As first time visitors to Boston and Cape Cod, I am seeking help in my preparations. Flying into Boston where we will stay for a couple of days and then would like to stay someplace that would afford visits to towns on Cape Cod. Which town would be the best to use as a home base with day trips to others? If we ferry from Boston to Provincetown, can we rent a car there for our day trips? Any suggestions for places to stay would be helpful as well. Rates about $150. Trip will be in mid September. Thanks ahead for any help.

If you are going to rent a car, I'd recommend renting it in Boston and driving out to the Cape. You might be able to rent in Provincetown, but I'm not sure where, and I suspect rates will be more expensive than in Boston and choices fewer.

It's about a 2-hour drive (without too much traffic) from one end of the Cape to the other, so while you could certainly base yourself in Provincetown, it's one of the more expensive places on the Cape to stay and the most isolated.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with the lodging scene to make personal recommendations. I always stay in Provincetown and then only with friends, so I've never stayed in a hotel on the Cape. But that feels like a fairly small budget for lodging, though perhaps you'll have more options since September is really post-season.

You might look into the Commodore in West Harwich. We stay there since we sold our house. Centrally located. You could visit east and west. Hyannis, Chatham, Provincetown...

I stayed in Provincetown, and I liked that more than the other two towns I explored- Hyannis and Truro. I'd look at each town and figure out which area you think you'll want to spend the most time in. I don't like driving and Provincetown was the perfect walking town. There is a bus system that connects the towns- somewhat limiting, but that's what I did because it was so much cheaper than renting a car. People made it sound inefficient, but I was impressed. (This is probably due to growing up in the West- my defintion of a "long drive" was not the same as many of the people I met there. I was worried about getting motion sick but the road between Hyannis and PTown was not nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe.)

Don't base yourself in Ptown if you do rent a car; parking would not be fun. 150 is definitely on the budget side, but from looking at kayak, should be doable. I can't help with specific places, unfortunately, the Bed and Breakfast I loved is still 300+ in September

Oh, and when I googled car rentals, there are none in Ptown. There are a few enterprises on the cape, though, and maybe they'll pick you up?

The P&B bus line serves the Cape hourly from Boston Logan and from South Station. There are car rentals at its Hyannis Terminal and even more at the Hyannis Airport, a short cab ride away. Cars rented at the airport can usually be returned at Logan without penalty. some but not all of these buses continue on to Provincetown from Hyannis in case you want to take the ferry back to Boston.

It is fine to be on the Cape on a weekend, but traffic onto or off the Cape Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon is tedious because of the narrow bridges that connect the Cape to the mainland. The Sunday mid-afternoon P-Town ferry to Boston is a scene, as weekend celebrations continue until it docks in Boston.

What is the real Cape? Route 6 is a boring expressway down the spine of the Cape designed to get you efficiently to where you can start spending money. Route 6A from Sandwich to Brewster is a charming twisty road lined with charming historic houses and the kinds of shops that serve their owners, lovely. Hyannis is charmless but usefully located. The Stop and Shop Supermarket has a large selection of ethnic groceries (Anglo-Irish, Portugese, Brazilian) and there are Caribbean groceries that serve summer workers. Chatham has charm galore but the beaches have been closed a lot because of sharks. The back roads between Falmouth and Sandwich are very pleasant, the main road becomes uglier ever day. The National Seashore on the Atlantic Coast is beautiful, but the water is rough. Wellfleet is traditionally the vacation choice of Freudian analysts from New York City. It has lots of hidden twists. The north shore beaches are calm, but the water is cold. The beaches along Nantucket Sound are warm and gentle but often restrict non-residents by requiring parking permits. What is the real Cape?

You will absolutely need to book your car and lodging in advance in the summer. Do not be surprised by three day minimums for lodging. Ask if they have beach parking passes available. Some do.

June can be cold and foggy. July and the first two weeks of August will be crowded. September is probably the best month for all but the most diehard beach goers, and the beach is usually wonderful at least through mid-month.

I like to stay mid-Cape such as Dennis area, but that was when we rented a house for a week. Many towns on Cape are 3-named (Dennis being near the middle of the, East Dennis and West Dennis being on either Bay or Ocean side - look at a map and this will make some sense). I do not know about beach parking fees and permits in September when you will be going; some beaches not available in mid-summer may open up in September.

Sandwich is also a nice town and even though closer to "mainland" would still be drivable anywhere on Cape in September except on weekend anchor days. At the other end, I also like Wellfleet. I would shop for lodging and make a choice from there. I would not pick Hyannis - it does not feel like the Cape at all.

The ferry can be fun, but in bad weather waters can be surprisingly rough. I don't know about renting car in Provincetown but you certainly can in Hyannis - Ackislander has an interesting suggestion about transportation, but if it were me I would just rent a car in Boston on your way out of town and return it at Logan for your trip home.

It is going to be cooler at night than you might expect, but September is a great month to go.

I much prefer the outer cape, particularly well fleet, Truro and Provincetwn,.
I would drive from Boston or rent a car in Hyannis.
September is the very best time on the cape iMovie, as the water is the warmest and the crowds are beginning to thin.midweek is better than the weekend for traffic.
If you want a simple clean motel with a nice view of the bay I check out the sea gull motel in north Truro, which I think is a hundred dollars or so in sept.

I agree that the outer cape is more fun to visit. The strip along 6A from North Truro to Provincetown has some motels that should be more budget friendly in Sept.

I think Enterprise does rent in Provincetown if you decide on the ferry, but it may be seasonal. Call them and check, you might get a deal especially if you could find a vehicle relocation back to Boston since it is the shoulder season and they probably don't need as many cars on the Cape, you could use the ferry to Ptown and drive back. Worth asking about.

September is a beautiful time to be on the Cape. The weather is nice and the summer crowds have left.

I don't know what your schedule is, but you may find room rates in Boston cheaper on the weekend and rates on the Cape cheaper mid-week. There will be traffic back and forth to the Cape on the weekend but nothing like that summer crunch.

I, too, would rent a car in Boston. It will give you more freedom to go to the very scenic beaches. And usually after Labor Day, most of the town beaches are free and don't require an expensive beach sticker.

I like the outer Cape because of the miles of National Seashore beaches and walking trails. Most all shops and restaurants will still be open.

I think the car rental in Provincetown is seasonal and is located at the airport.

I have friends who stay at the Even'tide Hotel on Rt. 6 in Wellfleet. It is set back from the road, is fairly basic, but the rooms have refrigerators and it is right on the Cape Cod bike path, if that interests you.

If you have any tendency toward motion sickness, you might want to check conditions in the bay before you get on the ferry to Provincetown. There were 6 foot swells last September and that is the sickest I have EVER been from motion sickness (and was far from the only person throwing up - the bathrooms were jammed and people were vomiting over the sides of the boat).