A Wells, Ogunquit and Kennebunkport Weekend Guide

Wells, Ogunquit and Kennebunkport sit within about twenty-five minutes of each other along the same stretch of Southern Maine coast, which makes a two-day weekend here easy to plan without much driving. Here’s a rough shape for a Friday-through-Sunday visit based in Wells.

Day one: settle into Wells

Start local. Wells Beach is minutes away and the obvious first stop, followed by the Carson Trail through the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge if you want a quieter walk before lunch. For dinner, Wells has a strong run of classic Maine seafood, order the lobster roll wherever you land and don’t overthink it. See our full things-to-do guide for specific restaurant names and beach-by-beach notes.

Day two: south to Ogunquit

Ogunquit is about fifteen minutes south and built for a morning walk. The Marginal Way runs along the cliffs from the town beach to Perkins Cove, a little over a mile each way, past galleries and lobster shacks that are worth the stop. Ogunquit Playhouse runs professional summer theatre if you want an evening plan, and the town itself has more restaurant density than Wells if you’re looking for variety.

Day three, or the afternoon of day two: north to Kennebunkport

Kennebunkport sits about twenty-five minutes north of Wells and reads differently than Ogunquit, more shopping and harbor town, less boardwalk. Dock Square is the center of it, walkable, full of boutiques and restaurants, with the working harbor a few minutes’ walk away. It pairs well with a beach stop at Goose Rocks or Kennebunk Beach on the way in or out.

A simple loop

If you only have one full day to work with and want to see all three towns, a rough loop looks like: morning in Wells (beach or trail), early afternoon in Ogunquit (Marginal Way and lunch at Perkins Cove), late afternoon in Kennebunkport (Dock Square and the harbor), back to Wells for dinner. It’s a full day, but none of the drives are more than half an hour.

Where to base it

Staying in Wells puts you roughly in the middle of both towns rather than at one end, which is part of why it works as a base even if you’re spending most of your time elsewhere. A condominium suite with a kitchen also means you’re not committed to restaurant hours for every meal, useful on a weekend with this much ground to cover.