Wednesdays: What Should I do / Where Should I stay (and other low effort Q's)
What about Chatham bars inn? Cape cod is perfect in late Aug/early September weather wise and the tourists die down. Easy to get to from ny. Great pool for kids as well as beach. Fun kids camp/kids activities/babysitting on site with complimentary boat rides that any adventurous kid would love. Chatham is a really cute family friendly town with lots of family friendly activities, shopping, outdoor band concert on Friday nights. It’s not tropical but then again that’s not the best time of year to go to most Caribbean spots.
Great rec. question: what’s the best way to get there? Where should we fly into
Where in New York are you? Taking the cape air flight from jfk to Hyannis is going to get you the closest. You can also fly into Boston - which would be fun to spend a day with the kids if they haven’t been and rent a car… it’s about a 2 hr drive from Logan to Chatham. There are also direct flights from New York to Nantucket… you could split your trip and do half on Nantucket and then take the ferry into Harwich (one town over from Chatham). If you went this route I would recommend staying at the white elephant on Nantucket (very very kid friendly). Cape cod isn’t the easiest place to get to but it’s so beautiful and the perfect spot for an end of summer family trip!
If you do end up deciding to go there feel free to message me or just reply back here and I can list you out a lot of recs for restaurants and family activities, I’ve spent my whole life spending the summer on cape cod (and a lot of trips to Nantucket) and I got married at Chatham bars inn so I am more than happy to help! :)
Thanks. We’re actually coming from DC. Doesn’t look like any flights to Hyannis or Nantucket. So probably will have to go the Boston route
Actually there is definitely a direct dca to ack on American if you are interested in Nantucket! I take it every summer as a stop on the way back to Nashville. For us it’s faster to get to cape code by flying to and from Nantucket through dc than flying into Boston and renting a car, but we also love spending a few days on Nantucket on the front and back ends of our trip. You could also make Nantucket a day trip if you fly in there and just spend an afternoon exploring Nantucket and having lunch, doesn’t necessarily have to be an overnight. I think the only thing with the dca to ack flights are that they don’t run every day so you might just have to play around on dates if looking to book. But Boston is great too! Can’t go wrong :)
You are absolutely right! Thanks. Maybe we will just go to Nantucket for now and spend a few days there. White elephant looks good! We also saw Nantucket hotel and resort. Do you have any preference? Or any other family friendly hotels?
You will absolutely love Nantucket if you have never been! Absolute perfect family vacation spot and literally magical with children. The only hotels I’ve stayed at on Nantucket are the wauwinet (no kids under 12 allowed), Greydon house (more of an inn/ b&b) and the white elephant. More often than not we do a rental house there. I have never stayed at the Nantucket hotel, Elin Hildebrands book “hotel Nantucket” is loosely based off of it though I believe. White elephant seems a little more “fat” in terms of amenities but rooms at Nantucket hotel are newer. For kids, hotel Nantucket has a really cute fire truck to drive them around I’ve seen that a lot!
I think you will be really happy at white elephant. It’s located right on “children’s beach” which is one of the most kid friendly beaches on the island with a playground, its a small beach and definitely not one of the prettiest but kids love it, it’s super close to town which is where most of the shops and restaurants are (juice bar ice cream is a must with the kids!) and the concierge at white elephant is great for snagging you good dinner reservations which is a whole game in and of it’s self. I only have a just turned one year old, so last summer was my first time taking my own baby to Nantucket and cape cod (although I did spend my whole childhood going so I feel like I have a good handle) and white elephant was super baby friendly. They brought in a crib, the pool is modest but one of the nicest hotel pools on the island, they have transportation that will bring you to a few of the beaches including jetties and steps (my absolute favorite) and have beach chairs and umbrellas to borrow (maybe pool and beach toys too, we weren’t there yet). They also have little red wagons and bikes included in your stay.
A few things I would recommend with kids: lunch at sandbar at jetties beach and then spend the afternoon on jetties beach, pick up sandwiches at something natural or provisions and have a beach picnic on steps beach, spend a day on surf side beach and have lunch at the surf side beach shack, go to the beach in madaket and have lunch at Millie’s (coastal Mexican that also has a really cute market attached with ice cream) (I actually prefer Millie’s for dinner to watch the sunset but depends on bed times and schedule, it’s very casual and kid friendly), take the wauwinet lady boat over to the wauwinet for lunch at toppers (it picks up at the white elephant dock, lunch is a little on the nicer side but kids will love the boat ride, lots of sunscreen and hats are a must), go out to sconset for an afternoon, can take kids onto bluff walk and sconset beach, get sandwiches at Claudette’s and can go in sconset market for ice cream and also pick up some charcuterie to keep in your hotel room for mom and dad.
I don’t have a babysitting rec because we just brought the baby everywhere last summer and kept her in her doona and we have family to help, but I’d ask the white elephant concierge for childcare recommendations because they definitely offer it and have a few nice dinners for you two without the kids, they will be exhausted from the sun and beach and Nantucket has a great night life scene… for date nights I recommend cru, followed by a mudslide at the gazebo or drinks at the side car (piano bar attached to the club car), dinner at galley beach, Lola 41 for Asian/sushi, nautilus if you can get a table. Even towards the end of the summer these spots can be really hard to get reservations, most reservations open 30 days in advance or 2 weeks in advance so either keep an eye on them or ask the concierge to help. Brant point grill at white elephant food is decent and it’s a good “nice family dinner” spot with the kids.
If I think of any other fun ideas I’ll comment back here! :)