Cape Cod must-do's, from mid-Cape to Ptown
 

Hey experts out there ... I'm doing some research and would like to hear from those in the know and who have been out on the Cape: what are some of the quintessential Cape Cod type things to do while visiting? I'm particularly interested in the Mid Cape area: Cotuit on up to Dennis. What are the special things and special places about that region of the Cape? Thanks for your help!

You definitely have to go to the National Seashore on the lower/outer cape. That is the prettiest part of the Cape, IMO. Go to beaches such as Race Point, Herring Cove, Head of the Meadow, Coast Guard Beach. There are also hiking/walking & biking trails. Wellfleet center/harbor is very pretty. We enjoy having lunch at the Bookstore Restaurant. For dinner, try Moby Dick's in Wellfleet, Lobster Pot in Provincetown, also Surf Club (I think)in P'town by MacMillan Wharf. Don't spend a lot of time on Rt 28; it is very crowded, very commercialized. Chatham is also nice for shopping & restaurants. We also like Skaket Beach in Orleans.
HOpe this helps.

Get out on the water if you can: Seal watch, whale watch, ferry to M.V. or ACK will all give you an entirely different perspective of the Cape.

Eat the local bounty: Clams, scallops, oysters, cod, flounder,lobster, fried anything and everything and of course, ice cream ice cream and more ice cream.

Go to an art show, craft fair, outdoor band concert, summer stock theatre performance.

Do nothing but sit on the beach with your feet in the warm sand, gaze out at the sparkling water and contemplate the meaning of cold, dismal winters.

In West Brewster (just past East Dennis), just past Dennis, there is the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, with an active schedule of nature programs and trails out to the bay.

In Dennis, there is the Cape Cinema, a quirky movie theater showing independent and foreign films in an interesting old building on the grounds of the Cape Playhouse (where there is summer stock theater). There is a great mural on the ceiling and your shoes won't stick to the floor.

In Yarmouthport, you can go out to Gray's Beach at Bass Hole, where there is a boardwalk out over the marsh, a small beach with a nice view, and a closeup view of nesting osprey.

Scargo Pottery in Dennis is a fascinating store and workshop where several members of a talented family make and sell beautiful pottery in a scenice setting.

I love The Red Pheasant restaurant in a beautiful old house on Route 6A in Dennis.

Will second the various beaches, especially those of the Cape Cod National Seashore, as the best attractions here. There are some decent hiking areas as well, especially in Nickerson State Park.

As far as standard "tourist attractions" go, most are okay if not necessarily at world-class level. Most every town has a windmill and/or grist mill plus a small historical society museum with artifacts that sometimes are at rummage sale level. Many have a historic house or two, and some have historical sites of varying degrees of interest. The three best attractions I've come across thus far are the Sandwich Glass Museum (a world-class entity as far as I'm concerned), Heritage Museum and Gardens (also in Sandwich), and the Church of the Transfiguration (a really nicely done church in modernist style, in Orleans). And if vintage electronics and such are your thing, the French Transatlantic Cable Station Museum (Orleans) will likely be of interest.

Hi!

It may be not necessarily quintessential Cape Cod, but the Edward Gorey house is a lot of fun, and something to do if it's raining.

Regarding P-town, here's another vote for the Cape Cod National Seashore. http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/index.htm

We are not beach people, but we rented bikes and rode on the 8+ miles of trails in that area: http://www.cctrails.org/provbike.htm

It was lots of fun, with great scenery. The trails have a bit of uphill and downhill, and occasional sharp turns. You can ride the bike all the way out to Race Point Beach & Herring Cove.

We rented bikes from Gale Force Bikes. They are located about 1 mile from McMillan Wharf, very helpful w/our bike rentals. While they are far from the Wharf, they are very close to the start of the bike trails, so you spend little time on the main roads (Rt 6/6A) compared to renting from other places in P-town. http://www.galeforcebikes.com/

Thanks -- these are great so far. Feel free to keep them coming ... what do you all like about the Hyannis area?

Always the contrarian, I never understand this question about Cape Cod. There are, in my opinion, no "must dos" on Cape Cod. There are a handful of "interesting dos" - some listed above - but none of these would really be worth going out of your way to see - they are just something to see.

The essence of Cape Cod is to relax, see the beaches, do some outdoor activities - bike, walk, see scenery, eat, perhaps visit some little artist galleries (the galleries are little, not the artists).

One thing to note is that when the weather is bad, the roads on Cape Cod are packed, adding to the misery of wasting your vacation with bad weather. Everyone else is looking for something to do.

In Hyannis I like the Brazilian Grill restaurant for great churrascaria, barbecue which they bring around on skewers and you keep taking more until you can't look at another piece. Also a large buffet of interesting dishes. There is a large Brazilian community in the area, which frequents this restaurant.

Across the street from there is Harry's Blues Bar, which has live music nightly.

I don't particularly care for Hyannis. As I said in my first post, the quinteseential Cape Cod is the National Seashore, and the towns on the outer/lower Cape: Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro & P-town. For shopping & restaurants, I much prefer Chatham over Hyannis.

Kreme n Kone for fried seafood! It's in West Yarmouth I think.

I love Hyannis. It's honest and just as authentic as Chatham or Falmouth or any of the other 'quaint' villages. There's a good restaurant on Main Street: Embargo. You can get great tapas there and they have specials at certain times of certain days. (1/2 price tapas all day on Tuesday and from 4-6 on the other days)

The Audubon Bird Sanctuary in Eastham is a great place to wander thru hundreds of acres of unspoiled beach and marsh.
The National Seashore Salt Pond visitor's center in Eastham is another must do for first timers to the Cape.

never knew about the Edward Gorey house! Really fun idea for a rainy day

The Audubon Sanctuary is indeed great, but it is in South Wellfleet. Check out the programs at their website: http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Co...leet/index.php

More activities and programs through the National Seashore:
http://www.nps.gov/caco/ranger-guided-activities.htm

And while we're at it, here are the activities offered by the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History:
http://www.ccmnh.org/index.php?modul...ndar&func=main

Nikki,

Actually, although the entrance to the Audubon Sanctuary is in Wellfleet, and the address is in Wellfleet there is actually a small part of the Sanctuary along the coast that is in Eastham! http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Co...et_locator.gif
Also, you might be interested to know that Harry's Bar in Hyannis is for sale.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb.../BIZ/100829852

To the question at hand.....Can't think of anything great about the mid-cape area except that it has lots of commercial things to do, so might be great for families looking for go-carts, malls, mini-golf etc. And the Nantucket Sound beaches on the south side in Dennis, Harwichport and Chatham are very popular with folks who have little ones because there are basically no waves and warmer water.

I'd say not to miss the National Seashore Visitor Center in Provincetown. Climb to the viewing area and see both Provincetown center and the Bay and the Atlantic on the other side.

As for the Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary, that map does indicate that they may own some land in Eastham, but, trust me--my friends own a house in Wellfleet between the sanctuary and Eastham and there is no access to Eastham through the sanctuary (unless you swim!).

The mid-Cape area does have some really good restaurants that might be worth a drive. I'm thinking of abba and Ocean House just as examples but there are more.

Orleans, MA is super quaint and lovely. Nauset and Skaket beaches are wonderful, and this place is perfect for a sweet tooth (& great for a rainy day):

www.hotchocolatesparrow.com

Harry's Blues Bar and Cajun Restaurant is no more. Last night was the final night. Big loss for live music fans.

The train is an interesting ride. www.capetrain.com You see parts of the Cape you can't see in a car. They have brunch and dinner trains too.

When are you planning on coming? The weekend after Columbus Day is the Wellfleet Oyster Festival. That's fun.

Isn't it really bad news for Hyannis that Harry's is no more?? Awful news for us!

I don't like the Cape Cod dinner train. I think it's truly awful, I'm sorry to say.

In Ptown options include:

Art's Dune tour - a great/different view of the National Seashore
Whale Watch
Rent a sailboat or Kayak at Flyer's
Chowder at the Lobster Pot
A walk down Commercial St. galleries in the East end
Dinner at the Mew's
Salt water Taffy from Cabot's
a martini at Harbor Lounge (or anywhere on the water)

Our favorites: Sandwich, Chatham, National Seashore. Restaurant: Onahu, Japanese restaurant in Yarmouthport, amazing ambiance and food. Race Point Beach, Provincetown. JFK Museum, Hyannis, simple but memorable, especially full-wall family tree. Skip Martha's Vineyard, nothing to do there. Rather boring ferry ride. Hassle to get there. Go in September if you can. Perfect weather all week, no crowds, little traffic or waiting anywhere. For quilters: Heartbeat Quilts, Tumbleweed Quilts, both excellent and huge. We stayed at Cove at Yarmouth, very nice, centrally located. Did I mention Onahu restaurant? Don't miss it.

Hi mathquilter: did you mean 'Inaho' in S. Yarmouth? Great sushi, great bento boxes. We're there once a week during the summer.

I have been meaning to try Inaho, which is on Route 6A in Yarmouthport, for a number of years now. Sounds like I should give it a try.

My must-dos on the Cape are:
Breakfast at Grumpys, fried clams at Kate's, a walk up to Scargo Tower, taking the canoe out on Scargo lake, bike riding anywhere on the Cape, sunset at Chapin beach, lobster rolls at Sesuit Cafe.

Grumpy's lobster rolls are reasonable and good too.

But you don't quite have the same atmosphere at Grumpy's as you do at Sesuit.

Sesuit should be closing for the season soon if they haven't already.

I love Sesuit Harbor Cafe'.

Recently saw the main attractions in Yarmouth and Dennis, completing my visit to the primary tourist attractions on Cape Cod. Nothing in either town struck me as a "world class must," though they're pleasant enough to experience in some cases. Which puts these alongside most everything else on the Cape.

Re the Edward Gorey House (in Yarmouth) alluded to above: am thinking one needs to be a big fan of Gorey's work to have this be a "must." The house in and of itself struck me as unremarkable. Inside, there are several books with his illustrations, several prints of his illustrative work, a TV with the opening credits to "Mystery" on repeat loop, some allusions to his interest in animal welfare, and a whole lot of souvenir purchase possibilities. It reminded me a lot of the Thornton Burgess House in Sandwich, which pretty much functions in the same capacity for that author.

I was pretty lukewarm about both, personally, but fans of Gorey and Burgess will surely want to see them.

Inaho is excellent - haven't been there in a couple of years though. Now for you old time Cape folks - do you remember when it was La Cipollina? I worked there several Summer's..... learned a lot in that kitchen!

Ah, La Cipollina, yes indeed. You worked in a restaurant kitchen? Hidden talents.

We visited the Gorey house last Friday and had a very interesting docent provide a tour. The scavenger hunt made things more interesting. It is a small house and his work is very bizarre. One of my companions requested we visit and it was the highlight of her weekend but I agree it's not something everyone would like.

Another companion had to take pictures of the sunrises. It was nice to relax and enjoy being on the Cape.

We are in Truro now and have been to two excellent "new to us' restaurants: Mac's shack in Wellfleet and Blackfish in Truro. Both upscale in their own way but well prepared innovative FRESH local food, Mac's Shack emphasizing fish.
Personally I would head right to outer cape, Truro especially is still pretty wild and duney. Check out FIsher's beach on the bay.

New addition on the Cape is PB Boulangerie in Wellflleet - right on route 6... to die for pastries and breads - have not eaten a meal yet, but I hear good things!

jubilada, hope you are enjoying the Truro vacation. If you go to the Lobster Pot, think of me. I had a fabulous appetizer when I was there the last time - their Lobster Avocado Cocktail.

oops! Inaho is indeed in Yarmouth Port! (thanks for clarifying)

Starrs: we had a great time in Truro, never go to Lobster Pot as Moby Dick's is our go to place for lobster, which again was great.

We went to PB several times, very good bakery but SO MUCH ATTITUDE! My favorite bakery remains Connie's in PTown, not as highbrow but I think better and more varied and more "real."
We enjoyed the Beech Forest trail in PTown and will take a dune tour next trip.

Most irritating thing about the trip: hordes of bus tours daily in Provincetown. Way more than I remember in the past.