Barnstable is the biggest town on Cape Cod, though you would hardly guess it. It is really a string of villages along Cape Cod Bay, with Barnstable Village, Cotuit and Hyannis among them, and it takes in marsh, beach and farmland over a wide stretch of the Cape's arm. The town has almost forty-eight thousand people, and its long coast looks across to the curling tip of the Cape on one side and out to the Atlantic on the other.
The old road along the bay shore, Route 6A, is the Old King's Highway, and it is the best way to see the Cape. It was one of the earliest roads here, following a track from the seventeenth century, and the whole length is protected as a historic district. The road winds past sea captains' houses with white clapboard and black shutters, antique shops, small museums and stone walls, with salt marsh glimpsed through the gaps. It is a slow ride, with low speed limits and frequent crossings, and in summer it can be crowded, so go early. Sandy Neck, a long barrier beach of dunes on the north side of Barnstable Harbor, is among the finest on the Cape, with trails through the dunes and a view of the harbour.
Hyannis, to the south, is a busy hub with ferries to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and nearby Hyannis Port is where the Kennedy family kept their famous summer compound. Seafood is the order of the day, with fried clams, lobster rolls and chowder at every turn.
The Cape Cod Canal bridges, at Bourne and Sagamore, are the way on and off, and traffic on them can be terrible on summer weekends, so plan to cross at off-peak times. Fuel, food and rooms are plentiful in Barnstable and Hyannis, though prices are high in summer. Autumn brings clearer light and quiet roads.