Welcome to our guide to bicycling on Cape Cod! Come bicycle on the Cape's beautiful paths and trails, and enjoy the scenery, the sun, the beaches, and the surf along the way! Visit the popular National Seashore, Nickerson State Park, the Cape Cod Rail Trail, the Falmouth Shining Sea Trail or the Chatham Bike Route, the Canal Bike paths and more.
Start at the Cape Cod Rail Trail!
Biking on the Rail Trail is a great way for the whole family to experience bicycling on the Cape. The trail now extends from South Yarmouth to South Wellfleet, running much of the length of the Cape. Gorgeous lake and cranberry bog views, woodlands, the State Park, and the beautiful views of the Outer Cape are right along the trails. The Canal paths are another place to start, and they provide easy, level bicycling with plenty to see and do along the way as well.
Bicycling on Cape Cod has been enormously popular in recent years. The Cape has always been a wonderful bicycling spot, but in 1978, when the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management purchased part of the right-of-way along the old Pennsylvania Central Railroad grade and set up the Cape Cod Rail Trail, bicycling really took off.
Needless to say, the planners of the Trail, who studied bikeways from as far away as California, are delighted to find that bicycling has become the hottest thing to do here spring, summer, and fall. It has gotten to the point that if you visit Cape Cod and don't go bicycling, well .... just don't say it too loudly when you get back. Nearly every day you will find many visitors on the Cape's roadways, touring from place to place and from one breathtaking sight to the next.
From There, Many More Trails
Added to trails at the Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham, Truro, and Provincetown, and to the trails at Nickerson State Park in Brewster and the Shining Sea Trail in Falmouth, the Rail Trail provides the backbone to link Cape Cod's bicycle paths into an unequalled opportunity for sightseers and exercise-seekers alike.
Bicycle "tourists" are finding, too, that the motor tourists are missing more than just a few things, from unique perspectives of the magnificent Bourne and Sagamore bridges, to closeups of life in the dunes, to access to quieter beaches and freshwater swimming, "whispering white pines" in Brewster, and so much more. Sometimes you've just got to get out there in the middle of things, and the bicycle routes on Cape Cod let you do that splendidly.
Pilgrim Springs, for example, widely reputed to be the spot where the Pilgrims first found fresh water in America, is easily accessed along the Head of the Meadow bike trail in Truro. All of Chatham's famous sights, from its Fish Pier to its eroding shore, to its Coast Guard Station, are found along the superb Chatham bike route. And the trails in Provincetown couldn't bring you closer to the treasures of the sand dunes and beaches at the Cape's tip.
Be sure to check out our Cape Cod Bike Book - our book was one of the first books published about biking on the Cape, and is still available, updated annually, with detailed descriptions of sights and scenery along the way - nature, history, environment, popular places right near the trails, exact parking locations, and maps that download to your phone. While our free webpage offers lots of information, our book has even more information; please support all of our work by buying our book.
Bike Trail Maps
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