Nantucket or Brewster with kids in July
 

Searching for a cottage on Cape Cod again this summer (previous options are booked), I came across a great cottage in Nantucket. Having never been to Nantucket, I am looking for some advice. The other top option is a bayside beach cottage in Brewster. Is Nantucket a good option for kids (girl 5, boy 3)? Do I need to ferry my car over or are there other options of geting around? The cottage is in the Madaket Harbor area. How is water tempature/calmness? Are there kid friendly restaurants? Brewster seems like the safe pick with the kid friendly bayside beach and an area we are familar with and enjoy, but the cottage in Nantucket is so pictaresque and it would be nice to explore a new area. Any advice on either Nantucket or Brewster would be appreciated.

I love Nantucket. We love Nantucket!!! But Nantucket is really really expensive, and we only go off season for a couple of nights. Therefore we rent a jeep for the day to hit the sand, and just stroll town and dine at whoever is still open that night, which can still be world class dining.

With two kids at that age at high season, I wouldn't consider not bringing or renting a car.

Perhaps you could go for 2-3 nights without a car.

AckIslander might have some ideas. Other wise I think that areas like Brewster offers a family a more affordable and accessible vacation.

Brewster would be my choice. We spent a week every summer there for many years with our children starting when they were 4 and 9, respectively. The range of options for everything from dining to rainy-day activities seemed greater than on either Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, and the central location of Brewster made for easy day trips to other parts of the Cape.

Here is Ackislander.

Madaket is on the bus line, so you do not really need a car, though it will be a pain to buy groceries. You can stock up at the beginning of the trip and take a taxi to your rental. The problem with having a car is that it is expensive to bring over (>$400 round trip) and parking in town is difficult.

In Madaket, there is a choice of warm, calm harbor and wild ocean waves. It is the west end of the island, and the sunsets are spectacular. It depends a great deal on where your proposed rental is. If you have a listing, let me know and I can comment directly.

If you choose Nantucket without a car, compare the costs of parking fees and fares on island transportation to the cost of ferry for the car. I'm not sure about Nantucket, but the kids go to the Vineyard frequently to visit the inlaws and if they are staying more than a couple of days, the difference is not worth not having a car and having to drag a ton of luggage and kid stuff.

the vineyard is much more affordable to bring a car over. I think Nantucket was wise to charge such a high tariff to help limit the amount of summer gridlock. That said, I can't imagine not having a car for a week with two young children.

If finances are not an issue, I would jump on spending a week in Nantucket during high season. And I would bring our truck over and hit the sand, the fishmonger, the farm at our leisure.

I just mentioned the options, but if I were you, I would bring a car or go somewhere that I could have a car. Without the kids, going without a car is much more reasonable.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Ackislander, the cottage is at the end of Little Neck Way facing Madaket Harbor.Rental #131164 on Home Away.

Ah Ackislander... we used to rent a place in Madaket every summer and wouldn't have thought of going without a car. (But that was before Tristram's Landing took over.) Did you ever know
Madaket Millie???

Despite the ad on HomeAway, you will need a car as the cottage is some way off the main road. You will need a car with some ground clearance since it is on an unpaved road, though you won't need a four wheel drive. I just wouldn't want to try it in a Porsche :-) You may find that renting a car for a week will be just about what it would cost you to bring your car over.

It is in a fantastic location. The Madaket Harbor waterfront is within yards, and it is warm, smooth water, perfect for children. Madaket Beach is a car or bike ride away, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 mile. In the opposite direction is the "crabbing bridge" where salt water flows into fresh at Long Pond and kids catch crabs all day with smelly chicken legs tied to strings. You can canoe or kayak in Long Pond but have to watch for snapping turtles and mean swans, or you can kayak or float in a tube in the harbor in front of the house.

Downsides: (1) it is next door and shares a driveway with a much larger house, not a problem if the owners are there, could be a problem if they rented to a big group. You can see this on the Google Maps satellite view. (2) this area can be very buggy at dusk, though usually later in the summer. Bring lots of insect repellent and whatever you like to use if you do get a bite. Hopefully, the breeze will be blowing and they won't bother you at all, so you can take the repellent home for next year. I think you might have the same problem near any salt marsh area, including Brewster.

If you decide on renting a car, I would suggest that you reserve with Young's on Steamboat Wharf and that you take the Steamship rather than the Hy-Line. The Hy-Line is fine if you are walking to someplace in town, but it is very congested and it is hard to get a taxi. But there arre plenty of places to rent aa car, and even the airport locations will usually meet you at your boat.

Gwenndolynn, I did not know Madaket Millie but I know Beverly Hall, who took the iconic photos of her with Fred ("Mr") Rogers quite well.

In church I sit in the pew just in front of the one where Mr Rogers sat. I never met him because I go to the 8 o'clock service and he went at 10! The day after he died, someone left a folded sweater and pair of slippers at his seat.

Her cottage has been gentrified beyond belief in my time, though his house (well, his mother's) looks almost exactly the same.

I think the better option with children would be Brewster. You could do a daytrip to Nantucket. The drive to Hyannis is about a half-hour from Brewster. The high speed ferry only takes an hour. Rent a vehicle and spend the day exploring Nantucket and the area where the cottage is located. If you enjoy it, you could book the Nantucket cottage the following year.

We rented a place on Nantucket when our kids were small. We did not bring the car and soon decided that getting around was a pain, so rented one on the island for the rest of our stay. It was not cheap.

weneedavacation.com may still have some listings you won't find on cyber, homeaway and vrbo.

If you go with Nantucket, hopefully your rental hosts will already have secured car reservations for your convenience. You will want to make vehicle reservations immediately upon booking your lodging.

http://www.steamshipauthority.com/ss...lay.cfm?Run=NT

Ackislander brings up a great point. It is good to know ahead if the owners are on island or if your close neighbors will be a summer party house which could be great if they are not too loud, are friendly and invite you out on the water, or annoying if they ignore your serenity.

I've found the three big jeep rental places to be equally competative with friendly service. But again, I am an off season girl.

on second look, the adjacent house looks to have privacy shrubbery boundaries. what a lovely place with so much room. Easy to imagine days at the beach, short naps and trips to the farm for dinner on the upstairs deck watching the sunset.

http://www.bartlettsfarm.com/

Thanks everyone for the great responses. I think we're going to go with the Brewster cottage this year, but we will take lovs2travel's advice and make a day (or 2) trip to Nantucket to get a better feel for what it has to offer for us and the kids. Will probably go in the off season rather than the vacation week at the Brewster cottage as we are from SE MA. Plus, I would hate to go over and love the place and regret our decision to go with the Brewster cottage while we are still staying there. Not that I expect we could lose with choosing either place. There is always summer 2014 at which point I am sure I will be asking all of your advice once again.