A New Way to Get to Provincetown (Sort Of)

Getting from Boston to New England's greatest LGBT vacation mecca, Provincetown, has never been easy. Located on the top of the flexing-land-arm that constitutes Cape Cod, Provincetown is accessible by expensive planes, limited-service ferrys, and the usually traffic-clogged Route 6. But a new train service called the CapeFlyer gets weekenders quickly from Boston to Hyannis, 47 miles south of Provincetown.

The CapeFlyer returns direct train service from Boston's South Station to Hyannis for the first time in decades. The CapeFlyer offers free WiFi and relatively low fares ($20 one way from South Station/$35 round trip; there are also stops in Braintree, Middleborough, and Buzzards Bay) and, most importantly, an escape from the hordes of cars fleeing Boston, especially on Fridays or holiday weekends.

So, how would one get from Hyannis to Provincetown and its lovely bed and breakfasts, seafood restaurants, and buzzing nightlife? Well, for the adventurous, cycling is an option: the CapeFlyer allows bikes and with no additional fee. The distance between the two cities is 47 miles, or four and a half hours on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, according to Google (pack light). If you're pinching pennies, you can also hop on a CCRTA bus every day but Sunday ($2 per ride), which requires one transfer, but will get you to the center of Provincetown in two to three hours.

Read more about the CapeFlyer here.