Access to Acadia National Park from Bar Harbor - trail/access point or recomendations

This is our first time touring the NE and am quite excited to see Bar Harbor and the park. That said I am struggling to find this key piece of info:

If I want to walk from town to the park, what is the closest park trail to access? We would like to walk around town then to the park and possibly hike (and see carriage bridges/roads - can we walk on them or carriages only?).

Does anyone have a hike they recommend? (Family of 4 with 2 active tweens, difficulty level of hike not a concern)

Thank you for your help! :):)

Yes, you can walk into the park. The distance is about 1¾ miles from the tender dock and you'll intersect the Park Loop Rd, but at the point of intersection there are no bridges or access to a Carriage Road. From that point, the nearest trails are within a mile in either direction. If you do hike a trail to its end, What is your plan to get back to the tender dock? Retrace your steps?

The only way to see bridges would be to take a tour, but the 2 tour companies do nor offer bridge tours. You'll go under a few, but the tour does not stop. Your best bet to see bridges would be a taxi tour.

As for Carriage Roads, to hike any, you'll need transportation to/from the starting/ending points. If you pick the right CR to hike, there will be a few bridges on the CR or nearby. You can get transportation by using the free public bus, Island Explorer, or by taxi.

Suggestion, you could use the IE to take you to the start (at Sand Beach) of the Ocean Path, and flag down an inbound IE to take you back to town. There is a hiking trail, Gorham Mountain Trail, which can be accessed from the Ocean Path.

If BH is the first US port after a Canadian port, you'll have to go through customs, and the tenders will not depart until customs is done.

SBtS

Thank you!