Cape Cod

In June 2024, during a road trip in New England, we explored Cape Cod, the 100 km long peninsula that extends south of Boston into the Atlantic Ocean. We chose the area because we had heard there were good bike paths and amazing beaches. We explored 5 different bike trails and used a combination of bikes, buses and a car to get around.   Map of trails completed on Cape Cod — includes Cape Cod Canal, Shining Seas, Provincetown Trail, Cape Cod Rail Trail and Nickerson State Park. Interactive map available here.   Sandwich   We spent our first night in Cape Cod in Sandwich. First, we had lunch on Sandwich Beach and checked out the impressive boardwalk. Later in the afternoon, we took our bikes for a 22 km ride along the Cape Cod Canal. We parked at the Sandwich Marina and biked to the end of the trail near the railway bridge in Bourne. The trail runs on both sides of the river, but we didn’t see any bike friendly bridge, so we were more or less stuck to the side of the river that we started on. The ride was easy and flat and the views of the bridges were quite nice.   For the night we stayed at Shawme-Crowell State Forest. It is a small state park tucked in between two main roads (Route 6A and Route 6), so it was pretty noisy all night. Our site was 6C, in the woods up a gravel driveway so at least we had good privacy. The price for Massachusetts residents is just $17 USD, but if you are from out of state it is a whopping $60 USD — a lot of money for a mediocre campsite!       Falmouth   We passed through Falmouth on our way to and from Woods Hole where we caught the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. It is a small town with one main road and easy access to the beach. The shops and restaurants are targeted at tourists and the town can be quite busy in the summer. The highlight for us was definitely Maison Villatte, which is a French bakery. We visited it twice! Adrien wanted everything on display, but he resisted and we settled on chocolatines and some sourdough bread.   To access Falmouth by bike we used the Shining Sea Bikeway. It is a 17 km flat, paved bike trail that extends from Woods Hole to North Falmouth. Most of the trail is in the forest, but there is a really nice section from Falmouth to Woods Hole that is right along the ocean. It is beautiful, but can be windy at times.       Nickerson State Park   To access the eastern part of Cape Cod, we stayed at Nickerson State Park, located between Brewster and Orleans. Just like Shawme-Crowell Forest Park, the price was high for non-Massachusetts residents at $75 USD/night. But unlike Shawme-Crowell, Nickerson State Park was great. There was noise in the evenings, but it was from the frogs instead of the traffic. We were also very impressed by the 15 km of bike trails located within the park. They were all paved and very up and down and twisty — very fun!   We stayed in Area 5 by Flax Pond. We chose the location because it was only 1 km from the park entrance and we knew we would be biking to/from the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Some of the other camping areas are 8 km away from the entrance!   Both evenings we were at the park, we biked 2 km to Crosby Landing Beach to catch the sunset. In the high season — July and August — parking there with a car requires a permit, but there are two bike racks and it really is an easy ride from the campground. The sand flies were bad, but the views of the sunset with families playing in the tide pools was great.         Provincetown   From Nickerson State Park, we did a day trip to Provincetown, which is located at the tip of Cape Cod. Most Bostonians take a ferry to the small town, but we biked and bused.   First, we biked 5 km on the Cape Cod Rail Trail from Nickerson State Park to Orleans. There, we took the FLEX bus all the way to Provincetown, which took about an hour. We probably could have caught the bus closer to the park by simply waiting on the side of the road, but we wanted to play it safe and catch it from an offiboatcial stop. The trip was $2USD/person and we were able to track the bus as it approached. The best part of the ride for us was passing through a town called Truro, simply because it has the same name as Justine’s hometown. We took pictures of every sign and people probably thought we were weird!   When we got to Provincetown, or “P-town” as many people call it, we were immediately surprised by the vibe. It is an artsy town that felt very relaxed but was buzzing with activity as it was Pride Month and a film festival was going on. Bikes and pedestrians were traveling both ways on Commercial Street, while it was one way for cars. It was like happy chaos! And so different from the other towns in Cape Cod that we visited.       After wandering around for a bit, we biked towards Race Point Beach. To get there, we took Conwell St. to cross the highway and then joined the Province Lands bike trails. They started in the forest and then eventually travelled through the sand dunes. The trail was paved and it was up and down and very twisty. It was really fun and we saw a snake! We stopped at the beach for a snack and a swim before making our way back to P-town. We did about 18km in total.       Once we arrived back in town we ate lunch in front of the town hall while listening to a busker play a variety of songs. He was really good and we chatted with him briefly. When he found out we were from Nova Scotia, he asked for recommendations of busy main streets since he is headed there in the fall to busk and to surf at Lawrencetown.   After lunch we caught the FLEX bus again and headed southward. We had considered biking all the way back to Nickerson State Park, but Route 6A from Provincetown to South Wellfleet looked way too busy for our comfort. We saw several cyclists, but there were no shoulders and lots of traffic, so it wasn’t for us. Instead, we got off the bus in South Wellfleet and biked 20 km along the Cape Cod Rail Trail back to the Park. It was mostly forested, which provided very welcome shade on a hot day. We passed a brewery on the way and stopped for ice cream in Orleans.       Final Thoughts   We thoroughly enjoyed our time on Cape Cod and it was a convenient place to visit in June, especially after having a meeting in Boston. Highlights were definitely Nickerson State Park and Provincetown.  The bike trails were great, but they were a bit too disconnected for our liking and it would have been hard to explore the area without a car. The buses do make it possible, but it requires much more planning. We wouldn’t go out of our way to visit again, but are very happy we explored as much as we did!