The Insider's Guide to Cape Cod

In a few hundred words,

here are the Keys to Cape Cod

The Cape is a 64 mile long island, shaped like an arm reaching out 40 miles into the deep Atlantic.  It is home to 200,000 year-rounders and millions of summer residents and tourists. 

There are just fifteen towns on the island, grouped into four sections.  

The Upper Cape consists of four communities; Bourne, Falmouth, Sandwich and Mashpee. 

From Mashpee onwards, all the rest of the villages are nestled alongside Route 6 the only highway, and route 6A a windy, ancient two lane pathway, dating back to colonial days. 

The Middle Cape has just three towns, Barstable, Yarmouth, and Dennis.

The Lower Cape includes the four towns that form the elbow of the 'arm' that is Cape Cod.  They are Harwich, Chatham, Brewster, and Orleans.

Finally, the Outer Cape, contains Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and the city at the end of the earth - Provincetown. 

Though thousands may disagree, the recommendation of this blogger is, if you want to visit Cape Cod - skip over the Upper Cape.  

The real Cape starts at Barnstable.

At this point some readers might be wondering what happened to a famous place called Hyannis - home of the Kennedy Clan.  Isn't that on Cape Cod? 

Yes it is.  In fact Hyannis is the unofficial capital of Cape Cod as well as its biggest community - but in reality it is just one of the several villages of Barnstable.

This is why when you are in Hyannis you will never see a Hyannis Police Car or a truck from the Hyannis Fire Department.  There is no police or fire department specifically for Hyannis.

Barnstable, which is Cape Cod's only city, and its largest community (population 46,000) is comprised of almost a dozen small villages, including one named Barnstable Village.

The other villages in Barnstable are; Cummaquid, Centerville, Craigville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Hyannisport, Martston Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable. 

Hyannis is a mini-Boston.  You'll find many urban attractions there as well as numerous local dining gems and clubs.  The Cape Cod Melody Tent consistently brings the top entertainers to the area.

Main Street Hyannis

One quick note - don't try to find your favorite fast food joints on Cape Cod, they pretty much don't exist.  There are only four McDonald's hamburger palaces on all of Cape Cod and two of them are in Hyannis.  

Hyannis Harbor

Cape Codders prefer local dining and entertainment venues and shy away from the big chains like Burger King, Hardees, Sonic, etc.  The same goes for department and specialty stores.  You won't find Home Depot, Walmart, Target, and such on Cape Cod.  (There is a small Walmart on the elbow of Cape Cod (Falmouth) and one Target Store at the Hyannis Mall, but that's it. You'll never see any big box stores once you get past Hyannis.

Lighthouses are still a big attraction and you'll find plenty of them on Cape including Nauset Light in Eastham.

In Dennis you can visit Princess Scargo's lake, learn about her legend, and climb to the top of her tower for free. 

Scargo Lake - read about the legend of Scargo in Bill Russo's, The Creature from the Bridgewater Triangle (Kindle)

Scargo's Tower - always open and always free.

For bike riders the Cape offers a spectacular 30 mile rail trail that runs from Yarmouth almost all the way to Wellfleet on the Lower Cape.  

Approaching one of the bike trail tunnels in Harwich

Once you get to Middle Cape Cod, you'll find excellent beaches in Barnstable and Dennis.  West Dennis Beach is over one mile long with water on both sides of the sand.  Para sailing and other activities are on-going throughout the summer.

Lower Cape Cod has spectacular beaches and the dining gets even better the deeper into the Cape you get.  I'll divulge one secret dining area to you.  In the town of Chatham, a few hundred yards off Route 28 is a place called Chatham Fish and Chips, which is a local's delight. 

Off the beaten track and unknown to the tourists, the seafood is excellent and the prices are among the most reasonable on all of Cape Cod.

If you want to spend some serious money, go to Ceraldi's in Wellfleet.  You can easily spend three or four hundred per person on a seven sample dining experience by Chef Ceraldi.  His restaurant seats only 45 people.  He has just two servings each evening and the lowest price you can pay is $77 for seven samples of his cooking.  The key here is 'samples'.  The portions are very tiny, and yet if you look up his reviews you will be amazed at how much people love his cooking.  

One piece of advice for you if you go to Ceraldi's - pack a lunch to eat after you eat. 

Check out the beaches on the Cape Cod National Seashore - they rival any beaches in the 48 states, including the best of Florida and California. 

No visit to Cape Cod is complete without at least an hour or so spent in the quirky little city of Provincetown.  Be prepared to be shocked.  Even in this era of LGBTQX - you are going to be wide eyed at the P-town experience.

That's all for now.  Enjoy Cape Cod responsibly.

-0-