If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air, you can extend your summer — and the fun — through October with Cape Cod’s “Second Summer.”
Come September, visitors can expect fewer crowds, warm temps, a chill vibe and plenty of adventures to be had. Fall colors, cranberry harvests and dreamy golden sunlight welcome each day, and a bevy of seaside festivals celebrate the season.
Fall is festival season on Cape Cod!
At the Harwich Cranberry & Music Festival on September 16-17, shop for paintings, jewelry, photography, and other works of art while enjoying a wide variety of live on-stage entertainment. The annual
Tennessee Williams Theater Festival takes place this year from September 21-24 in Provincetown, where Williams spent several summers working on his classic plays.
Experience the best in craft beer at the annual Cape Cod Brew Fest on September 23 at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in Falmouth.
On September 30, the festival fun continues with Mashpee Oktoberfest, the Yarmouth Seaside Festival and Chatham’s wildly creative Pumpkin People in the Park. For more Fall events, visit the Cape Cod Chamber’s Events Calendar.
Taste of the Cape
Cape Cod has you covered with as many clam shacks, seafood emporia, food trucks and haute cuisine restaurants as you can patronize throughout the entire season. Savor a clam or lobster bake (Art’s Dune Tours’ sunset dune tour with seafood dinner and bonfire is amazing), freshly harvested oysters or quahogs, dig into clam chowder or freshly grilled just-caught fish. Enjoy one of the Cape’s many outdoor dining spaces. whether it be intimate patio dining or a waterfront table with a view.
Experience craft beer and wine from more than a dozen craft breweries and wineries, or take a customized private tour with TapTastings Craft Brew Excursions.
Water, water everywhere!
Thrill to humpback, right and other whales breaching at Stellwagen Bank on whale watches departing Barnstable and Provincetown, or sight them in Cape Cod Bay from its 60+ miles of coastline.
Take a seal tour to Monomoy, or a sunset sail or fishing charter from various ports along the Cape’s 559-mile coastline.
Windsurf or ocean surf (or take lessons) or join an SUP or kayaking group paddling Cape Cod Bay or one of the Cape’s rivers. Fishermen can fish for various fish in season in autumn, or shellfish (licenses required). Enjoy magical ocean sunsets, beach picnics, kite flying or just a day of relaxation on your beach chair.
Surf the Turf!
Cape Cod’s 27 public golf courses await so tee off at one of its links or other courses before or after a swim, lunch or seaside hammock nap.
Cape Cod National Seashore
The National Seashore’s 44,000 acres include 40 miles of pristine sandy swimming and surfing beaches, marshes, ponds, and uplands supporting diverse bird and other species. Lighthouses, cultural landscapes, and wild cranberry bogs offer a glimpse of Cape Cod’s past and continuing ways of life. Its six beaches are counted among the most popular and Eastham’s Coast Guard Beach was named to Dr. Beach’s Top 10 Beaches in America for more than a decade. Find a round-up of seven great ways to experience the Cape Cod National Seashore here.
Fall Color!
Often overlooked for showier parts of New England, Cape Cod is the perfect place to take in rich autumn colors. And the garden path at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich is pure eye candy this time of year; October brings colorful berries and hollies, with hydrangeas “antique-ing” into pinks and reds.
With fall colors around the corner, select a forested conservation trail to see Mother Nature in all her peak color leafed-out glory.
Drive the 34-mile Old King’s Highway (Route 6A) along the Cape’s ‘north side’ and it will become clear why it was recently designated a National Scenic Byway by the Federal Highway Administration. Hikers and mountain bikers can find their own trails along more than 600 miles of conservation lands across the Cape. Cyclers have more than 125 miles of dedicated Cape-wide cycling trails to ply, including the gorgeous 10.7-mile Shing Sea Bikeway (Falmouth) and 25½-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail (South Yarmouth to Wellfleet).
