This year, for the first time in recent memory, winter has been serious business. First, we got snow, coming earlier than usual and yielding actual accumulation in November, for heaven’s sake. Then came the bouts of arctic air that have plagued us off and on for weeks. And you might as well stop counting overcast days. The toll on our communal psyche is a kind of stir craziness that seems to have swept the city and altered our personalities; nice people are grouchy, grouchy people are morose, and morose people are wild-eyed and jittery.

It’s definitely time for an escape, but not everyone has the time or cash to jet off to Florida or the Caribbean just to shake the blues. No problem — sunshine isn’t the only non-pharmaceutical way to enliven your winter. With your sweetie in tow, a simple change of locale, even in cold climes, can rejuvenate you and help take the edge off the doldrums.

With its best offerings just a few hours away, Maine makes for a perfect excursion. Much of it is close enough that even an overnight stay leaves you the bulk of both days to explore. Not called "Vacationland" for nothing, Maine offers several getaway concepts for would-be romantic travelers. For beachcombers, foodies, and snow fiends, as well as lovers who simply want to be left alone, the Pine Tree State beckons, "Come closer."

BATH: A MARITIME WEEKEND

The city of Bath is all about water: perched on the edge of the Kennebec River, it’s a gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, and long an important ship-building center. Its 18th- and 19th-century homes still retain a sense of the era when legendary seafarers lived in and set sail from the city.

The Inn at Bath, now nearly 200 years old, sits within walking distance from the Kennebec and a short drive from the Ocean. It’s the perfect location for a coastal getaway, with two of Maine’s most beloved beaches nearby. Reid State Park offers wide sandy beaches and dunes (unlike the rock-bound beaches that are more common in the state), and it’s home to least terns, plovers, and other shore birds. Popham Beach, a few miles away on the Phippsburg Peninsula, is a three-mile sandy beach with excellent tidal pools for exploring.

Should the salt air seem more abrasive than merely bracing, there’s an excellent indoor option for indulging your love of the sea. The Maine Maritime Museum in Bath offers collections of nautical history, a shipyard, and galleries of exhibits focused on the natural beauty of the region.

At night, return to the inn and take advantage of another aquatic thrill: some of the rooms offer heated Jacuzzis for two, overlooking wood-burning fireplaces. Boston winter will seem very far away indeed.

ROCKLAND: TABLE TO TABLE

There’s a reason bears fatten themselves up before hibernating for winter: it feels damn good. If you want to throw dietary caution to the wind in exchange for the soul-nurturing pleasure of good eating, the little town of Rockland offers a surprising variety of options.

You’ll want to start with breakfast or lunch at Rockland Café, the kind of place novelists and filmmakers try to depict but never get quite right. With the motto "Come as a stranger and leave as a friend," Rockland Café wins you over with home-style goods served at artery-clogging volume. For under six bucks, you can start your day with the Big One: three eggs, two sausages, three strips of bacon, ham, home fries, and toast. Or you can settle in with the Rockland Café Burger: eight ounces of meat, with bacon, mushrooms, tomato, lettuce, onions, and Swiss cheese falling off in an avalanche.

For dinner, swap your fleece for something a little jazzier and enjoy Primo, a bistro serving Italian- and French-inspired cuisine in the cozy rooms of a Victorian house. Charming as the space may be, this is not humble country fare: dishes like "roast breast of Foggy Ridge Pheasant ‘en brodo’ in a rich broth served with handmade tortellini, greens, pecorino and truffles" announce the presence of James Beard Award–winning chef Melissa Kelly. Pastry chef Price Kushner keeps time with creations like "pistachio popover filled with crème brûlée and glazed with a bitter orange sauce."

Assuming you can walk your newly padded limbs down the street the next day, pop into Oh Bento, the most unlikely treasure in Downeast Maine: an authentic Japanese family restaurant. Owned by a native of Japan and her Japanese-American husband, this simple restaurant serves food that is decidedly hard to come by in those parts: sushi, tempura, udon, miso soups, and specialties like octopus and eel.

You can hardly drive a mile around here without encountering the fruit of the sea, especially lobster, but at this time of year, many of the quintessential seafood shacks are closed for the season; you’ll have to trust the dining rooms of year-round hotels and, yes, even motels, most of which will be glad to boil up your crustacean of choice. But you don’t even have to leave your inn for a homey meal, if you stay at the Lakeshore Inn. Built in 1767 and nestled between a small orchard and Dodges Mountain, the inn is a welcoming place whose owners promise to stuff you thoroughly with a full gourmet breakfast so big "you can skip lunch."

RANGELEY: A BLIZZARD OF FUN

There may be wisdom in the saying "If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em." You could choose to fight the winter blues by making winter your best friend. Be one of those people who embrace each heavy snowfall, and count your blessings that you can get out and play in the sparkly stuff. The inland hamlet of Rangeley offers a sampling of pretty much every popular recreational use of snow in the US.

First off, you can ski and snowboard at Saddleback Ski Area, a small ski resort that boasts some of the least-crowded lift lines in the northeast. The 4000-foot mountain offers a nearly 2000-foot vertical drop and 41 trails for all skill levels, including a dreamy two-and-a-half-mile run. It’s only $49 for a full day, so the price is right, and the snow — 200 inches per year, before snowmaking — is practically guaranteed.

If you own your own cross-country skis, Rangeley is bliss. Fifty miles of interconnecting cross-country ski trails weave through the town, with resting huts and markers, like you might find in a Scandinavian country. And if that isn’t enough, the town maintains 150 miles of snowmobiling trails. The North Country Inn Bed & Breakfast actually makes snowmobiling part of its deal, offering direct access to the trail system from the inn’s property. No snowmobile? No worries: River’s Edge Sports in neighboring Oquossoc rents Polaris snowmobiles for all us folk "from away" who want our winter fun but don’t have the right toys.

BAR HARBOR: ONLY YOU

Maybe what you really want is just to spend a tender moment alone, far from crowds and far from as many traces of urbania as possible. Head up the coastline past Portland and you’ll get your wish. The numbers of other cars on Route 1 will dwindle, and you’ll have stretches of winding road all to yourself this time of year on the way to Bar Harbor. Though abuzz with tourists all summer long, this lovely seaside village feels serene and somewhat isolated during the winter.

At Collier House, a Maine farm that’s been welcoming guests for a century, you can cocoon yourselves even more. Surrounded by 30 acres of woods and fields, you couldn’t be further from the rat race of day-to-day life. And the sanctity of romance is thoughtfully protected by a couples-only Carriage House complete with Jacuzzi, so you can frolic in private.

Should you ever leave the house, the farm has its own ski trails and skating pond. (Side by side gliding over the ice in the midst of a snow-covered field — dear God, it’s a picture from Currier & Ives!) And just down the coastline, you can explore Acadia National Park and Mt. Desert Island at your own pace, without threat of Winnebagos or school buses arriving for a field trip. Drive along the portion of the coastal loop open in the winter, and it’s like seeing an ocean for the first time. Its cold, austere beauty this time of year is unforgettable and primal. You can discuss it at length back in the hot tub.

David Valdes Greenwood can be reached at ambobean@hotmail.com