A server prepares a dining room at Fore Street before seating guests in December 2019. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Summer in Maine isn’t all sunshine and lobster rolls. There are traffic bottlenecks, throngs of tourists, long lines and wait times. Trying to enjoy the best of what the state has to offer can be so frustrating that those of us who live here are often inclined to keep putting it off until next weekend — or next year.

Shoulder season, random weekdays and off-hours can provide workarounds for getting to some attractions before they shut down for the winter, but there are also a bunch of tourist hot spots that stay open year-round, and now, when there’s less to do and less competition to do it, is a great time to go.

Here are six things that would be a real pain, if not impossible, to do in summer that you can do now, whenever the mood or weather strikes.

Walk into Fore Street on a Saturday night

On a Friday or Saturday in summer, by the time Fore Street opens the door to walk-in customers at 4:30 p.m., there’s a line around the block. And if you’re at the end of that line, you’re not likely to get a table until the very end of the night, said Jessie Robb, the renowned Portland restaurant’s front-of-house coordinator.

At this time of year? If you don’t get a table right away, Robb said, you’ll probably be seated by 5:30 p.m. at the latest. And you can have a drink and appetizer in the lounge while you wait, without standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other reservation-less diners.

That space stays open for anyone who wants to stop by for a sip or a bite. But if you want a sit-down dinner anytime from Sunday through Thursday in winter, odds are good you can walk right in and get a table within a half hour, Robb said.

Spend a sunny day at Kettle Cove

I can never manage to gather my beach supplies and get myself out the door early enough in summer to nab a parking spot at Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth, where the lot typically fills up by about 10 a.m. on sunny weekend days.

My routine instead has become to drive down to the state park, make a futile loop around the parking lot, then head over to adjacent Crescent Beach with its abundant spaces. Although I have yet to find the motivation to lug my stuff with me, I do often stroll over to the smaller beach to look on at the sunbathers in envy — of both their spots in the sand and their superior time-management skills.

Winter beachgoers at Kettle Cove State Park in Cape Elizabeth in 2023. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

Now, however, I can procrastinate as much as I want and still guarantee a beach day at Kettle Cove, which stays open year-round (with a drop box for the $3 fee). I’d probably refrain from putting my feet in the water, but there’s no reason not to bring a beach chair and picnic basket. And from October through March, your dog is welcome too.

Explore Acadia without encountering a soul

Not all of Acadia National Park is open year-round — you can’t, for example, drive up to Cadillac Mountain between December and mid-April (though with the right footwear, you can walk) — but a lot of it is, including some of its most popular sights.

The view from atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in winter. Vehicular access shuts down from December to mid-April, but with the right gear, you can visit the mountaintop on foot. Photo courtesy of National Park Service

You’ll have to pack your own popovers, but you can park at Jordan Pond and do a loop around the shore, though it is slippery in sections, said National Park Service spokesperson Amanda Pollock, who emphasized the need to bundle up in layers, wear microspikes and bring a flashlight or head lamp with an extra set of batteries when exploring any part of the park in winter.

Pollock’s pick for winter activity is to walk or cross-country ski the carriage roads, some of which get groomed when the weather’s right, including particularly pretty ones by Eagle Lake.

From the park’s entrance station, you can also drive to Sand Beach, then park and walk to Thunder Hole along the scenic Ocean Path, where — at some times, on some days — you might not pass a single person.

Drive onto the Vinalhaven ferry for a day trip

Visiting Vinalhaven is an unchecked box on my Maine travel bucket list, largely because I’ve been intimidated by the logistics of getting there. In summer, if you want to bring your car with you, the Maine State Ferry Service recommends getting to the Rockland terminal two hours before the ferry leaves, and then, if you miss that boat, you’ll almost definitely make it onto the next one, said ticket agent Amanda Thompson.

The ferry for Vinalhaven docked at the Maine State Ferry Terminal in Rockland in 2018.  Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

That’s a good chunk of a long weekend, let alone a day trip, spent waiting in your car. At this time of year, as long as it’s not a holiday, getting to the dock a half hour or 45 minutes beforehand should be fine, Thompson said. Once you get to the island, you can walk over to the Vinalhaven Land Trust, open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, where you’ll find help navigating its 20 miles of trails. (If you’re there on the weekend, there’s an app for that, called VHTrails.)

A handful of businesses stay open year-round for food and drink, including The Sand Bar (open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, though it shuts down in March) and, with more limited hours, Sea’s Bakery and Sherry’s Kitchen.

Take a jaunt through downtown Ogunquit

Downtown Ogunquit is one of Maine’s major coastal bottlenecks in summer, with nearly 1,000 cars an hour coming through southbound on Route 1 on Saturday afternoons in August, slowing traffic down to a crawl. But nowadays, you can coast right into town, then head down Shore Road and take your pick of parking spots at Perkins Cove (a lot that fills up fast in summer, but — like all town lots — is free in winter).

Downtown Ogunquit in February 2017. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

Walk the scenic Marginal Way path into the heart of town for shopping and food. And be sure to check the entertainment schedule at The Front Porch Piano Bar and Restaurant, where a line forms out the door on summer weekends for the popular sing-alongs by the piano. Unless a wedding party shows up and takes over the place, that shouldn’t be the case if you pop in over the winter, said general manger Matt French.

Grab a James Beard Award-winning pastry in a jiff

When a bakery whose business model is based on running out of what it makes, then goes and wins a James Beard Award, there’s bound to be some disappointed customers at the end of the long lines that form.

Barak Olins bags biscotti at Zu Bakery in Portland in April. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

But that’s just the way the cookie crumbles (or the croissant flakes). At least, it was some Saturdays this summer at Zu Bakery in Portland’s West End. Now, owner Barak Olins said, the regular customers who pre-dated his Outstanding Bakery win in June — but were deterred by the lines — are back.

Over in Deering Center, Norimoto Bakery also has seen its lines dissipate, said owner Atsuko Fujimoto, who took home the the award for Outstanding Pastry Chef from the same James Beard ceremony. And other than a possible spike around Valentine’s Day, she doesn’t anticipate longer wait times to return until after March. “I can assure you that it has been pretty slow after the holiday season,” she said.