<p>We’ve always gone to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and have used a beach realty company for finding a beach house. Is it similar in Cape Cod? Do people usually rent houses/cottages/hotels? Can anyone compare it to Corolla/Duck NC in terms of rental properties and in general terms for a vacation there? Just came up so I’ve not done any research yet. Thanks!</p>
<p>We rented a house on Cape Cod. I found it through cyberrentals.com. I was very pleased with it.</p>
<p>Cape Cod is very different from the Outer Banks. There are several beaches, each with a distinct personality. Chapin Beach is warm and calm, Coast Guard Beach is wild, Chatham area is crowded on the beaches, and the east side has some beaches that remind me more of the Outer Banks. </p>
<p>As far as rentals go, it depends on your taste. I would do some research on the various areas on the Cape to see what fits your family’s interests.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the Outer Banks in NC, but, if you are planning a trip to the Cape, don’t expect that you will be “getting away from it all.”</p>
<p>The Cape is a madhouse in the summer, and has a highway running down the middle of it.</p>
<p>We live in Massachusetts, and have had two vacations on the Cape – one to Wellfleet and one to Provincetown.</p>
<p>I preferred Provincetown by a wide margin.</p>
<p>I agree that Cape Cod is different. Lots of different small towns and it’s not continuous beach like it is in the Outer Banks. It’s also much more expensive for an equivalent house rental. If you’re looking at this summer, you’re likely going to be limited with what is still available. We’ve had probably a dozen family vacations at the Cape over the years and always had our place booked by the beginning of February. </p>
<p>We’ve done both - house rentals and resorts. Our favorite place to stay is the Chatham Bars Inn where the range of accomodations is single inn room to suites to beachside suites, a real variety and all very nice. The Inn has wonderful restaurants and is an easy walk to the ‘downtown’ area which has many shops, galleries, restaurants. The beach is right across the street from the Inn and there are pools, too. Golf is close by if that interests you and the resort has a few large boats that you can charter for fishing or just sailing and enjoying the view. Also has a great spa.</p>
<p>[Cape</a> Cod Rentals | Massachusetts Weddings | Cape Cod Hotels](<a href=“http://www.chathambarsinn.com/]Cape”>http://www.chathambarsinn.com/)</p>
<p>Ocean Edge is another nice resort with pools, beach, nice condos and townhouses, restaurants, in a more quiet area of the Cape - Brewster.</p>
<p>[Cape</a> Cod Resorts- Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club- Cape Cod Hotel, Vacation Rentals](<a href=“Cape Cod Hotels | Official Website | Ocean Edge Resort”>http://www.oceanedge.com/)</p>
<p>A more reasonably priced resort with a larger range of accomodations, including condos with kitchens, full homes, is New Seabury. Also beautiful and a great beach, at the other end of the Cape. One of our favorite spots is Wood’s Hole and we always spent a day there on every visit regardless of where on the Cape we were staying.</p>
<p>[New</a> Seabury](<a href=“http://www.newseabury.com/]New”>http://www.newseabury.com/)</p>
<p>Only a madhouse if you go where the crowds are…we have rented several times in recent years and prefer to stay in the Harwichport area,beaches are not crowded, and you are close enough to Chatam for dining,etc…we would drive to Chatam where the boats dock with fresh seafood, buy it there and cook at our rental…Harwichport is very old school,has a few dining options, a day spa, some shopping and an ice cream shop…very safe…</p>
<p>We rented a house in Brewster for about ten years. We loved the location.</p>
<p>We use to go the cape until we bought our summer house in RI. I was going there since the 1950’s (spent every summer there from 1957 - 1968) and it has changed dramatically. There wasn’t a lot of development between Hyannis and Provincetown particularly with regards to motels. Unless you’re there in the winter when lots of stuff are closed down, there’s massive traffic just trying to get over the Sagamore or Bourne bridges and rt 28 is bumper to bumper.</p>
<p>There’s a big (10 degree F) difference in average ocean water temperature, north and south. Towns that line the south side of Cape Cod draw more visitors and have beaches with somewhat warmer water for swimming. But if you all you want to do is beachside activities/hikes, and take in the culture, you might find it less hectic/crowded along the north towns before the peninsula turns like a forearm. Example: Barnstable or Welfleet. If you stay there, you can still explore all over the Cape on day trips.</p>
<p>I lived in Falmouth and worked in Sandwich, then Barnstable for several years. It’s nice to hear appreciative mention of Woods Hole. It’s pretty fascinating with the Marine Biology Labs and National Oceanographic Institute research vessels. The Cape gets more and more beautiful, the deeper you go into it, IMO. But these starter towns are also satisfying, too.</p>
<p>I also should mention that if you’ve never been there, the water temperature can be very different depending on where you stay. I’ve never been to the outer banks but expect that the temperature is pretty uniform. At the cape, Hyannis through Dennis has warm water, the bay side - Sandwich etc is surprisingly cold and the National Seashore is cold with good surf.</p>
<p>DocT and I crossposted about the water temp!</p>
<p>One dilemma when renting is that many cottages change hands on Saturdays, if rented byt the week. That ties you into crossing the Sagamore Bridge (bottleneck, the only way on) on a Friday night or Saturday morning. Friday nights is an escape from Boston or NYC by folks who own their places and want to weekend there. Saturday mornings, the cottage-renting crowd pushes in.</p>
<p>If I had the liberty to do so, I’d consider renting something for Thurs and Fri nights so you’re already on the Cape; then switch over to a week-long cottage from Sat-Sat. If not, just figure you’ll spend a long time on Friday night or Saturday morning getting onto Cape Cod. Sunday nights, it’s crowded at the bridge driving off Cape.</p>
<p>My favorite stopping place near (not on) the Cape is Plymouth, MA. If you stay there, it’s a great tourism/history experience, with Captain John’s whale-watching expeditions for daytrip (make reservations!) and Plimoth Plantation for interpretive living history/improv. Then wake up in Plymouth with the dawn on Saturday morning to drive over the bridge for a week of Cape Cod. You’ll be ahead of most traffic and sail over the bridge at that hour.</p>
<p>My favorite place i stop EVERY time is Marion’s Pie Shop, the best seafood pie and clam pie i have ever had… We usually bring several each back hme with us each year</p>
<p>Which town is Marion’s Pie Shop? I miss the days when Mitchell’s and Mildred’s were around. Mitchell’s had the best clam chowder.</p>
<p>It’s been 18 years since I was on the Outer Banks, but Cape Cod is much more commercial than the Outer Banks were at that time.</p>
<p>Brewster is lovely, as are other towns along the quieter Route 6A. The beaches on this side of the Cape are slightly warmer, and usually more calm than the National Seashore beaches. There are several antique stores and some great restaurants along 6A as well. It is rather late for this summer, but I think there have been more late availability in the past few years due to down economy.</p>
<p>*Traffic is the only real drawback to a Cape Cod vacation, as there are only 2 bridges/roads to get on/off the Cape. Avoiding the typical times (Friday evening, Saturday morning) by arriving earlier and/or staying later is advisible.</p>
<p>Edited to Add: Also, one will need to buy a weekly beach parking permit, AND get there early in order to obtain parking at most of the nicer beaches.</p>
<p>Marions is on rt 28, Main st, in Chatam…</p>
<p>Yeah - I looked it up. It looks like they have some unusual pies - ones that I typically wouldn’t try.</p>
<p>Seafood and clam, second to none…</p>
<p>We have family on Cape Cod and visit in the summer. To avoid Boston traffic and bridge traffic, we’ve been taking redeye flight that land in Boston around 5:30am. (That’s 3:30am CO body time, but it’s a worthwhile trade-off for us).</p>
<p>I’m under the impression that it is easier to rent a house right on the beach at the Outer Banks. Much of CC beaches are National Seashore. It’s a pretty place though. We stay with family near the canal, but there are many interesting little towns further out. We love the rail trail bike paths!</p>
<p>My family has a beach cottage in a harbor off of Buzzards Bay. It’s really very quiet, and it’s less than half an hour from the Bourne Bridge. I think the main thing to decide is what sort of water you like. The Atlantic side has waves, the northern side is much more protected. Buzzards Bay is a bit in-between. Our area is good for sailing, but not at all for surfing and we have no beach to speak of. Can’t give you advice about rentals however. I like the art galleries in the Wellfleet area and I think it gives you easy access to both kinds of beaches as well as nice biking and walking in the interior.</p>
<p>If you stay in the Eastham area, there is a bike trail there which extends north and south. You can avoid driving if you choose. The Cape is narrow at this point and you can bike to beaches on either side - bay and ocean. So it is fun and you avoid worrying about getting to the beach early enough to find parking. There are tons of small cedar sided houses for rent in this area and many small family run motels. In general, the houses are way smaller than Duck in NC. But they have the Cape Cod ‘charm’! We vacation in NC and on the Cape - the ocean is a lot warmer in NC! We enjoy both.</p>