Best time to visit Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor is a city of two halves. August scores 78 and December scores 16 — a 62-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs July to September — 3 months within ten points of the best.

August is the warmest month at 22.4 °C and January the coolest at -1.1 °C — a 23.5 °C spread across the year. It never reaches 30 °C in an average year, which takes heat off the list of reasons to avoid any particular month. At the other end, 125 nights a year fall below freezing: the winter here is a real one.

Rain is spread evenly through the year — between 10 and 14 wet days in every month — so there is no dry season to aim for and no wet one to dodge. Whatever you plan, the odds of rain are much the same.

The sea peaks at just 15.1 °C, which is wetsuit territory even at its warmest — a coast to look at rather than swim in. Daylight runs from 8.9 hours in winter to 15.5 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are August, September, July. The one to think twice about is December. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

Bar Harbor month by month