Provincetown sits on the very tip of Cape Cod, a hooked finger of sand and scrub curled into the Atlantic, and the road, Route 6, ends here because there is nowhere further to go. The town is a long, narrow strip between harbour and dunes, with one main street, Commercial Street, running along the water, and a population of about 2,600 that multiplies many times in summer. Truro, the next village back along the Cape, is much smaller and quieter.
The ride in is the main event. Route 6 runs the length of the outer Cape through scrubby pine and oak, with views of the dunes, salt marsh and ocean opening and closing between the trees, and the road gradually narrows as the sand closes in on both sides. The surface is generally good, the speed limits are modest and the traffic can be very heavy on summer weekends, with long queues at the end. The best times are weekdays, early mornings or late September, when the crowds thin and the light turns golden. Inside the town, Commercial Street is narrow, crowded with pedestrians and bicycles, and best left to walkers, while the larger car parks near the harbour take bikes.
Provincetown has a remarkable history. The Pilgrims on the Mayflower first landed here in November 1620, a month before they settled at Plymouth, and it was in this harbour that the Mayflower Compact was signed. A tall granite tower, the Pilgrim Monument, rises above the town and gives wide views from the top, and it is a good landmark for the whole outer Cape. Later, the town became a Portuguese fishing and whaling community, and the heritage lives on in its food, festivals and a blessing of the fleet each summer. In the twentieth century, artists and writers settled here, drawn by the light, and Provincetown has been a home for creative and LGBTQ communities for generations.
The surrounding nature is wild. The sand dunes of the Cape Cod National Seashore sweep up behind the town, with trails through beach plum and bearberry, and Race Point Beach, on the ocean side, is a broad expanse of sand where seals bask and whales feed offshore. Whale-watching boats leave the harbour from spring to autumn, and humpbacks are regularly seen. The air smells of salt, fried fish and beach roses.
Fuel is available in town, though the stations are small, so top up in Wellfleet or Eastham if you are running low. Carry a jacket, since the sea breeze can chill, and book accommodation well ahead in summer.