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Please help me plan! Family Vacation Cape Cod



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cinnabon




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 15 2022, 8:48 pm
We would like to go to Cape Cod, MA for an extended weekend with our family (7 yo, 5 yo and 18 mo).

I am a bit overwhelmed with the logistics and accommodations. Would love to hear from people that have been there, what their experience was.


There is a small house available in Onset, within walking distance to the shul which may be an option for us.
It's a bit shabby but small cozy and right near a cute little beach which can be nice for the kids.

I was looking into air bnb or hotel options but it's a bit more complicating because we are going over shabbos and it needs to be within walking distance to the shul.

Has anyone stayed there over shabbos?
Any activities, trips, parks or any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated!


So far these are some ideas I found:
Cape Cod chips factory
Beaches ( would love to know if anyone went to a specific quiet beach or where I can find one)
Boating (again, a specific place would be nice)
Inflatable park
Whale watching - not sure if kids will find this interesting
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amother
Nemesia


 

Post Mon, Aug 15 2022, 9:36 pm
Hi I went there about 10 years ago with one baby that just started walking. So we pretty much took her to different beaches. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of one that was kid friendly. It had very clear shallow water. We also visited Plymouth plantations was fun and took a ferry to Martha's Vinyards. There is a very cute neighborhood of gingerbread style houses a light house you can see...
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cinnabon




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 15 2022, 10:33 pm
Thanks for responding!

I am trying to figure out if it's worth it to take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard.
Will my kids appreciate it? What is there to do there ?

Also, I would love to do an amusement park or some sort of rides one day. I saw the inflatable park but wondering if it's exciting for my older son. There is some sort of Thomas amusement park but not sure if it's open these days.
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amother
Indigo


 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 3:52 am
I've spent every summer before COVID on Cape Cod with my family growing up, so I might be able to help! Most of my favorite childhood memories are from our trips. I don't know much about Onset, but I'll tell you what I do know Wink

We would stay at a rental house in Barnstable, which has a very child-friendly and private beach on the bay, a marsh, dock, and Whale Watch. It's right near Hyannis, which has a nice Main Street we loved visiting, with a kosher Ben & Jerry's.

There's a Chabad shul in Hyannis my brothers would walk to from Barnstable on Shabbat- it was a long walk though, about an hour without an eruv.

The Heritage Museum and Gardens is about a half an hour drive away, and is great for families- they have a kids outdoor play area, museum exhibits (my brothers always liked the vintage car exhibit), lots of outdoor space to run around in... Some years they also had a ropes course, which was really epic.

We did the ferry to Martha's Vineyard one year (with kids 15, 14, 10, and 1) and honestly it was pretty but overrated, we were kind of bored...

The potato chip factory is fun and yummy Smile

We would do an easy trail in the marsh (I think it's the Barnstable Great Marsh Sanctuary) that would lead to a beach at the end- it was like finding a secret beach as a reward! Lots of fun for a bunch of kids.

There are plenty of places to kayak or paddleboard, I also recommend but I don't have anywhere specific to link you to.

There's an indoor waterpark in the Cape Codder resort in Hyannis, but I don't know if they have admission separately from booking a room there.

Enjoy!! I'm already living vicariously through you Smile
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amother
Poinsettia


 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 7:10 am
We LOVE vacationing in cape cod! Disclaimer we have not been back since covid so I'm not sure what's open or not.

We focused our stay around the onset shul. It's lovely. It had a shacharis minyan daily and Michael maariv in the summer and shabbos. There's a shul website and we based our lodging off of that, there's a lodging page. The hotel we stayed in twice I believe closed for covid, so look for one that's open. The one we stayed in was good tho it was walking distance of the shul, we were with kids that could walk then or maybe once I stayed in the hotel with a baby who didn't walk yet. The hotel was across the street from the water and it was a pretty secluded area which made it nice for little kid wading, etc.

We did Thomas land in carver, highly highly recommend for kids. It's so kid friendly and fun. Probably best kids amusement park I've ever been to.

Plymouth plantation is fun for kids and adults, they had some craft activities for kids and it's outdoors so kids can run around. It can be super hot tho but still worth it.

There was a botanical garden we did thats free, also kids and adults enjoyed.

Never did water activities but they looked fun.

Rented bikes and rode around once that was fun, near the water.

One time we went more into Boston and went to Boston commons, big public park was fun and also Boston children's museum was very, very good. And some whaling museum it was good also theres a whale for kids to climb on in the front.

We brought our crock pot, water urn, George foreman, and cheese, fish, meat from Brooklyn. The store there had produce and actually lots of kosher food, it even had kosher frozen pizza in the freezer section! We were fine with food and had fridge and freezer in our room.

Once we stayed ina hotel in Boston they were not happy about the crock pot on shabbos. The hotel in onset was fine about it.

The little main street in onset was nice, bought souvenirs and actually went for a massage that was wonderful. Played in a local playground there too which was fun.

The shul was very nice and we really enjoyed. Hatzlacha raba!
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amother
Aster


 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 7:15 am
Old Silver beach is great for kids and Butterflies of Cape Cod
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cinnabon




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 10:52 am
Oh Wow! These responses are so super helpful! I really appreciate that.
Gonna look everything up now and try to confirm the itinerary. I wonder if the Chips factory and the Thomas park are open, it doesn't seem so from their websites Sad
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Chayalle




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 11:08 am
We went to Cape Cod a couple of years ago - I think the boat ride to Martha's Vineyard is very long.

There was another boat ride we took which was a tour around Hyannis, maybe an hour long and you could see the famous homes, like of the Kennedys and the owner of Gap/Old Navy, and some peoples' private Islands, it was fun and interesting.

Coming from NJ with it's gorgeous beaches, we didn't find the Cape Cod beaches to be so impressive. But the scenery driving up and surrounding was absolutely gorgeous.

We actually went back via Providence and toured some of the mansions there.
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amother
Purple


 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 11:20 am
Chayalle wrote:
We went to Cape Cod a couple of years ago - I think the boat ride to Martha's Vineyard is very long.

There was another boat ride we took which was a tour around Hyannis, maybe an hour long and you could see the famous homes, like of the Kennedys and the owner of Gap/Old Navy, and some peoples' private Islands, it was fun and interesting.

Coming from NJ with it's gorgeous beaches, we didn't find the Cape Cod beaches to be so impressive. But the scenery driving up and surrounding was absolutely gorgeous.

We actually went back via Providence and toured some of the mansions there.


I’m not a beach person so this is obviously my personal opinion. But I can’t imagine traveling that far and schlepping so much for a beach when you have beaches close to home (in NJ and LI) that are closer to (Jewish) civilization and would involved much less shlepping. But that’s me
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cinnabon




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 16 2022, 8:15 pm
Does anyone know if Thomas theme park Edaville is open this summer?
Can't seem to find any accurate info online. It looks like a great place which my kids would enjoy.

Another option I'm thinking of doing, is Lake Compounce otw back home. Making a stop there and breaking up the drive.

Just wondering if it will have enough activities for my boys (5 and 7).

Also, has anyone been to the Inflatable park in Cape Cod or the Cape Codders Waterpark?
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doctorima




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 10:36 am
We love Cape Cod and have gone several times over the years, most recently last summer. Lodging can be hard to come by, so it's much easier to go during the week when DH can drive to shul, but we have managed to find walking distance places to say and had some memorable Shabbosim there.

For activities, the shul website lists some great options: http://www.capecodshul.org/cap.....o.php

We love going to Martha's Vineyard and seeing the cottage houses (google pics to see) and the carousel where you vie to get the last ring before it stops. There are a few wonderful bike trails around the cape, plus tons of mini golf, go karts, and bumper boats. It's quite easy to find an empty beach close to Onset where the shul is. We loved the free tours and kosher samples at the potato chip factory, but I don't know if it reopened after Covid. DD very much enjoyed the inflatable park last summer, and DH and DS's had a great time on one of the many jet ski rentals available. It's a wonderful destination with such unique charm!
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