Oh if only we were back in paradise right now! When I first discovered Lodge On The Cove a few years ago I knew it was something special. Not only is it in the cutest beach town of Kennebunkport but in the most beautiful wooded setting on the water. It’s a family friendly hotel that has so many fun activities for kids including a pool, clubhouse, smore’s and bikes! Today I’m going to give a full review of the hotel and talk about the much asked question: how we handle bedtime when we are all sharing a room. And full disclosure: The Lodge On The Cove graciously hosted our stay and we couldn’t be more thankful for the experience!
Love how close the hotel is to all the beaches in Kennebunkport!
Pros of Lodge On The Cove
Here’s what we love about this hotel after staying at it twice.
+Proximity to town and the beaches
+All of the family friendly activities: a pool, kids club house, movie nights, s’mores, bikes
+Spacious rooms
+Front porch that you can escape to after the kids go to bed or during nap time
+Restaurant on-site!
+Live music on some evenings
Cons of Lodge On The Cove
+Our room didn’t have a partition or seperate area for Flora’s crib – but we are used to this and made it work!
+The hotel was out of beach passes that offer free parking – make sure you grab one at check in! You can pay to park just get to the beaches EARLY!
How We Spent Our Time In Kennebunkport
Being our second time visiting Kennebunkport on our way up to Acadia & Bar Harbor we had a pretty idea of what we wanted to do with our 2 night stay at Lodge On The Cove!
Day 1: We checked in way later than planned thanks to awful traffic, but we planned on heading RIGHT to the pool, ordering dinner and then heading into town to get ice cream from Rococo’s (so good)!
Day 2: Get up early and enjoy breakfast at the hotel (blueberry muffins, delicious coffee, juice & fruit) before heading to the beach. Pick up a smoothie in town at the juice shop next to Rococo’s if you’d like! We went to Gooch’s Beach and found a parking spot easily. It fills up quickly though! After a few hours on the beach Piper was dying for some pool time so we headed back to Lodge On The Cove and dove in, taking a break for lunch at The Dory (opens at noon)! Austin and I enjoyed a cocktail, too! The girls took a marathon 3 hour nap (Austin too) and I enjoyed some solo time devouring my new book on the porch while sipping a beer. Bliss! After the girls finally woke up we got ready and drove into town to stroll the little downtown area and pick up lobster rolls from The Clam Shack to bring back to the hotel for dinner. After we ate on the porch the girls had so much fun playing in the club house, making friends, playing cornhole and dancing to the live music. Then it was time for smores & bed!!
How We Handle Bedtime When We Share A Hotel Room
Every time we travel I get a ton of questions about how we make bedtime work. Here’s what we do sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Adjust your expectations! Usually when we travel we are ALL so tired that Austin & I don’t mind going to bed when the girls do if that’s how the night unfolds!
This work for us because our girls are 2.5 years apart and have different bedtimes usually . We have never slept in a suite with them, always just 1 hotel room!
One of us takes Piper out of the room (this is why we love having a porch or balcony) and the other puts Flora to bed. We put her bed in a spot in the room that makes the most sense, furthest away from Piper. Sometimes we re-arrange the furniture if we need to! We turn the sound machine on and lights off. Once Flora is sleeping she’ll typically sleeep through anything – at that point we bring Piper back in and get her set up in bed with her headphones & iPad and let her watch a show. This is a big treat for her and so she usually very quiet and respectful when we tell her it’s time to turn it off and go to sleep. One of us will stay in the room until Piper is asleep and then sneak out. Otherwise we both watch something on the iPad or read in bed with a flashlight and just go to bed early at 9.
I can’t suggest Lodge On The Cove enough. It’s seriously a gem and I can’t wait to go back next year!!
Thanks for your recommendation! We love Maine, and are always looking for kid friendly places. Which iPad holder is that?