3 weeks in Cape Cod/ New England- itinerary advice and must dos

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Help!!

Any advice welcome

When? That will have a massive impact!

August

I'd stay in Boston for three days, the Cape for a week and a road trip up to lakes/mountains in Maine, Vermont or New Hampshire for the rest of the time.

Is there anything you're desperate to see/do? Small towns? Hiking and camping? lobster fishing? Beanpot suppers? Universities in Boston, particular historical sites (everywhere)?

Ages of any kids relevant as well!

Whale watching off cape cod is amazing!

3 teens. A bit of everything

We're wondering about a week on Martha's Vineyard and a week on the cape but that only leaves a week for the rest. So wondering about a week on the cape with a day trip to MV and then 2 weeks doing the rest???

How does accommodation work on a road trip? Do house rentals want a full week? If so which two areas would be good bases? Also I want to see some of Maine e.g. Acadia,poss Portland.Dp keen on New Hampshire,college towns.....

Were going to fly in and out of NY,staying there for a week before the 3 weeks. Is that doable?

We did this - into NY about 5 days there. Drove to Cape Cod via Mystic (overnight stay). One week in Chatham, about 3 nights. Brewster. Drive to Boston 3/4 nights. Back to New York. You have more time so can go further. Other than Chatham we stayed in hotels - suites or adjoining rooms. We didn’t do Martha’s Vineyard but a day trip to Nantucket which was great.

There is a decent train from NY to Boston. Then stay in the city for 3/4 days. You can go whale watching from Boston Harbour. Go to Cape Cod for a week and base yourself in two places using hotels or a house rental for a week. It will be super busy in August and just driving there is slow. Doing both MV and CC won’t give you much time for the rest of the trip and will essentially be a beach holiday for 2 weeks. Therefore do one week there.

I would use the rest of the time to go up the coast from Boston and into the countryside and see the beautiful old towns. You won’t get a house rental for a few days in August but you could try air bnb. When we have travelled around, we have used hotels but it’s high season in August, so get booking!

Bubbles suggestion is good so I will throw an alternative idea out there...

Arrive NYC, stay there a week. Make sure wherever you're staying has air con as the city in August can be miserable.

on the 7th day, fly to Burlington VT, rent a car where you pick up from Burlington and drop off at Logan airport in Boston in 3 weeks time. Stay the night in town, have dinner at Hen of the Wood on Cherry St (book in advance!!)

Now do some driving. The back roads in New England are lovely, loads of places to stop off for ice cream, farm stands, random roadside attractions, trading posts, etc. Avoid the highways and get your teens to spot stuff that looks cool out the windows, pull over often in little towns, for coffee, ice cream, instagram moments...

Day 1: North to Smuggler's Notch, Jeffersonville, and pick up Rt. 100 and follow it back south through Stowe, Waitsfield, Warren, and then pick up Rt. 4 through Woodstock to Hanover. Stay the night in Hanover.

Day 2: visit Dartmouth College in the morning, then either drive up through Franconia Notch to the Mt. Washington Hotel, or drive over on Rt. 25 through Wentworth and Rumney to Wolfeboro on Lake Winnepesaukee.

Day 3: Spend the day in/on/around the lake. Go to the Wright Museum of WWII (the one with the tank crashing through the wall). Swim in the lake which is lovely fresh water. Dinner in town. OR if you went north to Mt washington, go hiking, and stop at Clark's trading post in Lincoln.

Day 4: Now you have a choice, you can drive a long way to Bar Harbour or a shorter way to Rockland. I'd go to Rockland and stay the night. Next morning leave your car on the mainland and take the ferry to Vinalhaven where you'll have booked a cabin for the next 3 days. If you choose the Bar Harbour option you can do Mt Desert Island and rent a place somewhere up there.

Day 5 - 7: Swimming, kayaking, lobster eating, reading, hiking, relaxing on Vinalhaven (or near Bar Harbour). There is absolutely nothing to do or see so when the day trippers go home it's blissful.

Day 8: ferry back to the mainland. Drive south to Portland, stop off in Wiscasset at Sprague's for lobster rolls. Don't bother with Red's, it's no better and you'll wait for 2 hours in line.

Day 9: spend the day in Portland, or morning in Portland, drive 2 hours south to Salem MA, visit the Peabody Essex Museum

Day 10: drive south to Boston, stay for a few days, visit Harvard and MIT, lots of walking for a change after all that driving

Day 14: drive to the Cape, stay a week with a day trip to Martha's Vineyard if you want, then return your car to Logan Airport and fly to NYC, connecting to your flight home. You can take the train but then you have to get out to the airport from Manhattan anyway so might as well fly.

It depends what you want to do. Do you want to relax on holiday or do you want to sightsee, or a mix of both?

Cape Cod is lovely, Provincetown is a hoot, it’s the gay capital of New England, great for people watching. You can get a ferry there from Boston, which is nice on a calm day. We did it in rough weather recently and 90 of the passengers lost their lunch, I have never wanted so fervently to die. There is also a ferry to Marth’s Harbor, I think.

Whale watching can be done from Boston but it’s a long trip, from the Cape is shorter and the trips go to the same area. See previous comments on rough seas! Do go whale watching if you can, they are an incredible sight and you are very likely to see multiple whales.

Plymouth is interesting, the Plantation is a reconstruction of the early settlement and there is a replica Mayflower. Plymouth Rock must be in the running for most disappointing tourist attraction in the US.

I don’t really like Salem, but many people do. A day trip would be enough. A lovely day trip from Boston is Concord, take the train from North Station, great museum and the house where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women as well as revolutionary war history.

Personally if I was doing this I would head north from Boston into Maine, Vermont rather than to the Cape which will be very busy in August, i would think there are many little lesser known treasures to be found a little off the beaten track.

I agree, the Cape in August is heaving, like going to Cornwall here - no parking, traffic everywhere, restaurants always fully booked or long waits.

if it was up to me I'd just do an extra week in Maine on Vinalhaven or Acadia. I assumed OP said she wanted a week on the Cape for a reason though (family maybe?)

We were in Cape Cod this August and it was fine, busy but not what I would call heaving at all ( and I hate Cornwall in summer). Of course Maine and Vermont will be quieter but for a busy tourist spot, Cape Cod is nowhere near as busy as similar UK destinations, or parts of Europe. We didn't have trouble getting a table anywhere really, and apart from Hyannis and driving off the Cape on the final Saturday, driving and parking were fine. Please don't avoid it for this reason, Cape Cod is absolutely lovely and has a great atmosphere in high summer.