---
title: "North Haven – what to see, and every way to get there | Mixroutes"
description: "How to get to North Haven from Portland, Boston and Providence/Warwick: every way compared, with today's quickest and its fare. North Haven is a town and…"
url: "https://www.mixroutes.com/places/north-haven"
markdown: "https://www.mixroutes.com/places/north-haven.md"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Jp498northhavenharbor.jpg"
---

![North Haven](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Jp498northhavenharbor.jpg)

# North Haven

North Haven is a town and island in Knox County, Maine, United States, in Penobscot Bay.

[Plan a trip to North Haven](https://www.mixroutes.com/?to=North%20Haven) [From Portland](https://www.mixroutes.com/results?from=Portland&to=North+Haven)

## Every way there

- Portland → North Haven 68 km · quickest by road, 4h 35m · $24–33 [Guide](https://www.mixroutes.com/routes/portland-to-north-haven) [Today](https://www.mixroutes.com/results?from=Portland&to=North+Haven)
- Boston → North Haven 184 km · quickest by road, 2h 45m · $17–23 [Guide](https://www.mixroutes.com/routes/boston-to-north-haven) [Today](https://www.mixroutes.com/results?from=Boston&to=North+Haven)
- Providence/Warwick → North Haven Train, bus, flight, ferry and road, side by side [Guide](https://www.mixroutes.com/routes/providence-warwick-to-north-haven) [Today](https://www.mixroutes.com/results?from=Providence%2FWarwick&to=North+Haven)

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

The field note

How transport actually works in Vinalhaven and the Fox Islands: 9 ways of moving, each with its operator, timings, fare and sources, and what we could not confirm.

[Read the note on Vinalhaven and the Fox Islands](https://www.mixroutes.com/notes/vinalhaven)

What North Haven has

- Y Scheduled flights Portland (PWM), 137 km
- Y Trains and coaches Transitous carries 5 timetable feeds for this country, 2 with real-time
- Y Ferries Stonington Ferry Landing, 7 km, Isle au Haut Boat Services; sailings estimated
- Y Driving and taxi OpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
- N Bike and scooter share no share feed known
- N Cruises no open itinerary source anywhere

Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known.

44.128°, -68.741°

The town is both a year-round island community and a prominent summer colony. The population was 417 at the 2020 census. North Haven is accessible by thrice-daily state ferry service from Rockland, or by air taxi from Knox County Regional Airport.

How locals move

## Getting around North Haven the local way

The Maine State Ferry from Rockland is the only public way on or off; almost everyone else walks, bikes or catches a ride once they land.

1. Maine State Ferry Service, Rockland–Vinalhaven ferry Rockland Ferry Terminal, 517A Main Street, to Vinalhaven Ferry Terminal, 79 Sands Road **Where:** Rockland terminal on Route 1; buses and cars line up in the terminal lot\ **When:** Six round trips a day in the schedule seen: 7:00, 8:45, 10:30, 13:00, 14:45, 16:30\ **Fare (2025):** Adult round trip $15.75 off-peak (Oct–May) / $23.00 peak (Jun–Sep); vehicle round trip $41.50 off-peak / $55.00 peak, plus a separate $17.00 reservation charge in both seasons; bicycle round trip $22.75/$29.75\ **Takes:** 1h 15m (Wikivoyage says a little over 75 minutes)\ **Season:** Year-round; winter ice and storms cause cancellations, see service\_status entry\ **Booking:** Walk-on passengers just buy a ticket. Vehicle space is reserved by phone (207-596-5400, opens 9:30 AM exactly one month ahead) or in person at either terminal; summer reservations are typically gone within minutes of going on sale. Without a reservation, get a line number by calling the island terminal at 5:30 AM the day before travel and be in the assigned line 30 minutes before your sailing.\ Sources: [maine.gov](https://www.maine.gov/dot/programs-services/ferry/vinalhaven-ferry) (2026-09) · [maine.gov](https://www.maine.gov/dot/programs-services/ferry/fares-schedules) (2026-09) · [en.wikivoyage.org](https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Vinalhaven&action=raw) (2026-09) · confidence high
2. Vehicle line number for leaving Vinalhaven without a reservation permit Vinalhaven ferry terminal, outbound vehicle queue **Where:** Phone 207-596-5450 at 5:30 AM the day before you want to leave; press 2 for the line-number queue\ **When:** Daily window, 5:30–6:00 AM only; calls before 5:30 go to voicemail, not the queue\ **Fare (2025):** No extra fee beyond the vehicle ticket\ **Takes:** Line-up starts 30 minutes before your assigned sailing\ **Season:** Year-round\ **Booking:** compulsory phone call the day before, 207-596-5450, same-day travel without a reservation still needs a line number\ Sources: [maine.gov](https://www.maine.gov/dot/programs-services/ferry/vinalhaven-ferry) (2026-09) · confidence high
3. North Haven skiff connection to Vinalhaven water taxi Brown's Boat Yard, North Haven, across the Thorofare to Vinalhaven's north coast **Where:** Take the Rockland–North Haven ferry, walk down to Brown's Boat Yard and ask around for a ride across\ **When:** No timetable; informal, ask when you arrive\ **Fare (2019):** About $5 for the ride, per a Wikivoyage contributor's account\ **Takes:** A few minutes across the Thorofare\ **Season:** Fair-weather workaround, used mainly if the last direct Vinalhaven ferry is missed\ **Booking:** none, ask on the dock\ Sources: [en.wikivoyage.org](https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Vinalhaven&action=raw) (2026-09) · confidence low
4. Penobscot Island Air scheduled flight Knox County Regional Airport (Owls Head/Rockland) to Vinalhaven's island airstrip **Where:** Book through the airline; base is at 21 Terminal Ln, Owls Head, ME\ **When:** The airline's own history page says it flies 365 days a year to the Penobscot Bay islands; no Vinalhaven timetable is published on its site\ **Fare (2026):** Not published; the booking widget is script-rendered and no fare table could be fetched\ **Takes:** A short hop; minutes rather than the ferry's 75\ **Season:** Year-round; the airline is the fallback when ferries are iced in or cancelled\ **Booking:** Book Now widget on the airline's site, or call (207) 596-7500\ Sources: [penobscotislandair.net](https://penobscotislandair.net/history) (2026-09) · [penobscotislandair.net](https://penobscotislandair.net/history) (2026-09) · confidence medium
5. Penobscot Island Air mail and freight run cargo truck Knox County Regional Airport to the Fox Islands and other Penobscot Bay islands **Where:** Not a passenger-booking route; this is the airline's contracted mail and parcel service\ **When:** Daily, contracted with USPS, FedEx and UPS\ **Fare (2026):** Not applicable; freight is billed to the shipper, not the passenger\ **Takes:** Same short flight as the passenger service\ **Season:** Year-round; this run is why the airline exists as a winter lifeline when the ferry is iced in\ **Booking:** Freight tracked through the operator's site; scheduled pickups from Rockland-area stores flown out on request\ Sources: [penobscotislandair.net](https://penobscotislandair.net/history) (2026-09) · [penobscotislandair.net](https://penobscotislandair.net/freight) (2026-09) · confidence medium
6. Tidewater Motel bike rental bicycle hire Around Vinalhaven's 49 miles of paved road **Where:** Ask at the Tidewater Motel, 15 Main St\ **When:** on demand, whenever the motel is open\ **Fare (2019):** Free for motel guests, $10/day for everyone else\ **Takes:** however long you keep the bike\ **Season:** Year-round, most useful in summer\ **Booking:** none, arrange at the motel desk\ Sources: [en.wikivoyage.org](https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Vinalhaven&action=raw) (2026-09) · confidence medium
7. Walking and hitching a ride, in place of public transport walking trail Main Street and the island's paved road network **Where:** There is no bus or taxi service; the island is 5 by 7 miles, so most points are a walkable distance from the village\ **When:** always available\ **Fare (2026):** free\ **Takes:** varies by destination, rarely more than an hour on foot\ **Season:** Year-round\ **Booking:** none\ Sources: [en.wikivoyage.org](https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Vinalhaven&action=raw) (2026-09) · confidence medium
8. Winter ice and storm cancellations on the ferry service status Rockland–Vinalhaven crossing **Where:** Sign up for the Maine State Ferry Service's cancellation alerts on the terminal pages, or call the Rockland terminal, 207-596-5400\ **When:** Unpredictable; decided sailing by sailing by MSFS operations in bad weather\ **Fare (2026):** n/a\ **Takes:** n/a\ **Season:** Mainly winter storms and harbor ice; the exact trigger for a given cancellation is the ferry service's own call, not a fixed rule\ **Booking:** n/a\ Sources: [maine.gov](https://www.maine.gov/dot/programs-services/ferry/rockland-ferry) (2026-09) · confidence medium
9. Concord Coachlines, Boston–Rockland bus Boston South Station to Rockland, timed to meet the last Vinalhaven ferry **Where:** Buy the ticket at South Station; the bus drops passengers at the Rockland ferry terminal parking lot\ **When:** Once daily on the connection Wikivoyage describes, arriving Rockland around 16:30\ **Fare (2019):** About $35\ **Takes:** About 5 hours from Boston\ **Season:** Year-round\ **Booking:** Buy on board or online; the Wikivoyage account says buy at the first stop\ Sources: [en.wikivoyage.org](https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Vinalhaven&action=raw) (2026-09) · confidence low

Not yet confirmed: Penobscot Island Air's Vinalhaven-specific passenger fare and daily flight frequency could not be confirmed; the airline's booking widget (sortie.co/pia) is script-rendered and returned no fare data to a plain fetch. Ask the airline directly, (207) 596-7500.; No fare or booking source could be found for hiring a lobster boat or informal water taxi around Carver's Harbor; the brief's mention of this is plausible (it is common on Maine islands) but unconfirmed here, so it is left out of the options rather than guessed.; The Concord Coachlines $35 Boston–Rockland fare and schedule come from a Wikivoyage edit of unknown date, not the operator's own site; treat it as dated. A concordcoachlines.com citation previously attached to this option carried a note about the site's software instead of a quotation from it and was removed; nothing on the operator's own site has been read for this entry.; MaineDOT's Tariff 11 lists the vehicle reservation for Rockland–Vinalhaven as a separate $17.00 charge in both seasons, not bundled into the vehicle fare as an earlier draft of this entry said. Only the Rockland–Matinicus vehicle fares are marked reservation-included.; The North Haven skiff-crossing fare (~$5) is a single Wikivoyage contributor's account of an informal, unadvertised arrangement, not a fare anyone quotes; confidence is low.; Correction to the brief: 'the North Haven crossing and whether anything links the two islands directly' – the only documented direct link is the informal skiff described above; there is no scheduled ferry or bus directly between Vinalhaven and North Haven..

The [field note on Vinalhaven and the Fox Islands](https://www.mixroutes.com/notes/vinalhaven) reads this entry in full, one option at a time, with every source beside it.

Text adapted from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Haven%2C_Maine), CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.


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