Acadia National Park charges $35 per vehicle for 7 days. Cadillac Mountain, the park's highest point and best-known summit, requires a separate $6 vehicle reservation through Recreation.gov from May 20 through October 25, on top of the park entrance fee, choosing between a 90-minute sunrise window or a 30-minute daytime window. Hiking or biking to the summit remains free with no reservation required at any time of year.
The $6 Cadillac Summit Road reservation is a distinct charge from the $35 park entrance fee, worth budgeting for as an additional cost, not something the standard entrance pass already covers.
A sunrise reservation grants a 90-minute entry window while a daytime reservation grants only 30 minutes, and only one sunrise reservation is allowed per vehicle every seven days, worth deciding which window matters more before booking, since they aren't interchangeable.
Foot or bike access to the summit requires no reservation at any time of year, a genuinely flexible alternative to the vehicle system, particularly outside the May 20-October 25 window when driving reservations aren't even required.
Acadia National Park sits on Mount Desert Island in coastal Maine, reached by car from Bangor, roughly an hour and a half away, or from Bar Harbor, the park's main gateway town.
Acadia rewards understanding the vehicle reservation system as genuinely separate from the park entrance fee, with hiking or biking as a genuine, reservation-free alternative. Cadillac Mountain's famous sunrise claim, true but seasonal, is covered in full below.
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