I became obsessed with the idea of visiting the island of Nantucket after reading multiple books by Elin Hilderbrand that all are set on the island. I love to travel and explore new towns and I really have not been to many states in New England. With 3 days of PTO left to schedule for the year and a little bit of cash burning a hole in my pocket, I finally decided that now was my time to YOLO and get bae on board for a long weekend trip up the Island!
I thought about alternatively titling this post “How $10 books made me drop $3,000 to visit a tiny island for 3 1/2 days” buuuuut decided against it, lol. Nantucket is definitely not the most budget friendly travel destination, but for me it was worth it to visit. I also think it is very doable to spend much less than I spent to visit the island (um, like maybe don’t go to dinner at the most expensive restaurant on the island on the very first night and order a $100 bottle of wine for the table) but I had such a fun trip I wanted to share the details of how I got there, what we did, what was worth the big bucks, what wasn’t, etc. in case anyone ever thought of planning their own trip!
We decided to visit at the end of September and fly out on a Friday, and return on a Monday. Our first night was Friday September 28th which was past peak season for the island so that definitely helped with costs for lodging. There is not a super direct way to get to Nantucket: it is an ISLAND after all, so you either have to fly in (there are limited direct flights, and most have a transfer at JFK which involves transferring to a VERY small aircraft) or take a ferry in. We opted for the ferry route so we flew from Philly to Boston, rented a car at the airport, and drove about an hour and 40 minutes from the Boston airport to Hyannis, MA which is where the ferries leave from. In hindsight, my boyfriend who travels a bit more said it might have been slightly easier to fly into Providence, RI and drive down from there since that airport isn’t quite as busy as Boston is…but overall either option should work. There are buses that go from the airport to Hyannis area, and we also looked up uber prices but ultimately just decided on renting a car for flexibility. There are two different ferries you can take into Nantucket: the “fast” ferry which is only an hour long, or the “slow” ferry which is closer to 2 ½ hours. We opted for the fast ferry through
The Steamship Authority. They have you park in various lots around the ferry (you have to check their website to see which lot they are currently parking in) and then they have shuttles that take you over to the ferry area. Parking rates vary during the season, but ours was only about $13/day for off-season so it wasn’t too much money to leave the car there for the long weekend. You can take cars on the ferry over to Nantucket, but it costs $400 to transport it there and back. Unless you are staying way out in the boonies of Nantucket and want to do a ton of driving, you really can get away without a car fine. There are lots of taxis, ubers, and the downtown area is very walkable.
We arrived at the ferry dock just after 1PM, dropped off our bags, but then the ferry didn’t leave until 2PM and we were STARVING from traveling so we scurried over just about a block from the ferry dock to grab lunch at
Baxter’s Cape Cod. They were friendly, had really fast service, and had super yummy drinks! I got a “Hyannisport Mimosa” (sparkling wine, grand marnier & OJ) and a white sangria and both were scrumptious. My boyfriend tried a local pumpkin beer and got the clam chowder and some fish and chips and enjoyed them both. I got my first LOBSTER ROLL of the trip (!!!) which was fine, but keep reading for where I got the best one on the trip :) Overall if you have time to kill before the ferry this place was a cute little spot to visit and the service really was quick so you shouldn’t have to worry about missing the ferry!
We got on board with plenty of time and then started the hour journey over the island. There is food and drinks (regular & alcoholic) available to purchase on the ferry, but not a ton of options. We sat inside for a bit but then decided to venture outside even though it had been raining all afternoon. I’m glad we did though: even with the rain and wind it was so refreshing to be outside (in the middle of the ocean practically) and then we got to watch as Nantucket came into view! I giddy like a little school girl when I saw the island getting close: I was SO excited to get there!
I looked at a few different options for where to stay in Nantucket and ultimately decided on the
Brass Lantern Inn Bed and Breakfast. They had great reviews on Trip Advisor, were located really close to town, and were decently affordable for what our options were(there ain’t no Motel 6’s on this island folks). I found one Air B&B that was a little cheaper, but ultimately decided on this place because they provided breakfast and my boyfriend and I are pretty social people so we thought it might be nice to have some other people around.
