Cape Cod Road Trip

Cape Cod has one major highway that covers the length of peninsula, along with one other highway that travels across the southern part of the Cape. Route 6 is the main route throughout the towns from Bourne to Provincetown. A drive on Route 6 (the Cape section) from start to finish will begin in Bourne near the Sagamore Bridge and Cape Cod Canal, and end at Provincetown. Route 6 stays close to the northern-middle Cape at first, then stays in the middle as the peninsula heads north in the towns of Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.

Route 28 starts at the Bourne Bridge and ends in Orleans. It travels through the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, Barnstable, Dennis, Yarmouth, Harwich, Chatham, and finally, Orleans. This road is a much more meandering route than Route 6. Route 28 is a divided highway until Falmouth, then becomes a state road. For the rest of the trip, it hugs close to some of the most well known harbors of southern Cape Cod, offering beautiful beach views. Route 28 can also be very congested in the summer. Expect heavy traffic backups in almost every town along Route 28. It's a good idea to get out a map book and take some alternate routes, while enjoying the backroads.

What type of food does Cape Cod serve up in restaurants, pubs, and cafes? As you could have guessed, seafood is a popular food in this region. To be more specific, you'll see plenty of lobster on the menus, as well as scallops, local oysters, and local cold water Atlantic fish (some of the tastiest and best for you of all types of fish). The peninsula is also an ice cream lovers paradise. Every major tourist town has a few ice cream parlors and shops.

There are also plenty of traditional food you'll find elsewhere, like Italian food, pizza, fried seafood, sandwiches, and American cuisine.

A few tips for dining at restaurants on Cape Cod:

• If it looks hokey, it might just be hokey. Some restaurants don't have to be all that good to survive here


• Check Trip Advisor if you can before dining. These reviews can really come in handy in pointing out the best restaurants the area has to offer.


• Know ahead of time that restaurants will be super crowded on weekend nights (especially in the summer), and sometimes during breakfast and lunch. Plan ahead by visiting during non-peak hours, or making reservations.


• Eat local foods. Buy seafood that was caught locally for the best flavor.

Cape Cod isn't known as the cheapest place to plan a vacation, that's for sure. With some of the most expensive hotels, inns, and motels on the east coast, you'll find that these prices are pretty high. However, there are ways to save money here if you really know what to look for. First off, some restaurant tips:

• Don't eat at the first place you see. The most visible restaurants, especially along Route 28, are often tourist traps. The same goes for Route 6 from Eastham to Provincetown.

• Spend the day at the beach.


• Take a whale watch on Cape Cod Bay.


• Visit the local restaurants. There's hundreds to choose from.


• Bike the miles of bike paths in Dennis, Provincetown, and Falmouth.


• Kayak in creeks, rivers, streams, and coves in Dennis, Bass Hole, Yarmouth, Harwich, and Wellfleet.


• Scenic drives in small towns like Brewster, Orleans, and Eastham


• Enjoy the local nature. Birdwatching, hiking, fishing, and harbor tours are a great way to do it.


• Drive around to the tourist hot spots and take photos, or find out of the way hidden beaches and backroads for a unique photo.


• Visit the Wellfleet Drive in Movie Theater, one of the few left in the USA.


• Drive around to find all of lighthouses (good idea for a rainy day too!).


• Stay at one of the different bed and breakfasts in 15 different towns.

Whether you visit as a couple, family, or gathering of friends, there's plenty to do, see, and enjoy. Here are some of the ten best places to see on Cape Cod for some more ideas for your vacation or weekend getaways!

When you think of traffic, you think of big cities like Manhattan, Los Angeles,and Atlanta. The last thing you want to think about when visiting a vacation destination is sitting in traffic... yet that's just what you might wind up doing if you visit Cape Cod in the summer. While getting over the bridges is often the worst part of getting to Cape destinations, there's ways to lessen it. First, know when traffic is the busiest in this region.

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, traffic is at its worst. A month or more before and after Memorial Day/Labor Day there could also be some traffic. Even in the heat of summer, you can still avoid traffic going over the bridge. Plan your trip over the Bourne Bridge or Sagamore Bridge at night on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and you're much less likely to hit traffic. The later you cross the bridge, the less traffic you'll encounter. Early mornings before 7am also have little traffic, on any day of the week. Avoid crossing the bridge like the plague on the 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Labor Day.

Besides the bridges, there's also traffic backups frequently on Route 6 and Route 28. You can use a map to bypass these routes sometimes, except in the region between Eastham and Provincetown, where it's the only route.

More About the Bridges:

When you first enter Cape Cod, you're greeting by the bridges. These three bridges are the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, the Bourne Bridge, and the often traveled Sagamore Bridge. The Bourne and Sagamore bridges were completed in 1935, and are both identical to one another. The Railroad Bridge is now mostly decorative, but does from time to time lower and raise to allow cargo (and sometimes the dinner train) to flow between the South Shore and Cape Cod.

Of these three bridges, you'll most likely head over the Sagamore Bridge, since it is directly connected to Route 6. This road connects the majority of towns on Cape Cod. However, granted the massive traffic that the Sagamore Bridge experiences, you might be wise to travel the Bourne Bridge instead. You can easily travel up alongside the Cape Cod Canal once over the Bourne Bridge (on Shore Road) to meet back up with Route 6. This will cut off a lot of time sitting in bridge traffic. If you must travel the Sagamore Bridge, you're in luck, because the bridge rotary has been paved over for a more efficient flyover. Traffic has been reduced substantially!

Wellfleet Bay Postcards

This 8 pack of postcards features the beautiful Blackfish Creek area, which can be seen just off of Route 6 heading north towards Truro. If you are in Wellfleet, look to your left as you approach Truro. There are no pullover spots here, but the panoramic view of Wellfleet harbor and the bay are amazing. This set of postcards would be ideal for thank you cards or as a memento of your trip!

Most people visit here during the summer, however the Cape is really beautiful all year round. A trip to Wellfleet in the winter will allow you to see beautiful icebergs floating in the creeks of Cape Cod Bay. A fall trip has the added bonus of fall foliage and far less visitors, while still experiencing comfortable temperatures. During the spring, the flowers, plants, and even the tourism is just coming into bloom. March remains cool and damp, while April experiences great temperatures when it isn't raining. May, too, is a great month to visit, just before the big visitor boom.

Summer
There is something to be said about Cape Cod in the summer. The beaches are full, they're warm, and the ocean is as frigid as ever (sometimes in the mid to high 60's if you're lucky). The restaurants are all open during peak summer, and the air is warm.

Despite the traffic and crowds, summer still might be the best season to visit. Why? Everything is at its peak. The oceans are lively, the grass is green, and the towns are bustling with activity. While traffic can get tiresome, you can avoid some of those busy places by making an effort to travel more on the weekdays than the weekends.

People have been vacationing on Cape Cod for centuries. What drives people to this peninsula region of Massachusetts? It's not any one thing, it's many things. When people think of oceans and beaches in the northeast of the United States, they often think of Cape Cod. The fact of the matter is that it has some of the best beaches on the east coast, and for the most part, they're all untouched. Where else in the United States can you can drive for 100 miles on both sides of a peninsula without leaving the state? Well, maybe the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but that's not Cape Cod, and it doesn't have the same flavor.

What really keeps bringing people back year after year is the remoteness of it. These towns on this Massachusetts peninsula are largely cut off from the "mainland" of Massachusetts, New England, and the east coast as a whole. Though it isn't an island, it sure does feel like it. Once you cross one of those bridges, it changes your mindset immediately. Goodbye work, hello vacation. The sometimes shoddy cellphone reception and lack of commercial restaurants throughout much of Cape Cod helps contribute to the overall appeal, in a way forcing you to leave it all behind and relax. This mentality has drawn people to the Cape for centuries, and much of the towns try to preserve that feel to this day.

Some of the least commercial towns on Cape Cod include the further east towns like Brewster, Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro. Still, don't discount the beauty of Falmouth, Sandwich, and even the commercial hub, Hyannis.

King's Highway (Route 6A)
Route 6A begins in Bourne, ending in Provincetown. The most well known portion of the highway, or King's Highway, is between Sandwich and Orleans. This portion is the way it used to be here -- shaded roads with Saltbox Colonial homes, pristine views of Cape Cod Bay, and a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. During the summer, Route 6A is also crowded like Route 28, but is less so. Drive this route in the off season to have the roads pretty much to yourself.

Shore Road, Chatham
Starting at Lighthouse Beach (Chatham Light) in Chatham, this beautiful road hugs the Atlantic eastern coast, with stellar views of stretches of beaches and homes. Eventually, this road will take you to Route 28 and the unforgettable views of Pleasant Bay, and eventually, to the rotary at Orleans.

Route 6, from Truro to Provincetown
No trip to the Outer Cape is complete without a drive to see the massive sand dunes in Truro and Provincetown. Get out to see them up close at Head of the Meadow or any of the other pullovers between Provincetown and Truro.

Wildlife here is mainly in the form of birds, though there are some mammals that have made their way onto the peninsula. How exactly do they get here? Some have seen coyotes walking over the bridge, while deer can actually swim (though with the strong currents of the canal it's more likely they crossed the bridge at night). Here's what you can expect to see here:

* Piping plovers
* Killdeer
* Seals
* Seagulls
* Cormorants
* Coyote
* Deer
* Whales
* Dolphins
* Even the occasional Great White Shark

Marconi Beach Onesie
Marconi Beach is one the Cape's most scenic and visited beaches. Located on the Atlantic side, Marconi Beach has high cliffs, cool waters, and an unbelievable backdrop to your beach day. The surf is also more rugged and tumultuous than the calmer Bay side. This organic onesie features a piping plover, one of the shorebirds you may spot on any beach here You can find more Cape Cod and Massachusetts t-shirts available at http://www.southshoretees.com!