There may not be enough words to describe my love for Nantucket Island, just off the coast of Boston.  This was my 3rd time to the island and it definitely won’t be my last.  It’s as picturesque as it seems!  We road tripped from Michigan to Nantucket in July with stops in Niagara Falls, Boston, New Hampshire and finally, took our car on the ferry to Nantucket for a 5-night stay.  I will post about the other stops soon, but for now, let’s focus on  Nantucket!!

By now, you know…travel hacking is the way to go!  We used points for free stays during our summer road trip…1 night-Buffalo NY (outside of Niagara), 3-nights Boston, 1-night New Hampshire, but Nantucket is almost impossible to travel hack.  Balance right?!  We rented an adorable cottage through VRBO and still earned 3x each $1 spent because VRBO is considered a travel expense.  There were some available hotels through our credit card portal, but point values were extremely high.  Flexible travel credit cards are the way to go on Nantucket!

 

getting here

Nantucket does have an airport and I have flown Delta to it on prior trips.  It’s the fastest way to the island for sure.  This time, however, we had road tripped…so we opted to bring our vehicle on the 2-hour ferry from Hyannis (just outside of Boston).

There are two ferry lines – Hy-Line Cruises and the Steamship Authority.  Both run high-speed passenger catamarans with a travel time of approximately one hour. The Steamship Authority also runs a traditional car-and-passenger ferry, with a 2 ¼ hour cruise time.

where to stay

Nantucket is just downright expensive!  Hotels are very expensive and when we shopped our credit card portal for points, we found that the point value wasn’t worth the redemption.  So, we rented the cottage below through VRBO.  After spending the first 4 nights of our road trip in hotels, we were ready to spread out a bit.  We always use our credit cards with intention.  So we reserved our stay using a travel credit card earning 3x per dollar spent.  I can’t say enough about this cottage.  We were a 10-minute walk from town, making it a fantastic home base.

where to eat

There are many wonderful restaurants on the island.  My favorites are Cru (I tried to stop there for a glass of wine every night…obsessed with Cru), Lemon Press, Millies, The Galley, The Straight Warf, Brant Point at White Elephant and Lola 41.

Cru

The Lemon Press

Millies

The Galley

The Straight Warf

Brant Point at The White Elephant

Lola 41

where to beach

Each day, we’d pack up beach towels, a cooler, beach chairs and an umbrella, and head out to a different beach. Our favorite was Steps Beach, but other beautiful spots include Jetties Beach, Sconset Beach, Madaket, Ladies Beach.

Steps.  The beach is so clean, waves are to a minimum.  Very relaxing.  We would grab lunch to go at Something Natural and spend the day enjoying the beach.

Jetties Beach- dine at the Sandbar at Jetties

Madaket- lunch at Millies!

where to see the lighthouses

Our favorites…Brant Point, Great Point and Sankaty.

where to shop

Skinny Dip, Milly & Grace, Lilly Pulitzer, Vineyard Vines…really there are so many adorable boutiques along the Warf.

Visiting Nantucket is just like the famous, Elin Hilderbrand writes about it in her novels.  It is just simply paradise.  You can never explore the entire island during one trip, that’s why many visit over and over again!  Until next time ACK!