Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket: An Explorer's Guide

by Kim Grant

"A special guide to a special place." The Boston Globe In this completely revised and updated sixth edition, veteran travel writer and photographer Kim Grant provides discriminating recommendations of hundreds of things to see and do and places in which to eat and stay on Cape Cod and the Islands. She leads eager travelers to nature preserves and bird sanctuaries; bicycle trails and beach paths; historic homes and lighthouses; whale-watching, sailing, and shell-fishing; antique shops and local artisans; and summer theatre, live music, and nightlife.In addition, this comprehensive and best-selling guide to the region includes opinionated listings of inns, B&Bs, hotels, vacation cottages, and campgrounds; hundreds of dining reviews, from clam shacks to four-star restaurants; suggested itineraries for stays of varying length; 22 up-to-date maps; an alphabetical "What's Where" subject guide to aid in trip planning; and handy icons that point out places of extra value, family-friendly establishments, wheelchair access, rainy day activities, places that are open in the off-season, and lodgings that accept pets. 100 black & white photographs, 22 maps, index.

Genres: Travel

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kathleen Flynn]

Travel books are definitely a hard sell in an internet age, but this one does a good job of providing a helpful overview and curated lists of interesting things. Well-organized and pleasing to read.

[J.R. Warnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to explore the Cape with. Used it frequently!

[MARY Brazeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Older but I bought it to make notes of places we love, things that closed, etc. I left it at our Cape house. I think it will be useful.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

We first came across this book a few years ago in a cottage we stayed at mid-Cape. It was the best guide in the stack and we found it came in really handy for finding obscure beaches, all types of restaurants, trails, campgrounds, and sites of historic interest. Later, when we moved to MA, we purchased a copy of the 8th edition and have since used it on many day and weekend trips to the cape and have found some of our favorites spots with this book.

It is an incredibly comprehensive guide and is organized quite clearly with listings for just about any and every place on the cape and islands...not a small feat. This is it's main strength and you can find a wealth of information on places to eat, things to do, places to explore, as well as suggested itineraries for each area of the cape that highlight the best things in each town/village/etc. I'm not one for following guidebook itineraries but the info has come in handy when we only have a small amount of time and want to find the most interesting thing in a specific area.

It is a slightly outdated edition and I have not reviewed more recent ones, but we have occasionally run into instances where posted hours differed from that which was listed in the book. I mainly chalk that up to the Cape being the Cape with odd summer hours for smaller family run venues. The main weakness of the book however really lies with it's maps: they're terrible. Depend on them only to situate yourself mentally and buy a good road map to actually get around as the maps in this book are very poorly drawn and inaccurate, some just leaving out entire main roads and intersections, much to our chagrin when we are attempting to navigate new areas.

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of the 2021 updated version, co-authored by Katy Ward.

I enjoyed the section on Martha's Vineyard so much that I went back and read the rest of the book, even with no concrete plans to visit Cape Cod or Nantucket. Even more so than the Moon guidebooks, the Explorer's Guide series allows their writers to highlight their own voices and opinions. Thanks to this book, I now definitely want to visit Cape Cod: so many historic towns and houses, beautiful beaches, and interesting things to do.

Bookmarked for Martha's Vineyard:
* Oak Bluff's Featherstone Center for the Arts (classes! exhibitions! film series!)
* Mad Martha's ice cream (around the island)
* Menemsha fish markets: Larsen's (name-checked in The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook: A Year of Cooking on Martha's Vineyard) and Menemsha
* Oak Bluff's Island Alpacas--why yes, I *would* like to do alpaca yoga

Bookmarked for Cape Cod/Nantucket:
* East Sandwich's Green Briar Nature Center & Jam Kitchen
* Yarmouth Port's Edward Gorey House
* Yarmouth Port's Parnassus Book Service
* Harwich's cranberry bog tours
* Wellfleet's Atwood-Higgins House

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read parts of this after a trip to Cape Cod focusing especially on Providencetown and Nantucket. Yes, I saw a number of the referenced attractions and especially enjoyed reading the brief historical accounts of the specific areas. In the Nantucket section I learned that Maria Mitchell, the noted female astronomer, had resided on Nantucket. Not one time in my day long trip did I hear or see any reference to Maria Mitchell, how disappointing. Good guide book overall and will refer to it for a future visit to Cape Cod.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took the 2014 edition of this along to have a handy hard copy when our internet connections were weak. It has some good suggestions for families with young kids. When it was too cool to sit at the beach, this book provided a number of great ideas for sight seeing and related activities.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really an excellent guide to Cape Cod. More in-depth information than most guides for the cape.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is AWESOME!! It's so thorough. I can't wait to show my kids everything I grew up LOVING about The Cape, and also make tons of new memories.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guidebook. We used his recommendations for places to eat, shop and sightsee. We were never disappointed. Without this book we would have been wandering around aimlessly for hours and days.

[Pam Negley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful insight & information!!!!