Tour was ok, but a little boring for the kids - lots of "dad, can we please get off soon?"…read more We booked for an easy tour, but in retrospect would definitely go with a smaller boat and more unique tour. Would probably be 2-3 stars, but bumped further down to 1 for the very rude tour guide.

Fun time!! Our 1st time in Portland and we decided to take a tour of the city and harbor. If you've…read moreever done the Duck tours in Boston then you know you're in for a treat with Quack N cruise.

So much fun. We did the tour at night and it was worth it. The night sky added a spooky factor that…read moremade it so much more fun. Our guide was luke and he was great. He was very knowledgeable, confident, welcoming, funny, and a great guide over all. It was only my group on the tour, but he still made it super fun and was very conversational with us. Definitely recommend this tour when you are in Portland.

From the owner: Walk along the cobblestone pathways of Portland's West End, considered to be one of America's best…read morepreserved examples of the Victoria era. Immerse yourself in tales of musical spirits, poets, tragic fires, parties that never die, and a vast network of underground tunnels.

One time at the US Custom House I drank pickle juice in what was Joshua Chamberlain's old office…read morewith two of my best friends. The only thing that was missing with Angus King. To be honest, if he had been there I probably would have died of sheer happiness. It would have been horrible to pass away so young, but with that much epic Maine-ness happening all at once, it would have come as no surprise to my friends and family. The United States Custom House here in Portland was built with fire proof granite from New Hampshire between 1868 and 1872. When you first enter, there is a grandiose hall with a checkerboard floor, walnut counters on either side of the room, and an iron-railed balcony encircling the room. From what I know, at the heart of its purpose, it was where merchants used to come to pay their tariffs on imports/exports. Now, here are things I'll probably get in trouble for telling you: 1. This place might actually be a front for Gringotts Wizarding Bank 2. I may or may not have accidentally been locked in the basement after the alarm was tripped and the police showed up (it's much more fun to not know the context of which this story comes from, so I'll leave it at that) 3. I was told there used to be a moat and a dungeon here. I'm not THAT gullible, but... a girl needs something to believe in, y'know? So, I'm going to continue to think this is true regardless if hard evidence is shown to me and proves otherwise. 4. When the zombie apocalypse happens, this is on my list of places in town to possibly secure and make a fortress out of In reality, I've been here multiple times throughout the years for galas and auctions, cocktail tastings, historical tours, and more (KUDOS to the The Greater Portland Landmarks for doing such an unbelievable job at the preservation of this spot which was added to the National Register of Historical Sites [as of 1973]). This place, to me, feels like a living, breathing relic from the days of Portland's yesteryear. The view of our little seaport town from the cupola of the building is also breathtaking. If you love history and ever have the chance to tour the Custom House... do it. Without hesitation, do it. It's one of those spots that will stay with you forever.

Lovely visit to the Portland Observatory…read more We had intended on a self-tour but were told that self tours would start at 4:30pm...and that before that time, you would have to take a toured guide up the tower. As there was a scheduled guide about to start soon...we opted to take the guided tour. At that time (mid-week in late August around 12pm) there were only four of us on that tour. Our tour guide, an older woman, was wonderful. As we ascended the tower during the 45-minute tour, we stopped off at each floor and she explained a bit about the tower and its history. Lots of interesting facts! We made it to the top to take in some amazing views of the area. Tours are $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6-16 and free for those 5 and under. The stairs (there are about 100) throughout the tower are spiral-ish...so be careful of your foot placement on the narrowed parts of each step while ascending and descending. Street parking signs can be a bit tricky in the area reading "...no parking on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th ___day of the month..." Be sure to properly read those signs and park accordingly.

My plans only have me in town for two days, so I asked my local coworker one sight I had to see…read morewith a short time frame, and was sent here. Just a fun little local tip. The history itself is cool enough: this was a lookout for ships coming into the harbor before radio, and is the oldest currently standing in the USA. But I really appreciated the elevation for getting a good look of the downtown and harbor area, walking around the tower in the breeze and seeing the ocean peaking through the islands in the harbor. Worth the $10 to the top. (Note: the stairs are steep and there's no room inside for an elevator. We're talking large curving internal staircases. Maybe not for those with mobility issues.)

Highly recommended tour in Portland, Maine. Gordon was our…read morevisual storyteller and he captured the attention of my whole family,most notably my skeptical 14 year old son who wanted follow up details to go ghost hunting while we are here. This tour combines ghost stories, local history, comedy, and some pretty fantastic storytelling while getting a nice walk in the evening in. Loved it!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Portland, Maine. Aside from some amazing lobstah…read morerolls, what else might you expect out of a historic, coastal New England town? You guessed it.....ghosts. Maine has always fascinated me, ever since I read "Pet Sematary" when I was about 12 years old. In fact, the 1989 version of the movie was just on television. Perhaps no one tackled the Maine accent as well as Fred Gwynn. Ayuh, he nailed his role as the old, weathered, local Maine neighbor, Jud Crandall. (John Lithgow provided a completely different interpretation of Jud in the 2019 version.) It's only appropriate that King, who grew up in Portland, based so many of his novels in the state of Maine. This place is saturated with ghosts, savory characters, and somewhat of a dark history. Last week on my layover I took a Wicked Walking Tour with Gordon, who was absolutely fantastic. Knowledgeable and funny, his theatrical, yet historic tour was well worth my time. Gordon made the tour interactive and got to know each of us on the tour. There was another Lori (spelled differently though), another couple from Cleveland, and some newlyweds amongst our group. We started by learning about some history of the city. Portland buried their dead 18 feet under. Gordon informed us this was to keep the vampires in and the grave robbers out. The Portland Waterfront and the many islands of Casco Bay have stories of pirates, witches, ghosts, fires, and abandoned ships that we learned of throughout the tour. In this particular part of the waterfront a mysterious woman clad in black wanders the dock area, stumbling over lobster traps in search of her sailor. Aside from an occasional wharf rat, there is not much trace of life down here at night. A building that I noticed while walking around the town was the Time and Temperature Building, a building with....you guessed it: the time and temperature displayed on the outside. Gordon talked about this building on our tour. The place is allegedly haunted by a female ghost with fire-engine red hair, who enjoys riding the elevators and who will often play on them, randomly sending them to different floors. Some workers in the building have claimed to have seen an unknown female walking through their offices, and when they follow her or try speaking to her, she vanishes around a corner. Electricians insist that there is nothing wrong with the wiring of the elevators. No one is certain of the back-story here, nor why she does this. Before running through a dark and sinister alley, Gordon pointed out an other creepy building. I don't remember the details, but I remember something about a woman seeing a mermaid, attached to the front of a ship outside her third story window. Apparently the water level used to reach this part of the town and there have been phantom ships, still weathering the storms, to this day. Check out Gordan's tour......I really enjoyed it. His stories are interesting and engaging. Maine is awesome. And the people here are wicked smaht.....

We came to Maine very VERY early season (March 20th-24th) and were looking for something to do…read more Most of the area is still in full 'pre season' mode, with many restaurants and services closed, especially during the week. We found the walking Food tour on Viator and jumped at it - and boy were we glad that we did! Because of the time of year, my wife and I were alone on the tour and as such got to spend around 3 hours with our guide, Ray Sapirstein. Putting aside Ray's obvious love for Portland and food in general, he was a charming guy - keeping us engaged and entertained with stories about the area for the entire duration of the tour. Ray is a PHD trained historian and, as such, was able to fill in a lot of color about the area, going beyond the 'food' aspects of the tour, describing the 'hilly roads' which were sand dunes were covered up to build out the city. Add to that the fact that he took us to several places that we NEVER would have found via googling for 'best ofs' and would have been a HUGE failure to miss! Andy's Old Port Pub - a neighborhood bar (don't call it a dive, though in my mind it qualifies). Spend some time chatting with Thomas, the owner, and Steve the bartender - and had what I can only describe as the single best haddock taco I've ever had in my life. Do not judge a book by it's cover: this place is AWESOME. Great craft beer tap list, and a warm and friendly environment. If I lived in the area, this would be my regular. From there we went to Gilbert's Chowder house right next door - Ray was again right: don't sleep on the seafood chili - it was RIDICULOUSLY amazing. After that we paid a visit to the Harbor Fish Market where we got to see the recent catches, and as Ray pointed out the 'transparency' of the thing: fish are cleaned and prepped for sale right where the customer can watch, and all fish are labeled as 'fresh' (with VERY few pre-frozen exceptions). This is also the place to go if you want to buy Maine swag. From there we proceeded to Rigby House, an unassuming 'coffee shop and workspace' that Ray promised us had nothing short of the best lobster roll in Maine: I've had some good lobster rolls so I can't quite commit to that, but the bread it was built on was FANTASTIC, baked locally from one of the bakeries rated tops in the nation right in Portland. This stop came with either 2 samplers or 1 full pour from their 20+ menu. Don't miss the blueberry ale. It's a rare treat and again, came from Ray's love of his city. From there, we visited Dean's Sweet shop for a couple of truffles and terrible jokes, and then Fiasco's Gelato to round up our day - try the lobster gelato, it's weird and not something I'd necessarily do again...but glad to have had the experience. The whoopie pie gelato was top notch and the blueberry was one of the best gelatos I've ever had. For a 3 hour tour, with all food included, we were certainly full and happy. The walk was short - I don't think we wandered more than a mile in total - and when we were showing signs of being "Help me I'm not from Maine cold", Ray took us into Grittys, another neighborhood bar just for a warm up.

I attended the Portland: Old Port Culinary Walking Tour on Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 10:30 am with…read moreAnne and Ross. Usually, there is only one tour guide and it was supposed to be Anne only but Ross joined in as well. The Old Port Culinary Walking Tour is a foodie tour with a mix of history and culture. Our group consisted of 13 people. The tour starts at Andy's Old Port Pub with an introduction from our tour guides. At Andy's Old Port Pub, we were seated in the backroom and had a seasoned, grilled fresh haddock with house-made pickled vegetables, pico de gallo and lime crema in a corn tortilla and Andy's house Lager. Ross talked about the suspicious happenings and history at Andy's Old Port Pub. They both talked about Harbor Fish Market which was right across the street and how the seafood never see the back of a truck. I thought the fish taco was okay and was probably my least favorite food item from the whole tour. Andy's house Lager was very smooth and I really enjoyed it. Then, we walked next door to Gilberts Chowder House where we had a choice of Clam Chowder, Haddock Chowder, Corn & Chicken Chowder, Seafood Chowder, or Seafood Chili. I chose the Clam Chowder. The Clam Chowder was thick and not as creamy as I usually like my clam chowders. Here, Anne was showing us pictures of lobster abnormalities. After having our chowder, we walked to the historic U.S. Custom House and old fishing docks. We even got a postcard of the old fishing docks which was a nice souvenir. Next, we stopped at Rigby Yard and were seated in a small private room. We were offered several drink options; I chose a glass of prosecco. We had the Fresh Maine Lobster Roll with fresh Maine lobster meat Maine-style, tossed lightly in mayo, lemon, and sea salt served on a brioche roll with chips. The lobster was definitely fresh and good. The last two stops were dessert spots: Dean's Sweets and The Gelato Fiasco. We had a needham which is a confectionery dessert bar made from sugar, chocolate, coconut, and potato and we had the option to choose another truffle. I chose a blueberry one. At The Gelato Fiasco, we were able to choose 2 different flavors. Funny enough, I had went to The Gelato Fiasco the night before and it really is delicious gelato. I was glad to try different flavors. The tour finished about 1:45pm. The tour guides thanked us for spending our time together. The Portland: Old Port Culinary Walking Tour was fun and I enjoyed meeting the other people in our group. Anne and Ross were very knowledgeable with Portland's history and food scene. They had good recommendations for other things to do in Portland. The food we had on the tour was okay according to my opinion, but it was definitely a good variety of Maine dishes.

This was a super interesting Locally owned tour of Portland . We visited some beautiful historic…read morelight houses and toured the downtown areas. The driver (and owner) had lots of local interesting information to share and he was enthusiastic and really made the tour fun for our group. Actually was one of the best local tours I have ever been on. Highly recommended when visiting Portland for the first time.

loved this tour! great commentary and good jokes! Very interesting and well done. I would…read moredefinitely recommend this trip!

The tour guide/owner is great. He likes to tell the story/history of Portland…read more You get to see three light houses and hear about all 54 working light houses in the area. You will be taken through old town and get the history of Britain destroying about 800 homes. There are several famous people from the area too. This was about a four hour tour which included information on local restaurants. I recommend this tour. You see a lot and have a good laugh with others on the tour. Our driver was great. He could take a joke as well as give them.

What a great tour! So knowledgeable, great narrative. Would highly recommend this group! Jeff was…read moreamazing!!