Recently, I traveled to the New England area for a week long anniversary trip with my husband. It’s something that I’ve low-key wanted to do for a while now but didn’t think I’d actually be going anytime soon until my husband proposed traveling somewhere different for our anniversary. Last year we went to Cabo and this year we were initially thinking about going to Jamaica. I’m so glad that we made a choice to go because it was truly a trip of a lifetime.
STAY
We stayed in this lovely Airbnb in the Hyannis area of Cape Cod. This turned out to be a wonderful location and house for us to stay in because it was close to everything (beaches, restaurants, ferry port, etc.) The owner was also top tier and made sure we had a nice, comfortable stay. Would highly recommend this Airbnb if you are looking for a nice, quaint and ‘affordable’ place to stay on Cape Cod.
DO
Explore Provincetown
Provincetown (or P-Town) is this cute, tv worthy Cape Cod town with cute beach shops, restaurants and beautiful views of the water. I highly recommend spending a few hours exploring the town. We spent a couple of hours walking around here and we had a delicious lunch at the Lobster Pot.
Nauset Lighthouse
This was a cool experience because it was my first time visiting a lighthouse. On top of that, this one is the lighthouse on the Cape Cod chip bag. We weren’t able to get a tour here but if you are able to I highly recommend it so that you can get the history behind the lighthouse.
Dunes Shacks Trail
We hiked the Dunes Shacks Trail to the beach. This was an experience. I went there thinking that it would be a cute hike, however, I was wrong – it’s a very difficult hike through hilly sand. If you’re not an avid hiker or active person I would suggest going to just the very entrance of the trail for the view but not taking the whole hike. I think it took us around 2 hours to hike to the beach and back but there were lots of times when I regretted taking the whole hike.
Truro Vineyards
My husband and I love wine. We’re unofficial experts since we travel the North Georgia wineries regularly and have vacationed in Napa Valley. We try to squeeze in a wine tasting on most trips to see what the city offers. Truro Vineyards was a very cute experience to taste wine while in Cape Cod. We paid for a private tasting and were able to sample about five wines along with a small charcuterie board. The vibes in the vineyard are really laidback and carefree – you’ll want to stay a while.
Craigville Beach
Craigville Beach is a really nice beach where the Hyannis locals go. The beach was crowded yet so serene when we spent the day there. I love that the beach has nearby restrooms that were clean and that had sunscreen pumps in them. I can tell the community really takes pride in maintaining this beach. We spent a day drinking beer, eating snacks, wading in the waves and lounging beachside, it was perfect. If we went back to this area we would definitely return to this beach.
Day Trip to Martha’s Vineyard
While visiting Cape Cod, we took a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard (MV). For this trip, we booked an hour-long ferry ride with Hy-Line cruises. We spent the entire day in MV just exploring the island. While there we visited the Gingerbread houses, Nancy’s Restaurant (for the Mudslide), the Seafood Shanty (for clams and lunch), Scoops ice-cream shop, Flavors (for cocktails), and Lookout Tavern (for Lobster rolls). We spent time exploring Edgartown and Oak Bluffs which are two towns within Marthas’s Vineyard. The day trip gave us a good taste of Martha’s Vineyard and we decide that we definitely want to go back and spend a few days here next time.
Day Trip to Nantucket
I knew that we couldn’t travel to Cape Cod without a visit to the iconic Nantucket. This place is so dreamy and it’s hard to believe it’s even real. The beautiful hydrangeas meet you as soon as you arrive on the ferry. It’s so idyllic. Nantucket was also an hour-long ferry ride from Hyannis on Hy-Line Cruises. We spent the entire day there arriving at 9:30am and leaving to go back to Cape Cod around 9:20pm. We started the day off with coffee from Handlebar Coffee, walked around town for a little then took the bus to Sconset. I love that Nantucket has a really great bus system that will take you all over the island. A day pass is only $8. While in Sconset, we explored the area, walked the Sconset Bluff Walk which is this long path through the neighborhood facing the beach and explored the local shops. I really fell in love with this little town – it’s so quaint and quite beautiful. After visiting Sconset we made our way back to town, rented bikes, ate ice cream and grabbed a delicious seafood meal from Sayle’s Seafood.
EAT
JDs Burger Co and Sushi
This place has sushi and burgers! Best of both worlds. I enjoyed the sushi the best. They have some really unique rolls.
Tumi Ceviche Bar
We fell in love with this place. We went for dinner one night and literally ate everything on our plates. The paella and lamb are so delicious. After we had it, we talked about it so much that we decided to go back for lunch before we left.
Bagels and Beyond
There’s something about a no-frills place that lets its food do the talking. That is Bagels and Beyond. You truly might pass this place without taking a second look if you didn’t know that it had some of the best bagels ever. Locals literally line up at the opening time to get their bagels. We went two mornings because it was just that good. I got a lox bagel both days and my husband got a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel.
The Lobster Pot
We enjoyed lunch at the Lobster Pot while visiting Provincetown and it was so good. We ordered lobster rolls, clam chowder and cocktails. The lobster rolls were everything we were hoping for – buttery, golden, and juicy. We literally wanted to come back the next day for more but market price lobster rolls start to add up.
Stars at Chatham Bars Inn
We had dinner at the Chatham Bars Inn on our actual anniversary. This is actually a hotel that has a restaurant within it. The vibes of the place are old elegance and high class. We enjoyed having a little moment of luxury while on our trip and used it as a moment to get all dressed up. The entire area around the hotel is really beautiful and breathtaking. we didn’t get to soak it all up like we wanted to because it was raining when we arrived but even then it was still gorgeous. We were treated really well when we arrive and the experience here was A+, I will say, however, the food was just okay.
Spoon and Seed
This place reminded me of a restaurant that you might find down south. They had lots of great options on the menu like cheesy grit bowl, fried chicken biscuits, and different egg benedicts. I ordered the cheesy grit bowl with pork belly (shown below). It was so filling but really good. I was very impressed by this place and highly recommend it for a hearty breakfast or brunch.
Visiting the Cape Cod area again is an absolute must for us. We ate well, met some really nice people and saw the most beautiful sights that we’d ever seen. I’m completely plotting to come back to this area one day. I’d also consider myself a very lucky girl if we end up with a beach house in this timeless part of the states – I see why people spend their summers here.
One huge note that I’d like to make is that this trip was pretty expensive. Like all trips, we budgeted and prepared for it with my travel budget method but even then we went over budget. I would suggest budgeting more than you think you’ll need. Most of the costs for the trip come into play with the food and beverage prices along with shopping in the different areas. Overall, we felt like it was all worth it for the experience.
So, have you traveled to Cape Cod? If not, do you want to and what would you explore while visiting?
