How many days in Cape Cod?

The headline things to do in Cape Cod

From the Cape Cod guide — these are the items that anchor a 4-day visit. For the full breakdown, read the Cape Cod travel guide.

1. Cape Cod National Seashore — Eastham through Provincetown (Outer Cape)

   44,000 acres of protected Atlantic shoreline running 40 miles from Eastham to Provincetown. Six staffed beaches in summer (Coast Guard, Nauset Light, Marconi, Head of the Meadow, Race Point, and Herring Cove), three lighthouses, a salt-marsh visitor center at Salt Pond in Eastham, the Province Lands at the tip, and the famous shifting dunes around Race Point. Beach parking $25/day or $60/week; America the Beautiful annual pass works.

2. Provincetown — Outer Cape, end of US-6

   A small fishing village turned year-round LGBTQ+ destination at the very tip of the Cape, with a walkable Commercial Street strip of art galleries, oyster bars, drag clubs, and boutiques running along the harbor. The 252-foot Pilgrim Monument climbable for sweeping bay-to-ocean views, the Province Lands dunes, and whale-watching trips out to Stellwagen Bank. The 90-minute fast ferry from Boston is a great car-free arrival.

3. Cape Cod Rail Trail — South Dennis to South Wellfleet

   A 22-mile flat paved car-free path running South Dennis to South Wellfleet on a converted railroad bed. Crosses kettle ponds, salt marshes, downtown Brewster, and the Nickerson State Park entrance. Bike rentals from Idle Times in Brewster or Little Capistrano in Eastham, around $35/day. The trail is the single best way to see the Lower and Outer Cape without driving.

4. Hyannis and the JFK Memorials — Mid Cape, Barnstable

   The Mid Cape's commercial center and the most-developed town on the Cape, with the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum on Main Street, the JFK Memorial overlooking Lewis Bay (where you can see the Kennedy Compound across the water), and the ferry terminals to the islands. Worth a half-day; not where you stay if you want quiet.

5. Chatham — Lower Cape, southeast elbow

   The most picturesque village on the Cape, at the southeastern elbow where the bay side meets the ocean side. Main Street holds the most-intact downtown shopping district on the Cape, the Chatham Lighthouse looks down on Lighthouse Beach, and the Friday-night Kate Gould Park concerts in summer are a Cape institution. Atlantic white-shark sightings off the Chatham coast are now constant.

6. Sandwich and Heritage Museums and Gardens — Upper Cape, by the canal

   The oldest town on Cape Cod (founded 1637), at the western edge by the Cape Cod Canal. The 100-acre Heritage Museums and Gardens has a major rhododendron collection, the J.K. Lilly III Antique Auto Museum, and an aerial Adventure Park with rope courses and zip lines. Sandwich Glass Museum covers the town's 19th-century glass industry.

7. Day Trip to Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket — Ferry from Hyannis or Falmouth

   The two famous islands south of the Cape. Martha's Vineyard (45 min Hy-Line fast ferry from Hyannis to Oak Bluffs, $50 round trip walk-on) is bigger and has six villages — Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, plus the up-island farms. Nantucket (2.25 hr Hy-Line fast ferry, $80 round trip) is a single 1840s whaling town frozen in time. Both are easy day trips from Hyannis or Falmouth (Steamship to Vineyard Haven, 35 min).

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