• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Overlook town from your private deck at the Inn at Cook Street.   (Photo: Courtesy of the Inn at Cook Street)

Watch the foot traffic along Commercial Street from the front-porch rockers at Anchor Inn Beach House (from $260), a 23-room mansion decked with ornate Victorian four-poster beds. Request one of the sixteen back rooms for a private balcony overlooking the boat-dotted bay.

Kick back in an Adirondack chair among wisteria and seagrass at the Inn at Cook Street's garden (from $269; $185 after 9/7). The 1836 Greek Revival home is painted in warm pastels and adorned with gabled ceilings and patchwork quilts. (Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham wrote part of A Home at the End of the World from the second-floor Writer's Room.) On weekend nights, guests can congregate around the open backyard grill.

Forgo typical B&B kitsch at the White Porch Inn (from $150), a nine-room estate favored for its whitewashed décor and proximity to Wired Puppy, a local gathering spot with the best coffee on the Cape, according to Cape Cod Life. Request the Long Point Light Room for sweeping views of the Harbor.

Published on Aug 19, 2010 as a web exclusive.