College kids get a spring break in March, why shouldn’t the rest of us?

It’s not as hard as it sounds. You don’t have to jet to Aruba or the Bahamas to take a break from the darkness and drudgery of a Maine winter. You can find summery things to do right in your own backyard. You can search out a tropical drink to sip. You can find a Maine resort getaway deal, maybe at a place with a spa or masseuse. You can find a place for a nice hot sauna or just take a stroll to your favorite ice cream stand, since Maine ice cream stands are famous for opening early in the season.

Starting Sunday, when daylight saving time begins, you’ll even have an extra hour of sunlight to do things outdoors after work, for the first time in about five months. Here are some suggestions for ways to take a break from winter while staying in Maine.

LET’S LEAVE TODAY

A Maine getaway is an easy way to escape winter, especially since Maine hotels and resorts often offer deals to get folks to come stay with them in muddy March. In artsy and hip Rockland, the 250 Main Hotel’s Revive and Relax package offers room rates that include two ginger cocktails from Maine Craft Distilling, two branded hotel robes, and a handmade kelp and sea salt scrub. Packages start at $199 for March. In Kennebunkport, Cape Arundel Inn & Resort offers a Winter Wellness Package, with March rates starting at $229 a night. It includes a 60-minute couples massage. In downtown Portland, the Press Hotel offers a March is for Mainahs rate of $207 for state residents only. So Portlanders can feel like a VIP in their own city.

Couples massage? It’s part of the Winter Wellness package at Cape Arundel Inn & Resort in Kennebunkport. Photo by Amy Welch-Olson/Capshore Photography

LET OFF SOME STEAM

If you’ve always wanted to relax in a European-style bathhouse but can’t afford the airfare, or spare the time, you’re in luck. Washington Baths on Washington Avenue in Portland is just such place. It’s a bathhouse with heated saunas – including one for men and one for women – where bathers can pour water on hot stones in a stove to produce their own steam. There’s also an enclosed open-air courtyard for all genders with a hot pool and cold plunge area. It’s open Friday through Monday, and on Fridays silence is observed. A single entry is $30. For more information, go to washingtonbaths.com.

Another way to relax that you may have not tried before is floating in a sensory deprivation tank. You can try it at Float Harder Relaxation Center, also on Washington Avenue in Portland. The float tanks contain about 10 inches of water at skin temperature (93.5 degrees) and a thousand pounds of medical grade Epsom salt. The user has no distraction and the salt allows for effortless floatation, according to staff at the center. Prices start at $69 for a 90-minute session in a standard tank. For more information, go to floatharder.com.

Experience a European-style bath house – with saunas – at Washington Baths in Portland. Photo by Greta Rybus

WE ALL SCREAM

Maine’s seasonal ice cream stands are famous for opening early, often when there’s still snow on the ground. It gives you a chance to get an early jump on a favorite summer activity – the after-dinner stroll for an ice cream cone. The Dairy Queen on Route 1 in South Portland, for instance, has been open since Feb. 11, so people have been able to get their Blizzards and other frosty treats while there’s still a chance for a real blizzard. Lib’s Dairy Treats on Auburn Street in Portland – in business since 1969 – plans to open its soft-serve stand on Saturday. Red’s Dairy Freeze on Cottage Road in South Portland, started in 1952, usually causes a social media frenzy when it opens each year. A recording on the stand’s answering machine says it’ll open in March, but doesn’t give a date. So keep an eye out for that and for your local ice cream stand to open soon, as well.

Things are looking up for these youngsters at Lib’s Dairy Treats in Portland. Photo courtesy of Lib’s Dairy Treats

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE?

There’s plenty of things you can do to take advantage of the later sunset times that start Sunday. You could take a walk in nature, someplace a little scenic and even wild. But you don’t have to go far afield. Local land trusts and towns all over Maine manage trails that are close to where ever you are, so you can take a hike after work and be home for supper.

The Presumpscot Regional Land Trust’s trails are in Gorham, Gray, Standish, Westbrook and Windham. This time of year, some of the plowed trails include Frazier Preserve in Gorham, the Gambo Preserve along the historic Cumberland-Oxford Canal Towpath and the Sebago to the Sea Trail, which currently goes from Sebago Lake to Westbrook, though plans are to extend it to Casco Bay. For more information and trail directions, go to prlt.org.

The Androscoggin River Bicycle Path in Brunswick is a 2.6-mile, 14-foot-wide paved trail for bikers and walkers along the river, with scenic overlooks plus benches and parking at both ends. The South Portland Land Trust website has maps and information on trails all over the city. Some are in places you might not expect, like behind the Clarks Pond retail district near the Maine Mall, while others make good use of South Portland’s waterfront along Casco Bay, like the Greenbelt Walkway. For anyone who has driven over the Casco Bay Bridge and wondered what is under the bridge, take a walk on the Thomas Knight Park Trail and find out. For more information, go to southportlandlandtrust.org. 

The Dangerous Nights at Crispy Gai in Portland features tequilas reposado, Jamaican rum, Amaro di Angostura, passion fruit, roselle grenadine and orange. Photo by Nicole Wolf

TROPICAL FLAVORS

Another way to feel a little bit more like it’s summer is to sample some tropical drinks or food from tropical locales. One place to do that is Crispy Gai in downtown Portland, a Thai-inspired restaurant and cocktail bar. The tropical cocktails include Pep in My Step ($12) with cachaca, Manzanilla, red bell pepper, mango, bird’s eye chili tincture and lime and Dangerous Nights ($15) with tequilas reposado, Jamaican rum, Amaro di Angostura, passion fruit, roselle grenadine, orange.

Blyth & Burrows, in Portland’s Old Port, has tropical cocktails as well. One is the Banana Smuggler, with Scotch, banana, peanut, zucca, coconut and lime. Another is The Windmill, with mezcal, pineapple, cinnamon and acetic acid. Both are $14.

Or you could learn to make your own at Batson River Brewing and Distilling’s Portland location, where they’re holding a $35 cocktail class featuring tiki classics the Mai Tai and the Zombie at 3 p.m. Saturday as part of its monthlong Stir Crazy event series. For more information and to sign up, go to batsonriver.com/stir-crazy.