Getting Here, Getting Around

People flock to the Cape not only because of its beauty, but also because it’s easy to get to from many places. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., even Ohio and Canada are all within a day’s drive. From New York City, it’s about a five-hour drive, from Boston it takes one hour to reach the canal, and from there it’s a further one hour and 20 minutes to reach Provincetown at the tip of the Cape.

By land, whether you arrive from the north or from the west, you will cross the Cape Cod Canal at either Bourne or Sagamore over one of two bridges, allowing for views of the canal below and Buzzards Bay or Cape Cod Bay.

Arriving by air in either Hyannis or Provincetown, a traveler by day will see the entire outline of the Cape and islands surrounded by blue sea and fringed with sand dunes; at night, the Cape sparkles with thousands of lights and the beams of the many lighthouses that mark the harbor entrances and the treacherous coastline. The short flight from Boston—about 20 minutes—is truly spectacular.

By sea, whether arriving at Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, or Provincetown via Boston, the Cape emerges from a lush green horizon into a coastline of harbors and gray-shingled buildings, accented by the widow’s walks of sea captains’ homes and the soaring spires of old churches. These spires provided mariners of centuries past with visible landmarks as they made their way along the coast. Today that role is filled by water and communication towers.

Below we’ve listed your various transportation options.