Those who pitch getaways in Vacationland would have you believe the coast of Maine is one long stretch of untamed beauty guarded by lighthouses overlooking the deep blue Atlantic.
Most of the time, they’re right — and no more so than when they’re talking about the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine. The beneficiary of a recent $2 million renovation, this elder statesman of coastal Maine is feeling virtually 
adolescent these days.
A $2 million injection will get you the hotel equivalent of a face-lift and a shot of B12: a full-service spa, a new Italian restaurant, renovation of 28 guest rooms in the deluxe wing and three new luxury cottages.
The first phase was unveiled when the doors of La Bella Vita Ristorante were thrown open in June. The eatery, paired with the Enoteca Lounge, serves Italian cuisine focusing on the rustic.
The menu ranges from pleasantly affordable to indulgent. Pappardelle Farnese — braised short-rib ragu in slow-cooked tomato sauce and shaved pecorina tuscano — runs $14 for a small portion or $24 for a full portion. And that’s one of the beauties of La Bella Vita: If guests aren’t feeling up to a massive portion of fettuccini, although I can’t 
imagine why, they can take advantage of the smaller-sized plate ($12 or $22 for the full portion.)
Of course, this is in Maine, so be ready to strap on a bib. A two-pound garlic-butter poached jumbo Maine lobster ($39) jumps out as a specialty of the house. But this is no clam-shack crustacean. It’s served with spinach and three-cheese cannelloni, toasted garlic rapine, artichoke frito misto, aged pecorino sauce and a pinot grigio lobster butter.
The Spa at Samoset opened just weeks later with four treatment rooms, including one dedicated to couples-only service and a nail salon. Situated ocean-side, the spa also features a fire to sit by while winding down next to Penobscot Bay.
Packages include the Breakwater Day Package: a 50-minute massage, a 50-minute facial, a 45-minute manicure and a 60-minute pedicure ($295); a Day For Him: a 50-minute deep tissue massage, a royal gentleman’s facial and a 
pedicure ($255); or the Mini Spa-cation, where guests can choose two services from a menu that includes a 25-minute massage, a facial, a warm oil scalp massage or a 25-minute reflexology session ($115.)
The three new luxury cottages — named rather evocatively Wind Drift, Spring Tide and Sea Spray — team with the recently renewed Flume Cottage to offer private, luxury accommodations looking out over Penobscot Bay and the Breakwater Lighthouse. Accessible via a nearly one-mile walk along the Rockport breakwater, the lighthouse provides, as the locals say, a wicked good way to stretch the legs. And when you’re done you can always just crash in your luxury cottage-by-the-sea.
Two of the cottages — Spring Tide and Sea Spray — are one-bedroom, 972-square-foot structures with rates between $750 and $999 a night, while the Wind Drift is a two-bedroom cottage that can sleep four with rates between $975 and $1,299 a night. Each cottage has a fully equipped kitchen, central air conditioning, washer/dryer, a gas fireplace, heated bathroom floors, screened-in porches, granite counters, iPod docking stations, flat-screen TVs and king-size beds. Not a bad way to scrape out an existence on the hardscrabble 
Maine coast.
If a room will suffice, select-view rooms run between $297 and $439 a night, while deluxe ocean-view rooms will cost between $351 and $509 a night.
The resort has a long association with golf — celebrating 100 years of golf in 2002 — and now boasts an 18-hole championship course with seven seaside holes and 14 ocean-view holes. An 18-hole round costs $80 to $115 depending on the season.
The Samoset may also be the toughest resort on the block. Built in 1889 as the Bay Point Hotel, the structure was sold, abandoned, sold again, burned to the ground, rebuilt, sold and then given a revamp by current owners, Ocean Properties Ltd.
The resort is about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Boston, but Cape Air has recently announced a new package deal that can get guests there in a fraction of the time. A flight from Logan International Airport to Knox County Airport takes about an hour, and transfers to the Samoset are complimentary. The Cape Air Escape Package, which includes transport, one round of golf for two with a cart and a $100 resort credit is $269 a night midweek in August and $239 a night midweek in September. There is a three-night minimum stay and guests will need to book their own tee times.
Source: Boston Herald