If you’re in the process of planning a one day trip to Nantucket, look no further. These 7 things will help you plan the perfect day. Plus stay tuned for a few bonus things at the end if you plan to stay a bit longer.
Planning a day trip to Nantucket can be a stressful task! Don’t fret, I’m here to help. I have been to Nantucket twice, and we were able to do exactly what we wanted both times. Everyone is different, so I have included 7 things to do. You could do all 7 if you don’t mind being busy. I also included a few bonus items for those planning to stay a few days.
First off, you need to get there. We took a Hy-Line Ferry from Hyannis, Cape Cod. It was an hour-long ferry ride. If you plan to do a day trip to Nantucket I recommend the high-speed ferry options. This will allow you more time to explore the island. I will link to the ferry schedules and fares here. These schedules depart from several different locations.
This post is all about planning the perfect day trip to Nantucket.
1. Wander the Downtown Area
Okay, I know at the moment this seems wicked vague, but it essentially needs no explanation, though I will give it 🙂 The ferry literally dumps you in the heart of this charming little island. So I recommend just walking around a bit and seeing what it has to offer. I’d hold off on purchasing anything bulky as you’ll have to lug it all day. But take a mental note of where you’d like to return later on and make sure you find out when places close if you plan to pop back in.
You’ll pass by bike rental places and I know the urge to rent a cruiser with a basket is going to be pulling at your heartstrings…don’t do it. I know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was NUTS… but hear me out…
I say explore on foot. The flowers hugging the sweet cedar shake cottage-like houses had me flashing photos left and right, not wanting to miss a thing. You cannot do that on a bike, you’d just be stopping like every 2 seconds. Plus, people purposely leave cruiser bikes with baskets leaning up against houses and establishments, so you’ll get good photos of them regardless of whether or not you rent one. If you’re staying for a few days renting bikes would be fun, but for one day I find the photo ops to be more important myself. We also wandered out of the downtown area on foot meandering the streets and looking at the houses.
Old North Wharf is the most adorable little street. Make sure you hit this! You’ll get some great photos of the fairytalesque flower-covered cottages. It’s a must-see!!
Places to grab a quick drink or breakfast:
Handlebar Cafe 15 Washington St. Nantucket, MA 02554 The Handlebar is great for coffee, tea, pastries, and a light breakfast. It’s a good place to locate early in the day because the little bus you can take to go out to Siasconcet is across the street. Then later you’ll know exactly where to go. I got a lavender matcha latte and my husband got a hot chocolate, both were good.
Lemon Press 41 Main St. Nantucket, MA 02554 They are open seasonally. They open in April and close in December. This is a great option if you’re looking for a more substantial yet healthy breakfast. I like that they have fresh juices and smoothies rather than just coffee and tea. You could also grab lunch here, but they close for dinner.
2. Siasconset (Sconset)
The most affordable and time-saving way to get to Sconset is by bus. As I said, the bus stop is on Washington St. across from the Handlebar Cafe, you’ll see a small building with benches outside, wait there. The bus was a few dollars per person and was cash only. It leaves at a quarter after each hour starting at 7:15 am and it leaves Sconset at a quarter of each hour. You can check out the exact pricing and the current schedule here.
Sconset is the tiny quintessential Nantucket town you have dreamed about your entire life, I promise. Have you ever noticed that the word quintessential is only used to describe things in New England? I have. I’ve decided to start using it for other things too. I like that word… I digress. Sconset is whimsical, quaint, charming, beautiful, it’s really all the good cozy words. I could stare at it forever and never be bored of it.
The bus drops you off right near the dinky town area. You’ll see the cluster of small stores as you get off the bus. Around the side of Claudette’s will be the Sconset Market, which is open seasonally. If it’s open you can get groceries, coffee, pastries, and souvenirs. They also serve ice cream later in the day. Next door you will find a liquor store. If you’re ready for lunch, head to my number 3, if not go to 4 and do number 3 afterward.
Tip: pretty much everything is open seasonally in sconset. when we went in september everything was closed. we had stopped at trader joe’s on cape cod and packed a picnic lunch to eat on sconset beach. just pack a lunch or don’t plan to eat here if you’re visiting in the OFF-SEASON. check the websites to see if places will be open.
3. Claudette’s Sandwiches
There is no need to include addresses here because you literally cannot miss these places in this dinky little area. The second time we came here we really wanted to try this place. We figured these sandwiches would be just “meh” because like where else can you go? But we were pleasantly surprised, the sandwiches were great! They also have breakfast sandwiches and coffee in the morning. Check out the site and menu here.
We grabbed lunch here and walked down to Sconset Beach to eat. If you walk out of Claudette’s and go to the left just follow the road down to the beach. I just bring a big Turkish Beach towel for us to sit on. We sit and eat and watch the ocean. Both times we have visited, after lunch on the beach we head to do The Bluff Walk. It’s so good you’ll want to do it each time you visit.
4. Sconset Bluff Walk
No day trip to Nantucket would be complete without doing the Sconset Bluff Walk. It’s a stunning 2-mile walk along a public footpath that runs through the backyards of all of the cottages. So you have floral-covered cottages on one side and the ocean on the other. It is so dreamy!!! From the beach, if you head back up to the little town area on the way you’ll see stairs leading to a walk bridge. Head up there and I believe that dumped us right on the path to the walk.
If that doesn’t work, you can go back to the Sconset Market and head to the left down the road in front of the houses along the beach side. You’ll see an entranceway to a path. It is the most beautiful and enchanting walk I have ever done! The floral-covered houses are just magical and the bluff side offers a spectacular view of the ocean. I cannot imagine living there and seeing that view every day.
You feel a bit odd essentially wandering through people’s yards but hey, you wouldn’t live there if you didn’t want people staring into your yard. Some places even left the windows and doors wide open so you can look right into the place. And it’s like places right on the path, not even back off of it some. I used it as a photo op as I am obsessed with home decor. They were begging for us to be taking pictures as far as I’m concerned! See for yourself…
Once you get to the end of the path follow it out to the road (Baxter Rd.) and walk back this way. It offers more views of the amazing flower-covered cedar shake homes. This will bring you right back to the little town area. You’ll pass public restrooms, which you’ll likely be using if you come for the beach, and eventually, you’ll be right back to the Sconset Market. You can then head to the right to catch the bus back to the downtown area.
5. Steps Beach
This is a great place to watch the sunset and maybe someday I will do that. However, we wanted to be back to the ferry before then so we did Steps Beach later in the afternoon. Honestly, I just wanted to see it. But you could certainly hit this at sunset if you have the time. We decided to walk from town, we’re big walkers as you can tell. We took Cliff Rd. out of town and took a right onto Cabot Ln. You’ll follow that around and it turns into Lincoln Avenue. Then the path leading to the stairway came in on the right.
You get wicked views of the ocean and the greenery hugging the stairs leading down to the water is so beautiful. It was a decent walk but as I said, I like to explore on foot in small places so I can take all the photos I want and I get a good feel for the area.
6. Buy a Quintessential Nantucket Sweatshirt
There is nothing more quintessential than a Nantucket sweatshirt in my eyes. It’s the perfect thing to bring home from here. As I mentioned before, I had scoped out a few sweatshirts in the downtown shops that I liked in the morning. By this time I had a concrete winner and we headed there to pick it up.
I talked my husband into getting one as well. The poor man was totally confused as I find it nothing but tacky to wear clothing with places that you’ve visited plastered all over them. I would never wear that stuff. So as we were cashing out he says to me so honestly, “So… now we’re people who buy sweatshirts with places on them.” But he said like, I’m glad I know, I just want to keep up with what we’re doing. I found myself borderline offended and had to explain, “No we’re not those people, this doesn’t count. This is not a typical tacky sweatshirt with a place plastered on it. This is a Nantucket sweatshirt.” He wasn’t fully getting it. He needs to just trust my judgment, that is the moral of the story, keep up Kev, LOL!
If you have time you could also spend some time in other shops while you wait for your ferry time.
7. Get Ice Cream at The Juice Bar
So we decided to get ice cream for dinner at The Juice Bar…yeah… we do that. They make homemade ice cream in a slew of flavors so you’re sure to find one you like. I order mint chocolate chip on a waffle cone everywhere I go. If places don’t have that, they’re literally dead to me. It was huge and delicious, a bit pricey, but we expected that. We also had ice cream from another place in town on a different trip here because The Juice Bar was closed. It was called Jack + Charlie’s Ice Cream. We prefer The Juice Bar, the quality and quantity were just better. After this, we headed to the ferry as we ate our ice cream. I myself felt like a big fat ice cream cone was the perfect ending to the perfect day trip to Nantucket. Check out The Juice Bar menu here.
That’s a Wrap on a Perfect Day Trip to Nantucket
I hope these 7 suggestions help you to plan the perfect day trip to Nantucket. This is truly an enchanting place that I feel everyone should experience regardless of their budget. You do not need a million bucks to go here for the day and it is enough time to see all the best parts! That having been said, below I will list and link to 3 bonus things you can do if you have more time here or you’re not thrilled with some of my above choices.
The Whaling Museum It is recommended to have at least 1.5 hours or more to check this out, some people claim they could spend hours here. They have a rooftop area that offers great views of the island as well.
Cisco Brewers This place is apparently a brewery, distillery, and winery. It seems to get mixed reviews. It was off the beaten path for us and not at the top of my list. I believe it gets pretty busy as the day goes on so hit it earlier to avoid long waits. Comment below if you’ve been here and want to weigh in and let me know if you think it is worth a visit.
Restaurants/Fine Dining We really didn’t get into sitting down and eating while we were here, mostly because we were more interested in seeing as much as we could. But there are some great restaurants and someday I hope to try a few out. I have heard reservations are recommended for some of the finer restaurants so plan ahead!
This post was all about how to have a perfect day trip to Nantucket.
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