Our first day was sunny and warm - a freakish event, since the rest of the week was spent bundled up under layers of winter clothes! We travelled along the south side of the cape on Rt. 28 S all the way to Provincetown at the tip. The beach at Chatham was great! We spent a good hour beachcombing for shells that had washed up and even discovered a huge clam that was still alive! The view was amazing - the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Nantucket sound on the other. At the head of the beach was one of the Cape's many lighthouses. I imagine during the summer months the beach would be very crowded, but mid-March offered us a chance to really explore.
While the Cape has a lot of nice things to do, its location meant that Plymouth, Boston and Salem were easily accessible. The Freedom Trail in Boston was an excellent way to get an overview of the early events that led to the American Revolution. The folk art on the gravestones in the city's historic cemeteries is certainly worth a look! Just follow the red brick road that begins at Boston Common...and wear comfortable walking shoes, as this self-guided tour took the whole day. This tourist attraction is definitely an oldie but a goodie.
The true highlight of our trip was the New England Aquarium in Boston. Leave yourself lots of time - the staff were throwing us out at closing time! They have fantastic exhibits with penguins, seals, otters, birds, amphibians, and of course fish from all over the world. Not to mention the biggest lobster I've ever seen! Great for adults, kids, anyone.
Quick Tips:
Get yourself a very good map! We travelled over 1000km without incident and then arrived on the Cape, where things went very quickly downhill. We searched for the resort for over an hour at 2:30am, which was not exactly what we wanted to be doing after 14 hours in the car.
When considering a trip to this area, remember that many activities and attractions are unavailable during the winter months. Many museums, shops, and restaurants were closed from November to April, even in places like Salem which attract tourists all year.
Best Way To Get Around:
We really needed our car. It looked like there may be limited public transportation around the Cape in the summer months, but there's so many beautiful beaches and quaint lighthouses to explore off the main routes that we would have really missed out without our car. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is set off in a general direction with no real plan and see where the road and the day takes you.