Martha’s Vineyard, MA

For our July trip we decided to stay local, since there are so many wonderful places we still haven’t seen, and I have to say, we were not disappointed. We took the morning ferry leaving Falmouth and in 45 minutes we arrived to Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the south coast of Cape Cod. You might have heard this name during the Obama presidency, since it’s where he was used to spend his summer vacations.

The island is divided into 6 different towns, but the main tourists areas are Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. All the tourists visit them for the many cute and expensive boutiques, restaurants and ice cream parlors!

We started the day exploring Vineyard Haven, since it’s where the ferry dropped us off. I was so excited to find one of the cutest store of the island right on the main st of the village. I had been following them on Instagram for years, loving all the home decor and gadgets they sell! The prices are probably a little bit higher than on the mainland, but I guess that’s what you get for being on one among the most posh islands of the East Coast! 🙂

We had planned on taking the bus to explore the main towns, that was until we saw a shiny red Jeep for rent. We absolutely couldn’t resist the idea of driving all around the island on a car we could never afford to buy, so we decided to spoil ourselves for the day! It was not cheap but definitely worth it, especially since the island turned out to be bigger than we expected, and the car allowed us to explore areas that we otherwise would have left out.

The second stop was Oak Bluffs, beautiful town with some of the cutest houses I’ve ever seen. I am in love with Victorian style houses and Oak Bluffs is home of the Gingerbread Cottages, something so amazing, it came right out of a fairy tale. We took a stroll around and then stopped by for lunch at the Island Bar and Grill. Fish and chips, chicken burgers and vegetarian burger, everything was delicious and surprisingly affordable, and most important we could find something for everyone, to match dietaries preferences and restrictions!

On the ocean waterfront there’s a beautiful park, surrounded by Victorian Mansions and with a bandstand right in the middle, which holds weekly band concerts during summer evenings.

 

After taking some pictures at the bandstand, we jumped back on our Jeep and drove to Edgartown. Narrow street and cute stores, it seemed like a very elegant place, but that’s probably the entire island vibe I guess. If you are a book lover like me, you have to pop in into Edgartown Book, or just get a cup of coffee at their backyard cafe!

 

The island is for most part nature, lots of properties with massive yards, but funny enough, there are no actual vineyards. The beaches are amazing though, so that should make it up for the lack of wine tours!

What surprised me the most was discovering a beautiful area in the town of Aquinnah. We drove there in search of a lighthouse and we also found some massive cliffs. I wish we had more time to actually walk all the way down to the beach, but I guess that will be for our next trip to the Island.

On our way back to Vineyard Heaven we found an hidden gem, that left me absolutely dreaming. It’s called Orange Peel Bakery. We made the big mistake not to stop by, since we needed to go back to catch the ferry, but I had the feeling it was supposed to be something absolutely amazing. That will definitely be the first stop during our next visit, and I will make sure it happens on a Wednesday, since I wouldn’t want to miss pizza night again 🙂

After dropping off our beloved Jeep, we took the ferry back to the Cape, right in time to watch the sun disappearing under the ocean. We had a wonderful time and to everyone visiting the Cape or New England, make sure you save at least one day to make this great day trip!