Cliff House Maine
An oceanfront resort on 70 acres atop Bald Head Cliff at Cape Neddick, in the Town of York. Verified resort fee, parking, pool, spa and dining detail, checked against the resort's own pages.
Cliff House Maine occupies one of the most dramatic sites on the New England coast: 70 acres atop Bald Head Cliff, about 90 feet above the Atlantic, at Cape Neddick in the Town of York. The resort is far older than its architecture suggests. Elsie Jane Weare opened the first Cliff House here in 1872, and the glass-and-timber resort standing today is the third full reinvention of that hotel, reopened in September 2016 with a second phase finished in October 2017.
This is destination Maine: about an hour north of Boston by the resort’s own reckoning, far enough into York County to feel like genuine coast, and positioned on a clifftop that delivers the ocean in its most theatrical presentation.
What it actually costs
Cliff House publishes no nightly room rate. Rooms sell through the resort’s booking engine at prices that move with the date, the room category and demand, so any “from $X” figure you see quoted elsewhere is someone’s guess or someone’s stale screenshot. Run your own dates on the resort’s booking page and treat that number as the only real one.
What the resort does publish, and what tends to surprise people at checkout:
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Resort fee | $38 per room, per night |
| Valet parking | $25 per car, per night |
| Self-parking, overnight guests | Complimentary |
| Deposit at booking | 50% of the stay |
| Cancellation, inside 21 days | Full deposit forfeited |
| Cancellation, 21+ days out | 10% of the deposit |
Maine lodging tax applies on top. The $38 resort fee is not optional and it is not small over a long weekend, but it does buy a real list: Wi-Fi, the 24-hour fitness center, the Maine Stations on every guest floor (coffee, tea, still and sparkling water, local milk, whole fruit), digital newspapers through PressReader, self-parking, the Overlook Terrace fire pit, films in the Hartwig Theatre, the Discovery Center, seasonal programming and live music, the sculpture garden and grounds, lawn games in warmer months, and use of all the pools and hot tubs.
One charge to watch if you are visiting for the day rather than staying: in peak summer the resort warns that mandatory paid valet may be in effect for day visitors, including people arriving only for the spa or a restaurant. Ask when you book.
The property
The setting
Bald Head Cliff rises where the Maine coast turns from sandy beaches to dramatic rock. The resort spreads across the promontory, buildings positioned to face the open Atlantic, with Nubble Light visible up the coast. There is no beach on the property and no swimming from it. The cliff is the point.
Rooms
The resort has 226 accommodations: 186 guest rooms and 40 suites, plus a separate restored New England cottage. Every one of them has a private terrace.
Ocean views are not automatic, though. The resort’s own overview page says all 226 have oceanfront views, while its own room list includes Partial Coastal View and Premium Resort View categories, so check the specific category you are booking rather than assuming. Coastal View rooms look north or south along the Cape Neddick shore; Oceanfront rooms face straight out to sea. Premium rooms add a fireplace, and some rooms include a sleeper sofa.
House rules worth knowing before you book: check-in is after 4:00 PM, check-out by 11:00 AM, and the guest checking in must be 21 or over unless accompanied by an adult. The entire resort is non-smoking, including guest room balconies and pool decks, and that covers vaping and marijuana. Drones are prohibited, including over the water immediately offshore. Bringing your own alcohol onto the property is not allowed.
Pets are not permitted. The resort states this plainly and offers to suggest nearby pet care instead.
The pools
There are three pools and two hot tubs, all saltwater filled, and all of them are reserved for overnight guests only.
| Season | Hours | Ages | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resort Pool, outdoor, heated, infinity edge | Year round, bar maintenance closures | 9 AM to 8 PM | All ages in winter; 13+ only from early summer to early September |
| Indoor Lap Pool | Year round | 9 AM to 9 PM | All ages |
| Cove Pool + family hot tub | Summer only, through 14 September in 2026 | 9 AM to 8 PM | All ages |
| Resort Hot Tub, outdoor | Year round | 9 AM to 10 PM | 13+ year round |
The outdoor Resort Pool staying open through a Maine winter is the genuinely unusual part: the resort heats the approach path to the hot tub so you can walk out in the snow. Outdoor swimming is weather dependent.
In summer, cabanas and daybeds can be reserved: Cove Pool cabana $300 a full day for up to four, Resort Pool cabana $750 a full day for up to four adults, Resort Pool daybed $500 a full day for two. Cancellation is 72 hours; a full washout day is not charged.
The spa
The Spa at Cliff House is 9,000 square feet, not the far larger figure sometimes quoted. It runs a circuit of saunas, steam rooms, relaxation spaces and treatment rooms, with separate men’s and women’s retreat areas, an infrared sauna, and two relaxation spaces: the Sanctuary, which is kept quiet, and the Sun Lounge, where conversation is allowed and where the view takes in Nubble Lighthouse.
Prices are published in full:
- Holistic Custom Massage: $205 / $300 / $385 for 50, 80 or 110 minutes
- Signature retreat rituals, 110 minutes: $395
- Manicure $85, pedicure $105, mani-pedi combo $165
- Infrared sauna session, 30 to 45 minutes: $45
- Private yoga, 60 minutes: $150 for one, $225 for two
A 2% service charge is added, and the spa notes that gratuity is optional and customarily 20% to 24%.
Two practical points. First, the resort itself says appointments are “in extremely high demand” and recommends booking at least 60 days ahead. Second, the salon here is a nail salon: manicures, pedicures and nail enhancements. Beyond a hair and scalp treatment offered as a massage add-on, there is no hair cutting, coloring or styling service.
Minimum ages: 15 for treatment rooms, 5 for the nail salon, and 15 to use the fitness center without a parent.
Visiting the spa without staying
Non-guests can book treatments, and the fitness center is open to day-spa visitors as well as overnight guests. The pools are not, whatever you may read elsewhere. And in peak summer, day visitors may face mandatory paid valet parking.
Dining
Six outlets, all confirmed on the resort’s own dining pages.
The Tiller Restaurant. The signature room, cantilevered above the water, with a ceiling built to echo a ship’s hull. Brunch and dinner. Reservations are necessary for dinner and strongly advised for brunch, through OpenTable or on 207-361-6277. Brunch runs 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM daily; dinner 5:00 to 9:00 PM Sunday to Thursday and 5:00 to 10:00 PM Friday and Saturday. The Tiller serves seven days a week from late spring to late fall and Thursday to Monday in winter. Its Longview Room is a private space for up to 10.
Tidemark Lounge. Adjacent to The Tiller, all-day menu, fireplace in winter, floor-to-ceiling views year round, 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
Nubb’s Lobster Shack. Open year round, not seasonal, for lunch and dinner: lobster rolls, whole steamed lobster, fried clams, burgers, local beer. Open seating and no reservations needed in true shack fashion. Summer hours 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM Sunday to Thursday and to 10:00 PM Friday and Saturday, seven days a week from late spring to late fall, then Thursday to Sunday in winter. In warm weather the garage doors roll up onto a picnic-table patio. Year round you can also rent a SeaGlobe, an enclosed private dining pod for up to six, or the Captain’s Table private room for up to eight, both on 207-361-6275.
Bald Head Coffee Co. + Market. On the Overlook Terrace beside the fire pit, pouring locally roasted Bard Coffee, with breakfast bites, snacks, beer and wine.
The Terrace. The Tiller’s open-air cliffside extension, summer only, serving the full Tiller menu.
Portside Cafe. At the Cove pool, summer only, Mediterranean-leaning menu, live music at weekends.
In-room dining. All-day menu 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, brunch 7:00 to 11:00 AM, dinner 5:00 to 9:00 PM.
Weddings and events
Cliff House has over 25,000 square feet of function space across nine meeting rooms, most with ocean views, anchored by the Atlantic Ballroom and its double-height windows. Meetings run to 300 attendees; weddings to 225 guests. Ceremony sites are outdoors on the cliff or indoors depending on the Maine weather, and there is an on-site planning team. Enquire through the resort’s events team directly.
Practical information
Location
Address: 591 Shore Road, Cape Neddick, ME 03902 Reservations: 855-210-6901 · Front desk: 207-361-1000
Cape Neddick is a village and postal address within the Town of York, not a separate town, which is worth knowing when you are looking up local ordinances, beach rules or parking. The resort sits on Shore Road between Ogunquit to the north and York Beach to the south.
Getting there
The resort describes itself as about an hour’s drive north of Boston and roughly forty minutes south of Portland, and reachable from the Boston, Portland, Manchester or Portsmouth airports. Treat those as the operator’s own figures; summer traffic on Route 1 through York and Ogunquit does what summer traffic does. Use the resort’s Getting Here page for current directions and its downloadable property map, since Shore Road approaches from both ends.
When to visit
Summer (June to August): peak season, fullest bookings, everything open, the Cove Pool and The Terrace running, and the trolley into Ogunquit.
Fall (September to October): the resort’s own favorite pitch, and reasonably so. Warm water, thinning crowds, low light on the cliff.
Winter (November to March): the resort stays open and so do the outdoor pool and hot tub, which is the reason to come. Restaurant days contract to Thursday-to-Monday at The Tiller and Thursday-to-Sunday at Nubb’s. Storm-watching from a heated pool is the whole proposition.
Spring (April to May): shoulder season, unpredictable weather, the Cove Pool and summer outlets not yet open.
The trolley to Ogunquit
From early July to Labor Day the resort runs a complimentary vintage trolley into Ogunquit town for guests, first come first served. Outbound from the resort at 9:30 AM and 6:00 PM; inbound from the Ogunquit Fire House on School Street at 1:30 PM and 9:00 PM, the last being the final return of the night. Note that it does not stop at the beach; the beach is a walk from the town stop.
Nearby
Nubble Light
Cape Neddick Light, universally called the Nubble, sits on its own rock islet off Sohier Park in York Beach, south along the coast from the resort. It is visible from Cliff House, including from the spa’s Sun Lounge. The island itself is closed to the public, but the view from the mainland park is the one everybody photographs.
Ogunquit
The beach town is a few miles north.
- Marginal Way, the cliff path, is 1.25 miles and paved, running from near the Sparhawk on Shore Road to Perkins Cove, per the Town of Ogunquit
- Perkins Cove, a working fishing and artists’ harbor with a pedestrian drawbridge
- Ogunquit Beach, a long sand beach at the mouth of the Ogunquit River
- Ogunquit Playhouse, a theater founded for the summer season that now programs well beyond it
York
York is four villages: York Village, York Harbor, York Beach and Cape Neddick. Long Sands and Short Sands are the beaches, Old York Historical Society holds the colonial buildings, and York Beach carries the arcade-and-taffy end of the spectrum.
Kittery
The Route 1 outlet stretch runs south of York toward the New Hampshire line.
The experience
You arrive and the ocean appears through the lobby windows before you have reached the desk. The design is contemporary, clean lines and natural materials, but it is the setting that dominates. Everything points toward the water.
Your room continues the theme. The terrace door opens and the Atlantic fills the frame: blue water, white surf, the Nubble blinking its signal up the coast. The sound of the swell comes up from the rocks 90 feet below.
At the spa, treatments happen with ocean views. At Nubb’s, you eat a lobster roll with the garage doors open to the salt air. In February, you walk a heated path in a bathrobe to sit in a hot tub while the wind comes off the water.
Cliff House sells one thing above all others: this location, this view, this feeling of being perched at the edge where land meets sea. The rooms are comfortable, the spa is excellent, the dining is good, but the real product is the promontory itself, and everything else is designed to get out of its way.
Cliff House Maine offers luxury accommodation on one of the most dramatic sites on the New England coast, 70 clifftop acres above the Atlantic, open year round. Whether for a romantic getaway, a spa retreat or a wedding, the resort delivers the Maine coast in its most theatrical form. Budget for the $38 nightly resort fee, book the spa well ahead, and leave the dog at home.
Common Questions
Is there a resort fee at Cliff House Maine?
Yes. The resort charges $38 per room, per night, published on its own Amenities and Policies page. It covers Wi-Fi, the 24-hour fitness center, the Maine Stations refreshment points on every guest floor, digital newspapers through PressReader, self-parking, the Overlook Terrace fire pit, films in the Hartwig Theatre, seasonal programming, and use of the pools and hot tubs. Valet parking is charged separately at $25 per car per night.
Does Cliff House Maine allow pets?
No. The resort's house rules state that Cliff House does not allow pets, and its concierge team will suggest nearby pet care instead. The resort does not publish a separate policy for service animals, so contact it directly if that applies to you.
Is Cliff House open in winter?
Yes. The resort runs year round and there is no seasonal shutdown. The outdoor Resort Pool, the outdoor Resort Hot Tub and the Indoor Lap Pool all stay open through the winter apart from maintenance closures, and the resort heats the path to the hot tub. Restaurant days do contract: in winter The Tiller serves Thursday to Monday and Nubb's Lobster Shack serves Thursday to Sunday. The Terrace and Portside Cafe are summer only.
Can people who are not staying at the resort use the pools or the spa?
The spa and the restaurants take non-guests, and the fitness center is open to day-spa visitors. The pools are not. The resort states that all of its pools are reserved for overnight-stay guests only. In peak summer, day visitors arriving for the spa or a restaurant may be required to use paid valet parking, so ask when you book.
How much is a room at Cliff House Maine?
The resort publishes no nightly rate. Rooms sell through its booking engine at prices that move with the date, the room category and demand, so the only honest figure is the one your own dates return. The charges that are fixed and published are the $38 resort fee per room per night and $25 per car per night for valet, on top of Maine lodging tax. A 50 percent deposit is due at booking.
Is there a beach at Cliff House?
No. The resort sits on a rock promontory roughly 90 feet above the water, with no beach of its own and no swimming from the property. The nearest sand is in Ogunquit to the north and at York's Long Sands and Short Sands to the south. In July and August the resort runs a complimentary trolley into Ogunquit town for guests, though it explicitly does not drop at the beach.