We spent a solid week vacationing in Nantucket and Boston this past July with our kids. Since we did so many different things, I’m breaking our trip down into two posts, one for each location.
NANTUCKET:
Hotels in Nantucket: My biggest piece of advice – BOOK EARLY!! We booked our hotel MONTHS in advance and even then, it was one of the only places left with a room. Our friends Justin and Nancy who frequent there told us this is the norm during the summer, so if you want a decent rate on a hotel, do not wait to book or it will bite you in the ass! We stayed at the Nantucket Inn. The location is great and they have a free shuttle that goes to Surfside beach, downtown, and the ferry stop. Breakfast is also included and it’s a pretty decent breakfast! They offered oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, yogurt, danishes, potatoes, and cereal. I did have to laugh when we landed in Nantucket however because Vince had googled where our hotel was from the airport, and it was literally right across the street from it. We got our bags and walked maybe two blocks to get to our hotel! That part was so nice and easy with a couple of tired kids in tow.
Our friends stayed at great time share so check out those and Airbnb as well if you don’t find any hotels that strike your fancy. Also be warned – from Denver, the only flight to Nantucket leaves out of Newark airport, and it’s only once a day. So we flew from DIA to Newark to Nantucket. We almost missed our connection but were lucky that 11 people were on the flight from Denver to Nantucket so they held the plane for us. But definitely be cognizant of times that you’re flying into Newark. Newark blows goats, by the way.
The first thing we did when we arrived was hit up the shops in downtown Nantucket. There are so many cute little mom and pop shops clumped together alongside restaurants, bars, and quick casual eateries. We met up with our friends Justin and Nancy and their new baby, Sienna. They recommended The Juice Bar for the best ice cream Nantucket has to offer. It was so fucking delicious, we went there twice in three days.
Beaches: The first day we attempted the beach, it started pouring rain on use mere minutes after we arrived. So we hit up Surfside Beach twice while we were there. The second day was much more enjoyable. I will say however, this is not the beach to go to for calm waves. It’s located on the south side of the island and has rougher waves compared to the others. We just kept going here because our hotel shuttle dropped us off and picked us up for free so we didn’t have to worry about dragging car seats into Ubers. If you’re looking for calmer waters, head to Jetties Beach. We also went to Children’s Beach, and while there is a cute playground and restrooms there, it is a TINY beach, but it is definitely calm! The other plus side to Children’s Beach is that you can walk to it from the downtown area easily so if the kids are tired of window shopping, you can break it up a bit at the beach.
Critter Cruise: One of the most loved things we did in Nantucket was take the kids on a Critter Cruise. Tickets are $52 per child, $62 per adult, and $26 per infant, so while it’s not cheap, it was well worth it. The kids talked about it days afterwards as their favorite activity. They take you out on the harbor and you get to see them bring in the traps they’ve set to catch crabs and lobsters. They then bring some on board and put them in a touch-tank so the kids can check them out up close. Then, they move to a different spot on the harbor and let the kids all throw a line in to fish. The employees on board help bait the lines and they also take the fish off to put them back in the water once the kids reel them in. It’s the easiest fishing trip we’ve ever been on for sure!
While Nantucket is small, we had no problem filling four days there with plenty to do. We also kept Winnie on her usual nap schedule, so from 12-2 we would just hang out in the hotel room and have Lila watch a show on her ipad while Winnie slept. It was nice to have those little breaks in the day because the rest of the time, we were on the go!
Transportation from Nantucket to Boston: After we spent the first three nights of our trip in Nantucket, we caught the ferry and took it over to Hyannis. The ferry ride was about an hour from Nantucket to Hyannis and we were thrilled to be on the same one Justin and Nancy were taking home so we could have a little more time with them.
There are a few websites out there to purchase ferry tickets from, but here is an easy one to use. Since Hyannis is a little over an hour and a half from Boston, we chose to just take an Uber from the ferry station to our hotel in Boston. Rental car prices for even just the day were just as much as our long Uber ride, plus we would have had the added headache of picking up the rental car and dropping it off. Because of this, we bought a lightweight car seat for our 2 year old. Our 5 year old (she’s almost six) is big enough that we felt she would be fine just sitting in a regular seat with a regular seat belt for the one car ride we had to take, so we didn’t even bother bringing her usual booster seat. So if you’re looking at rental cars and saying “That’s a lot of fucking money for one day” then just take an Uber. Insider tip though – make sure you request an Uber XL or else some tiny piece of shit will pull up and there’s no way a driver, family of four, a stroller, and two suitcases are going to fit into that!
Boston: Here is the link to my blog about things to do in Boston with kids.
