The Best Maine Lake Hotels, Resorts, Inns, And Lodges
You don’t have to be a Maine Guide or have an outdoor sportsman inclination to enjoy the allure of a waterfront lodge among Maine’s pristine lakes. Maine’s many lakes draw wildlife observers, boaters, fisherman, recreational adventurists, artists and foliage enthusiasts alike.
Blessed with thousands of lakes and ponds, Maine has much to offer for a lakeside vacation. Among the more popular lake vacation destinations include Sebago Lake, Moosehead Lake, the Belgrade Lakes Region, and Rangeley Lake, to name a few.
View our Lakes directory to find lakeside lodgings that offers all the amenities you’re looking for in a Maine vacation.
More About Maine Lake Resorts
Maine is home to some of the most beautiful and crystal-clear lakes in the US, and arguably, in the world for that matter. Maine has over 3,400 lakes, and the best way to explore and enjoy them is by lodging at a lakeside resort.
Resorts on Maine lakes offer a truly unique getaway; imagine waking to the sound of a loon, watching fog linger above the water as the sun rises. The translucent waters are totally calm and perfect for a canoe or kayak, or fresh water fishing. You can simply read a book on the breezy shores, take a boat ride, go tubing, waterskiing, sailing in the afternoon and refresh with a lake swim in some of the cleanest, clearest water in the US. Evenings at a Maine lake resort include cocktails on a dock, dining and campfires by the water, counting shooting stars and watching the moon’s reflection on the lake.
Lake Resort Lodging
Maine lake resorts range from beautiful cabins to hotels on the waterfront, more rustic lakeside cabins and camps, or even affordable campgrounds with tent sites. Some lakeside Maine resorts offer classic cabin lodging with a main lodge serving family style or restaurant dining followed by entertainment and a crackling fire, while other lake resorts are inns, hotels or offer private cabins for rent.
Some lake resorts provide on-site boats, kayaks and canoes, and even offer Maine guides or water sports lessons so you can learn to sail or water ski on your Maine lake vacation. Alternatively, visitors can rent provisions from boat rental properties on popular lake destinations like Sebago Lake.
A Few of Maine’s 3,400 Popular Lake Vacations
Moosehead Lake
Maine’s largest lake is Moosehead in the Maine Highlands or Moosehead Region. Here, the Lodge at Moosehead offers four-diamond lodging, while Spencer Pond Cabins, the Cozy Moose Lakeside Cabins and Moosehead Hills Cabins are more rustic and natural lakeside resorts. Anglers, hunters and bird lovers alike find Moosehead to be a vast wilderness of game, endangered birds and of course moose.
Sebago Lake
The most popular destination for lakeside vacations in Maine is Sebago Lake. Here on Maine’s second largest lake, you will find lake resorts from chic with gourmet cuisine and cabin room service to family friendly and casual. You can even boat through the 1832 Songo Locks system from Sebago Lake to Brandy Pond to Long Lake. Ride out to Sebago’s largest island, Frye Island for lunch, then watch divers jump off Frye’s Leap cliffs into the crystal-clear water.
Point Sebago Resort is a fun lakeside campground resort with Park Homes and Resort Cottages on Sebago Lake, offering activities for everyone in the family from lake water sports and fishing to kids camps to 18-hole championship golf.
Rangeley Lake
Rangeley Lake Region further north is home to some beautiful lakeside resorts, like Grants Kennebago Camps, which offers modern lakeside cabins and a traditional main lodge where dinner is served.
Some of the other lakes with resorts in the Maine Lakes Region are Highland Lake, Long Lake, Kezar Lake, and Moose Pond at the base of Shawnee Peak Ski Resort.
Seasonal Lake Resort Lodging
Whether you like to fish, boat, swim or just enjoy the lakeside setting, a summer vacation at a Maine lake resort is relaxing and rejuvenating. In fall, Maine’s lakes are magnificent when the colorful foliage on the shore is reflected in the brilliant blue waters. Wintertime at Maine lake resorts brings a plethora of winter sports on the frozen lakes from ice fishing and snowmobiling to ice skating, even cross-country skiing.
Several lake resorts stay open in winter to provide a beautiful lakeside setting in the snow, with nearby winter ski and sled trails. As you travel north, many residents and vacationers use their snowmobile as a mode of transport, evident when you see the vast network of Maine snowmobile trails and many parking spots filled with winter ATVs and “snow machines” – as Mainers refer to them.
Annual Maine Lake Events
Maine’s lakes are also host some of the best festivals in Maine, like the Maine Lakes Brew Fest each fall on Sebago, mid-winter Mushers Bowl and Winter Carnival in Bridgton, Snowdeo on Rangeley Lake every January, and mid-summer Casco Days and Blueberry Festival near Sebago Lake.
See our list of Maine lakeside resorts to plan your perfect lake vacation.
Maine Lake Facts and Figures:
Sebago Lake is Maine’s 2nd largest fresh water body of water, 10 mile wide and almost 50 miles long.
Sebago Lake touches 6 towns including Naples, Raymond, Casco, Sebago, Standish and Windham
Sebago’s clean water is a major water source for the City Of Portland – 15% of Maine’s population.
Moosehead Lake is 246 ‘ feet deep in some places, the largest mountain lake in the northern US.
Moosehead is the source of the Kennebec River, dam released for whitewater rafting.
Moosehead Lake is home to 80 islands, and Mount Kineo that rises up 700 feet with dramatic cliffs.
Moosehead has a high concetration of peregrine falcon and Maine moose, a 3:1 ratio moose: people.
Moosehead Lake’s name comes from its shape of an antlered moose.
A list of Maine’s largest and most popular lakes:
- Moosehead Lake – 74,890 acres
- Sebago Lake – 29,992 acres
- Mooselookmeguntic Lake – 16,300 acres
- Umbagog Lake – 7,767 acres
- Rangeley Lake – 6,300 acres
- Long Lake – 5,295 acres
- China Lake – 3,992 acres
- Belgrade Lake – 3,510 acres
- Kezar Lake – 2,665 acres
- Little Sebago Lake – 2,009 acres
- Alamoosook Lake – 1,133 acres