Traveling the World without Leaving the State of Maine 🛶 🦞

Traveling the World without Leaving Maine

Embark on a road trip that you can easily do in a day or two that visits over 20 towns in the state of Maine, that are named after major cities and countries around the world. Your friends will be jealous when you mention that you visited Paris, Norway, Mexico, and more in just one trip.

Stop One: Lebanon 🇱🇧

Our first stop on this road trip takes us to the town of Lebanon, Maine. Lebanon is the westernmost part of Maine making it the perfect start-off point. While in Lebanon you can enjoy the great wilderness with great hiking trails and the stunning Salmon Falls River, or venture to nearby towns and cities that sit on the Atlantic coast.

Stop Two: Limerick 🇮🇪 (There's also a New Limerick)

41 minutes north brings you to Limerick, Maine. Limerick is situated within the metropolitan region of the city of Portland. You'll find a brewery and a blueberry farm among various restaurants and pubs in this town.

Now onto the Scandinavian region of Maine... 🤣

Stop Three: Denmark 🇩🇰

A 32-minute drive (23 miles) north will take you to the town of Denmark, Maine. Like a lot of different parts of Maine, this town offers lakes, rivers, and mountains to explore. The Saco River is a popular waterway to go boating on.

Stop Four: Sweden 🇸🇪

Continuing on through the Scandinavian region of Maine, we now have Sweden. Sweden is a roughly 24-minute drive (14 miles) north of Denmark. Sweden is one of the smaller towns on the list with a population of around 400 people.

Stop Five: Norway 🇳🇴

A 25-minute drive east (17 miles) brings you to our third Scandinavian country, Norway. Norway, Maine is often referred to as the "Snowshoe Capital of the World" and is where the snowshoe was invented. It's a very quaint town with lots of little shops, restaurants, and snowshoeing/hiking trails to explore.

Stop Six: Paris 🇫🇷

An 11-minute drive (5 miles) north of Norway is the town of Paris, Maine. You'll find several golfing options, skiing options, and theater showings to choose from in the town of Paris.

Now onto the Spanish-influenced region of Maine. 😉

Stop Seven: Mexico 🇲🇽

41 minutes (29 miles) drive from Paris, you'll find Mexico, Maine. Mexico offers beautiful canyons and waterfalls to explore.

Stop Eight: Madrid 🇪🇸

47 minutes north brings you to Madrid, Maine. You'll find the beautiful Angel Falls which is a fairly easy spot to hike to. Nearby, is the town of Rangeley, Maine which offers many lakes, shops, and restaurants to explore.

Stop Nine: Moscow 🇷🇺

An hour and six minutes northeast will bring you to Moscow, Maine. Moscow, Maine has a population of a whopping 475 people! Wire Bridge and Moxie Falls may be worth paying a visit.

Stop Ten: Athens 🇬🇷

29 minutes (21 miles) southeast brings you to Athens, Maine. Though, there's not much to do in Athens itself, nearby Skowhegan is a great spot to visit. With tons of shops, restaurants, and the famous Giffords ice cream stand and mini golf.

Stop Eleven: Calais 🇫🇷

Now, we head two hours and 39 minutes east towards the Canadian border to visit the border town of Calais. In Calais, you'll find Moosehorn Wildlife Refuge and the small island of St. Croix, and tons of restaurants and bars in the area.

Coastal Maine

Stop Twelve: Sorrento 🇮🇹

Carry two hours southeast and you'll wind up in coastal Maine. We bet you were looking forward to this part of the road trip the most! Sorrento is the nearest point on this road trip to Acadia National Park, so we recommend briefly popping down to this stunning national park.

Stop Thirteen: Egypt, Maine 🇪🇬

Just 20 minutes away you'll find the town of Egypt. This is a coastal town with not a lot to do, but the fictional novel "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" is said to be based here. Though, the premise of this book probably will make you not want to visit the town.

Stop Fourteen: Belfast 🇬🇧

Now, we drive an hour and seven minutes along the coastal region of Maine. Belfast is a sweet coastal town with yoga studios, farmers markets, and boat tours at your disposal.

Stop Fifteen: Palermo 🇮🇹

Now we head back inland. Around 34 minutes (27 miles) west will bring you to Palermo. This is also situated in the Augusta, Maine metropolitan area. We recommend paying a visit to Augusta—the state's capital, if you are in this region.

Stop Sixteen: China 🇨🇳

Just 12 minutes north will bring you to China, Maine. You can pay visit to China Lake while you are here.

Stop Seventeen: Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

58 minutes southwest will bring you to Wales, Maine. In this town, you'll find a cidery and winery.

Stop Eighteen: Belgrade 🇷🇸

39 minutes north brings you to Belgrade, Maine—a beautiful lakeside town with a popular golf course.

Stop Nineteen: Rome 🇮🇹

13 minutes north brings you to Rome, Maine. The town of Rome is also situated on the Belgrade Lakes. There's a golf club and tons of hiking spots in the area.

Stop Twenty: Vienna 🇦🇹

18 minutes from Rome, Lies Vienna. In Vienna, you'll find lakes and ponds, but that's about it.

Stop Twenty-One: Peru 🇵🇪

50 minutes (38 miles) west of Vienna is Peru, Maine. In Peru, you'll find stunning waterfalls, great ski trails, the largest telephone in the world, and covered bridges.

Stop Twenty-Two: Naples 🇮🇹

One hour and eleven minutes south brings you to the small lake town of Naples, Maine. The town sits on Long Lake and also hosts part of Songo River making it the perfect location for water sports.

Stop Twenty-Three: Poland 🇵🇱

About 24 minutes (16 miles) northeast of Naples, is the town of Poland, Maine. Poland is renowned for its clean water which is believed to have healing properties. The town now hosts a bottled water packaging company. It is also known for its beautiful resorts, rivers, and lakes.

Stop Twenty-Four: Lisbon 🇵🇹

26 minutes east of Poland, is the town of Lisbon, Maine. When visiting, you should walk across the Androscoggin Swinging Bridge.

Stop Twenty-Five: Dresden 🇩🇪

Our final stop on this road trip will take you to Dresden. Dresden, Maine is roughly 35 minutes away from Lisbon, Maine.

Honorable Mentions

We decided to not include Stockholm, Maine on this list as it's in the very north part of Maine and would take forever to get to this location from the other spots.

The England-Inspired Towns of Maine 🇬🇧

Like much of the US, there are a lot of towns in Maine named after places in England. Oxford, York, Manchester, Leeds, Bath, Camden, Belfast, Windsor, Bristo, and Brighton are examples of this.