Cape Cod

Route description

From Boston, MA-3 runs south to Plymouth, where the Pilgrims landed in 1620. On the waterfront you can see Plymouth Rock and a replica of the Mayflower, and the Plimoth Patuxet Museums just south of town recreate a 17th-century English village and a Wampanoag homesite. Continue south to cross the Cape Cod Canal on the Sagamore Bridge.

Route 6A, the Old King’s Highway, winds along the north side of the Cape through Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth Port and Brewster, past sea captains’ houses, antique shops and salt marshes. Head south to Chatham, at the elbow of the Cape, a town with a lighthouse, a fishing pier and seals on the sandbars off Monomoy. From there, US-6 heads north up the outer Cape.

Cape Cod National Seashore begins at Eastham, with its visitor center at Salt Pond, Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light, and continues past the Marconi wireless site and the high dunes and kettle ponds of Wellfleet and Truro. At the end of the Cape, Provincetown has a busy Commercial Street, the Pilgrim Monument and the open dunes of the Province Lands.

Traffic on the canal bridges is heavy on summer Fridays and Sundays, so plan crossings outside those times. The streets of Provincetown are narrow and parking is scarce, so leave larger vehicles at a campground and take a bike or shuttle. June and September are quieter, and many beaches charge for parking in season.