Top 5 All-Inclusive Maine Getaways: Lakeside Lodges & Sailboat Trips

Summer in Maine is magical, with rugged coastlines to explore, gorgeous trails to trek, lobster shacks to visit, and thousands of glimmering lakes beckoning swimmers to the water. Want to experience the state’s natural beauty with ease? These all-inclusive, waterfront options check that box, each one aiming to make family getaways carefree and fun. Their settings and programming are so beloved, in fact, that clientele often return again and again, and during the same week each year, to gather and play with fellow guests who are now longtime friends. You’ll fall asleep listening to waves lapping, loons calling, and birds singing with the sunrise. And since rates include lodging, meals, and most activities, it’s easy to stick to your budget. Here are five options to consider for an all-inclusive vacation in Maine.

2. Quisisana Resort, Lovell

This resort in the White Mountains’ foothills offers all the pleasures of a lakeside retreat, plus professional classical entertainment. Staff members at Quisisana Resort are recruited from the nation’s top performing arts venues and schools; during the day, they work in housekeeping, dining, childcare, and as beach and boat attendants, and at night they star in fully staged performances. These include a Broadway musical, an opera, children’s matinées, and chamber, piano, and vocal concerts, too.

Accommodations at Quisisana range from private studios to multi-bedroom cottages, each with a screened porch facing Kezar Lake. Although no room or cottage has a television, nor Internet or phone service, all of these are available in the main lodge. Two sandy beaches with plentiful beach toys, tennis courts, a miniature golf course, lawn games, children’s activities, a game room, and a boatload of watercraft provide daytime entertainment. Motorboats, waterskiing, and lake tours come at additional cost, as do massages and alcoholic drinks. As for the name, Quisisana means “place of healing” — and it delivers on that promise.

3. Schooner Heritage, Rockland

Cast your troubles to the wind with an all-inclusive sailing vacation onboard the Schooner Heritage, a Maine windjammer that cruises Penobscot Bay. Built in 1983 by its former captains, the Schooner Heritage is now owned and sailed by its former first mate, Capt. Ben Welzenbach, and former chef, Capt. Sean Grimes. Three- to six-night cruises make port calls on undeveloped islands and remote fishing villages. Guests spend their days looking for seals, porpoises, and seabirds, gazing at winking lighthouses, and watching lobstermen haul traps. There’s also plenty of eating. No one goes hungry on a Maine windjammer cruise, and many passengers consider the meals — especially the lobster bake (usually held on a quiet island) — a highlight. Guests are welcome to bring alcohol onboard to add to their experience. After dinner, impromptu music jams often occur. Not that these traditional schooners aren’t fancy. Cabins are rustic, and while they all have their own sinks, only two have private toilets. The minimum age for a vacation on the boat is 12.

4. Bradford Camps

Detox from tech and the world’s woes at Bradford Camps, an off-the-grid, traditional Maine sporting camp deep in the North Woods wilderness. Since 1890, Bradford has welcomed “sports” — or, men and women ready to fish, hike, hunt, and enjoy the great outdoors. Today, Igor Sikorsky III and his wife, Karen, extend a summer welcome to anyone wishing to simply reconnect with nature as well.

Bradford’s main lodge (with generator-powered electricity) and eight log cabins, which are equipped with wood stoves and gas lanterns, hug the shore of undeveloped Munsungan Lake. The nine-mile-long lake and nearby waterways provide swimming and paddling opportunities, plus limitless fishing, thanks to landlocked salmon and lake trout. The woodlands offer plentiful hiking as well. For an unforgettable adventure, consider a floatplane tour, go stargazing, hire a guide for a moose safari, or paddle a section of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. To get here, guests either drive rugged logging roads or fly in by floatplane. If the name Sikorsky rings a bell, that’s because Igor’s grandfather, a Russian immigrant, earned renown building flying boats and making the helicopter viable.

5. Attean Lake Lodge

Remove yourself from the noise and trappings of civilization at Attean Lake Lodge, a low-key resort on 24-acre Birch Island, set just southwest of Jackman, Maine. More than 35,000 acres conserved by the Forest Society of Maine surround this mountain-ringed lake. Fourth-generation owners Barrett and Josie Holden provide a warm welcome, hearty meals, and comfy cabins with living and sleeping quarters. Guests can expect gas lights and kerosene lanterns, a wood stove, and a porch overlooking the lake. Although the cabins lack electricity and cellphone service, the solar-powered main lodge provides Wi-Fi and charging outlets.

There’s very little guests can’t do here. Paddle a canoe, kayak, or paddleboard to the mainland for a hike; explore the lake by boat or on a waterski adventure; visit the onsite flower, vegetable, and herb gardens; relax on the sandy beach; hike to remote ponds; or fish for bass, trout, and salmon. You can also opt for a lot of nothing and just savor the quietude while enjoying beautiful views and sunsets. Breakfast and dinner are served in the lodge or on the deck, and a bagged lunch makes it easy to spend the day playing outdoors. One night per week there’s a special barbecue. Round-trip island transfers are provided.

6. Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake

Three generations of the Porta family have operated Migis Lodge, a timeless and secluded resort set on 135 forested acres next to Sebago Lake, Maine’s second-largest lake and the source of nearby Portland’s drinking water. Guests stay in lodge suites or one of 35 handsome cottages, each with a wood-burning fireplace and a porch overlooking the water. Pine needle-blanketed paths, often lined with firewood fences, link the cottages and lodge, and there are trails that branch off to beaches, docks, a dry sauna, tennis courts, disc golf, and an open-air fitness center. Watercraft adventures, waterskiing, and wakeboarding are included in nightly rates, as are daily supervised children’s activities: Kids’ Camp for ages 4 to 6 and Adventure Camp for ages 7 and older.

Most meals, including five-course dinners, are served in the dining room, but other food traditions include daily lunches (and two breakfasts and two dinners) at Cookout Point; an island cookout lunch on Wednesday, with transportation provided on Tykona II, a 1945 Chris-Craft Cruiser; a Friday-night lobster bake; and a grand buffet on Saturday.