A couple flying into Maine and staying three nights at a hotel in Bar Harbor, eating meals out and having a few beers, would ending up spending $2,294 over their visit, according to personal finance website GoBankingRates, which in June ranked the Mount Desert Island town No. 4 on its list of America’s Most Expensive Tourist Destinations.

But for Mainers living in driving distance, maybe even close enough for a day trip, visiting Bar Harbor doesn’t have to break the bank, especially with the help of some insider tips that will keep costs down without sacrificing any fun.

And now is the best time to go. Coming off a summer of record-breaking attendance, Acadia National Park — the area’s main attraction — sees a slight dip in visitors in the fall, but it’s no less glorious, with foliage about to light up the forests and temperatures falling into ideal hiking range.

For ideas about what to do without spending tons of money, we asked Cultural Alliance of Maine Director Mollie Cashwell, who lives in nearby Lamoine, and Everal Eaton, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce. Here are their tips, along with some budget finds of our own.

EXPLORE FOR LESS

Hurry up, and you can get into Acadia for free. The admission fee (normally $20 per person or $35 per vehicle) will be waived on Saturday for National Public Lands Day, though you’ll still have to pay the $6 (and make a reservation) if you want to drive to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, known for its spectacular sunrises. To avoid that fee, wait a month; the park stops requiring reservations after Oct. 26, but you’ll still need an entrance pass.

If you care more about saving money than seeing Acadia, you can get your fill of nature in the Land & Garden Preserve, 1,400 acres of wooded trails, carriage roads and historic gardens with no admission fee, though donations are suggested.

Another free activity, only possible for about three hours every day, is the walk across a natural, gravel land bridge between downtown Bar Harbor to Bar Island that appears during low tide, but make sure you time it right.

LOWER-COST STAYS

Camping is always a great way to keep the cost of accommodations down, with sites at Acadia’s Blackwoods Campground going for $30 a night and slightly more expensive private options around the island and beyond. You can pay nothing at all if you set up at the first-come, first-served Donnell Pond Public Land in Franklin, about an hour’s drive from Bar Harbor.

The average daily hotel rates do drop a bit in the fall, but they’re still up there. Smaller, family-run motels and inns outside the town center are a better bet for lower rates, Eaton said.

And the farther the better. Consider getting off the island or starting the trek back home and staying in Bucksport or Bangor instead. Though if you’re willing to wing it, especially on a weekday, you might be able to score a last-minute deal.

FREE ENTRY

Sign up for a local library card, and you can get into many of the area’s museums for free.

Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor has passes on hand for the Oceanarium and Education Center, where kids can play on an authentic lobster boat and in a touch pool; the Seal Cove Auto Museum, with antique vehicles dating to the turn of the 20th century; and the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, celebrating a pioneer in decorative bird carving.

Southwest Harbor Public Library has passes to those and more, including the Abbe Museum, which tells the story of Wabanaki Nations through art and artifacts.

Admission is by donation at the Maine Granite Industry Museum in Mount Desert and free at the Dorr Museum of Natural History at College of the Atlantic.

Take yourself on a historic walking tour of Bar Harbor by visiting the placards placed around town that make up the Museum in the Streets. For an expanded scope, download the free MDI History Adventure App, which tells the story of the island through what happened at more than 20 sites that you can visit on a self-guided tour.

To save on transportation and parking costs, let the free Island Explorer bus cart you around.

EAT LIKE A LOCAL

The cost of food was a major factor in Bar Harbor’s ranking on the expensive destination list, and the same goes for Portland, which landed at No. 6. In both places, GoBankingRates estimated the cost of three meals at mid-range restaurants and 12 at inexpensive ones would come to $720, less only than in New York City. By comparison, meals in Aspen, Colorado, which was first on the list, would cost $510.

Cut down on dining costs while immersing yourself in the community with a meal at Common Good Soup Kitchen in Southwest Harbor. Although it’s currently on a fall break, pay-what-you-want popovers (9-11 a.m. Sundays), soup lunches (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays) and community dinners with live music (4-6 p.m. Fridays) resume Oct. 17, and all are welcome.

If you’re determined to have lobster but don’t want to shop around for the cheapest roll or shore dinner, you can always make your own, and you don’t need a lobster pot. You can buy them at Hannaford in downtown Bar Harbor, where they’ll steam them for you at no extra cost.