Travelers to Rockland and Camden, Maine have many transportation choices including car, train, bus or plane. Depending on how long staying and traveling in Maine and what you would like
Eastern Maine Railroad – Photo Courtesy of TripAdvisor.com
to see you may not even need a car as Rockland is a very walkable city and also has multiple taxi companies with a flat rate of approximately $5-7 anywhere within Rockland or within Camden and about $17 between the two towns.
If you choose to fly to Rockland or Camden, Maine there are three airport choices – Knox County Regional Airport (RKD), Portland International Jetport (PWM) and Bangor International Airport (BGR). Each of the airports offers rental cars and there is airport transport from Rockland to each of them.
The closest airport to Rockland is the Knox County Regional Airport (RKD) which is about five miles from downtown and is a regional airport serviced 3-6 times daily by Cape Air out of Boston. CapeAir is a small employee owned company that flies planes carrying about 9 people. CapeAir is affiliated with Jet Blue so you can book your trip directly to Rockland right from the Jet Blue website and because CapeAir and Jet Blue share the same terminal in Boston’s Logan Airport you do not need to deal with Boston’s security when transferring to CapeAir. Round trip fares from Boston start at about $114. If there is a group of you traveling it may be worth your while to purchase a computer book of ten flights at a discounted rate. These flights are not person specific and can be shared by members of your group and are valid for one year. Budget Rental is available at the airport or Enterprise Rental is in nearby Thomaston.
Portland International Jetport (PWM) is about 80 miles or 1.5 hours from Rockland. It is a medium sized airport and is very easy to navigate. This airport is served by Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest, United and US Airways and has around 90 daily non-stop flights and 1 stop flights to over 200 cities. Rental car providers include Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz and National. The ride from the Portland airport to Rockland is fairly straight forward and less “rural” than travel from Bangor for people that are used to big city travel with street lights and lots of signage. In Maine, we do not waste money on signs so you do not get a lot of reminders that you are on the right road.
The third airport choice is Bangor International Airport (BGR) which is about 65 miles from Rockland or about 2 hours drive time. The drive is on roads that are less traveled without a lot of street lights, signage or traffic. Bangor airport is serviced by Delta, US Airways and Allegiant and offers non-stop flights to Philadelphia, LaGuardia, Detroit, Regan National and some cities in Florida. Bangor airport has the distinction of servicing a majority of military flights for the east coast and has a group of volunteer “troop greeters” that meet all military planes any time of day or day of week to welcome them home to the US and to thank them for their services or to give them a proper send off to active duty. They offer thanks, hugs, handshakes, free cell phones and snacks to show they care.
Concord Trailways provides bus service to Rockland from Boston, Portland and other points in between twice daily year round. The terminal is located at the Maine State Ferry Terminal at the bottom of Talbot Avenue in Rockland. It also makes stops in Camden, Lincolnville and Belfast.
Beginning in the summer of 2014, Maine Eastern Railroad will be running round trip excursions connecting Rockland to Amtrak’s DownEaster train from Boston. The trips will run Friday, Saturday and Sundays between July and mid-October and the schedule is such to make easy connections in Brunswick. This allows for train service from Portland, Maine, Boston and points beyond to Rockland Maine for a weekend summer getaway!