Closer is Not Always Cheaper
February 23, 2011
For the past week or so, I’ve been researching alternate summer vacation destinations in the interest of saving money. I thought I’d post this, just in case anyone was wondering: renting a house on Martha’s Vineyard for two weeks is more expensive than staying in, flying to, and traveling around in Europe…for three weeks. So much more expensive. Than travel in any European country. I’m so flummoxed I’m using fragments.
Ah well–back to the drawing board. Or, rather, back to Kayak to track airfare…
Have you considered the Cape in lieu of the Vineyard? There are towns on the Cape that are much nicer: Orleans, Brewster, Wellfleet, Truro, Chatham, Harwich, any town on the Lower Cape with the exception of Provincetown, (which is the most “interesting” town in the Cape/Islands, but knowing your aversion to crowds, Ptown would be a better day trip than a base.) With a great ferry system you can day trip to the Vineyard and Nantucket. You have a lot more options (beaches, things to do, restaurants, shopping etc on the Cape. The only thing you will have less of on the Cape is the pretentiousness of the Vineyard.
BTW…we have a home for sale in Yarmouth which would probably cost you less to purchase than 3 weeks on the Vineyard.
yes, actually. we’ve been to the cape before–well, i’ve been more than once, but one time with my husband. it was honeymoon #1 (we went on two–a week on the cape and then a cruise to alaska…there were a lot of whales on our honeymoon!) we stayed in brewster for a week in this amazingly adorable little rental for something like $70/night. it no longer exists. i spent some time on vrbo today, and could find very little for under $1500/week. given that we’d want to stay for at least two weeks, that’s a bit steep, but i’m not giving up yet. we’re thinking of doing a road trip instead, with less time in each place, which may help offset the cost of the more expensive places we’d like to visit.
oh–and during our cape cod honeymoon, we did visit provincetown. we loved it, but yes, it was a bit crowded for our taste. we got into our only argument of the trip there. clearly i should have learned from that experience!
i spent three weeks on martha’s vineyard several summers ago as part of a summer writing program through northeastern. it was amazing–and almost completely free. i had no idea how much that house would have cost to rent had i not been there for graduate study. i love martha’s vineyard, pretentiousness and all. if i lead a good life, when i die, i’ll find myself in vineyard haven.
I was going to suggest Maine! The Acadia/Bar Harbor area is beautiful, fairly affordable (if you pick the right Inn or B&B), has great activities and fantastic fresh seafood. It’s our favorite place to vacation in our own “backyard”.
actually, maine is on the top of my husband’s list. we landed on ‘two weeks on martha’s vineyard’ after figuring out the mileage for the trip we really want to take–up the coast to bar harbor, over to quebec city and montreal, back down through vermont and new york state. it is over 1,700 miles round trip. though i suppose that’s closer than, say, germany! perhaps if we do that trip, we could meet for drinks one night!
I’d love that!