach out to Acadia East through their social media channels and email. At this point, it started getting very late. As this is prime camping season, and there is high demand for campsites like Acadia East because COVID-19 has shut down all campsites in Acadia National Park, we were worried we wouldn’t have a place to stay after traveling all the way from MN.

Finally after an hour and a read message on Facebook, we get a text message from one of the owners at Acadia East apologizing and offering a refund. They also offered for us to stay at a make shift site between The Beehive Site and Wonderland. It had a fire pit, but would be between two groups of people with limited space as all the sites were booked for the weekend.

Out of desperation, we called the closest campground in the area to see if we could get a site. The lovely lady on the phone at Acadia Seashore Camping and Cabins was so kind, and said they had one site available. As it was only five minutes away, we went and checked it out. We explained what happened, and she told us that we were THE THIRD GROUP IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS who had the same experience with Acadia East and end up calling her to see if they have any available sites! Unbelievable!

The sites at Acadia Seashore Camping and Cabins are MUCH nicer. Open sky, access to the ocean front, quiet and away from the highway, clean facilities, showers included, and sweet and hospitable hosts. Acadia East? Loud as heck by the highway, not managed, and tree cover makes it dark and un-inviting.

The take away: Acadia East is managed poorly, the owners admitted that they don’t keep track of reservation bookings in their communication to us, and have double booked multiple parties. Stay away, and go stay at Acadia Seashore Camping and Cabins. You’ll have a way better...

Very much enjoyed a 4 day stay at the campground During Memorial Day weekend. It’s right off a main road so easy to find and easy to get back to when heading out. Stayed in the thunder hole site which was a little inclined walk from the parking lot. Wasn’t too hard to lug our gear up but got the heart pumping a bit (not a bad thing). Site had plenty of room for a 4 person tent and trees to hang our hammock. Good fire pit and picnic table as well. We heard some other parties at there sites but not overwhelmingly loud, like other campsites can be. We felt very peaceful and happy. Don’t forget the bug spray! The Schoodic Peninsula side of Acadia was a very pleasant surprise. Much closer to the campsite and it was way less busy than MDI. We felt like we had our hikes all to ourselves. The views were amazing from even the smaller elevation peaks as well. There’s a great small cafe in winter harbor driving to the Schoodic loop that had a great homemade apple coffee cake. The campsite is about a 40 minute drive into the Mount Desert Island side of acadia and Bar Harbor. It’s an easy drive, you go past a bunch of lobster shacks and other local spots. Make sure you get road reservations for Cadillac mountain if that’s something you wanna do. The beehive hike is a real thrill as well.

Highly recommend booking a stay here if you like the primitive feel of camping but also want to have some comforts of a typical vacation nearby. We’ll definitely...

We absolutely loved our stay at this campground. Sites are incredibly spacious and well-maintained by fellow campers. Our dog sometimes gets spooked at night and she had no problems- we were so far from other people, though there was only one night with other campers!

We stayed Labor Day weekend/week and it was so nice to drive to mainland Acadia and not have to go back to our site and be smothered by other people. The town around this area is also super cute and had everything we needed- cute breakfast spots, groceries, ice cream, little stores. This campground also has lots of resources and even a lil app to show you highlights of the area/guide of things to do.

We felt very safe and comfortable at this campground and had a blast. We couldn’t believe the value for the price! There are cameras at the entrance and at the bathroom area which felt like a nice idea for safety while also not being intrusive or having security constantly roaming around.

10/10 recommend and we will be back!

Notes for campers: Be aware that Acadia mountain site is a pretty significant uphill walk, so pack light if that is your site! They mention this on the booking but I thought it would be easier to carry up our things than it was- but that has nothing to do with the campground and everything to do with what we packed!

-pack light -keep your water source in your car and fill up daily! -bring headlamps and lanterns cause it’s dark when you need to...