The Asticou Hotel’s 17 new Hillside Terrace Rooms complete the historic Northeast Harbor retreat with a stay inspired by Mount Desert Island’s earliest summer visitors. Here’s how they compare with the property’s Historic Main Inn and Harborside Cottages – and which is best for your Maine getaway.

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There isn’t just one way to stay at The Asticou Hotel – and that’s very much by design.

The historic Northeast Harbor retreat now offers three distinctly different accommodation experiences across its 25-acre property: the character-rich rooms and suites of the Historic Main Inn, residential Harborside Cottages gathered closer to the waterfront, and, as the newest addition, 17 Hillside Terrace Rooms tucked into the slope below the pool deck. Together, they bring the hotel’s transformation full circle while telling three different chapters of Mount Desert Island’s summer history.

The latest chapter may also be the most unexpected.

MEET THE NEW HILLSIDE TERRACE ROOMS

Inspired by Nineteenth-Century “Rusticators”

The inspiration behind the new Hillside Terrace Rooms reaches back well before Acadia was a national park – to a time when summering on Mount Desert Island could mean swapping city streets for hiking paths, salt air, and comparatively simple quarters.

Beginning in the mid-1800s, artists and journalists helped introduce a wider audience to Mount Desert Island. Hudson River School painters including Thomas Cole and Frederic Church depicted its mountains and coastline, and travelers soon followed. These early summer visitors became known as “rusticators,” drawn by the chance to trade urban life for a more elemental existence on the Maine coast. Many initially stayed with local fishermen and farmers; by 1880, demand had grown enough that 30 hotels were competing for the island’s summer visitors.

It was the beginning of a transformation. Wealthier summer residents eventually built the enormous estates euphemistically known as “cottages,” while rusticator culture also helped establish another MDI tradition that remains very much alive today: getting outside. Early visitors explored existing routes over mountains and through woods, and by the end of the nineteenth century, organized trail building was underway.

The Hillside Terrace Rooms riff on that first, more adventurous chapter of island tourism rather than trying to recreate it literally. Nestled into the rolling hillside below the pool deck, the 17 king rooms adopt what the hotel describes as a “luxury safari camp vibe:” open interiors, expansive bathrooms anchored by soaking tubs, and walk-out terraces facing Northeast Harbor.

Yet despite the rooms’ thoughtful design details and creature comforts, they’re ultimately designed to draw your attention outward – particularly those terraces with their direct harbor views. It makes for an interesting contrast: An accommodation inspired by travelers who came to Maine in search of simplicity, interpreted with the creature comforts those original rusticators certainly didn’t have.

Best For

Couples, design-minded travelers, and guests who want the strongest connection to the outdoors without giving up hotel comforts.

Why Book It

The walk-out terrace is the defining feature. If your ideal Maine morning starts with stepping straight outside to look over Northeast Harbor – followed by a long soak after a day exploring Acadia – this is The Asticou stay built around that rhythm.

Good to Know

Every Hillside Terrace Room pairs its king bed with an expansive bathroom and soaking tub – a particularly welcome feature after a day on Acadia’s trails.

HISTORIC MAIN INN

The Classic Grand-Hotel Experience

If the Hillside Terraces look back to the rusticators, the Historic Main Inn represents what happened next.

As Mount Desert Island grew fashionable in the late nineteenth century, wealthy families began erecting elaborate summer estates along its shores. The Asticou itself dates to 1883, placing its beginnings squarely within that pivotal period in the island’s history.

Restored in 2025, the shingle-style inn remains the historic heart of the property. Its guest rooms favor a classic coastal sensibility rather than a uniform, newly constructed hotel aesthetic: custom-designed furniture, local Maine artwork, softened colors, and either property-and-garden or harbor views, depending on room category. King Suites add a separate living room, fireplace, and workspace.

There’s also an advantage to the building’s age that doesn’t show up neatly on a room-comparison chart: individuality. Because of the historic nature of the building, rooms are not cookie-cutter accommodations, so layouts and certain features vary. For travelers who enjoy the irregularities of historic hotels – the sense that your room belongs to a building with a past rather than a floor plan replicated dozens of times – that distinction is part of the appeal.

Look beyond the guestrooms, too. One of the inn’s more playful design details is the hallway’s custom toile wallpaper illustrated by artist Dave Allen, which turns familiar Mount Desert Island imagery, historic estates, and island lore into a pattern worth inspecting up close.

In other words, choose the Main Inn when you want to feel most connected to The Asticou itself: its architecture, public spaces, quirks, and century-plus identity.

Best For

First-time Asticou guests, history lovers, couples who prefer a traditional hotel stay, and travelers who want to be in the center of the property’s atmosphere.

Why Book It

This is the quintessential Asticou experience. Rather than referencing the hotel’s history from afar, you’re sleeping inside it.

Good to Know

Main Inn rooms range from 175 to 454 square feet, while King Suites measure 414 square feet and include separate living rooms. Because of the historic architecture, individual room layouts and amenities may vary.

HARBORSIDE COTTAGES

Your Own Maine Summer Home

Then there’s the third version of Mount Desert Island summer life: settling in. The Asticou’s 15 Harborside Cottages take their cues from the traditional Maine summer village rather than the grand estate or rusticator camp. Gathered around a central green and set closer to the waterfront, the standalone accommodations trade the conventional hotel-room setup for something more residential.

That distinction is practical as much as aesthetic.

The two- and three-bedroom cottages come with kitchens and spacious living areas, making them particularly useful when everyone traveling together doesn’t necessarily want to keep the same schedule. Parents can put children to bed without ending the evening themselves. Friends have a living room where they can regroup after hiking. Multigenerational families get both shared space and separate bedrooms rather than coordinating a collection of individual hotel rooms.

They’re also The Asticou’s dog-friendly accommodation option, an important distinction for anyone whose Maine road trip includes a four-legged passenger.

But the cottages aren’t simply the “more space” choice. Their setting and concept create a different kind of stay. The hotel’s designer Krista Stokes wanted them to mimic a village community by the sea, with a more restrained design inspired by the people who lived alongside Mount Desert Island’s grand summer estates. That makes them an appealing counterpoint to the Historic Main Inn: less about checking into a historic hotel and more about briefly adopting the rhythms of a Maine summer residence.

Best For

Families, multigenerational trips, groups of friends, dog owners, longer stays, and travelers who like having a kitchen and shared living space.

Why Book It

Independence. You get the amenities and setting of the hotel while having a standalone home base to retreat to.

Good to Know

Cottages have two or three bedrooms, kitchens, and spacious living areas, with configurations incorporating king, queen, and/or twin beds. They are also dog friendly.

SO, WHICH ASTICOU ACCOMMODATION SHOULD YOU BOOK?

The easiest way to decide isn’t by asking which accommodation is “best.” It’s by asking what you want your time at The Asticou Hotel to feel like.

Book a Hillside Terrace Room If…

Waking up close to the landscape is the priority. The walk-out terrace, direct Northeast Harbor outlook, king bed, and soaking tub make this the strongest fit for couples and travelers seeking a private, design-forward retreat with a sense of indoor-outdoor living.

Book the Historic Main Inn If…

The hotel itself is part of the reason you’re traveling. You want old-building character, easy access to the property’s central spaces, and a room that feels connected to The Asticou’s 1883 origins.

Book a Harborside Cottage If…

You’re bringing the crew – children, grandparents, friends, or the dog – or are looking for an extended stay where you can live a little more independently. Multiple bedrooms, kitchens, living areas, and a residential setting make the cottages especially suited to trips where togetherness matters as much as privacy.