Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park, Maine, USA

Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park, Maine, USA. Travel and Tourism, Vacation Guide. Mount Desert Island is home to spectacular Acadia National Park, and for many visitors, the two places are one and the same. Yet the park's holdings are only part of the appeal of this popular island, which is connected to the mainland by a short causeway. Besides the parklands, there are scenic harborside villages and remote backcountry roads aplenty, lovely B&Bs and fine restaurants, oversize 19th-century summer "cottages," and the historic tourist town of Bar Harbor. It's not hard to understand why Acadia is one of the crown jewels of the U.S. national park system. (It draws the second-most visitors annually of any national park.).The landscape here is a rich tapestry of rugged cliffs, pounding ocean surf, fishing and leisure boats lolling in harbors, and quiet forest paths. If you look at a map, you'll see that the island is nearly split in two by a great tidal inlet, Somes Sound; most of the park's land is on the eastern side of the island, though there are some vast holdings in the west, too. To help orient you.