Rangeley has been part of my summers for a long time.
For about 20 years, my family has spent a week in Rangeley, Maine around my birthday every other summer. Now, it’s a tradition I get to continue with my own family.
About 2.5 hours from the Sebago Lake region, Rangeley is far enough away to feel like a real getaway without requiring an entire day in the car. Once you’re there, it’s easy to fill a week with hiking, boating, swimming, local restaurants, small-town exploring, and plenty of time to simply slow down.
Because we return every other year, our trips have become a mix of familiar traditions and new discoveries. There are restaurants and places we look forward to revisiting, but each trip also brings something we haven’t done before.
This year, we spent six days hiking Bald Mountain, boating and swimming on Rangeley Lake, exploring downtown, discovering a new trail, eating at a mix of old and new restaurants, and enjoying plenty of downtime at our cabin.
If you’re planning a family trip to Rangeley, Maine, here’s a look at exactly how we spent our week.
Where We Stayed: Rangeley Lake Resort
We stayed at Rangeley Lake Resort in the Carrabassett Cabin, a three-bedroom, two-bath cabin with a full kitchen, small yard, and covered front porch.
For a weeklong trip, having a full kitchen makes a big difference. We ate breakfast at the cabin every morning and returned for most of our lunches and several dinners. It gave us the flexibility to eat out when we wanted to without needing to plan every part of the day around restaurant meals.
The resort also has plenty to do right on the property. Guests have access to a waterfront swimming area on Rangeley Lake as well as an indoor pool, hot tub, and sauna in the lodge.
During our downtime, we walked the dog and rode bikes along the quiet resort roads, played card games, borrowed a puzzle from the lodge, watched a movie in the cabin, and caught a few Red Sox games.
It made a comfortable home base where we could spend the day exploring Rangeley and then come back and slow down for the evening.
Day 1: Downtown Rangeley, Sarge’s & Pine Tree Frosty
We arrived in Rangeley around 4:30 p.m., parked the boat, unloaded everything at the cabin, and then headed downtown for dinner.
Our first stop was Sarge’s, which has become our traditional first-night dinner. We like to sit down over dinner and make a loose plan for the week based on the weather and what everyone wants to do.
We don’t schedule every day before arriving. Instead, we usually have a list of things we’d like to do and figure out when they make the most sense once we’re there.
After dinner, we stopped at Pine Tree Frosty for ice cream and walked around downtown before heading over to the playground and Rangeley’s town beach.
It was a simple first evening and an easy way to settle into the week.
Day 2: Bald Mountain + Boating on Rangeley Lake
Our first full day was also one of our busiest.
After breakfast at the cabin, we drove to Oquossoc to hike Bald Mountain.
Although we’ve been coming to Rangeley with our kids for years, this was actually the first time we’d hiked Bald Mountain together. On previous trips, they always seemed to be in that in-between stage of being too big to comfortably carry but not quite ready to hike the mountain themselves.
This time, everyone made it to the top.
It was a fun reminder of just how much our options for exploring Rangeley have expanded over the past two years. A hike that wasn’t realistic for us on our last visit could finally become part of the trip.
Read More: Bald Mountain Trail Guide
After hiking, we returned to the cabin for lunch before changing into swimsuits and heading back out.
We launched our boat at the Rangeley town boat ramp and spent the afternoon on Rangeley Lake, tubing and stopping to swim before pulling the boat out for the evening.
From there, we headed to Furbish House for drinks and appetizers while TJ Swan played live music.
We finished the day with dinner back at the cabin.
Between hiking Bald Mountain in the morning and spending the afternoon on Rangeley Lake, this day captured two of the best parts of a summer trip to Rangeley—the mountains and the water.
Day 3: A Rainy Day in Downtown Rangeley
Our third day brought rain, so we traded hiking and boating for a slower day around town.
After breakfast at the cabin, we headed downtown and spent the morning browsing the local shops.
One unexpected highlight was meeting a Maine Coon cat named Wheels while we were shopping. Sometimes those completely unplanned moments end up becoming part of the story of a trip.
We also stopped at the local IGA to restock our groceries before returning to the cabin for lunch.
With the rain continuing, we spent the afternoon at Rangeley Lake Resort’s indoor pool and hot tub. Having those amenities available at the resort was especially nice on a day when the weather didn’t cooperate with our outdoor plans.
That evening, we went to Portage Tap House for my birthday dinner and finished the night with blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert.
Day 4: Gnome Roam + Rangeley Lake Resort Waterfront
Day four started a little slower.
After breakfast at the cabin, we headed to the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center to walk the Gnome Roam.
This was completely new to us. Despite visiting Rangeley for years, we’d never explored this trail before.
The Gnome Roam was an easy outing and a nice change of pace from our Bald Mountain hike earlier in the week. It’s always fun to return to a place you know well and still find something completely new to explore.
We headed back to the cabin for lunch and then spent the afternoon swimming at Rangeley Lake Resort’s waterfront.
For dinner, we tried another place that was new to us: Black Pearl.
The restaurant had opened since our last trip to Rangeley two years ago, so it was fun to add somewhere new to our list of Rangeley restaurants.
After dinner, we took one more drive, this time up to the top of Quill Hill to watch the sunset. With sweeping views of the mountains surrounding Rangeley, it was a beautiful way to end one of our slower days.
An easy trail in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, dinner downtown, and sunset from the top of Quill Hill made for a pretty perfect summer day in Rangeley.
Day 5: A Full Day on Rangeley Lake
For our last full day, we headed back to Rangeley Lake.
After breakfast at the cabin, we launched the boat at the town ramp and spent most of the day on the water.
We anchored in front of the swimming area at Rangeley Lake State Park, where we stopped to swim and ate lunch right on the boat.
From there, we spent the afternoon exploring different parts of the lake.
Rather than having a specific destination, we cruised into different coves looking for places to stop and swim. It was one of those vacation days without much of a schedule—just boating, swimming, exploring, and deciding where to go next as we went.
Eventually, we returned to the town ramp, pulled the boat out, and headed back to the cabin for dinner.
After several days of mixing different activities together, it was nice to devote almost an entire day to simply being on Rangeley Lake.
Day 6: Breakfast, Packing & Heading Home
Our final morning was simple.
We had breakfast at the cabin one last time, packed everything up, and began the drive home.
Six days had gone quickly, but we’d managed to fit in a little bit of everything without feeling like we needed to fill every hour.
What a Week in Rangeley Looked Like for Us
One of my favorite things about spending nearly a week in Rangeley is the variety.
We could hike Bald Mountain in the morning and go tubing on Rangeley Lake that afternoon. A rainy day could become an excuse to browse downtown shops and spend a few hours at the pool. A slower day might include an easy trail, swimming at the resort, and dinner downtown.
And then there were the quieter parts of the trip.
We ate breakfast at the cabin every morning and many of our lunches and dinners there, too. We played card games, worked on a puzzle borrowed from the resort lodge, walked the dog, rode bikes around the resort, watched a movie, and caught a few baseball games.
Having those slower moments mixed in with our adventures kept the week from feeling overscheduled.
That’s probably the biggest reason we continue to enjoy Rangeley after so many years. There is plenty to do, but you don’t have to constantly be doing something.
Things to Do in Rangeley, Maine with Kids
If you’re planning your own family getaway to Rangeley, our six-day trip included a great mix of outdoor adventures, lake time, downtown exploring, restaurants, and quieter activities.
We hiked Bald Mountain in Oquossoc, explored the Gnome Roam at the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center, boated and tubed on Rangeley Lake, swam near Rangeley Lake State Park, visited the town beach and playground, browsed downtown shops, swam at Rangeley Lake Resort, and ate at several restaurants around town.
But we didn’t try to see everything.
Instead, we made a loose plan at the beginning of the week, watched the weather, and decided what made sense each day. Having a cabin where we could cook meals and spend downtime made it easier to build our days around one or two main activities rather than constantly moving from one destination to another.
For families coming from the Sebago Lake region, the roughly 2.5-hour drive also makes Rangeley especially appealing. It’s close enough to reach in an afternoon but different enough from home to feel like you’ve gone away.
After about 20 years of returning every other summer, there are parts of Rangeley that feel wonderfully familiar to me. But this trip was also a reminder that there’s always something new to discover—a trail we’d never walked, a restaurant that wasn’t there two years ago, a Maine Coon named Wheels in a downtown shop, or simply a familiar adventure we’re finally able to experience in a new way.
That’s what keeps us coming back.
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