Cape Cod

I’ve been a regular camper, going to the Cape now since around 2005. Most of that time has been spent on the lower Cape and most of it camping in North Truro. We keep returning, as I find it’s so relaxing and so interesting. I keep finding new places to explore and many of the old ones keep changing due to the changing dunes and sand bars each year. It’s nearly impossible to describe, but there’s something about the lower Cape. Plus the fact that even deep in tourist season, the lower Cape easily gets 40% less traffic than the upper Cape. I hate spending time in traffic, especially while on vacation. 

The upper Cape is certainly worth visiting too and we’re slowly exploring it. Bourne/Falmouth to Brewster/Harwich has a lot to offer and is certainly worth exploring. But I suggest going either before or after peak tourist season to avoid the traffic.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

LOWER CAPE – PROVINCETOWN TO CHATHAM – called the “lower” Cape as it is physically lower in elevation that the “upper” Cape which is Bourne to Harwich.
Brewster
Chatham
Cape Cod Rail Trail
  • Ride bikes on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Trail starts in Wellfleet and goes to Dennis. We go from Wellfleet to Arnold’s, have Italian ices (good ice creams too) and then continue. Arnolds is also a fabulous place for sea food. Or park at Arnolds (in Eastham) and ride south on the CCRT past Namskaket creek and other beautiful and interesting places. Out door bathroom at Arnolds too.      https://www.capecodbikeguide.com/railtrail.asp
Provincetown
North Truro
Wellfleet
Eastham
Orleans
 Misc
  • Haunted Ghost Tours:  Contact Caiprs in Barnstable and taker one of their sunset haunted tours. Cape And Islands Paranormal Research Society. Caiprs.    https://caiprs.com/  Derek Bartlett does some fantastic ghost tours. The one at the Portuguese Cemetery in Truro is fantastic as all his tours are.
All the above are on the “Lower Cape”
A note from a friend and Cape resident for some very historic trees:
 
  There are two very historic trees on the Cape,  Ironically, both are English Weeping Beeches and both are well over 200 years old.  The one with the more ‘interesting’ history is located at 599 Main Street in Hyannis Center.  It was given to the Town of Barnstable (Hyannis is a village of Barnstable) in 1776 by the British government as a reward for the Town’s support of the Crown.  Barnstable was the only town in Massachusetts (and one of only two towns in all of New England) that voted against seeking independence from Great Britain.  The tree still thrives despite being in the busiest section of downtown Hyannis.  Unfortunately, because it resides in a busy commercial area, it has countless initials carved into its ancient trunk.  The second, and infinitely more photogenic, tree is in the Town of Yarmouth.  It is substantially higher and broader than the one in Hyannis Center and has an very remarkable above ground root system.  It is in a rather protected rural setting and relatively free of carved initials.  The Yarmouth tree is behind the Capts. Bang Hallet house, home of the Yarmouth Historical Society.  The Capts. Bang Hallet house – and tree – are at 11 Strawberry Lane which intersects with ‘historic route’ 6A opposite a church at 266 Main Street (route 6A).  Route 6A was formerly named Old Kings Highway and was the stagecoach road from Boston to Provincetown.
  As an aside, the Old Yarmouth Inn is on route 6A a few hundred yards down the road from Strawberry Lane.  The Inn is a very nice restaurant that started as a stagecoach stop in 1696 and has been serving food ‘n booze ever since.
 
UPPER CAPE – BOURNE TO HARWICH
 
Bourne
Sandwich
 Hyannis
 Barnstable
 Yarmouth

Falmouth

  • Camp at Sun Outdoors Cape Cod is a nice and quiet campground with nice amenities such as 3 pools, adult hot tub, lake to paddle on, nice sized sites, friendly staff. A great place to stay and the rates are very good too.  https://www.sunoutdoors.com/massachusetts/sun-outdoors-cape-cod
  • We had a fantastic pizza at Simply Devine. I’ve never had sweet potato on a pizza and it was incredibly delicious.  http://divinepizza.com
  • For bike riding, the Shining Sea bike trail is a beautiful 10+ mile long bike trail that goes from Falmouth to Woods Hole to the ferry’s in down town. You pass marshes, beaches, main roads, woods and a very enjoyable ride on one of the prettiest trails around.  https://www.capecodbikeguide.com/shiningsea.asp
  • The Cape Cod Canal Bike Trail is on both sides of the canal. The Falmouth side is accessible from the Canal Service Road. There is a parking lot there, benches and access to the southern side of the Cape Cod Canal Rail Trail. The trail goes approximately 6+ miles to the Cape Cod Bay. This side is much less populated but still offers amazing views of the canal and the boats and scenery.
  
The above is just from our experiences. Many places we revisit as we like them so much. Nearly every summer we spend at least a week camping at Adventure Bound Campground on Highland Road in North Truro.  We prefer this location to the Horton’s Location down the street. When we camp, we use the public showers and they must be clean. The campgrounds mentioned here all have clean rest rooms and showers. Adventure Bound Cape Cod has the largest sites too. It’s a launching site for anything on the Cape, especially the lower Cape.
 
This list barely touches on all the things to do and see on the Cape. Every time we go we learn of other interesting places to visit, tour or paddle at. As I remember more, I will add them in.
 
There are many more campgrounds on the Cape too. Some of them have terrible reputations like the few in Wellfleet/Eastham area along the CCRT. But everyone’s needs and choices are different.