What can you do on Cape Cod for two weeks in June and July?

[NYCfixie]

My wife and I had a tough year and we waited too long to book a vacation. We had hoped for Amsterdam and London but Wimbledon made the flights and hotels much too expensive. If just Amsterdam, only $500 a night hotels are left at this point and she is too "frugal" to pay for it. We thought about Ireland but she does not want to deal with rental cars to truly see the country. Most of southern Europe is too hot for us this time of year. We even thought of Montreal but the Jazz Festival takes over that area for the time we will be there and that is not really our thing.

I could go on but we thought that a two week trip to Cape Cod would be easy, relaxing, and not the difficult to plan. Just rent a house, throw some clothes and the bikes in the car and go. In a perfect world, she would sit on the beach for two weeks but that would make me want to blow my brains out. Even on vacation, I need to be active by walking, hiking, riding, sightseeing, and similar fun stuff. We could care less about shopping for crap (high priced or not) that we do not need.

So, what does a couple in their 40s with no kids do on Cape Cod for two weeks (last week of June and first week of July)?

[guido]

Struggle to avoid crowds...

[jerk]

drink.

[colker]

drink.

Single malt?

[NYCfixie]

Single malt?

I am not sure Cape Cod is know for creating anything alcoholic locally so jerk's comment was probably a more general drink and be merry.

Maybe this - Cape Cod Beer

[Bittersweet]

Don't give up on Amsterdam. Look at house boats. Very inexpensive to rent and a cool way to experience NL. Many to choose from:
Amsterdam - Apartment - The Sun - Houseboats Amsterdam

[TTX1]

- Side trip to Nantucket or MV - day trip via ferry w/bikes
- Dunes National Seashore. Jeep tour?
- Diving. It's not the Great Barrier Reef, but there are a bunch of outfitters that will take you places and show you things. If you've never been diving, then take an intro class while you're there
- Provincetown - see a drag show
- Drive In movies. Go midweek
- Eat. Hope you like seafood. Works well with Jerk's suggestion

Also: #rideyourbike - It's pretty flat, rack up some miles.

Last idea: skip the Cape. Go to Bar Harbor, ME. Same list as above (- drag show), smaller town, smaller crowds, potentially better riding.

Bon voyage.

[monadnocky]

Start planning on never having to take a left hand turn.
Good luck.

[Corso]

Last idea: skip the Cape. Go to Bar Harbor, ME. Same list as above (- drag show), smaller town, smaller crowds, potentially better riding.

Bon voyage.

Gotta agree with the above. Bar Harbour/Arcadia national park. It’s a drive, but well worth it. Google Arcadia: Hiking for days.

The Cape is crowded, loud and touristy. You don’t seem to like Massachusetts now, you’ll hate us if you go to the Cape in prime season. If you go: Bloody Mary’s the cape drink I prefer. I loved the Cape when I was in high school/college (and single)...As an adult? Not so much in the summer. Off-season is nice.

Either place: book early!

[Saab2000]

I'd definitely try to get up over to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, or both. I used to fly to both places and loved the breezes off the water on hot days and both looked like decent places for short rides, especially if you have a bike that can handle unpaved roads.

They're both very expensive for lodging during the summer AFAIK, but day trips may be more affordable.

[NYCfixie]

Gotta agree with the above. Bar Harbour/Arcadia national park. It’s a drive, but well worth it. Google Arcadia: Hiking for days.

The Cape is crowded, loud and touristy. You don’t seem to like Massachusetts now, you’ll hate us if you go to the Cape in prime season. If you go: Bloody Mary’s the cape drink I prefer. I loved the Cape when I was in high school/college (and single)...As an adult? Not so much in the summer. Off-season is nice.

Either place: book early!

It's not that we do not like it, we just do not love it. The issues are: we live in Brookline which is boring unless you have a family with kids, we work too much and do not have enough time to go out (downtown, north end, backbay, etc.), and some of it is that we are Yankees fans living to close to Fenway. And, as many locals have shared, Boston can be a little provincial.

I'd definitely try to get up over to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, or both. I used to fly to both places and loved the breezes off the water on hot days and both looked like decent places for short rides, especially if you have a bike that can handle unpaved roads.

They're both very expensive for lodging during the summer AFAIK, but day trips may be more affordable.

We have been to MV a few times before we came to MASS so a day trip with the bikes would definitely be on the agenda. Just like the other options, we are too late for a MV ferry reservation and do not want to deal with stand-by so can't go there for an extended stay.

[robin3mj]

If you can wait that long, go to Europe right after Labor Day, and take a long weekend to the Gunks or Berkshires in the meantime. Best of both worlds.

My wife and I have been taking September vacations as long as we've known each other and as our kids age into the school system we only have a year or two left to do so.

[verbs4us]

We honeymooned on Bar Harbor, and lived on the Cape for four years when I worked in Woods Hole, so I know enough to be dangerous. Count on at least 7 hours in the car to get to Bar Harbor, more likely 8. You can make the Cape in under 6 -- if that matters. Others are correct: Nantucket and the Vineyard are incredibly expensive and you would be there in high season when prices take a double lutz. Nantucket is very much farther out and really oceanic. MV is 45 min (or less by high speed ferry) from Woods Hole and Falmouth Harbor. I find Nantucket wonderful in January. All over the Cape, the remarkable thing is that you can find solitude on the beaches, even in high season. My preference is for the Outer Cape--beyond Orleans up to P-town. The quietest place is Truro, and you will be surrounded by psychiatrists from West End Ave., in case of existential emergency. Provincelands Dunes are spectacular, as is Marconi Beach and Nauset. No swimming on the ocean side. Avoid Wellfleet, unless you want to be with all the junk bond traders from Westport and New Canaan (who are not already on Nantucket).

I find Provincetown fascinating, a place where artists and LBGT people are at home and free, where the earth ends at a pointy sand dune in the ocean. It's a place of contradiction: During the day it's a lot of families and kids and junk tourist shops. Around sunset it's like someone throws a switch and the drag queens all come out. Oddly (to me) the Lesbians and the gay boys seems self-segregating. We went once with a black Puerto Rican friend and we ran into some not-so-thinly-veiled racism at a restaurant; it might have been a one-off encounter, but left a bad taste. Nappi's has great food.

Biking all over the Cape is marginal at best. There are no really good secondary roads that are thru routes. You always have to wind up on one of the main roads for a distance before you can cut back to the waterfront. There is a bike trail (converted cranberry bog train line) on the Outer Cape, but it's kind of boring, deadly flat and mostly no vistas but in the woods. I tended to bike on the roads early--out by 6; back by 9. In general, there are underutilized parks in the spine of the Cape that are pretty nice, but woodsy. All the tourists collect on the shore so those midlands parks are very quiet. Bring lots of tick repellent.

[NYCfixie]

If you can wait that long, go to Europe right after Labor Day, and take a long weekend to the Gunks or Berkshires in the meantime. Best of both worlds.

My wife and I have been taking September vacations as long as we've known each other and as our kids age into the school system we only have a year or two left to do so.

We are both 12 month employees at k-12 schools so aligning times when we can both be out and adding in my grad school class break between sessions this year made scheduling that much more difficult. These are literally the only two weeks all summer that we can both take at the same time.

[lumpy]

We've gone for four or five days. Stayed in North Truro, the road riding's pretty good out there. I always wish I had a boat; a sea kayak or a sailboat or something. But two weeks? That's too long. Go to Maine.

[verbs4us]

A bar harbor note: biking up Cadillac mountain (and down) is worth the hours in the car. It's the highest point literally on the water on the east coast, even though only about 1500 feet. Grand, sweeping views and gusty cross-winds to keep things interesting. All the towns on Mt Desert (spoken: Dessert, not like the thing with camels and sand) are different and interesting, if a bit twee. Bike over to Sorento (down east of Mt. Desert) for great roads and views.

[TTX1]

Mix it up.

Do a week (or perhaps better: a few days mid-week) on the Cape, and then spend the 2nd week in Maine.

Charter an old schooner for a day and surprise your wife with a picnic she won't soon forget.

If you don't want to drive all the way to Bar Harbor, at least get up to Camden, Vinalhaven, etc.

I also liked the Berkshire idea: Go stay at Porches in North Adams and check out Mass MoCA and the Clark over in Williamstown at your leisure. Hike a section of the AT on the MA/VT line. Then head down to Deerfield and bike up to Guilford VT on River Road (pack a lunch).

You'll like MA a little bit better after those last two...

[m_b_b]

Two weeks is a long time on the cape if you don't live there (my family does, I don't). Also if you haven't booked yet, be ready for difficulty finding a place. Around July 4 weekend is high time.

Having said that, I love the cape, but I do go more often off peak and stay with family. Things to do:

- Go to an ocean beach: Nauset in Orleans, Cahoon's hollow in wellfleet, Race point in P-town
- Go to a bay beach: Warmer water, better swimming
- Swim in a pond: Even warmer
- Eat good food: Red Inn in PTown. Wicked Oyster in Wellfleet. PB Boulangerie in wellfleet (I think it's still there).
- Eat decent food: Mahoney's in Orleans
- Eat cheap seafood: Clam shack at Nauset beach, or it's cousin Kate's Seafood and Ice cream in Brewster
- Bike a little: On cape riding isn't great, but a quick jaunt here and there can be done. you could also bike there or back from boston, if your wife agrees to drive alone. Or take the ferry to P-town and ride back over a day or two.

[homage silk hope]

Go to Maine.

Or Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island. You can enjoy the travelling there and back and the new people and places you meet along the way.

[bryand]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this, but go fly fishing (if you know how to cast) or light tackle spin fishing for striped bass or bluefish. Cheaper if you go with a guide and wade from shore, a better experience if you go out on a small center console boat. This isn't big touristy stuff; it can be you and your wife on a guide's boat. If you get a good one, the guide will also teach you about local habitat, show you some sea lions and possibly a whale or shark. It's a great way to be outside.