Hello everyone. I'm looking for a cooler destination to spend the summers. I go to Key West often and love the laid back vibe, the historic architecture, great food, etc, etc. it's a wonderful place in the winter months but it's just too hot in the summer and early fall. I'm looking for a similar atmosphere probably somewhere in the north east on or close to the ocean, walkable, good food and so on. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard.

Bar Harbor, Maine. Portland, Maine is great, too, but a larger town.

On the other coast, Mendocino, CA. Pacifica, CA.

Or Portland and Seattle.

Portland can be hot; it's actually pretty far inland. Seattle and its suburbs will be cooler.

Neither of those remotely resembles Key West, either. She's looking for "a similar atmosphere".

Provincetown, MA is the only place I can think of that might come close. But when I was there, it didn't feel much different from Florida!

I don't think Nantucket fits- that's too relaxed for me, and also felt really, really gentrified.

Some California communities have a few of the amenities you are looking for, and great beaches, but it won't have the key west vibe. Or the history, really. California is distinctly California in the same way Florida is Florida.

Maybe look outside of the US if you can afford the overseas flight?

Similar atmosphere? How about Friday Harbor in the San Juans?

How about Maine? Good food in Portland, gorgeous New England sea coast, generally cool weather and many towns have fine examples of local architecture.

Harbor Springs/Petoskey, Michigan

San Diego

San Francisco Pacific side

Ack wrote

>>>Petoskey, Michigan

Hemingwayetoskey:Hemingway:KeyWest

Who knew? Please enlighten.

Hemingway spent his early summers, through early adulthood, at the family cottage at Walloon Lake. As conflicts with his parents, particularly his mother, arose he spent more time away from the cottage and lived for a time in an old hotel in Petoskey.

He set his novella "The Torrents of Spring" in Petoskey. It was a parody of Sherwood Anderson, meant to free him from a three-book contract with Horace Liveright, so that "The Sun Also Rises" could be published by Scribner's. HL rejected the book -- Anderson was their prize writer -- and the contract lapsed. "Torrents of Spring" is not one of Hemingway's finer efforts, in fact, it can be hard to find.

Oops, meant to attach this link:

http://www.michigan.org/road-trips/t...ay-s-michigan/

Bookmarking --so interesting about Petoskey

Amazing what one learns here on Fodors, isn;t it?

I haven't been to Key West but if the request is for a place that is laidback, historic architecture, great food, view of ocean, etc., I don't know why northern California coast wouldn't fit the bill. San Francisco, in particular has all that and is hardly ever hot, it can be downright cool in summer. Of course lots of other good spots on the coast, but they won't have the city amenities nor as much good architecture IMO. For example, Mendocino was sort of a big snooze to me, but some folks might like it.

It is August 4, and it is 69 degrees on my front porch in Nantucket as I tap away at my iPad. It will be warmer and more humid over the weekend, but we have no predicted highs over 75 for the next week.