Cape Cod Primer?
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Anonymous
| We have a place in Dennis, off of 6a. Beaches are great on the bay side, perfect for kids, but not a bunch to do restaurant wise. Some, but not a downtown feel- you will be driving to go to restaurants |
Anonymous
| I've stayed in Falmouth. It's a collection of villages, and a lot of them are kind of covered in strip malls. Pickup trucks are abundant. The main street is cute. Woods Hole is a nerd paradise: conferences in the summer, guys talking about nom-linear programming in the sandwich shop, folk dancing night at the community center, and classic gilm s being shown. Woods Hole also has a nice beach. There:s a trolley service that runs among the Falmouth villages and Woods Hole. |
Anonymous
I LOVE the beaches in Dennis. Cold Storage is really nice too, and often less crowded than Mayflower. I actually think Dennis is a good base because it's mid-Cape and provided you leave early in a summer day, not difficult to drive to Provincetown or the national seashore. |
Anonymous
| I grew up in Falmouth. I would stay in either West Falmouth near Old Silver, or near the Heights. In both cases, you'll be near restaurants, nice little markets, the beaches, etc. and you'll also be near the bike path, which will shoot you right into Woods Hole, and ultimately the ferry to MV. |
Anonymous
I sit on a deck or porch overlooking the Pamet River and the Bay, read, watch the tide go in & out, watch the herons, sunset, kayak in the river when tide is up, walk out to the beach when tide is down, get a lobster from the fish market ... in addition to the other things I & others mentioned here (galleries, Nat. Seashore, etc., etc., etc.) The point is you don't have to "DO" anything... that's the beauty of it. It may not be for you/everyone. I'll take it over boardwalks/ DE/ NJ/ Ocean City/ NC/ FLA any day. |
Anonymous
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Really love the Outer Cape. There is a lot of natural beauty, so you can go to a different beach every day that is truly different. Lots of tidepools, rocks, etc. to explore with kids. Totally different from DE beaches.
Although, to be sure, the water is much colder so if you are looking for the NC beach experience, this is not that. And if you need culture, just go to P-town. I've stayed in Osterville and while it's very nice, you are sort of far from the beach. |
Anonymous
The Bay side is warmer & calmer, so yes, but in Truro (where we go) or Wellfleet, they're both right there, so we go to the ocean beaches frequently just to enjoy the beach (sit, read, walk) and high dunes/cliffs. If the breeze is on-shore it keeps the black flies down on the ocean beaches, that's the best time to be on them (IMO). I have my big beach umbrella (I've had skin cancer so have to watch it) and can hang out at Ballston Beach, Head of the Meadow, Cahoon Hollow, White Crest, Long Nook, Race Point, High Head (often lots of seals there) and others all afternoon and enjoy it. When I was a kid we surfed with my father's huge mahogany surfboard on the ocean side. And how could I forget the kettle ponds ... beautiful clean, clear, deep glacial remnant ponds such as Gull Pond. |
Anonymous
| Please stop telling people about Wellfleet. We like it the way it is. |
Anonymous
| who do you rent houses through? is there a good realtor that you could recommend? |
Anonymous
Thanks. So it sounds similar to an Outer Banks type of vacation. I would take that over boardwalks, etc., as well. |
Anonymous
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I would highly recommend Popponesset Beach/New Seabury area. Popponesset is the older, original beach community; while New Seabury is a planned community that started about 50 years ago and now does own much of Popponesset. If one can rent a home high end or low end near "The Spit" beach area or on the bay side, you will have beautiful calm salt water and private, natural beach area. You can't drive out to the beach area so be prepared to bring something to transport kids and beach stuff unless one can bike. One of our daughter's went with her family this summer for a week in a low end non AC house for a week and said it was just perfect in the view of their 4.5 and 2.5 year old kids. - If you rent near the Community Center in Popponesset - also close to natural "Spit Beach area", you will have access for kids to: daily crafts, soft ball, nice playground and weekly movie night and bi-weekly square dances the same as 30 years so when DD went with our family to visit my folks who had a place there. - Also in the New Seabury area there is a center called the Market Place with seashell walkways, small Cape Cod like shops, pizza parlor, ice cream place and a central stage gathering area with nightly entertainment with kids and families enjoying the entertainment. Full Lobsters on Wednesday nights are still a hit at The Raw Bar with outside eating picnic tables. Starting about 4L30 p.m. and costing around $12. - Kayaks can be rented at the New Seabury boat dock to explore the inland water channels. They took their two kids in one. - Bike and Walking trails are throughout a lot of the area. - Rainy day pursuits might include the Children's Museum as mentioned, looking around shops at the larger Mashpee Commons shops area, or taking a drive over to Falmouth or Woods Hole which are 30 - 45 minutes away. - Being on the Upper Cape a day trip up to Plymouth is very doable for a bit older children. Also, if you get up early and get on Mid-Cape Highway, a drive to Chatham or Provincetown area is not bad. - If a family rides bikes, you might bring and consider a day trip over to Martha's Vineyard as DD did this year. Also there are nice biking paths between Harwich and Chatham that we have done. What is nice about Cape Cod is that despite the crowds in summer, the essential charm of the area if still in tact. We have rented through WeNeedAVacation.com directly from homeoners on Cape Cod three times in the past. |
Anonymous
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OK, I have a house there and spend much time.
I'd advise renting a house in Dennis, on the 6A side. The beaches (Mayflower esp) are calm, easy to walk on, etc. Those are your 'kid' beaches for sure! There is much to do in the little village, and since it's mid-Cape, you can be anywhere fast. There's a to do on the 28 side of Dennis, but it's also more touristy and seedier. Hotels on the Dennis side are harder to find, but you can find nice B&Bs Make sure you visit Smugglers on the 6A side and Sundae School on the 28 side for ice cream (on Lower County Road) Hyannis downtown, is not really a 'pit'. The shopping areas are quite fun. Chatham has a more elite feel and is nice for a visit or dinner, but the kids might not enjoy it quite as much. It's worth a visit for sure! Outer Cape is lovely for walking (seashore) and perhaps stopping at some of the places on 6 on the way to Provincetown. Provincetown is a complete blast! I can't say enough fun things about it. The shopping, the tours, the people...LOVE! Falmouth is nice in places, not so nice in others, like Hyannis. Sandwich - go to the Heritage Gardens there. The car museum is fabulous! If you have specific questions, OP, post them. |
Anonymous
We did the same. We dorve to Provincetown and other places, and took a ferry to Nantucket. Chatham is very nice. |
Anonymous
| I grew up in Massachusetts and we had a summer place in Falmouth. Falmouth and Chatham are similar in the fact that the have good restaurants, cute downtowns and stuff to do for kids (museums, movies, mini golf, lots of ice cream options etc). The reason we had a house in Falmouth is it is almost a far ex burb or Boston and my cd would commute to and from work 3x a week. Chatham is farther out on the cape and gives you better acces to the outer cape which is naturally more beautiful imo. It's really easy to get to Martha's Vineyard from Falmouth. I prefer that to Nantucket now because, as others have said, nantucket somehow became the new hamptons over the last 10 years. It's a shame. |