Best Cape Cod town for small children
 

I am learning about Cape Cod while trying to plan a family vacation. What is the best town for small children(5 and 18 months)?

P.S. We are going in the spring and planning to stay for a week. Thank you!

With small kids, try to get close (within a few blocks) to a beach on the bay side -- then you can go back and forth whenever you like without car/parking issues. The bayside beaches
are shallower, warmer, and calmer than the oceanside ones.

(Although you don't want to miss visiting the national seashore, you may not want to go there every day).

The water, even bayside, may not be warm enough for swimming in spring, but you can still build sand castles and look for seashells.

I would suggest Wellfleet -- it has a nice town center for walking around in -- but other people will have their favorites.

While most restaurants are open in spring, some do not open until May 1 or later (labor shortage issues). The type not open are the clam shack type places.

It can be quite cool in spring on Cape, so dress accordingly. While I agree that Wellfleet area is lovely, it is quite a ways out on Cape. I just read a statistic that said something like 80% of Memorial Day weekends are cloudy and/or rainy at end of Cape - something to do with spring weather patterns off water. (I know because we used to camp every Memorial Day weekend in Wellfleet and always froze to death)

So I might chose a place closer in, such as Falmouth. More places likely to be open, still beaches to dig in sand on and walk on.

There is about a 0% chance you can swim or even get wet up to your knees at that time of year without risking frostbite.

When my kids were small we rented three times on the beach on the Cape. Once a cottage in Wellfleet within walking distance to the beach and twice in Provincetown right on the beach. They loved the Provincetown Beach since the tide goes out really far and leaves all sorts of interesting creatures behind. In the Spring the water will be too cold for swimming.

Where would there be other things to do besides going to the beach? We live very close to the beach right now so it isn't much a novelty.

I am not actually sure why you are picking Cape Cod in the spring. I love the Cape in the off season, seeing empty beaches, poking around in little shops, just relaxing - but with kids age 5 yrs and 18 mos, I am not sure what your vacation dreams are.

While the younger one will not care all that much where he is, activities for the older one are far more available in the summer months. There is a tiny aquarium towards Wellfleet (perhaps Eastham, I do not actually remember) and my kids always loved the petting zoo (I think Brewster), but the latter I believe is only open in summer months.