Where can i park on the cheap in downtown Portland, Maine?

August 26, 2009 2:56 PM

I will be staying in Portland, ME at a hotel near the intersection of Congress and Forest. Hotel parking is in a garage nearby and naturally it's an additional charge. Any suggestions for places I might park for less than 20 bucks? The free-er the better.
posted by Willy Wombat to travel & transportation around Portland, ME (3 answers total)

If you are talking about still the summer time, not likely. Most of the parking there is resident only, and you're a block away from the minor league stadium, iirc, and basically at Maine Medical Center. Yes, you aren't on Commercial Street or Spring Street, but you're still in a major thoroughfare.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:35 PM on August 26, 2009

When I visit Portland I can almost always find free parking on the street without much difficulty. The only thing is I usually have to walk a few blocks or more to get to the heart of things. Depending on how long you're staying and how much you'll need your car, that may not be ideal.

Portland, while not a huge city, is really nice for walking. I usually go there, ditch the car and don't touch it again until it's time to go. If you plan to mainly stick to the downtown/Old Port, the street parking should work for you.
posted by fx3000 at 6:48 PM on August 26, 2009

I live right around the corner from that hotel (the Eastland, yes?) - I can see it right now out the window from where I am sitting. The next couple blocks over from Forest have some metered spaces and some "2 hour parking" spaces at the end, but for visitors I usually point them to the other side of Cumberland Ave, on Parris or Mechanic streets. These are technically 2-hour spaces as well (between 9am and 6pm) but this is checked extremely irregularly to the point where it's pretty much understood you can park there for a couple days if you need to. Anyway, check up on your car periodically - the first ticket you get here is free, and you could always move it to a different street after that. The changes of you getting two for parking in that area is pretty slim. Just check for street cleaning nights on the signs! Usually Thursdays on those streets, alternate sides.
posted by setanor at 10:04 PM on August 26, 2009 [1 favorite]