Things to do in Nantucket
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Nantucket
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: roses and long days in June, warm sea and half the crowds in September.
Peak season: everything open, everything full and full price. Book early or do not improvise.
Shoulder value, with the Wine and Food Festival and Figawi at the end of the month.
Quiet and golden, scallop season opens, many places reduce hours midweek.
Winter island: half the restaurants dark, ferries weather dependent, Christmas Stroll the big exception.
What's on
- Nantucket Daffodil Festival last weekend of April
Millions of daffodils, an antique car parade on Main Street and a picnic in Sconset.
- Nantucket Wine & Food Festival Usually late May
Five days of tastings and dinners, the food world weekend on the island.
- Figawi Race Weekend Memorial Day weekend
The Hyannis to Nantucket sail race that opens summer, and the island biggest party weekend.
- Nantucket Film Festival June
Screenings and writers panels in the pre peak sweet spot.
- Nantucket Race Week August
A week of regattas ending with the Opera House Cup wooden boat race.
- Cranberry Harvest Festival October
Working cranberry bogs in harvest, with farm heritage and fall food.
- Nantucket Christmas Stroll first full weekend of December
Santa arrives by boat, decorated trees line the cobblestones, markets and carolers fill town.
- Festival of Trees December
Designer decorated trees fill the Whaling Museum through the holiday season.
Best things to do in Nantucket
Nantucket Whaling Museum
The island story in one building: a sperm whale skeleton, scrimshaw and a rooftop harbour view.
'Sconset Bluff Walk
A free cliff path past rose covered cottages and ocean gardens to Sankaty Head Light.
Brant Point Lighthouse
The ferry view lighthouse, a short harbour walk from town and the best sunset seat nearby.
Sankaty Head Lighthouse
A red and white tower on an eroding bluff above the Atlantic at the end of the bluff walk.
Cisco Brewers
Brewery, vineyard and distillery in one open air yard with live music, food stalls and oysters.
Madaket Beach
The west end beach where the island watches the sun drop into the ocean.
Surfside Beach
The big full service Atlantic beach near town, with surf, lifeguards and room to spread out.
Jetties Beach
Calm shallow harbour water, full facilities and a beach bar, made for young families.
Where to stay in Nantucket
Downtown
first trip, car free visitors
Ferries, museum, restaurants and buses on cobblestone streets, at the island highest prices.
Brant Point
quieter luxury near town, families
Residential harbour streets, beaches on foot and a short walk to dinner in town.
Siasconset
repeat visitors, romantics, crowd avoiders
Roses, bluff walk and quiet at the east end, with town dinners a bus or bike ride away.
Wauwinet
secluded luxury retreat
Beautiful and remote by island standards, best booked as a retreat rather than a touring base.
Surfside
beach first families, budget travellers
The big surf beach and the island hostel, three flat bike path miles from town.
Mid-Island
space and price over atmosphere
Larger conventional hotels near services, without the historic town or village charm.
Think twice about
- Mid-Island commercial corridor
Safe but strip development, through traffic and airport fringe noise. It could be anywhere in America and wastes island prices.
- Madaket without a car
Lovely by day, isolated at night with no walkable dinner options and dark roads back to town.
- Wauwinet without a car
Genuinely remote, so every dinner and beach beyond the hotel becomes a taxi or shuttle problem.
- Straight Wharf ferry blocks for light sleepers
The most convenient beds sit on the arrival machinery and late night bar spill. A block inland is far quieter.
Best restaurants in Nantucket
CRU Nantucket
Raw bar, local oysters and rose at the end of the wharf, the harbourfront scene at its best.
The Nautilus Nantucket
Seafood small plates built for sharing, with a blue crab fried rice everyone orders.
Oran Mor Bistro
A small calm French leaning bistro with a garden terrace, the island anniversary dinner.
The Proprietors Bar & Table
Globally minded sharing plates in a sea captain house, with a serious wine list.
Galley Beach
Fine dining with tables on the sand and sunset ahead, the definitive island date night.
TOPPER'S
The formal splurge: lawn drinks at sunset, local scallops and a huge cellar at the island far end.
Millie's
Tacos, fish and margaritas a short walk from the sunset beach, no reservation stress.
Something Natural
Oversized sandwiches on home baked bread and famous cookies, the island picnic institution.
Outdoor things to do in Nantucket
Miacomet Golf Course
The island only 18 hole public course: windy links golf with fast greens on open preserve land.
Siasconset Golf Course
Skinner to locals: a rustic public nine from 1894, golf as it was played a century ago.
Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge
Dunes, cedar forest, seals and Great Point Light on a guided oversand trip to the wild north tip.
Young's Bicycle Shop
The long running rental shop by the ferry for the bike paths to Sconset, Madaket and Surfside.
ACK Surf School
Small personal surf lessons at Nobadeer with board and wetsuit included, run by island surfers.
Endeavor Sailing Excursions
A 90 minute sail on a small captain built sloop, with a sunset departure worth booking ahead.
Sanford Farm
Open moorland trails ten minutes from town, the island quiet walking and trail running heartland.
Best hotels in Nantucket
White Elephant
The harbourfront grande dame: cottages, lawn, pool and spa steps from town.
Greydon House
A design led boutique hotel in an 1850s captain house, two blocks from the ferry.
Faraway Nantucket
A lively boutique hotel around a courtyard bar, central and social with free bikes.
21 Broad
Bright modern rooms two blocks from the ferry dock, breakfast included, honest mid tier for town.
Jared Coffin House
A grand 1845 whaling mansion turned inn in the centre, with a popular tap room.
The Nantucket Hotel & Resort
The family luxury package: two pools, kids club, spa and shuttles in a landmark resort.
The Summer House at Siasconset
Cottages and a pool by Sconset Beach, the only full service base in the rose covered village.
The Wauwinet
The island secluded retreat: Relais and Chateaux rooms between harbour and ocean, TOPPER'S on site.
Is Nantucket expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $175 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $425 a person |
| Splurge | $950 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Loines Observatory: a few days ahead
- Miacomet Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Siasconset Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge: weeks ahead
- Young's Bicycle Shop: a few days ahead
- ACK Surf School: a few days ahead
- Endeavor Sailing Excursions: a few days ahead
- CRU Nantucket: weeks ahead
- Summer rooms book months ahead. Book dinners and tee times, oversand tours and sunset sails as soon as rooms are set.
Is Nantucket safe?
- Low crime island. Real risks are bike crashes, rip currents at surf beaches, ticks in moor grass and sun on Great Point.
Nantucket travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Ferry hour Main Street crowds, view first wharf restaurants without a cooking reputation, and bringing a car for a weekend.
Getting around Nantucket: public transport and more
- Skip the car. Use the Wave buses, walk town and rent bikes for the path network to Sconset, Madaket and Surfside.
Who Nantucket suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Nantucket your trip
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