3 Reasons to Take Kids to Portland, Maine

Portland is a lively city with an active port and lots of things to do. Many of these are ideal for family travel. Here are our family’s three favorites:

Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine

Your first stop with toddlers and young children should be Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, where kids learn about the world around them through creative play and immersive, hands-on activities. Experiences are age appropriate, with special areas for toddlers and others like the Climb, Crawl, and Slide structure. The museum offers places for kids of various ages. Dress-up costumes encourage amateur performances and a kid-scale airport, and a luggage conveyor, control tower and planes will make them eager travelers.

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum

The museum part will be more interesting to older kids, but all ages will like the 40-minute train ride on the narrow tracks alongside the Eastern Promenade. The vintage trains are operated by steam or diesel, and you can ride in a traditional passenger car or, in good weather, in an open car. Inside the museum, along with historic coaches, there are kids’ activities and exhibits about these historic railroads, with tracks only 2 feet apart.

Lucky Catch Cruises

Every kid likes riding on a boat, and this one has the added attraction of a quick course in lobster fishing. On this kid-friendly harbor tour with Lucky Catch, kids can help pull lobster traps ashore and measure the catch to see if they are legal size. Back ashore, you can buy the lobsters and have them cooked at a harborside restaurant to eat on the docks.