Recommendations for bike vacations like Cape Cod?
03-07-17, 09:46 AM
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Recommendations for bike vacations like Cape Cod?
Basically looking for a week or so where you would have a home base, you can bike all week on either a rail trail or other environs, where there's food and things to see. Tried Prince Edward Island, which was ok, but I like Cape Cod more.
03-07-17, 10:34 AM
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A couple summers ago I rode a loop from Boston, ferry to Provincetown, Orleans, Woods Hole ferry to Martha's Vinyard, then to Plymouth and caught a ferry from Hingham back to Boston. Some trails, mostly quiet roads, and camping all nights. Had a great time.
03-07-17, 11:08 AM
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So Cape Cod or someplace else? Lots of options for the Cape. I camped at Nickerson SP, Brewster. Ride to P town, take ferry to Boston. Also ferries to the islands.
03-07-17, 11:27 AM
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Le P'tit Train du Nord trail in Quebec, which begins just north of Montreal, might work for you. You could base yourself near Mt. Tremblant.
03-07-17, 06:53 PM
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Personally. I'm very happy cycling in Metro Boston, and have posted an informal Cycling Guide to Metro Boston that would make a nice hub and spoke tour of nine days (and is easily accessible from Washington, DC).
It may seem parochial, but I think the cycling around here is great. One can be in scenic countryside within about one hour from downtown, while passing through an interesting, compact urban and suburban scene. Furthermore you can extend your range with a convenient Commuter Rail that allows fully-assembled bikes during off-peak hours. In Spring through Fall it’s a temperate climate.
Besides the cycling, Boston is such a popular tourist destination that there will always be something interesting to do off the bike…culture, nightlife,sports and so forth…
It may seem parochial, but I think the cycling around here is great. One can be in scenic countryside within about one hour from downtown, while passing through an interesting, compact urban and suburban scene. Furthermore you can extend your range with a convenient Commuter Rail that allows fully-assembled bikes during off-peak hours. In Spring through Fall it’s a temperate climate.
Besides the cycling, Boston is such a popular tourist destination that there will always be something interesting to do off the bike…culture, nightlife,sports and so forth…
,,,BTW, over the years I have responded to several of these threads with open-ended requests for travel destinations. One thing they have in common is that the OP never informs us of the final destination, much less how was the trip, even when requested to do so. 
03-07-17, 08:42 PM
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I met a SoCal couple in Laporte, MN this past Sept. who had come to the area specifically for the purpose of riding on the local bike paths. Part of the promo on the website for the paths states: "You will be at the junction of over 150 miles of paved bike trails, the scenic trails in the Leech Lake area are a cyclist’s dream."
See here: Biking, Hiking & ATV Trails | Paul Bunyan Trail | Leech Lake
I was following the Paul Bunyan Trail from Bemidji to Walker at the time (that section of which is part of ACA's Northern Tier). If that trail is any indication of the rest of them, I highly recommend you do further research.
See here: Biking, Hiking & ATV Trails | Paul Bunyan Trail | Leech Lake
I was following the Paul Bunyan Trail from Bemidji to Walker at the time (that section of which is part of ACA's Northern Tier). If that trail is any indication of the rest of them, I highly recommend you do further research.
Last edited by hilltowner; 03-07-17 at 08:50 PM.
03-07-17, 09:55 PM
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Gonna follow this thread - would love to find a similar mix of food, islands, ocean beaches, fresh water swimming ponds, hamlet towns, and dedicated bike paths as good as the Cape's.
Maybe Acadia NP carriage trails, Bar Harbor, Desert Island?
Maybe Acadia NP carriage trails, Bar Harbor, Desert Island?
03-08-17, 05:40 AM
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Recommendations for bike vacations like Cape Cod?
Besides Cape Cod and the Islands (Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket), Massachusetts also has “the Other Cape,” Cape Ann, and I recently posted:
BTW, my wife and I have cycled Prince Edward Island, which I would describe, with esteem, as pleasantly boring, though we did share a memorable Beef Wellington in Charlottestown. The southwestern part of Nova Scotia, Yarmouth, Digby, Halifax, etc was a virtual cycling paradise.
Besides Cape Cod and the Islands (Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket), Massachusetts also has “the Other Cape,” Cape Ann, and I recently posted:
…[For a few years we have spent summer vacations on] MetroBoston’s scenic North Shore, a nice cycling route 40 miles long north of our condo in downtown Boston. The region is also good for road cycling, and train service with the fully assembled bike is readily available. I described it in my Cycling Guide to Metro Boston as
So one could travel by train from Boston to Rockport…which itself is an interesting walkable resort town, including beaches.
Rockport is on Cape Ann on the North Shore, and known as Boston’s "Other Cape," in distinction to Cape Cod, which begins at about 80 miles from Boston, with no train service, requires crossing one of two bridges with horrendous traffic jams on the summer weekends, and is best traversed by car. Just last night I was chatting with a colleague who has a vacation home on the off-Cape Island of Martha’s Vineyard. They have to plan their weekends months in advance to secure car passage on the ferryboat.
ADDENDUM: Parking in the center of Rockport is extremely limited. and visitors who drive there often have to park a couple of miles away and be shuttled into town by bus. Rockport as a convivial tourist destination was featured in the movie Coma (but not as the scary part).
Rockport is on Cape Ann on the North Shore, and known as Boston’s "Other Cape," in distinction to Cape Cod, which begins at about 80 miles from Boston, with no train service, requires crossing one of two bridges with horrendous traffic jams on the summer weekends, and is best traversed by car. Just last night I was chatting with a colleague who has a vacation home on the off-Cape Island of Martha’s Vineyard. They have to plan their weekends months in advance to secure car passage on the ferryboat.
ADDENDUM: Parking in the center of Rockport is extremely limited. and visitors who drive there often have to park a couple of miles away and be shuttled into town by bus. Rockport as a convivial tourist destination was featured in the movie Coma (but not as the scary part).
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 03-08-17 at 06:00 AM.
03-08-17, 08:40 AM
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Dunno if you mean only in America, but I'd suggest Amsterdam. You could easily stay in the city for a week and do a different meaningful day trip every day. Excellent cycling infrastructure, and villages every couple miles that all have restaurants and pubs to go experience.
03-08-17, 10:15 AM
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Not so fast
03-08-17, 11:46 AM
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I wouldn't move back there if I won the lottery, and if it wasn't for family, I'd never go back.
Last edited by J.Higgins; 03-08-17 at 11:58 AM.
