Hotel The Bayview (Bar Harbor, USA)

Rooms here are excellent with flat-screen TV, microwave, coffee maker, refrigerator … the works! They have bay views which are better, the higher up you go. The bay views from those top floor rooms are exceptional. They seem to cater for most requirements and if travelling as a group or with family, townhouse accommodation here might be the solution you seek.

Breakfast is OK, really; beautifully presented and with so much choice to appeal to everyone – (*well most folk anyway). Jack Russell’s Steak House is one of the neighbouring restaurants, with many more choices within a mile of the hotel.

Members of staff are, without exception, friendly and helpful at all times. The free shuttle to and from Bayview is much appreciated and not to be sniffed at. You can, of course, explore a little further afield. Diver Ed’s Dive In Theater and Turret’s Sea Garden are two of the nearby attractions.

If you wanted to describe the hotel with a colour code between bright orange and black, you’d probably go for grey. There are, of course, many shades of the colour and here it represents a lack of razzmatazz … something most guests seem to love. The minority might find the surroundings to be rather bland.

There’s no soundproofing, so you are aware of all functions being carried out in adjoining rooms, even including general conversation and snoring!

When you dissect what, initially, was an impressive breakfast spread, it will register that there were very few hot choices. Certainly no eggs, no pancakes … nothing that requires any real preparation. The more cynical guest might feel that the enthusiasm shown by other guests is somewhat misplaced.