2008 Guide to the Best of Cape Cod

What It’s Like: The “Combah,” as it’s affectionately called by Cape locals, earned its spot in the annals of destination dining when it opened back

The local seafood shack has outdoor tables set alongside boat slips.

Constructed with wood salvaged from shipwrecks, the structure is built right over the water. Have a drink on the deck, with the water lapping under yo

Fresh dough made daily is part of Sweet Tomatoes, Inc.’s recipe for a great Neapolitan-style, thin-crust pizza. Their location on Route 6A in Sandwich

Straight out of the North End of Boston, the restaurant is a red-sauce restaurant in a hard-to-find office complex courtyard.

The eatery serves solid—as its name would suggest—Tuscan food like roasted organic chicken with fennel, garlic, sage, and olives.

The renovations at the iconic restaurant set some locals grumbling that it now resembles a gallery in New York City. But the food is still top-notch:

Although the dining room itself-set in a former sea captain’s house-could use a facelift, the food delivers. Try the seared sea scallops with scallion

Wicked Oyster's breakfast and coffee bar (available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.) is one of the eatery's most popular attractions. The restaurant has hardwoo

The fresh seafood at this restaurant on Route 6 in South Wellfleet comes from its very own on-site fish market. Peter and Diane Hall, who also own Van

It’s worth the wait for a table at Terra Luna in North Truro, where Raina Stefani serves up creative concoctions like ancho-and-coffee–rubbed New York

Townsend Lobster & Seafood owner, Chris Townsend, runs lobster-catching tours on his fishing boat.

This pun-loving destination is a high-end but cool bakery and sandwich shop.

The neon-lit exterior of the Lobster Pot, in Provincetown, makes it an often-photographed spot. Order the lobster as God intended it—steamed, with dra

Set in the basement of a Victorian house, Provincetown’s Front Street is owned by Donna Aliperti and Kathleen Cotter, who can usually be seen in the k

With the seafoam-green exterior and purple trim of this 1970s-style A-frame, it shouldn’t be hard to find this popular restaurant on U.S. Highway 6 in

Order the fried lobster tail at Arnold’s Lobster & Clam Bar, in Eastham—a hit since it opened in 1976.

With 18 tables in a Cape Cod cottage, the Nauset Beach Club Restaurant in East Orleans is a tough reservation to score. Don’t miss the northern Italia

Liam’s at Nauset Beach, set right between the sand and the parking lot, has legendary onion rings.

Cap’t Cass Rock Harbor Seafood is a funky BYOB in Orleans with wood floors, shelves lined with old seashells, handwritten menus taped to the walls, an

Abba, in Orleans, is widely touted as the Cape’s best restaurant. Israeli-born chef Erez Pinhas dips into his heritage for dishes like falafel in a ta

Although it has zero atmosphere, Harwichport’s Talk of the Town Café, wedged between a CVS and a hardware store in a strip mall, sells the best cup of

There are vintage black-and-white photos on the walls and birdhouses hanging in the trees at Schoolhouse Ice Cream & Yogurt, in Harwichport, where the

Consider a jacket and tie for an evening at Twenty-Eight Atlantic, in Chatham’s Wequassett Resort, where dishes range from black-truffle risotto to Ch

North Beach is the topic of Henry Beston’s Outermost House and Tim Wood’s

Set in an old Victoria home, the stationary shop has a vast and well-edited selection of cards and journals.

The tiny cottage is crammed with every kind of antique lamp imaginable.

It’s not Napa Valley, but during a tasting you can try some decent wines that are cultivated in the area, plus (for adventurous palates) a special cra

The four-mile Shining Sea Bike Path, from Falmouth to Woods Hole, follows the ocean and runs through woodlands, marshes, and salt ponds.

The six-mile-long, dune-capped Sandy Neck Beach, in West Barnstable and Sandwich, is populated by more piping plovers than people.

Onlookers at Provincetown’s Race Point Beach erupt in applause the moment the sun disappears. For the more athletic, bike the 5.2-mile look between Ra

The colorful display outside the beachfront shop makes for a popular photo spot in P-town.

The whimsical shop carries affordable housewares and furniture like an Offi birch coffee table for $180.

In North Falmouth, the crescent-shaped Old Silver Beach has calm waters that attract families.

This one-room shack carries every kind of hammock imaginable, including crocheted models from Brazil and travel versions that fold up into a backpack.

Located on Main Street in West Chatham, this little gray cedar, cottage-style shop with a blue awning and front porch has a big customer following due

Jobi Pottery, in Truro, has been making its retro pieces, decorated with small black fish, since 1953.

A popular stop for visitors on the way to Cape Cod, this colorful kite shop is located on Route 28 in the village of Harwichport. The windows of the w

Craigville Beach, the place to see and be seen in Hyannis, is sometimes called Muscle Beach for its concentration of buff beachgoers.

If you’re in the mood for a pint and live music, head to this gritty nightspot, decorated with license plates from around the world. Local bands perfo

Built on an old railway bed, the 26-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail starts at Route 134 in Dennis and winds through Chatham, continuing north to Wellfleet. T

For a more active adventure, catch the eight-mile Cape Cod Province Lands Bike Trail at Race Point. It passes through sand dunes and forests and ends

In a small outbuilding with an honesty box, the farm shop sells a heavenly lavender-lemon marmalade.

This sweet shop serves fudge in every flavor, from plain vanilla to Marshmallow Fluff to Reese’s.

The emphasis here, also home to the Cape Cod Center for the Arts, is on Broadway musicals. Bette Davis famously began her career here, as an usher.

Performances have included productions by David Mamet and Sam Shepard. Last summer, W.H.A.T.—as it’s commonly known in these parts—opened a new $6.8 m

The rambling former residence of the famous illustrator has been turned into a museum. The first floor has an ample display of his pen-and-ink drawing

The property isn’t quite a museum; rather, it’s the atelier of the artist, who creates 3-D paintings inspired by her travels and Cape Cod scenery.

A pair of former New Yorkers owns this Eastham gallery, which sells Colonial-era benches and chests, and paintings of local landscapes.