Cape Cod vacation help
 

My husband and I want to visit the Cape Cod area for a few days to a week at the end of July, with our two adult children. Three of us will be coming from San Francisco, and our daughter will be traveling from New York City. None of us have been there. We enjoy culture, the outdoors and the beach. I think renting a condo would be best for us as we would like three bedrooms and two baths. Would really appreciate ideas for how to get there, where to stay, where to go and what to do! Thanks so much. This is a special birthday for someone in our family.

Have you done some research, either on this website or in a guidebook? Am thinking that will be a very good idea to start things off.

It would help the most if you set up a possible itinerary after doing some research, then post the itinerary with questions.

YOu will find more cottages than condos on the Cape. What area or town are you considering? The cape is a large area offereing many different types of experiences.

We have stayed at 'condo' types at Ocean Edge resort in Brewster that was lovely..we had a huge 2 bedroom villa with full kitchen, living/dining room with flat screen tv's in all the rooms.
Chatham Bars is another gorgeous resort..wittasquesset (sp) too.
We are native Southern Californians and we loved Cape Cod!

Sounds like a nice family trip.

How to get there - closest airports are TF Green in Providence, RI or Boston Logan. Check rates and figure how you are going to get to Cape Cod from there - the only reasonable way is to drive. If NYC daughter has a car then perhaps all fly into NYC area and drive together from there.

Condos - not really a big item on the Cape - although more in recent years. Most lodging is cottages or smaller hotels. Oceanedge.com is a golf/resort facility in Brewster that has condos, villas, apartment type lodging. If you want to rent a cottage get on it now - virtually all of them rent Sat afternoon - Saturday morning - but hotels and other types of lodging do not follow that pattern. You might also check out VRBO.com (vacation rentals by owner) So figure that into your plans. Craigslist or local realtors handle these rentals.

That's a start - get your travel and lodging set and then figure out what you want to do. Culture is not one of the Cape's strength (unless you figure neon mini-golf facilities are culture)- but there are concerts in Hyannis, a few smaller museums, lots of antiques and some unique small artist studios and galleries.

The Cape is made up of several individual towns - often called East or West (as in East Dennis, Dennis, West Dennis) representing location on ocean side (south) or bay side (north) - I might pick a town in area called mid-Cape - Dennis, Brewster, Yarmouth area. That will facilitate travel to other Cape areas.

When you figure out a rough timing, post back - we can tell you about traffic, specific restaurants, etc.

VRBO.com

The outer cape from Eastham to Provincetown is known for its world-class ocean and Bay beaches, cultural offerings, quant villages and walking trails. If you stayed at Ocean Edge in Brewster you would not be too far from this area. The Cape Cod National Seashore has preserved much of the land on the outer cape, preventing it from being commercialized the way much of the rest of Cape Cod has been. I am including a few links that might help you get a feeling for that area of the Cape.
www.nps.gov/caco
http://www.boston.com/travel/article...urself/?page=1

http://www.morebeach.com/coast-guard-beachcam.html
http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Co...leet/index.php

http://www.what.org/
http://www.artsfoundation.org/