Best Cities and Towns in Maine

Maine's best places span several distinct community types — city, harbor town, inland village, remote service center — and the state's real strength is how clearly each one retains its own identity rather than blurring into a single generic "Maine town" image.

Portland

Portland stands as Maine's best all-around city, combining economic importance, working waterfront identity, a nationally recognized food scene, and everyday livability better than anywhere else in the state.

Camden

Camden earns its reputation as one of the best small towns in Maine because its harbor-and-hill setting is genuinely complete — scenic without feeling hollow, and substantial enough to support real year-round community life.

Bar Harbor

Shaped almost entirely by its role as Acadia's gateway, Bar Harbor remains one of the state's most important town experiences, its surrounding national park landscape giving it more legitimacy than a typical resort town.

Ellsworth

Ellsworth has grown into the commercial hub for the entire Downeast region, its position just before the turn toward Mount Desert Island making it the practical service center — grocery stores, hospitals, big-box retail — for a huge stretch of coast that would otherwise have to travel much farther for basic needs.

Belfast and Brunswick

Belfast represents one of the stronger year-round midcoast communities, while Brunswick blends Bowdoin College energy with easy access to southern Maine, together showing solid alternatives to the state's most famous names.

Rangeley and Hallowell

Rangeley demonstrates what inland destination-town life looks like in Maine, while Hallowell remains one of the best-preserved small urban main streets in the state — proof of how much range exists beyond the coast.

Why These Places Work

Portland's urban depth, Camden's harbor completeness, Bar Harbor's national-park connection, Ellsworth's practical regional role, and the quieter strengths of Belfast, Brunswick, Rangeley, and Hallowell together give Maine a genuinely varied and well-differentiated set of best places.