Cape Cod area in late August - experiences please

[motherstongue]

Planning a trip to New York then driving up the coast to Cape Cod then finishing in Boston, all in mid to late August.

None of us (family of four, 2 adults, 2 teenagers 14 & 19) have been to this part of the states before. My daughter really wants to have part of the holiday at the beach but is worried, with it being the Atlantic, that it will not be pleasant swimming in the sea. Anyone any experience?

We were thinking 6 nights in New York, then 5 nights in the Cape Cod area which would leave us 3 nights in Boston. Would this be enough in each do you think for those who are in the know?

The sea will be warm enough and nice.

Your schedule looks good.

I find Cape Cod expensive but it is lovely.

I went to Cape Cod in October and swam in the sea. It was chilly but I wanted to at least once. It's warm in summer though - the inner cape is quite shallow so gets pretty warm.

I absolutely LOVED Cape Cod. We did a road trip where we had no accommodation booked. We planned to stay one night on the cape and found an apartment with french windows opening on to the bay, and slept with all the windows and doors open, listening to the sea. We ended up staying 4 days because it was just so lovely. We had a really good whalewatching trip from Provincetown too. And on the way out, we stopped at Plimoth Plantation, which was fab.

ShinyMe we are heading to Cape Cod for a week in August and your post has made me feel all excited I've heard Plimouth Plantation is great, and we have a history-mad nine year old.

As well as whale watching in Provincetown, are there any other recommendations? We are staying in Chatham.

We actually DID very little on Cape Cod as far as I can remember, it was just lovely and calm (we were out of season). I think we stayed near Truro. I remember liking Marconi Beach (which has historical significance for your 9 yr old) and Provincetown. We did a lovely long walk somewhere too, round a nature reservey type place... I'll try to see if I can find out where it was.

Plimoth is fantastic, the people there are brilliant, staying in character completely.