Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Shaped continually by ocean currents, this windswept land of sandy beaches and dunes has an amazing natural beauty. Everyone comes for the seaside, yet Cape Cod's crimson cranberry bogs, birch and beech forests, grassy meadows, freshwater ponds, and marshlands are just as splendid. Local history is fascinating; whale-watching offers an exhilarating encounter with the natural world; bike trails lace the landscape; shops display everything from antiques to fashions to kitsch; and restaurants cook up seafood as fresh as it comes, as well as fine international cuisine.

Separated from the Massachusetts mainland by two heavily trafficked bridges over the Cape Cod Canal, the Cape is always likened in shape to an outstretched human arm bent at the elbow, its Provincetown fist turned back toward the mainland. The open Atlantic Ocean pounds the Cape's eastern coast, and Nantucket Sound washes the southern shore.

The Upper Cape -- think "upper arm" -- encompasses Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich. The Mid Cape includes Barnstable, Yarmouth, and Dennis. The Lower Cape covers Brewster, Harwich, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. The Outer Cape, as in "outer reaches," is the end of the Lower Cape; technically it includes only Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.

Station yourself in one town and take excursions from there, or stay in a string of towns as you make your way from one end of the Cape to the other. Be prepared for summer crowds, however, or come off-season, when many beaches are dream material for solitary walkers and life returns to a small-town hum.