With regards to celebrating the vacations in Maine, there’s nowhere extra festive than Kennebunkport. Every December, the seaside city transforms into a vacation wonderland seemingly straight out of a Hallmark film.

From December 4 via 14, the city rings within the season with Christmas Prelude, an annual custom that’s now ushering in its forty fourth yr. The festivities span 11 action-packed days and embrace occasions for all ages, together with lighting the lobster entice Christmas tree, candlelight caroling, and even a go to from Santa Claus, who trades in his customary sleigh for an arrival aboard—what else—a lobster boat.

Accommodations deck the halls with their vacation most interesting, bars and eating places craft particular seasonal menus, and the village’s retailers and vacation markets are the right locations to cross everybody’s items off your listing.

See the Christmas bushes.

What’s extra iconically Maine than a Christmas tree crafted from lobster traps? Cease by Cape Porpoise Sq. to see the spectacle. Kennebunkport‘s Dock Sq. and Kennebunk’s Decrease Village even have glowing bushes which might be positive to place you within the vacation temper.

Hop aboard a twinkling trolley.

Every year, the Seashore Trolley Museum decorates its (heated) trolleys to take visitors on a trip alongside the heritage railroad via the woods. The rides, which final roughly 25 minutes, are held between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. from December 5 to 7 and 12 to 14. Buying tickets on-line is really helpful.

Store at a vacation market.

Seeking to fill up on some items when you’re visiting? Make sure you cease by the Merry Makers Market in Kennebunk from December 5 to fifteen to hunt out handcrafted and hard-to-find presents. Native retailers equivalent to Daytrip Society, Bliss, Mélange, and Seacraft promote fantastic wares for even the pickiest folks in your listing.

Take a wreath-making workshop.

If you happen to’re looking for the right strategy to carry again the vacation cheer yr after yr, contemplate partaking in a wreath-making workshop. Cosy Harbor Farm and Nathaniel Lord Mansion each provide courses. The latter—one of many 4 historic properties that make up the Kennebunkport Captains Assortment—additionally holds stocking-decorating and gingerbread house-making periods, amongst different seasonal occasions.

Elevate your spirits at a holiday-themed bar.

All through the vacation season, a few of Kennebunkport’s finest bars and eating places bear a merry makeover to have a good time. The Burleigh at Kennebunkport Inn turns into the Tinsel Bar, decked from flooring to ceiling with Christmas ornaments, lights, and garlands. And nobody does the vacations fairly like Batson River. Every year, the Kennebunkport outpost turns into a winter wonderland with classic blow molds, tons of tinsel, and stockings galore. Can’t-miss cocktails embrace Sleigh the City, crafted with snickerdoodle syrup, and We’re Mint to Be, a peppermint white chocolate delight.

The place to Keep

White Barn Inn

Some of the luxe lodges within the state and a part of the Auberge Resorts Assortment, White Barn Inn is cozy, romantic, and, all through December, donned with decor from inside decorator Nathan Turner. With heated flooring, fuel fireplaces, and enormous soaking tubs, the rooms listed below are the best place to heat up from the chilly winter climate.

Kennebunkport Captains Assortment

For guests desirous to dive into the historic nautical allure of Kennebunkport, look no additional than the Kennebunkport Captains Assortment. The 4 properties that make up this assortment have been constructed within the early nineteenth century and as soon as belonged to the daughters of Captain Daniel Walker. Now beneath Lark Accommodations, these homes are soaked in historical past. Friends can take pleasure in stay music, heated igloo leases, household crafts, a sizzling chocolate bar, and a present market at Nathaniel Lord’s Carriage Home.