Sunrise happens on Cadillac Mountain's bare granite, the Atlantic still dark, before the Park Loop Road fills. Thunder Hole throws spray on the way around, and Otter Cliff drops its ledges into the water. The days in between are granite-coast hiking and the carriage-road network. Those hours only work if a site at Blackwoods, Seawall, or Schoodic Woods is already in your name.
Blackwoods is the first night, still on Mount Desert Island. Blackwoods Campground lists RV sites to 35 feet, 5 miles south of Bar Harbor on Route 3, on paved interior roads. Book that pad before you book the van.
Seawall is the other Mount Desert Island campground, on the western side near Southwest Harbor, and Schoodic Woods is the mainland one. All three run early May to mid-October. NPS camping opens the sites on a six-month window with a two-week release.
Cadillac Summit Road needs a vehicle reservation from NPS from late May through late October, as of September 2026. Recreation vehicles, trailers, and vehicles over 21 feet, including bike racks and hitch attachments, are prohibited on that road even with a reservation. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan bunk, RV rentals around Acadia are the larger option.
The Island Explorer is fare-free from the three campgrounds to trailheads, carriage-road gates, and Bar Harbor. An entrance pass is required to ride, and the bus does not serve the summit. The Park Loop Road pinches taller vans at low underpasses, per the park's oversized-vehicle guidance.
Bar Harbor
You come into Bar Harbor for a shower, groceries, and a restaurant meal. Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods do not have showers, and the town has no park campground of its own. Private campgrounds on Mount Desert Island keep wooded hookup sites a short drive from town, and they take the water and electric the park loops mostly skip.
Schoodic Peninsula
Schoodic's granite headlands take the storm waves on the mainland, out toward Schoodic Point. The Schoodic Peninsula one-way loop is 6 miles and about a 1-hour drive from the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, and RVs stop at the Schoodic Woods turnoff. Vehicles longer than 21 feet stay off Schoodic Loop Road entirely.
Park at the Schoodic Woods day-use lot and take the Island Explorer out to the headlands. Schoodic Woods Campground is 3 miles southeast of Winter Harbor, the only mainland campground in the park, and some of its RV sites have electric and water.
Lamoine State Park
When Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods are full, Lamoine State Park is the overflow, oceanfront on Frenchman Bay and close to Bar Harbor and the park. The campground runs mid-May through mid-October, then goes walk-in only with facilities closed. It is dry camping with a dump station, per Maine's RV camping rules.
You book Lamoine through Maine's state park camping system. Recreation.gov does not list those sites.
Katahdin and Baxter State Park are a Bangor trip, and Sebago Lake and the midcoast sit on the Portland page. Maine's campervan hub covers Rangeley and Downeast.