As the southernmost point of New England, Nantucket Island is famous for its beaches, summertime residents, and historic town. Originally a fishing village that gained wealth from the whaling industry, Nantucket stood frozen in history for almost a hundred years before becoming the famous vacation town that it is today. Because of that, the center of town has stood the test of time, and today is included on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural preservation of a late 18th century seaport town.
A trip to Nantucket is like stepping back in time. You’ll feel like a kid again as you enjoy ice cream on a bench in the center of the historic town after a day at the beach! Nantucket is perfect for families because of the wide variety of kid-friendly activities on the island. Couples will enjoy the high-end dining, shopping, and places to stay. There’s definitely a reason it is one of New England’s favorite summer destinations!
Nantucket definitely can stand as a single-destination vacation, but if you choose to extend your trip, consider visiting the neighboring island of Martha’s Vineyard. Alternatively, make it a road trip by adding Newport, Rhode Island or Boston to your trip!
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Where to Stay on Nantucket: The Nantucket Hotel
While many people choose to rent a house on Nantucket, we preferred to stay at a resort in town. The Nantucket Hotel offered extremely friendly service, great accommodations, and an ideal location near the center of town.
This four star hotel offers a variety of rooms, suites, and cottages that fit a wide range of party sizes. Our family chose to stay in a Mariner Suite, because it accommodated our family of three. We especially loved the extra comfy Murphy Bed for the third guest, and we enjoyed having a kitchenette and living room. We stayed for a whole week, and felt like we had the perks of an apartment in the center of town with the services of a four star hotel!
The hotel boasts two pools, a gym and a spa. They also have a complimentary kids club (offered late June to early September, check their website for details). Kids Club activities range from on-site activities to mini-field trips (kids will especially love the transportation used: an antique fire truck!). For those that want to head to the beach, make sure to pick up complimentary beach chairs, umbrellas, and towels on your way!
Other amenities at the hotel include a complimentary shuttle to Jetties Beach or Cisco Brewery. The hotel even offered us a complimentary shuttle to an Italian restaurant outside of town one night! In addition to friendly staff, the hotel’s concierge was wonderful. She suggested a wide variety of restaurants and activities in the area, and was active in the lobby throughout our stay. We also saw one of the owners of the hotel multiple times, who was helping manage different aspects of the hotel throughout the high season.
Where to Eat:
Nantucket town has a ton of very high-end fine dining options with impossible-to-make reservations. This list will not be the place to find those (for us, they were too expensive and too fancy). Instead, we chose to balance our nights between a couple of nicer restaurants and local favorites. It is important to note that restaurant reservations start a month in advance, and fill quickly! A few places (such as Ship’s Inn) only offer reservations a week ahead. For less formal places such as the Nantucket Tavern, reservations are not required. Below are some of our favorites:
Ship’s Inn:
Located in the historic Ship’s Inn, this restaurant was by far our favorite! We enjoyed fresh halibut, fresh baked bread (the zucchini bread was amazing), and of course the chocolate soufflé to finish the meal. The restaurant has a rotating menu of seasonal specialties, and balances the high-end culinary expectations of Nantucket with fresh cooking and great dishes. The Ship’s Inn only offers reservations one week in advance, so make sure to calendar that date!
The Hotel Nantucket Clambake:
On Monday nights throughout the summer, the Breeze Restaurant at the Hotel Nantucket is transformed for a full New England Clambake! From checkered tablecloths to live music and of course fresh lobsters, this is an awesome event! Families will appreciate the full buffet with kid-friendly options in addition to the traditional clambake staples.
Nantucket Tavern and Gazebo:
For burgers, fried clams, lobster rolls, and drinks, the quintessential Nantucket restaurant is the Tavern and Gazebo. Located along the water in the center of town, the Nantucket Tavern offers great views of the Nantucket Boat Basin. They are famous for their Mudslides and other drinks too!
Born & Bread Mercantile & Bakery
This popular bakery offers fantastic breakfast and lunch sandwiches as well as popular bakery items. Most of their sandwiches are served on their delicious homemade sourdough bread. For a quick snack, make sure to grab a bag of their sourdough ends. We especially loved their grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on the fresh sourdough.
Stubby’s
Located near one of the main ferry docks, Stubby’s is a fast food restaurant. It’s also one of the only places in town where you will find decently priced food. From burgers to sandwiches, the menu is simple but very popular. Grab your food and take it to a bench along the water-front for a fantastic memory!
Surfside Taco Stand:
For lunch, Surfside is wonderful for its wide variety of Mexican inspired dishes, including fajitas, taco bowls, burritos, and quesadillas. We especially liked Surfside because of the outdoor patio seating near the water.
The Sandbar at Jetties Beach:
Located at Jetties Beach, the Sandbar offers burgers, lobster rolls, and other classic dishes. The restaurant is located on the sand, and even offers some tables and Adirondack chairs in the sand! Adults will also love their popular frozen drinks. We went to the Sandbar for lunch during our day at Jetties Beach, and loved it!
The Juice Bar:
A major staple of Nantucket is ice cream at the Juice Bar. At night, the line will wrap around the corner and across the street, but it’s definitely worth the wait! The Juice Bar offers a mix of classic and unique flavors. Our favorite ice cream flavor was Green Monster, a mix of mint ice cream with chunks of cookie dough! Waffle cones are made fresh and kept warm until they are served, so make sure to get one of those too.
Things to Do on Nantucket:
Nantucket has a wide variety of classic summer activities. Here were our favorites!
Shopping in Town:
Nantucket’s town center is filled with boutiques and high end clothing stores. For a piece of history, visit Murray’s Toggery Shop, the original creators of the famous Nantucket Reds color. Murray’s is also located in a building that Mr. R.H. Macy, the founder of Macy’s Department Stores, opened one of his first dry goods stores.
For those looking for (slightly) more affordable souvenirs, check out Four Winds Gifts on Straight Wharf. Also make sure to browse the shops up and down Main Street, even if you don’t plan to buy anything!
Jetties Beach and Children’s Beach:
Nantucket is famous for its summer activities, especially the beach! There are several beaches you can go to, although we had two that were our favorites, especially if you are staying near town! The first is Jetties Beach, which is slightly outside of walking range for most people, but you can get there via the Nantucket Hotel Shuttle (for guests staying there) or the Nantucket public buses from the center of town. We loved Jetties because of its relatively easy access from town, plenty of space for everyone (even in the summer), and beautiful views of the Nantucket bluffs. Jetties Beach is also unique because of the sandbars. Kids will love to wade out to the sandbars at low tide to play and dig in the fresh sand! Jetties Beach also offers great amenities such as public restrooms, a gift shop, and the Sandbar restaurant.
For those looking for a beach close to town, check out Children’s Beach. Located in the Nantucket Harbor, Children’s Beach offers calm waters for kids to play in, and the added bonus of a playground next to the beach. Children’s Beach is about two blocks from the center of Nantucket Town and the Nantucket Hotel, which means it is the easiest to get to if you are walking.
Gail’s Tours:
In order to get a better understanding of the island of Nantucket, we joined a tour with Gail’s Tours, who came highly recommended from our hotel. Gail offers three tour times per day, and caps her groups at 14 people. She offers a wonderful island tour so that you can get a better sense of Nantucket. Highlights from the tour included seeing the windmill and other historic buildings in town, visiting Siasconset (including the infamous mini homes in the Sconset town center), and stopping for photos at Sankaty Lighthouse. Gail picks up from the center of town. Make sure to book ahead by calling her, especially during the summer season!
Whaling Museum:
Nantucket’s whaling history is well documented in the popular Whaling Museum. Located in the center of town, this museum is a can’t miss destination for those interested in learning more about Nantucket’s history.
Visit Brant Point:
Of Nantucket’s three lighthouses, the Brant Point Lighthouse is possibly the most iconic. If you are sailing in on the ferry, you will see the Brant Point Lighthouse on your right as you come into the harbor. We loved walking out to Brant Point to see the lighthouse, and walking along the beach. You can walk the entire beach from Brant Point to Jetties Beach, which is very quiet and has lots of empty space to enjoy. Plus, from this vantage point, you can look back at town and watch as the boats and ferries make their way in and out of the harbor!
How to Get to Nantucket:
Nantucket is accessible by plane or ferry. To get a car to Nantucket, plan to book your ferry tickets (and car reservation) months in advance. We chose to fly into the Nantucket airport, which offers direct seasonal flights from Boston, Washington D.C., New York (JFK), and Chicago. As a heads up, make sure to check the airline you are flying with (and make sure you are flying American, Delta, or JetBlue). The most common public flight into Nantucket is on Cape Air. Cape Air uses a seven seater Cessna with a single pilot (in fact they seat a passenger in the co-pilot’s seat). If you are comfortable with that set up, Cape Air is a very easy way to connect from Boston to Nantucket. If you would prefer a more traditional connector jet, go with a major airline!
Traffic on Nantucket is infamously bad, especially in the summer months, so we chose to use the hotel shuttle instead. Nantucket also has a wonderful bus system that efficiently transports people around the island, which many visitors choose to take advantage of. Taxis are also very easily available, especially from the airport (make sure to schedule a taxi for the return trip). However, if you really want to have a car on the island, you can rent one at the airport or pre-book a spot on the ferry for your car.
We hope this guide helps you plan your next trip to Nantucket! If you have any questions or want help planning your next Creative Journey, please feel free to contact us.
