Seacoast Airfield is located in Eliot Maine, a town of about 7000 people dating back to the early-mid 1600s. Neighboring towns of Kittery Maine and Portsmouth NH host lots of great restaurants and things to do. There are numerous walking trails and nature hikes in the area.
GETTING AROUND
Unfortunately, nothing is walking distance from the airfield. Uber/Lyft are usually available from around 8am until the late evening but I would have a backup plan in place in case they aren't.
Bicycles and electric scooters are available to borrow from Train Tailwheel. The roads aren't great to ride at night (no street lights) but are fine during the day. The electric scooters go 20MPH easily and have plenty of range to get anywhere in Portsmouth that you want to go.
If you are not planning on renting a car and will need transportation, let us know ahead of time and we will arrange for pickup/dropoff service to/from your hotel and the airfield at no charge. Restaurants and other points of interest are walking distance from the local hotels.
LODGING
WATER STREET INN, KITTERY ME
The Water Street Inn is a beautiful boutique hotel along the Piscataqua River. This is our top choice for staying in the area. The rooms are fantastic and the staff is wonderful. A perfect location between downtown Portsmouth and Kittery Foreside. Both walkable (.5 miles) on very nice streets with sidewalks and lots to look at. Kittery Foreside has plenty of amazing restaurants and downtown Portsmouth is a big tourist destination with it's own selection of amazing food.
HOTEL THAXTER, PORTSMOUTH NH
Hotel Thaxter is located right in the heart of Portsmouth. A very nice boutique hotel in a restored former church with modern luxuries. A VERY nice place to stay. Downtown Portsmouth makes for a great place to walk at the end of the day and into the night. There are so many quality food choices that the hardest part of the trip will be deciding which restaurant to go to. See Prescott Park, check out the tugboats, see houses from the 1600s, and walk along the harbor.
THINGS TO DO
There are lots of walking trails in the area. Located on the seacoast, elevation is pretty flat all around.
Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge
The wildlife refuge is set on almost 10,000 acres of land along 50 miles of Maine coast. There's no charge for parking or admission. Trails are well maintained and an easy walk. Bring bug spray. The "Cutts Island Trail" starts in Kittery Point, not too far from the airfield. It's a pretty easy 1.8 mile loop and you can take other trails to cut that down to as little as .5 miles, depending how much you want to walk.
Rogers Park
Hidden away in Kittery, this is another pretty easy walk. There are lots of loop trails allowing you to head back to the car whenever you feel like. Trails go through the woods, along the marsh, and down to the rocky coast. Typically there's a few people walking dogs along the main trail. Some side trails can be muddy if it's rained recently so either avoid these or wear appropriate shoes.
Downtown Portsmouth NH
Walking around downtown Portsmouth is a good way to kill some time. Great food, small shops, interesting architecture, tugboats, there's a lot to take in. Walk around downtown or head to Strawbery Banke and Prescott Park. In the summer the flower gardens are nice to see. There's also plenty of old buildings like the Moffat-Ladd house and garden, one of America's finest Georgian mansions, built between 1760 and 1763. There are some great coffee shops for the morning as well, we recommend Kaffee Vonsolln for some great coffee, roasted in house, and German pastries, or Caffe Kilim for a unique art filled space and great Turkish coffee.
Breweries
There are many local, craft breweries in the area. It would take up too much space to list them all and none are bad. In Kittery our top recommendation is Tributary Brewing. In Portsmouth, probably Cisco Brewers. Cisco has pretty good food and lots of live music. There are tons more options with plenty of reviews online.