Before you drive inA vehicle reservation is required to drive Cadillac Summit Road. Into late October, which covers the whole of the color here. Nothing else in the park needs one. The park’s own page on it.
Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.
11 reports came in from Hancock County this week, 6 of them patchy color and 2 of them at peak. They moved our date 3 days later. See the county on the map.
When is peak fall foliage at Acadia National Park in 2026?
Our forecast puts peak color at Acadia National Park around Oct 9, and the four days to aim for are Oct 8 to 11.
The park runs from about -7 to 609 feet, and the color comes downhill over about 3 days: the high stands around Oct 9, the low ground around Oct 10. That's 5 days earlier than our model alone would say, because this season's reports from the ground moved it.
| Week | In the park | Elevation at peak |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 21 to Sep 27 | Starting to turn | |
| Sep 28 to Oct 4 | Nearly peak | |
| Oct 5 to Oct 11 | Peak color | -250 to 0 ft, 0 to 250 ft, 250 to 500 ft |
| Oct 12 to Oct 18 this week | Just past peak | |
| Oct 19 to Oct 25 | Just past peak |
- 250–500 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 912%
- 0–250 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 1058%
- -250–0 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 1024%
Height off 3DEP inside the park’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the park stands in it.
That’s 5 days earlier than our model alone would say. This season’s reports from the ground moved it, and they outrank us.
The place
Cadillac Mountain is only 1,530 feet tall, which sounds modest until you realize there is nothing taller on the entire US Atlantic coast. From October through March, this is the first place in the country to catch sunrise. You stand up there in the dark with your coffee going cold, and then the light hits the granite and the ocean at the same time and you understand why people keep coming back to 49,000 acres of rocky Maine coastline.
Established 1919. About 4 million/year visitors.
If you can only come on certain days
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Thursday, October 8 to Friday, October 9
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
- 250–500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 9
- 0–250 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 10
- -250–0 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 10
- Where to drive
- Park Loop Road, about 5 miles
- What turns
- sugar maple, red maple, paper birch, yellow birch, American beech
- Entrance
- $35
What turns, and when
- sugar maple27%
- red maple23%
- paper birch18%
- yellow birch9%
- American beech9%
- quaking aspen9%
Also named across Maine, outside what the canopy read measures here: White Birch, Red Oak.
Maine's fall is defined by the contrast of scarlet maples and golden birches against dark spruce, with the rocky coast adding a blue backdrop that makes every color more vivid.
Questions people ask about Acadia National Park
- When is peak fall foliage at Acadia National Park?
Our forecast puts peak color at Acadia National Park around Oct 9, and the four days to aim for are Oct 8 to 11.
- Where is the best fall color at Acadia National Park right now?
On Oct 13 the park is just past peak. The last band to peak was -250 to 0 feet, around Oct 10.
- How long does peak last at Acadia National Park?
About four days at the top, Oct 8 to 11, with a week or so either side that's still worth the drive. Across the park's elevations the color moves over about 3 days, so there's peak color somewhere in it for roughly 7 days.
- Is Acadia National Park past peak?
Yes. Peak was around Oct 9, and on Oct 13 it's just past peak.
- What trees turn color at Acadia National Park?
Sugar Maple, Red Maple, White Birch, American Beech, Red Oak. Maine's fall is defined by the contrast of scarlet maples and golden birches against dark spruce, with the rocky coast adding a blue backdrop that makes every color more vivid.
- Is there an entrance fee at Acadia National Park?
Entrance fee $35.
This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. We score it here against 27 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 10 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made