Cape Cod - what should we do there?

[Headfullofdreams]

Got a week in Cape Cod coming up. If you've been please tell me your highlights! Where are good places to swim where you won't get eaten by sharks?!

Whale watching, amazing! Boats go from Provincetown.

Whale watching of course. Sea will be freeeezing so beach or walking but sea will really beyond North Sea cold even in August. Check timing of carnival weekend in P Town - to go or not go. Take bus up and ferry back to Boston.

Definitely whale watching in Provincetown.
We also loved the drive in theatre at Wellfleet.

Whale watching

Sea is warmer on the north side (so Brewster and along that coast). I didn't think it was too cold but then I grew up used to freezing beach holidays in the UK!

Take in a baseball game at one of the Cape Cod League games - cheap to get into, good fun, you might see a future star

The fish pier at Chatham is interesting and the new shark centre is great

Cycle the trail (you can hire bikes at various points along it)

Have an ice cream at one of the old fashioned parlours

Ferry trips to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Lobster rolls and ice cream.

Whale watching. One of the most awe inspiring experiences of my life.

Martha's Vineyard was a highlight for us when we went years ago. We hired bikes once we got off the ferry and had a lovely day touring around.

Ooh you lucky thing! In addition to everything everyone has said above, Woods Hole is a gorgeous wee village just down the road from Falmouth. You can take a lovely walk along a woodland trail out to a wee outcrop called the Knob (I know). It's so beautiful and peaceful. Also in Woods Hole is Nobska lighthouse. The view over Vineyard Sound from there is stunning.

The illustrator Edward Gorey's house in Yarmouth Port is now a brilliant museum of his work.

The Cape Cinema in Dennis is really old and lovely.

In terms of eating, there are so many good places: Vers in Orleans if you want something really special, Red Pheasant Inn in Dennis for a cozy but great quality dinner, Zia's Pizzeria in Orleans for the best pizza ever, Mom and Pop's in Chatham for Burgers and my personal favourite, Grumpy's in Dennis for a proper diner breakfast.

People watching in Provincetown, and a dune tour. Definitely whale watching trip!

Aah thanks everyone! Great tips there. How likely is it that we will see whales?
Cycle trail sounds just up our street. Would love to bodyboard but don't want to risk it as lots of sharks spotted recently!

Great pic Chemenger!

Staying in both Provincetown and Falmouth so close to Woods Hole and ferries to MV and Nantucket. Can't wait now!

Mumsnet is great, wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly! Thanks everyone.

We went on holiday to Falmouth on the upper cape every year for about 10 years! It's a beautiful place. Rent bikes at Corner Cycles in Falmouth - they are right beside the cycle path to Woods Hole and there's parking nearby. Woods Hole is about 4 miles away and the path is very safe with a fair bit right beside the sea. You can wander about Woods Hole and visit the tiny (free) aquarium then cycle back (or get the trolley bus if you don't want to cycle) You don't say is you have kids but there is a great Discovery Cruise which goes from Woods Hole - best for kids around 4 - 10 I think. Parking in Woods Hole is difficult but you can park in various places in Falmouth and take the trolley.
For whale watching we preferred the trip from Barnstable Harbour rather than driving all the way to P Town but it depends where you're staying. They generally say if you don't see whales that day you'll get a free ticket for another day. It's a great experience.
Sandwich has a great boardwalk out to the beach and if the tides high you can jump off the bridge and float down the river towards the beach.
Take the passenger ferry from Falmouth to Martha's Vineyard. Ferry gets into Oaks Bluff and there's an indoor carousel which is good fun. Then either rent bikes or take the bus to Edgartown and have a wander. We liked to walk out to the lighthouse then have lunch at a restaurant in the harbour.
Have a brilliant time! We never found the water too cold to swim.

Provincetown is one of my favourite places. We spend 2 weeks there every year. Just walking up and down and watching everything is brilliant. If you are with kids, I strongly recommend a family-friendly drag show at the unitarian church - LipShtick.

Go into the local library in P-town - amazing
Do the Dune tour - it is lovely
Provincetown monument is lovely - great view
Whale watching is brilliant
You could take the high speed ferry to Boston, spend the day in waterfront district/faneiul hall and then go back again on high speed ferry

You will love it.

Thanks Haggis, yes got 3 kids, 2'teens. All v active and can ride for miles on bikes so hoping we can do a lot of cycling there!

Pallisers, got a couple of nights in Boston after. Can't wait now! Thanks for the tips.

We were there in 2010 for a wedding. I second the red pheasant in Dennis for dinner. Some very memorable 'port' from California or Oregon (not Portugal at any rate). And my fave lobster rolls were cold with bacon at the squealing pig in P town with 'Tuscan fries' (chips sprinkled with Parmesan and truffle oil) on the side. We saw about half a whale on our boat; our friends who went the following day saw about ten! A glorious place nonetheless.

We saw about 15 whales, including a mother and her calf. I'll try and find the name of the company we used - they were excellent.

There is an app that the Chatham shark centre place developed that tells you where and when sharks have been spotted - very useful if you are concerned (though the risk is very small) but also fascinating to watch them move around

We loved mayflower beach - the tide comes in miles fairly quickly, but leaves little islands of sand as it comes in. The Dc loved trying to hold out on the island for as long as possible.

Wish I was there for 2 weeks now! I hope we get lucky with the Whales!

I'm getting lonely memories of the summer I spent there in 2000.

I have never, ever, been so ill as whale watching, from cape Ann, not cape Cod. Even to this day, 27 years on, I still shudder at how ill I was. If you are not good sailors, then really take good sea precautions. I love the east coast of USA but euugh. (We did even see one!)

most whale watching from cape cod now is on catamarans and doesn't induce too much sea sickness (but someone will always succumb!)

We don't get travel sick so fingers crossed. Kids are more concerned about size of the boat after Jaws

The picture is from three weeks ago, I think they were definitely seeing whales every day on every trip at that time, so you should be fine. They did promise to give another trip free if no whales were seen so I think that indicates how confident they are. We actually went from Plymouth rather than Provincetown (which would be closer to the whale watching area). All the boats are quite big. We went on a flat calm day so nobody had any seasickness problems. We went from San Francisco a couple of years ago and that was a smaller boat and much rougher, everyone on the trip was either sick or feeling sick on that one. I also went for Boston 20 years ago and saw fewer whales, the good thing is that there are more humpbacks to see now, because the population is recovering a bit.