Portland is an especially special place in the summer time. Because of that, August is the height of the tourist season, and it is going to be busy. Although some restaurants take reservations, many do not. Plan to put your name in and grab a stroll/drink while you wait (this goes for any meal). Standing in line and chatting with your neighbor is a part of the Portland experience.

We’ve made a list of some of our favorite places here in Portland. 

Regarding food, Portland has one of the highest restaurants per capita among any city. Rated “the best restaurant city” for multiple years, almost everywhere is exceptional. Except for Dimillos.

Breakfast

  • Bread + Friends

  • Tandem Pastries (their jam and butter biscuits are nationally known)

  • Zu Bakery (James Beard Award) 

Coffee

  • Speckled Ax (Thames Street Location), best pour over

  • Tandem, best espresso

  • Moonday, best latte (and owner’s partner designed our wedding bands!)

  • Onggi, best matcha, also a grocery with entire fermented goods

Lunch + Dinner

  • Cong Tu Bot, Vietnamese

  • Lil’ Chippy, for fish and chips//oysters

  • Leeward, Italian

  • The Shop, for local oysters//tinned fish//caviar

  • Evo, Middle Eastern (and where we celebrated our engagement!)

  • Terlingua, BBQ (and where we celebrated our other engagement!)

  • Bite Into Maine, best lobster rolls

  • The Send, Japanese comfort food

  • Sissle & Daughter, cheese shop for picnic style take away

Drinks

  • Via Vecchia, for dirty martinis 

  • Cuties, for creative cocktails + vibes

  • Great Lost Bear, our absolute favorite dive bar (say hi to Ryan the bartender!!)

  • Orange Bike Brewing, the owner (Tom) is the goat community organizer

  • Allagash

  • Belleflower

  • Oxbow

Sports

  • Hearts of Pine: Maine’s newest soccer team. Tickets are very hard to get but incredible Euro-soccer feeling experience 

  • Sea Dogs Baseball: Minor League baseball team with both a man in a seal costume and a person dressed as trash bin as formal walking mascots. It’s ridiculous in the right ways

Green Spaces 

  • Two Lights Park, panoramic views of rocky coastal Maine (great place to watch the sunset)

  • Fort Sumner Park, where Tom proposed

  • Portland Head Light, where Steph proposed

  • Mackworth Island, 1.5 mile island walk

  • Maine Audubon, walking trails (great place to watch the sunset)

Day/Overnight Trips

  • Kennebunkport, 40 min drive, quaint New England town (this is where Steph’s studio is) 

  • White Mountains, 1-2 hour drive

  • Popham Beach, 1 hour drive

  • Reid State Park, 1 hour drive

  • Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, 30 minutes

  • Acadia National Park, 3 hour drive