Hello Darlings,

As promised, here is the ultimate guide to Kennebunkport (the place to be all year.) Taylor and I truly had the most beautiful time there in the most quaint, darling and unique town to visit. This little town is filled with antique charm and lovely inns ( our favorite is the Grand Hotel!) We are so excited to share some of our favorite spots and things to do while visiting KPT. This is one of our most memorable trips. We spent about four days there and we were able to get in all of the attractions, shopping and dining we wanted to do. We enjoyed our evening walks the most, alongside the dock on our night walks back to The Grand Hotel; eating our delicious ice cream.

WHERE TO STAY:

We stayed at the charming Grand Hotel located on Chase Hill road, just steps into the beautiful village. You will find all of the popular restaurants, shopping and the BEST LOBSTER ROLL just steps outside of the hotel. I think the Grand Hotel was in one of the best locations in the town because almost everything was steps from the hotel. The Grand offers so many lovely amenities such as, complimentary bikes to ride in town and to the beach. This was so convenient, being that the parking was limited near Gooch's Beach. They offer light bites in the morning, which was right up Taylor's alley. He LOVED heading to the lobby every morning for a small bite to eat. This is great because it gave me enough time to get ready before we headed to Breakfast.

We stayed in the Grand King suite which was decorated in rich and warm gold tones with saffron accents. It was clean, climate controlled and comfortable. Taylor's favorite part, was the heated floors in the bathroom. It also included a huge stand up shower. We enjoyed having breakfast every morning, on our mini private deck which overlooked the lower village and marina of Kennebunkport. We were so in love with the Grand's location in the heart of the their "downtown area." We conveniently could walk to everything we needed to. The guest services were absolutely spectacular. They went above and beyond to make sure that we were satisfied and enjoying our stay. They recommended restaurants for dinner and things to do. One of our favorite restaurants that the concierge recommended was, The Boathouse.

The grand also offers complimentary kayak, canoe, and paddle board rentals from the Kennebunkport Marina. I have never been on a Canoe/kayak before and Taylor and I rented a double seat kayak from the marina. It was one of our favorite moments from the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful river and sightseeing a few miles down. We were so appreciative that the hotel offered free rentals.

Other amenities include, free champagne upon arrival, beach parking permits, complimentary shuttle service to other sister hotels and restaurants, beach cruiser bikes, complimentary beach chairs and towels, a pantry stocked with complete snacks, games, magazines & more, infused water/ coffee available all day, curated art through out the hotel, and complimentary parking. Besides the unique charm of the hotel; there were a lot of amenities included, which made our stay worthwhile. I cannot recommend the Grand enough. We plan on returning next summer and look forward to another beautiful stay. Be sure to scroll through some more photos of the hotel down below! I mean, how charming is it?

(We of course needed a mini photoshoot on our own Deck overlooking the town!)

DINING:

Where do I even begin with restaurants? There are so many options. We took a few steps out of our front door and we were provided with many options to dine at.

Breakfast :

We loved grabbing egg omelettes and bacon from H.B. Provisions which was across the street from The Grand Hotel. We would grab breakfast to go and bring it back to our porch and eat together. We recommend getting the lemon blueberry whoopee pies for dessert. I think Taylor had one for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We attempted to grab breakfast from All Day Breakfast on the way home, but there was about an hour long wait.

Lunch:

We occasionally would skip lunch to save room for dinner, but I loved grabbing my favorite: turkey lettuce wraps from Old Salt's Pantry. This is perfect, if you want to grab sandwiches to bring to the beach. Federal Jack's, is a great American restaurant to sit down and enjoy a nice lunch over-looking the marina. I had the steak and Taylor had the calamari and it was wonderful! If you are wanting to grab something quick, then head to the Clam Shack for fresh lobster and more.

Dinner:

We ate at the Boathouse and absolutely loved the atmosphere and vibe of this restaurant. The Boathouse is also a sister hotel to The Grand! The portions were great and their waitstaff was lovely. Boathouse is extremely accommodating with food allergies. Being that I have a gluten allergy, they put my French fries in a separate fryer. Taylor had a tuna poke bowl and raved over it for the next few days. We also made a reservation for the Kennebunkport Inn, at the Burleigh restaurant. Our dinner was tasty and loved the atmosphere of it's location. We only had one complaint and that was the 100 mosquitos that ate us alive during dinner. The waiter was nice enough to bring us a bottle of bug-spray! They even brought us complimentary desert wine for our anniversary.

Dessert:

Taylor is 100% recommending all of the dessert places to eat at, considering he tried almost all of them. His favorite was the Candyman, because of their amazing chocolate covered twinkies. For ice cream, Taylor loved Maxims Desserts, which was located inside of a food truck. Taylor got a strawberry rhubarb pie ice cream cone from Maxim's and raved over it. If you have a peanut/nut allergy, Ben & Jerry's offers a peanut/nut free ice cream option. It was delicious and I felt safe eating it. If you are a donut lover like myself, you must go to Satellite Donuts for the most amazing flavors and mini donuts.

Things To Do:

You must visit the Kennebunkport Beaches. The water is absolutely beautiful and the surrounding homes are so elegant and charming to see. We were lucky enough to have a beach parking pass, since we were staying at The Grand. We visited Gooch's Beach, which was a mile from our hotel room.

2. You can rent Kayaks, Canoes and Paddle Boards from the Kennebunkport Marina. If you stay at The Grand Hotel, you will receive complimentary rentals all day everyday.

3. Shopping, shopping and more shopping. Luckily,there were enough dessert spots to continue feeding Taylor while I shopped! Just when you think, you've hit the end of the town there are more shops. Taylor and I enjoyed visiting the unique, vintage shops. Each store had it's own unique charm and feel to it. We loved visiting the thrift stores.

4. Tours- The town offered numerous types of tours. You could take the adorable Trolley for $16 per person and ride through the town. You can also do a whale watching boat tour/lobster tour. All of the boat tours can be purchased, at the Marina next to Maxim's Desserts! We didn't have the chance to do a boat tour, but everyone raved over the whale-watching tour. If you wanted to skip the tour, you could always head to the bridge and take a walk alongside the Marina.

5. Scooter Rental- This was the highlight of our trip. We enjoyed every second riding along the ocean's coast. This was one of the coolest things I've experienced. I LOVED every second of it. It was $55.00 for three hours.

6. Horse & Carriage Ride- I'm not entirely sure how much this would have been, but it looked so lovely.

7. If you have a few minutes of your day, you should ride the scooter to Saint Anne's Cathedral church. The architecture was absolutely exquisite.

We truly had the time of our lives and made beautiful memories that we shall cherish forever. Returning to Kennebunkport is definitely on our agenda. KPT is charming, elegant with a pinch of salty air. See you again soon Kennebunkport!

(This post is sponsored by The Grand Hotel, Kennebunkport Maine. Of course all opinions are my own.)