What makes Cape Cod more appealing than Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket?

[Anonymous]

Nothing?

It isn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Cape person myself, it can be a lot easier to choose the wrong spot on the Cape. with MV or Nantucket, its all good.

I have not spent much time on MV, but don't parts of it have really bad traffic in the summer? Traffic on the cape is bad too but it is bigger so I think easier to avoid the traffic.

We made the mistake of staying off Rt 28. Traffic was horrible anytime we wanted to go anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Cape person myself, it can be a lot easier to choose the wrong spot on the Cape. with MV or Nantucket, its all good.

What are the areas to avoid on the Cape, and what makes them bad?

Hyannis to Dennisport. Lots of dumpy areas.

[Anonymous]

I grew up on the Cape so am probably sensitive to terms like "bad" and "dumpy". Dennis is different. Not big fancy houses but rather small 2 season beach cottages, fish fries/lobster shacks, skim boarding guys that might be smoking a joint on the beach. Is that fancy or the same as cocktail hour on the Vineyard, no? But, not bad.

The Islands, DURING SUMMER, are more generally high brow, refined, fancy. But there is less to do and see. One weekend in Orleans you can kayak little pleasant pleasant bay, motor out to Chatham/deep sea fish, sail big pleasant bay, hike Great Island, bike the rail trail to Welfleet stopping for a pastry or Oysters, hit several different ocean beaches, float in a pond. The Islands have some biking and beautiful beaches but are just less diverse .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing?
We flew directly from DC to Nantucket. Took like an hour and 15 minutes. Picked up our car and - woof.

But OMG the "traffic" on Nantucket with all of the big rental SUVs? The congestion and nastiness at the two supermarkets? The general unplesantness of the place. The entitlement and arrogance? We had a regular deal at a house but found the general traffic/parking/nastiness on the island to be just too much. I'll never go back. There are so many many other nicer places to go to (and cheaper - everything on Nantucket is hiked up on the excuse that it had to be flown or shipped in. Well, yes, so does Amazon with my cat food and that's not going up.
"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Easier to get to and more variety of things to do. We are in Chatham which is standing in for Nantucket in the current filming of a Netflix miniseries with Nicole Kidman (exciting stuff for a small town!).

We already pay way more for services like cleaning and lawn/landscape maintenance on the Cape than we do here, but Nantucket takes it to another level.

Is the miniseries from an Elin Hilderbrand novel? She's always writing about Nantucket.

DP but yes - the Perfect Couple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easier to get to and more variety of things to do. We are in Chatham which is standing in for Nantucket in the current filming of a Netflix miniseries with Nicole Kidman (exciting stuff for a small town!).

We already pay way more for services like cleaning and lawn/landscape maintenance on the Cape than we do here, but Nantucket takes it to another level.

Love Chatham!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing?
We flew directly from DC to Nantucket. Took like an hour and 15 minutes. Picked up our car and - woof.

But OMG the "traffic" on Nantucket with all of the big rental SUVs? The congestion and nastiness at the two supermarkets? The general unplesantness of the place. The entitlement and arrogance? We had a regular deal at a house but found the general traffic/parking/nastiness on the island to be just too much. I'll never go back. There are so many many other nicer places to go to (and cheaper - everything on Nantucket is hiked up on the excuse that it had to be flown or shipped in. Well, yes, so does Amazon with my cat food and that's not going up.
"

Nope. None of this. We went mostly by foot after we got to our cottage, we bought food at one supermarket where they were absolutely charming, though very expensive and we ate out at some lovely places. I think the weekends saw more "traffic" with day trippers but that didn't affect us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In your traveling experience, what appeals to you on Cape Cod, is there anything that I wouldn’t find on MV or Nantucket?

Nothing is better than the vineyard. Considered renting off island once and the owner said “well it’s not going to be like Martha’s Vineyard.” I didn’t rent from him cause he was making a good point. I have no interest in staying on Nantucket.

[Anonymous]

I prefer the cape and vineyard to Nantucket, which is tiny and and sort of too perfect. Not much to do beyond bike, sit on beach. Quaint for a day or overnight trip, but would vacation on MV or CC. You can get less expensive rentals on cape with water access, but you want to choose the right town. For family trips, I like Chatham, New Seabury or Popponesset Village on CC, Chilmark or Edgartown on MV. But I also like lowbrow shopping and multiple supermarket options and tend to prefer Cape Cod. If you want a more rural experience on the cape, you can try wellfleet or truro or Provincetown.

[Anonymous]

Have been to all three in recent years.
Food on Nantucket tends to be outstanding - and outrageously priced. Was much more fun than Cape.
Martha’s Vineyard was between the two on both counts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on the Cape so am probably sensitive to terms like "bad" and "dumpy". Dennis is different. Not big fancy houses but rather small 2 season beach cottages, fish fries/lobster shacks, skim boarding guys that might be smoking a joint on the beach. Is that fancy or the same as cocktail hour on the Vineyard, no? But, not bad.

The Islands, DURING SUMMER, are more generally high brow, refined, fancy. But there is less to do and see. One weekend in Orleans you can kayak little pleasant pleasant bay, motor out to Chatham/deep sea fish, sail big pleasant bay, hike Great Island, bike the rail trail to Welfleet stopping for a pastry or Oysters, hit several different ocean beaches, float in a pond. The Islands have some biking and beautiful beaches but are just less diverse .

I agree with all of this! It is harder to escape crowds to be in nature on the island too, there is only so many places to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing?
We flew directly from DC to Nantucket. Took like an hour and 15 minutes. Picked up our car and - woof.

But OMG the "traffic" on Nantucket with all of the big rental SUVs? The congestion and nastiness at the two supermarkets? The general unplesantness of the place. The entitlement and arrogance? We had a regular deal at a house but found the general traffic/parking/nastiness on the island to be just too much. I'll never go back. There are so many many other nicer places to go to (and cheaper - everything on Nantucket is hiked up on the excuse that it had to be flown or shipped in. Well, yes, so does Amazon with my cat food and that's not going up.
"

I agree with the traffic but find the Nantucket stereotype of everyone being rich a**holes isn’t true at all. You’re more likely to find people biking around in old sweatshirts and flip flops than fancy cars and Gucci belts. A worn boat tote is the Nantucket birkin. It’s rugged, which contributes to the charm. There’s definitely *a lot* of wealth, but those people tend to stay on their compound rather than mingling around town or visiting the local beaches. You know people are rich by the houses and the food prices, but IMO you’d never guess that just by people watching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing?
We flew directly from DC to Nantucket. Took like an hour and 15 minutes. Picked up our car and - woof.

But OMG the "traffic" on Nantucket with all of the big rental SUVs? The congestion and nastiness at the two supermarkets? The general unplesantness of the place. The entitlement and arrogance? We had a regular deal at a house but found the general traffic/parking/nastiness on the island to be just too much. I'll never go back. There are so many many other nicer places to go to (and cheaper - everything on Nantucket is hiked up on the excuse that it had to be flown or shipped in. Well, yes, so does Amazon with my cat food and that's not going up.
"

I agree with the traffic but find the Nantucket stereotype of everyone being rich a**holes isn’t true at all. You’re more likely to find people biking around in old sweatshirts and flip flops than fancy cars and Gucci belts. A worn boat tote is the Nantucket birkin. It’s rugged, which contributes to the charm. There’s definitely *a lot* of wealth, but those people tend to stay on their compound rather than mingling around town or visiting the local beaches. You know people are rich by the houses and the food prices, but IMO you’d never guess that just by people watching.

DP - we saw one old man in pressed cream linen suit with a white straw hat and a silver tipped walking stick. I think he was representative of the old wealth. He was also the only person who didn't say hello back to us when we passed him. I guess there used to be more of these folks but they died off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing?
We flew directly from DC to Nantucket. Took like an hour and 15 minutes. Picked up our car and - woof.

But OMG the "traffic" on Nantucket with all of the big rental SUVs? The congestion and nastiness at the two supermarkets? The general unplesantness of the place. The entitlement and arrogance? We had a regular deal at a house but found the general traffic/parking/nastiness on the island to be just too much. I'll never go back. There are so many many other nicer places to go to (and cheaper - everything on Nantucket is hiked up on the excuse that it had to be flown or shipped in. Well, yes, so does Amazon with my cat food and that's not going up.
"

I agree with the traffic but find the Nantucket stereotype of everyone being rich a**holes isn’t true at all. You’re more likely to find people biking around in old sweatshirts and flip flops than fancy cars and Gucci belts. A worn boat tote is the Nantucket birkin. It’s rugged, which contributes to the charm. There’s definitely *a lot* of wealth, but those people tend to stay on their compound rather than mingling around town or visiting the local beaches. You know people are rich by the houses and the food prices, but IMO you’d never guess that just by people watching.

DP - we saw one old man in pressed cream linen suit with a white straw hat and a silver tipped walking stick. I think he was representative of the old wealth. He was also the only person who didn't say hello back to us when we passed him. I guess there used to be more of these folks but they died off?

Are you sure he wasn't solving a murder?