My Top 10 cities of Northern New England

[Portlander]

Years ago I started a thread that ranked the top 15 cities of New England by importance which received plenty of interest and spirited debate so I thought I'd eliminate the three densely populated states to the south and focus on the more remote portion of New England. My rankings take into account all of the attributes that make up a city including population, entertainment, restaurants, education, shopping, culture, natural beauty, tourism, skyline, history, transportation, economic importance and overall relevance to the region. The northern New England cities I would actually prefer to LIVE in would be a little different from this list.

1) PORTLAND, 2) MANCHESTER, 3) BURLINGTON, 4) NASHUA, 5) BANGOR, 6) PORTSMOUTH, 7) LEWISTON, 8) CONCORD, 9) BRATTLEBORO, 10) DOVER

Where to rank Lewiston, Maine's second largest city was a difficult decision. When included with Auburn its stature is more prominent but I prefer to judge it on it's own merit and have never sipped the "twin cities" marketing kool aid. They are no more related to each other than Portland/South Portland, Bangor/Brewer, Manchester/Bedford or Burlington/South Burlington. Portland and Manchester was a close call but my tie breaker came down to PWM surpassing MHT in airport passenger counts along with having AMTRAK service along with a port gave it an edge in the transportation arena.

Honorable mention: Rutland, Augusta, Montpelier, Keene, Waterville, Presque Isle, Bennington

 

[PlantArch]

Years ago I started a thread that ranked tho top 15 cities of New England which received plenty of interest and spirited debate so I thought I'd eliminate the three densely populated states to the south and focus on the more remote portion of New England. My rankings take into account all of the things that make a city livable including population, entertainment, restaurants, shopping, culture, natural beauty, tourism, urban vibe, skyline, history, transportation, economic importance and overall relavance to the region.

1) PORTLAND, 2) MANCHESTER, 3) BURLINGTON, 4) NASHUA, 5) BANGOR, 6) PORTSMOUTH, 7) LEWISTON, 8) CONCORD, 9) BRATTLEBORO, 10) DOVER

Where to rank Lewiston, Maine's second largest city was a difficult decision. When included with Auburn its stature is more prominent but I prefer to judge it on it's own merit and have never sipped the "twin cities" marketing kool aid. They are no more related to each other than Portland/South Portland, Bangor/Brewer, Manchester/Bedford or Burlington/South Burlington, etc. Portland and Manchester was a close call but my tie breaker came down to PWM surpassing MHT in airport passenger counts along with having AMTRAK service along with a port gave it a big edge in the transportation arena.

Honorable mention: Rutland, Augusta, Montpelier, Keene, Waterville, Presque Isle, Bennington

Have you ever lived in Manchester? For 4 years I split my time between Manchester and Portland and I would rank Manchester much lower than #2. Manchester has nothing like the Old Port or Congress street that has a cool vibe. If you truly wanted to do something fun other than a concert at the arena, you left Manchester to do it. Burlington is a great city as well as Portsmouth. Both are head and shoulders above Manchester which in its feel is much more like Lewiston/Auburn in it's grittiness.

 

[mainejeff]

My rankings:

1. Portland
2. Burlington
3. Portsmouth
4. Manchester
5. Bangor
6. Nashua
7. Augusta
8. Concord
9. Lewiston
10. Waterville

 

[Portlander]

Nice list mainejeff and I see you're giving Augusta a lot more love than I am but I do respect your position for Waterville, it's up and coming with an assist from Colby!

 

[TC_zoid]

11. Bar Harbor in the summer. Have you been there lately? OMG. I didn't recognize it last summer. And next summer and fall will see 1.5 times the number of cruise ship visits as Portland, and if you look at Portland's schedule for 2023, it's kind of scary. They are starting earlier, in May. This year is nothing compared to next year. Even the Disney boat is coming. PortCall.com

 

[Portlander]

Thanks for the link TC and I might have to put Bar Harbor in the top 3 during the fall season! The town is currently struggling with an overload of cruise ship passengers and are considering limits (4000 pax daily) in the future and are already requiring the larger vessels anchor (hide) behind Bar Island which will increase the ferry ride distance to the town pier. Upside for Portland is that the mega ships can come pier side and the city is large enough to handle higher volumes of tourists where Bar Harbor struggles to accommodate the influx and cruise passengers dislike having to be transported from ship to shore and back especially when there are elevated sea states in the harbor..

 

[TC_zoid]

I was there last September on a day with no cruise ships, and the town was still busy. My friends and I decided on Indian food, and there were at least 5 Indian food restaurants filled with people of that race. I looked at car license plates and many were D.C, Pennsylvania, NY, and CT. Is there a connection of more people in town due to Jackson Labs? Even without the cruise ship passengers, Bar Harbor is impressive with its hotel and restaurant offerings.