A onetime blue-collar enclave, Portland’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood has become a hot spot in Maine’s biggest city. Taking up the eastern portion of the peninsula, the area features shops, restaurants, galleries and a theater, but it doesn’t have the bustle of the Old Port, the sumptuous mansions of the West End or the museums of downtown’s Arts District. Translation: It’s just you and the locals in a vibrant, eclectic neighborhood complete with plenty of shops, dining spots and sights to provide you with a true sense of the city.

The neighborhood, which officially starts east of the Franklin Arterial, one of the city’s main north-south roads, has no Starbucks but at least four independent coffeehouses, echoing the “Shop Local: Keep Portland Independent” stickers in many of the city’s shop and restaurant windows.

On the east end of Munjoy Hill, a long, grassy slope leads down to Casco Bay. On the Eastern Promenade locals romp with dogs and kids, while bikers, joggers and amblers follow the trail that hugs the shoreline on the East End of Portland and passes the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum and a collection of decommissioned rail cars. The trail is part of a citywide network that connects the city to nature preserves and neighborhoods outside downtown Portland and it ends at the Maine State Pier, in Old Port.

Munjoy Hill is just one great part of  Portland.  If you are planning on moving to the area or just visiting, we hope you come to love the area as much as we do.