Portland Head Lighthouse on Cape Elizabeth.

Portland

Seagulls scream, the smell of beer and fish fry flows through the streets like the fog off Casco Bay, and everywhere the salt wind licks your skin. Maine's largest city has capitalized on the gifts of its port history – the redbrick warehouse buildings, the narrow cobblestone streets – to become one of the hippest, most vibrant small cities in the Americas. You'll find excellent museums and galleries, abundant green space, and both a food culture and a brewing scene worthy of a town many times its size.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Portland Museum of Art

    Portland Museum of Art

    Portland

    Founded in 1882, this well-respected museum houses an outstanding collection of American artists. Maine artists, including Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper,…

  • Cliff rocks by trail by Portland Head Lighthouse in Fort Williams park in Cape, Elizabeth Maine during summer day

    Fort Williams Park

    Portland

    Four miles southeast of Portland on Cape Elizabeth, 90-acre Fort Williams Park is worth visiting simply for the panoramas and picnic possibilities. Stroll…

  • Portland Head Light

    Portland Head Light

    Portland

    Fort Williams Park, on Cape Elizabeth, has rolling lawns dotted with bunkers and gun emplacements. Within the park stands the beloved, and much…

  • EPHH8P Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, aka The Bug, South Portland Maine

    Portland Breakwater Light

    Portland

    Portland is graced by a handful of handsome lights, including the 1875 Portland Breakwater Light with its Corinthian columns. Dubbed the 'Bug Light'…

  • Portland, ME, USA - September 17, 2013: Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland, Maine, New England, USA. The Wadsworth-Longfellow House is Maine's first house museum. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a commanding figure in the cultural life of nineteenth-century America. Born in Portland, Maine, in 1807, he became a national literary figure by the 1850s, and a world- famous personality by the time of his death in 1882. Red brick colonial house, gates, green front yard with trees, bushes and grass and blue sky are in the image. Longfellow House

    Longfellow House

    Portland

    The revered American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) grew up in this Federal-style house, built in 1785 by his Revolutionary War–hero…

  • USA, Maine, Portland, Portland Observatory

    Portland Observatory

    Portland

    Built in 1807 atop Munjoy Hill, this seven-story brick tower was originally used to alert shipowners when their ships were heading for home. Now restored,…

  • Victoria Mansion

    Victoria Mansion

    Portland

    This Italianate palace, whose exterior would work well in a Tim Burton movie, dates back to 1860. Inside it's sumptuously decorated with rich furniture,…

  • Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine

    Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine

    Portland

    Kids aged zero to 10 years shriek and squeal as they haul traps aboard a replica lobster boat, milk a fake cow on a model farm, operate a sound studio, or…

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Articles

Latest stories from Portland

Destination Practicalities

Copy My Trip: 3 days in Portland, Maine

Sep 12, 2024 • 6 min read

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