Cape Cod ?

[hazy123]

How busy is it in July?

I mean if we travel around to see other places will we get parked ok?

Is parking free or metered?

Thanks, fancy this with Boston next year!

[mick]

We've only been in the States once in July and that was on the fourth. This is how busy it was for the Main Street parade.

Should have said Main Street in Sandwich on Cape Cod. From memory and it was a few years ago we had trouble parking at some beaches which were for residents only. In P'town and other inland towns I don't think we had much trouble.


Hopefully Loretta (who lives there) or DonnaD who I think was born there are on line


Mick

[Loretta]

Originally Posted by hazy123

How busy is it in July?

I mean if we travel around to see other places will we get parked ok?

Is parking free or metered?

Thanks, fancy this with Boston next year!

See more...

There is plenty of free parking in the towns. The only metered parking in Falmouth is in Woods Hole and Falmouth Heights. If you plan on taking a ferry to either Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket there will also be a charge for parking.

Fourth of July is probably one of the busiest times on the Cape.

[DonnaD]

You're right Mick, I was born there. Some of the beaches are permit only, resident only or daily charge in the summer. On busy weekends getting there early is definitely advisable. The town centers fo usually have free lots even if the spots right on main street are metered.

[Melbatb]

We were there last August.

We parked for free on the main street in Hyannis easily. For the beach we had to get a daily permit from the local council building - it was not pay and display. And the police did come round to check!

[Buzz242]

We were there in July last year and although it was busy we never had trouble parking. We stayed in Hyannis so left the car at the hotel and walked to look stupid of places, I seem to remember there was a large car park nearby that was free. Provincetown was busy but I don't think we paid more than a few dollars to park there.
We ditched the car in Boston as everywhere is walkable.

[Libby]

We visited a beach with free parking 4 miles outside Hyannis following recommendations on here. Gray's Beach - not well signposted and the satnav tried to take us the wrong way - but quite beautiful once we were there.

Whilst in Hyannis we just walked the 20 minutes from our hotel into the town and to the ferry.

[mick]

We did our trip courtesy of the "old" Travel City Direct who arranged all flights and hotels.

Flew into Boston for about 3 nights and stayed carless. Flew over to San Francisco for a week - again carless but in late June absolutely freezing apart from the day we went to Yosemite.

Then back to Boston, hired a car and stayed at the Dan'l Webster on Main Street in Sandwich for around 5 nights. We were strolling around Sandwich on the 4th and could see the crowds (well not quite the numbers in Main Street, MK) gathering. They were all locals and extremely friendly to the old colonial power from 1776. Gave us a "stars and stripes" to wave. A magical moment that we're extremely glad to be part of.


Mick

[Hudson]

We will be going on our cruise to Bermuda out of New York next Sunday for a week then driving over to Cape Cod, staying in Falmouth for 4 nights. I'm expecting it to busy but not sure how busy.
There are 7 of us with a load of luggage so we have had to rent a "bus" and I don't expect it to fit into a regular parking space. We can walk to the Martha's Vineyard ferry from our hotel and various other places but not expecting it to be easy finding a space when we go to Provincetown.
The last time we went to Cape Cod it was the first week in September, the weather was fantastic and it was fairly quiet.

[Ridersmom]

JUly is the highest of the high season on Cape Cod. It will be crowded and if it rains, getting a lane a a bowling alley or into a movie can be tricky. Houses rent Saturday to Saturday so traffic on and off the Cape will be bumper to bumper. A trip to the supermarket for supplies takes hours.

That said, in all our many years of Cape Cod vacations, other than rainy day activities, we were never unable to park, go to the Drive In (Wellfleet Drive In is a Cape Cod must) and generally have a wonderful time.

Before the kids were in school we always went Labor Day week, beautiful weather (other than Hurricane Bob the week before one year) and half the crowds of the week before Labor Day. We have done trips as late as November and the quiet Cape is spendid but lots of restaruants and attractions will be closesd.