Cape Cod and the Islands: Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Newport

Arrive in Boston and walk the Freedom Trail

Boston Logan International Airport to your hotel, then the Freedom Trail on foot

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Boston
• Environ 15 min de route

Après-midi

In mid-afternoon your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the lobby and we set off on foot along the Freedom Trail, the red line of brick and paint that links the city's revolutionary sites over about 4 km. We start on Boston Common, the oldest public park in the country, pass the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House and the Granary Burying Ground, then the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House and the site of the Boston Massacre, and Faneuil Hall. The walk ends in the North End, the old Italian quarter, at the Paul Revere House and the Old North Church.

Soir

Dinner is right there: a welcome meal together at a local restaurant.

Compris

• Pick-up at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
• Guided walk on the Freedom Trail, from Boston Common to the Old North Church
• Welcome dinner in the North End

Plymouth, then Chatham on the elbow of the Cape

Boston to Plymouth, over the Cape Cod Canal to Chatham, then Hyannis

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hyannis
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in Plymouth, and if the museum runs long we shorten the Chatham stop to the lighthouse overlook. In the afternoon we cross the Cape Cod Canal on the Sagamore Bridge and drive out to Chatham. From the lighthouse overlook you see the break in the barrier beach and the open Atlantic beyond; at the Fish Pier the boats unload in the afternoon and grey seals wait in the harbour. Then it is half an hour to Hyannis, our base for three nights.

Compris

• Plymouth Rock and Mayflower II with your guide
• Plimoth Patuxet Museums: the Historic Patuxet Homesite and the 17th-century English village
• Lunch in Plymouth
• Chatham Lighthouse overlook and Chatham Fish Pier

Whales off Provincetown and the National Seashore

Hyannis to Provincetown, out to Stellwagen Bank, then Race Point, Wellfleet and Eastham

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hyannis
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Matin

From MacMillan Pier a mid-morning whale-watch boat runs out to Stellwagen Bank, a marine sanctuary where humpback, fin and minke whales feed through the summer; a naturalist on board explains what you are seeing. The trip takes about three to four hours.

Après-midi

Back on shore, lunch is a sit-down meal in town, with time afterwards to walk Commercial Street. Then we head into the dunes of the Province Lands to Race Point Beach, and back down the Cape through the Cape Cod National Seashore: the Marconi Station site in Wellfleet, from which the first wireless message from a US president to a British monarch crossed the Atlantic in 1903, Nauset Light and the view over Nauset Marsh from the Salt Pond Visitor Center. We are back in Hyannis by about 7.

Compris

• Whale watch from Provincetown to Stellwagen Bank with a naturalist, about 3 to 4 hours
• Sit-down lunch in Provincetown
• Race Point Beach in the Province Lands
• Cape Cod National Seashore: the Marconi Station site, Nauset Light and the Salt Pond Visitor Center

Activités en option

• A dune tour by 4x4 in the Province Lands in place of free time in town (price shown at booking)

A day on Nantucket

Hyannis to Nantucket by ferry and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hyannis
• En traversier

Matin

We walk from the hotel to the Hyannis harbour for a morning high-speed ferry, about an hour across Nantucket Sound, and come into the harbour past the lighthouse at Brant Point, with grey-shingled houses climbing the hill behind the wharves. We go early so the town walk is done before the day-trip crowds. A local guide takes us up the cobbled Main Street, past the brick and clapboard houses built by whaling captains and merchants when this small island led the world's whaling trade, and explains how the industry rose and fell. Then the Whaling Museum, in a former candle factory, with the skeleton of a sperm whale hanging over the main hall.

Après-midi

Lunch is near the wharves. The afternoon is yours: browse the town, walk out to Brant Point Light, or take the island shuttle to Siasconset and its rose-covered cottages.

Soir

We sail back to Hyannis in the late afternoon, and dinner is your choice.

Compris

• High-speed ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket and back
• Guided walk of Nantucket town with a local guide
• Nantucket Whaling Museum
• Lunch in Nantucket town

Activités en option

• Bike rental or the island shuttle to Siasconset (price shown at booking)

Martha's Vineyard, from Oak Bluffs to Aquinnah

Hyannis to Woods Hole, ferry to Vineyard Haven, then Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, Aquinnah and Menemsha

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Martha's Vineyard
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Après-midi

Then along the beach road to Edgartown for lunch, among the white houses of the whaling captains and the lighthouse at the harbour mouth. In the afternoon we go up-island through the farms and stone walls of West Tisbury and Chilmark to Aquinnah, where coloured clay cliffs fall to the sea below Gay Head Light, on the land of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).

Soir

Dinner is in the fishing village of Menemsha, by the harbour where people gather for the sunset.

Compris

• Ferry from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven, with the vehicle
• Oak Bluffs camp-meeting cottages and the Tabernacle with your guide
• A ride on the Flying Horses Carousel
• Edgartown and lunch there
• The Aquinnah cliffs and Gay Head Light
• Dinner in Menemsha

Newport: The Breakers and the Cliff Walk

Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole by ferry, then Newport and Ocean Drive

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Newport
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

A morning ferry takes us back to Woods Hole, and from there it is about an hour and three quarters by road, past New Bedford and Fall River and over the bridge onto Aquidneck Island, to Newport.

Après-midi

Lunch is by the harbour. Newport was the summer resort of the richest families of the Gilded Age, and the houses they called cottages line Bellevue Avenue above the sea. In the early afternoon we visit The Breakers, built in 1893 to 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a 70-room Italian Renaissance palace with an audio guide, on a timed ticket so we avoid the queue. From its gates we join the Cliff Walk and follow it north towards the Forty Steps, with the mansion lawns on one side and the Atlantic surf on the other.

Soir

Late in the afternoon we drive Ocean Drive, the coast road past Brenton Point, where the wind usually blows, then come back into town for a farewell dinner together.

Compris

• Ferry from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole, with the vehicle
• Lunch in Newport
• The Breakers, ticket included
• The Cliff Walk from The Breakers towards the Forty Steps with your guide
• Ocean Drive and Brenton Point
• Farewell dinner in Newport

Marble House and back to Boston

Newport to Marble House, then Boston Logan International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

Breakfast is unhurried. At opening we visit Marble House, a few minutes down Bellevue Avenue, finished in 1892 for William K. Vanderbilt and his wife Alva, and faced with about 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Its gold ballroom and, on the lawn above the sea, the Chinese Tea House that Alva later added are the high points; the visit takes about an hour, before most visitors arrive.

Après-midi

We leave Newport around noon and drive about two hours north to Boston Logan International Airport, arriving early to mid-afternoon; your guide sees you to the terminal. If you are staying on in Boston, we drop you downtown instead, and if Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD) suits your flight better, it is about 40 minutes from Newport and we can drop you there. Summer Friday and Sunday traffic towards Boston can be heavy, so we allow time for it. Book flights leaving after about 4:30 pm from Boston, or after about 2:30 pm from Providence.

Compris

• Marble House, ticket included
• Drop-off at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), downtown Boston or T. F. Green International Airport (PVD)