Newport to Vineyard or Nantucket or Provincetown?

Hi all -

I just booked 3 nights (July 27-29) at the Courtyard in Middletown. It will be our first trip (husband and I are in our early 30%26#39;s) to this area - we are from Buffalo, NY. After Newport we are going to head to the Salem and Rockport, MA area for another 3 days of touring.

I am very excited about this trip, for our 4th anniversary...but of course have some questions!

Are we too far to go to Martha%26#39;s Vineyard for the day? I seem to get that sense from reading past posts. How do the ferries work? What about going to Nantucket? Provincetown? Obviously we have our own car.

I was hoping to explore Newport for a full day or day and a half and use the other full day and a half to drive around the cape and explore other areas...Am I being too ambitious?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Julie

Newport to Vineyard or Nantucket or Provincetown?

Unless you don%26#39;t mind spending a lot of time driving, exploring the Cape (especially Provincetown) in a day or day and a half (unless you are staying overnight on the cape) is a little ambitious IMO.

You could do a day trip to Martha%26#39;s Vineyard using the Fast Ferry from North Kingstown.

http://www.vineyardfastferry.com/

To go to Woods Hole or Falmouth to catch the ferry over to the vineyard would be cheaper, but would definitely make for a LONG day. Nantucket would be an even longer day, as you would have to drive 1 1/2 houtrs to Hyannis, and THEN get on a ferry to the island.

Perhaps Block Island would be a better day trip for you...lots more options for ferries (one ferry daily to/from Newport and more options from Point Judith) and a lot mor doable as a day trip from Newport.

You could also explore some areas of RI....Wickford, Narragansett, Westerly and Watch Hill are all easy day trips....Providence too.

Newport to Vineyard or Nantucket or Provincetown?

Thanks for your reply! I now thinkthat I am going to change the days I stay from Sun - Wed to Sun - Thursday so that we can get a little more time to explore the area. I do agree - it seems too much to me. I think that we will just explore Cape Cod, as we don%26#39;t mind driving, and now we will have an extra day to do it.

On another note - if we would decide to take a ferry to Martha%26#39;s Vineyard (just us, no car) how do you get around without a car? Can you get anywhere without a car? A sightseeing trolley or something would be good, but can you get it from where the ferry lets you off?

I just checked out the site you gave me, and I see that there are tours available right from the dock. I am not sure if we are going to do it, as $75 a person is a lot of money to spend to go to Martha%26#39;s Vineyard for a short few hours.

Thanks so much for your help!

There is bus service that connects the 3 main towns on the Vineyard (Vineyard haven, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown) The ferries will land in either Vineyard Haven or Oak Bluffs. If you want to go ';up-island'; you can take a tour that will take you to Aquinnah (Gay Head) and Menemsha.

Yeah, that fastferry isn%26#39;t really worth it IMO you can drive to Woods Hole and spend only a fraction of that and have more options....although in your case, it would be a really long day if you weren;t staying on the Cape.

Actually, the Martha%26#39;s Vineyard Transit Authority has a more extensive transit system than in the past. It goes to ';up island'; towns as well as those mentioned in last post and is quite affordable and convenient. Gone are the days when only those with cars our on tour buses could easily get to Aquinnah, Chilmark and Menemsha.

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