Cape Cod, Nuntucket or Martha's Vineyard
 

We are in Providence from Sept 15th to the 17th staying at the Omni Hotel attending a meeting. Essentially, we are free from Tuesday night to Thursday morning to explore some of the surrounding areas> We are booked in Boston on Thursday afternoon. We are having a hard time planning a trip to see Martha's Vineyard, Nuntucket without having to go back to Providence to catch the train to Boston.

Plan A. stay at the Omni and just do a day trip to one of the above places. If that would be the case, which one would you suggest and do I need my rental to go around?

Plan B. Anything else that anyone would suggest.

Thanks in advance.

To me, the idea of doing a day-trip from Providence is a waste. Too much driving, not enough time to really see anything, and an exhausting day to boot.

I'm not sure if it's still running in September, but there's a direct train from Boston to and from Hyannis. No need to go to back to Providence for that, but I don't see how you're going to see much of the Cape without a car, so I think the islands are really your only viable options.

Getting out there is difficult. You'll have to go to Boston in any case and then take a train to Hyannis (assuming it's still running in mid-September) or ferry to Providence just to get out there.

So if you go to the islands, take the train back from Hyannis. Otherwise, go into Boston and take a ferry over to Providence for a couple of days. Without a car, I think you have to go into Boston regardless, which is a huge waste of time and money, but I think those are your best options. Or rent a car, explore the Cape, and drive back to Boston.

i'm pretty sure the Boston-Hyannis train only runs weekends.

I'm confused...do you have a rental car or not? If you have a car, drive wherever you want, then drive to Boston to drop off the car. I'd recommend the Cape because its easier to get to.

Alternately, drive your car to New Bedford, park it there to take the ferry to MV, then drive it to Boston. Maybe from New Bedford you could drive back to Providence to drop it off without too much out-of-the way driving. Certainly better than going all the way to Woods Hole, then back to Providence.

If you don't have a car, maybe you should consider Block Island. You can train from Providence to New London, then take the ferry over. Then train from New London into Boston. Block Island gives you the same kind of beach atmosphere as the Cape and Islands would.

Thanks for your reply. We will have a car rental while in Providence. We thought we would just drop the car in Providence before heading out to Boston. I am open to driving to Boston. if that would be the case, what would you suggest from Wednesday morning leaving the Omni on the way to the Fairmont Copley. We are from Canada and its our first trip to the area.

Yes, that's correct. I just checked. It's weekends only for the Cape Flyer. That means the OP must drive to the Cape, and I'd do that on Tuesday evening to ensure a full day and then Thursday morning in the Cape. You can usually get a room for 2 nights during mid-week without a problem, especially in mid-September. It's only 90 minutes to Hyannis (though I wouldn't stay there unless the OP were taking the morning ferry to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard) and perhaps another 45 minutes all the way to Provincetown from Providence.

Hey Doug thanks for all the leg work. Sorry I don't know what "OP" means. So:

Tuesday night: drive to Cape Cod?

Wednesday: Hyannis? drive back to Cape Cod?

Thursday: head out to Boston

Sorry for the above. i know it looks painful that I am not fully getting it.

OP means "original post" or "original poster", which means you.

Tell us what attracts you to the Cape, why did you want to go there or the Islands? That will help us advise on an itinerary. What do you want to do see or do?

And I'm again not sure if this is your question, but Hyannis is a town on Cape Cod. It's fairly centrally located on the lower cape. Cape Cod itself is pretty big, it takes maybe 90 minutes to drive the length of it, that is why Doug Said Hyannis is about 90 minutes. Other parts of the Cape would be more or less.

Plan good except for Hyannis. Hyannis has lots of Big Box stores and makes a convenient base since it is mid-Cape, but it has 0 (zero) charm.

As a relatively inexpensive place to stay where the kids can have a pool and a good place for fried/broiled fish (Cooke's on Iyanough Road and Baxters on the harbor, fine, but expect to go to Sandwich, Barnstable, Eastham and Chatham for charm and beauty and a beach.

Seems to me you could drive to Hyannis on Wednesday morning, park your car in the ferry lot, take the fast ferry to Nantucket, spend the night, return to Hyannis Thursday morning, retrieve your car, and return to Providence or Boston. If the Vineyard appeals more, you could do something similar, parking at Woods Hole, or, as mentioned above, take the fast ferry from New Bedford for considerably less driving.

Another option is to use the Martha's Vineyard Fast Ferry from Quonset, less than 30 minutes from where you are located in Providence. http://vineyardfastferry.com/why_mar...yard_ferry.htm

We have toured a lot of the cape this week. I totally agree that Hyannis has little charm,lots of traffic and people.
Chatham is quaint, quieter, neat shops, nice atmosphere. Wellfleet Center has nice shops but is a bit congested.
Ptown is, well, colorful, festive, and kooky- uber crowded, but worth the trip. The outer beaches-Race Point and others at Provincetown are very expansive and gorgeously natural. The air is clean and the food is great, but this week we had horrible heat and humidity. Never encountered that here before.Too bad.