Lou

My wife and I want to go from Boston to Nantucket for 3 nights, then back to Boston without a car. We will be flying in and out of Boston. What are our options? ground transportation, air, ferry? Traeveling July 21, 2000.

Donna

Believe me when I tell you - your best bet is to fly. The airline is Cape Air. The traffic to the ferry from Boston is horrific when you reach the bridges to the Cape. You would never, ever, catch me heading to the Cape in a car on a Friday. And, the ferries don't run that often, so if you miss one, would be several hours to catch the next. I'm assuming you have overnight reservations for Nantucket, which are absolutely essential in July.

cass

Am I hallucinating that there used to be a train from South Station to Woods Hole or Hyannis? Does anyone else remember, anyone aware of plans to reinstate it?

Ann

Cass, yes there was a train from Quincy (at the end of the T line) to Hyannis a few years ago. It was sort of a tourist train, but others used it as an alternative to driving. It ran into financial trouble I believe, as well as some problems with dumping along the tracks, and went out of business as a link to the Boston area. I think they still use the Cape portion of the tracks as a "dinner train" sort of thing, but I'm not even sure they still do that. It was a very good way to get to the Cape but I guess not enough people used it to make it a success. Traffic this year is even worse than in the past, and multi hour backups over the weekends are not uncommon. I'd agree with everyone that Lou should fly to Nantucket and enjoy the Island rather than go by ground and be hassled.

charles

You should fly. f its not possible for some reason, you can take a Bonanza Bus (I think drectly from Logan Airport n Boston, otherwise South station) directly to the ferry in Hyannis. The same thing works for the Vineyard, btw.

Mary

Hi Lou--I don't know if you are locked into Boston or where you are coming from, but I personally believe it is much easier to get to the Cape & Islands from Providence; it is a great airport and flights are much cheaper (Southwest has lots of flights to Providence). Cape Air is right there, too and an easy way to get out to both Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. They have what amounts to shuttle service to the Islands.

If you don't want to fly, you can take a bus to the ferry; also no one has mentioned that it is a long ferry ride to Nantucket so you might want to consider the convenience a 15-20 minute flight.

Enjoy.

mrussell

By mere coincidence, I priced airfare from both Boston and Providence to Nantucket this morning. Providence is cheaper ($200), Boston ($240). I would suggest pricing bus fare from Boston to Hyannis and then going over to the island by Fast Ferry ($42 round trip.)
Additional info is available at http://www.sevenseastreetinn.com's maps and directions page. I hope you have a wonderful time. My husband and I will be there in August for our 25th anniversary.