Hello from Texas! My family and I are planning a trip to Cape Cod early July. Any recommendations on areas and hotels? I'd like to be in the warmer water, near the beach. We will probably go to one of the islands one day and maybe whale watching one day. I've looked on several web sites and really struggling for hotels. Help!! Thanks from the Lone Star State!!

Will you have a rental car? If so, I would stay mid-Cape (Chatham Bars Inn) and drive up to Provincetown to do a whale watch. When you do this from P-town you travel a very short distance to see whales, as opposed to leaving from other places where it takes a long time out and back. With the Provincetown whale watches you spend most of your time watching the whales! They congregate at the Stellwagen Bank, which is very close to P-town.
Then you can drive to Hyannis and take a boat over to Nantucket for the day, or drive to Woods Hole and take a boat over to Martha's Vineyard. Have fun!

Because the Chatham Bars Inn is so popular people tend to recommend it to everyone planning a vacation on Cape Cod. It is however, very expensive and probably booked solid by now.

There are hundreds of other places to stay with warmer water (read: towns facing Nantucket Sound) with accommodations near the beach. Look for places to stay in Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich and Chatham.

You should do a text-search on "Cape Cod" and look at the postings and replies of questions similar to yours. Believe me, this question has been asked before. The Rant and Raves section for Cape Cod accomodations should also help.

The Seacrest hotel in Falmouth is nice. Its on a nice warm water beach, and has outdoor and indoor pool. The Red Jacket in yarmouth is also nice and on warm water. Both have childrens activities.

Hi KNeal-

The Nantucket Sound beaches have the warmest water on the Cape. The National Seashore beaches, and the Chatham beaches water is ch-ch-ch-chilly (but the beaches are beautiful)...

From your description, I think you should look to stay somewhere in the Craigville area of Centerville (a village of Barnstable). Craigville beach is wonderful for kids. You could take a whale watching trip from Barnstable Harbor, and the ferries to Nantucket leave from Hyannis.

Early July is the busiest time on Cape Cod- I think you should pick a town that has everything you need within the shortest driving distances to maximize your vacation time; Centerville would be it!

Check out the follwing websites:

The Trade Winds Inn- a hotel right across the street from the beach-looks real nice from the outside!
http://twicapecod.com/

http://web1.steamshipauthority.com/ssa/oFor the ferries to the islands

And for the whales:
http://www.whales.net/

You could also leave for a whale watch from Provincetown and get to the whales quicker by boat, but I think it is much nicer to spend your time sailing than driving 45 minutes to 1 hour to Provincetown from the mid-Cape.
Happy travels!

From a transplanted Texan who loves the Cape: I second the vote for Chatham, and think the Chatham Bars is great. The town's location is in between P'town (whale watching), National Seashore beaches (the prettiest, but cold), Nantucket Sound beaches (the warmest), and the bay beaches (probably warmer than the sound beaches, but not ocean). Also the town itself is very charming. If the Chatham Bars is not available, or not what you want, other possibilities include the Wequassett Inn, the Chatham Wayside Inn, and many others. If you want to be close to the warm sound waters, I hear the Cape Codder in Hyannis is nice, but no personal knowledge. Have fun!

Let me add to your confusion with my opinion. We have been vacationing and long weekending at the Cape for about 30 years. All areas have their good and bad points and I can't dispute anything anyone has said and if money is no object, Chatham Bars is great. We have stayed at a smaller place in South Yarmouth, the Surfcomber;
www.surfcombermotel.com many times and enjoy it's location right on the beach on Nantucket Sound (warm water) and it's central location near Hyannis for restaurants, shopping, island ferries etc. You would want to go to P'town anyway for a day trip and that is the best place for a whale watch. It's about a one hour drive from Yarmouth.
I would not recommend staying in the Falmouth area as it is more difficult to travel to other areas from there because of traffic concerns. Route 28 (whole length) is a traffic problem and I would not stay at the lodgings directly on it unless you really need low cost accommodations.
The Surfcomber is very clean and well maintained and is about the most reasonable of any of the decent places directly on the water. Good for kids too). In close proximity is the Red Jacket previously mentioned, but it is somewhat higher in price.
There are several other places along this road (South Shore Dr.) which are also good. Take a look in the AAA Tour book for more suggestions.
Lastly, in case there was any doubt, a car is necessary to go anywhere on the Cape.

The Cape is terrible in the summer.Why are you coming all the way from Texas to go to Cape Cod? You are going to hate it.There are SO many nicer places to go. To do anything on the Cape you will have to drive and the traffic sucks. The beaches are crowded.
Personally I like the Cape. But you have to know where to go. The real cape is from Chatham to P-Town.The best beaches are in Wellfleet,Marconi, but the water is cold. There are no "hotels" on the cape just motels and rental cottages. I would look at the EvenTide in Wellfleet or something along 6A in Truro/N Truro.Chathams not bad either but I am not familiar with the motels there.Do not stay in S. Yarmouth or Dennisport.
The Islands are overrated and without a car there is nothing to really see. Do the whale watch from Provincetown.However if you are uncomfortable with gays do not go to P-Town. You really should go to Florida. So much nicer. Or Myrtle Beach.

Florida or Myrtle Beach? KNeal's made the right choice. My guess is KNeal's family wants to avoid the summer heat of Texas - otherwise they could just go to Padre Island! Chatham Bars Inn and Wequassett Inn are most certainly not "motels" - they are beautiful resort hotels with many amenities. The traffic can be daunting if you insist on traveling a lot on Route 6, but you'll figure out how you can avoid most of it once you get there, depending on the particular day's activity.

FYI Martas, by "hotels" I meant a Marriott or a Hilton. Notice the quotation marks around the word.
July on the cape is just as warm as Florida.

KNeal try www.vrbo.com

KNeal,
I have vacationed at the Cape with my husband and three children for years. There is a large selection of private rental homes through www.vrbo.com and www.cyberrentals.com. The crowds can be quite overwhelming on the weekends, but midweek it's quite manageable. Chatam is quaint, with cold water and large crowds on the weekends. You will find many different opinions as to where is the best section of the Cape to stay. One great thing about Cape Cod, it's pretty small, you can easily explore the entire area in a weeks time. A previous post suggested to look at a map of the Cape, this is the best way to figure out what beaches are warm. One sure thing, on the day you go whale watching, no matter how hot the air feels on land, you and your family will need to bring a sweater, sweatshirt or jacket. No matter what you decide, I'm sure you'll have fun.

It seems the majority of posters prefer the Lower (or Outer) Cape, but given your first two requests (warm water beach, day trip to island), I think you want to be based in the Hyannis/Yarmouth/Dennis area. Stellaluna is right about the whale-watch boats from Hyannis, though, as they'd need to travel much farther to get to the whales.

My parents always stay at the Craigville Corners motel. You can walk to Craigville Beach (the nicest on Nantucket Sound IMHO) if your kids aren't too young or if they have strollers. AND you'd be across the street from the Four Seas ice cream shop! www.centervillecorners.com.

Another poster suggested the Trade Winds. It IS nice, and is right across the road from Craigville Beach. More expensive, though.

A word of advice about traffic: don't try to drive onto or off of the Cape on a Saturday, as that's when the weekly rentals turn over. In fact, if you can, stay off Route 6 entirely on Saturday and (in the westbound direction) Sunday. Not sure how your vacation time will overlap with the 4th; that makes the traffic scenarios more complicated.

Hi KNEAL
I have to agree and disagree with some of the responses you have gotten. Yes the cape is not the same as it was when I was a cild in the 60s and lived there, but it is what it is. Being that I lived in Hyannis Port I tend to gravitate there as it also provides direct acess to the ferries to the Islands.
We usually stay a a motel diagonally across the street from the ferries , I can't tell you the name as it seems to change yearly. It has a restaurant indoor pool and jacuzzi and lasttime we were there a very accomodating new owner. The main street is filled with traffic, ice cream pa;ours, arcades, loud kids and what summer seems to be on the Cape.
It does not have the charm I rememebr from trips to Galveston, but perhaps you feel the same way about Galveston. As far as islands you need a car and the way around that is to book thru Hertz on there website for pick up at the local airports on the islands both Nantucket and The Vineyard.
Ypu get great rates online versus the 250 a day they want when you get off the ferry. JUst get off the boat and jump into a cab and go pick it up at the airport. nantucket is very expensive and not much to do . The vineyard is great lot's to do shopping, many great small towns and if you can eat at the NAvigator in edgartown. Great location on the water and excellent food. Have fun

Thanx for someone telling Kneal about the gays in P-Town. My Mom and I were mistaken for a couple and we just went with it! We had a blast.

Mrsbu mentions needing a rental car, but when we go to Martha's Vineyard for the day we just ride from town to town on the bus. Within towns we walk around.

Arkansasnurse...I would have told them myself but last time a I mentioned that P-Town was not a family destination as it was a blatant gay area my post was removed.

www.lighthouseinn.com

I'm straight, and I don't see why a gay destination can't be a family destination.

Though I can see how it might be bad for closeminded folks who are a little worried that they might be gay. Standard homophobes.