A Cape Cod vacation can mean salt air, pretty-as-a-postcard villages, and some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.
It can also mean some big-ticket expenses. A week of lobster dinners, whale watches and souvenir shopping and suddenly your budget is melting faster than a hand-scooped cone at your favorite beach ice cream shop.
But there are plenty of quintessential Cape experiences that won’t empty your wallet. Here are 10 to get you started:
Cape Cod Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league, has teams in 10 Cape Cod towns and games are free. Schedule ends in mid-August: capecodbaseball.org.
There’s no charge to visit the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, where 140 species of marine animals are on display. The aquarium offers touch tanks, behind the scenes tours and other activities. aquarium.nefsc.noaa.gov.
The Cape Cod Potato Chip factory, 100 Breed’s Hill Road, Hyannis, Mass., is one of the area’s top tourist destinations with more than 250,000 visitors each year. Free self-guided tours and samples of the crunchy chips are available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. (Closed weekends and holidays.) capecodchips.com
Bike the Shining Sea Bikeway, (named for a line in the song “America The Beautiful,” written by Falmouth native Katharine Lee Bates) that hugs the coast from Falmouth to Woods Hole.
Wine tastings at Cape Cod Winery in Falmouth are $5 and include a wine glass to take home. capecodwinery.com
At Cape Cod Beer in Hyannis, you can taste samples of five different beers, plus take home a souvenir glass for $5. capecodbeer.com.
Ranger-Guided Activities at Cape Cod National Seashore include lectures, guided hikes and lighthouse tours and many activities are free. Check online at nps.gov/caco or stop by the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham or the Province Lands Visitors Center in Provincetown for a schedule.
Entertain the kids with a visit to the free Splash Pad at Heritage Park, in Mashpee. The pad, with sprinklers, jets and sprays, is handicapped accessible and fenced off for safety.
The free Cape Cod Rail Trail stretches for 22 miles from Dennis to Wellfleet, has beautiful views and is popular with walkers, runners and hikers. There’s a daily parking fee of $6 for out-of-state cars.
Climb the Scargo Tower, (off Scargo Hill Road), in East Dennis. Built of cobblestones, it’s 30-feet high and, on a clear day, offers a panoramic view as far as Provincetown.
