My husband and I spent two nights at the Claremont -- reserving a king bed room on the 2nd floor with a lovely view out over the harbor. It was a lovely setting-- the bed was comfortable and the room was nice and clean. The bath room was tiny, but adequate. We enjoyed strolling around the hotel and seeing that this is a place where people come year after year-- to play in croquet tournaments, to do puzzles in the large rooms downstairs, and rock in the chairs on the wide verandahs. We did not do any of these activities, other than rocking on the verandah. We did eat once at the restaurant down by the water-- a nice lunch there. We were struck by how people line up to eat-- hurry down to the bar kind of thing. If anything, we felt a little out of place because we were just kind of there to relax. One woman even stopped me and told me that we were staying in her favorite room, so then I felt guilty.
Nevertheless we found this a great spot to plant ourselves as we soaked in the Acadia NP sights. There are some lovely walks nearby (driving to get there), also part of the NP, plus the lighthouse farther along. We were a mere 20 minutes from Bar Harbor but away from the bustle of the tourists there. Downtown Southwest Harbor was bustling, though-- had a nice luncheon downtown at a cafe that had a sensational blueberry pie for dessert.
We tried the breakfast one morning-- we missed one morning because we wanted to get to Acadia early and breakfast wasn't served until 8 am. We were in Bar Harbor by then. But we had breakfast the next morning -- and it was ok, but nothing exceptional.
We enjoyed staying in a big old Inn, but not sure that we'd go back there again.
