Which Martha's Vineyard Tour Is Worth It? Walking, Bus, Boat and Day Trips Compared (2026)

Every summer someone writes to us with the same question in different clothes: we have one day, or one free afternoon, and everyone on the boat is selling a tour. Which one is worth the money? We have taken the walking tours ourselves, been out on the charter boats, paddled the ponds and ridden the island bus more times than we can count. The answer depends on the kind of trip you are on. Prices are what the operators publish as of September 2026; confirm when you book, because they move with the season.

Filmed October 2021The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked October 2026.

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Walking tours in Edgartown

If you take only one tour, we'd make it a walk. The Edgartown Tour Company runs the two we recommend: the Edgartown History Tour, now offered at ninety minutes or two and a half hours, through the whaling captains’ houses and the streets around the harbor, and the one-hour “Amity” Jaws walking tour at $45 for adults and $35 for children, small groups, production stories from people who were there in 1974. Both leave from Main Street. You book through the company’s site, and the tours fill in July and August, so it is worth reserving before you land. Mike also runs private all-island tours in a Suburban for up to seven people, in three-hour, four-hour and full-day versions, which is the comfortable way to reach Aquinnah with older relatives. Our first-hand review and the Jaws tour guide have the details and a 4K preview.

The other walk worth planning around is the African American Heritage Trail. The markers are free to visit any day, but the organization’s narrated tours, Oak Bluffs, Edgartown or all-island in season and walking tours at $50 a person on request, are the version that carries the stories. Book directly with the trail at 508-693-4361.

Bus and van tours

Two local companies run the island bus tours, both out of Oak Bluffs: Martha’s Vineyard Tours and Transportation, whose vans marked MV Transport load at the curb by the Steamship Authority ticket office and cap the tour at 14 people, and Martha’s Vineyard Tours and Excursions, which publishes $55 to $65 a person for its shared three-hour tour and also sells one- and two-hour versions and private tours. Through the big booking sites the same three-hour tours list from about $65 to $70. All of them run about three hours: the gingerbread cottages, Edgartown, the up-island roads, the clay cliffs at Aquinnah and a stop in Menemsha. It doesn't go deep on anything, but if you have never seen the island and have one afternoon, it covers the most ground you can without a car.

If you would rather have a driver for a few hours and pick the stops yourself, Martha’s Vineyard Tours and Transportation also books private and customized tours with a pickup, in its air-conditioned vans. Its number for planning one is 508-939-1359.

The free VTA buses go to all the same places, fare-free through June 30, 2027, and our bus guide gives you the routes. The trade is time and narration: the bus tour does Aquinnah and back in three hours; the public bus needs a transfer at West Tisbury and most of a day.

On the water: private charters, the party boat and a paddle

For a group, a private charter split six ways is good value. Cheap Therapy Charters, run by two born-and-raised islanders out of Oak Bluffs on a restored 28-foot Bertram, publishes a two-hour sunset cruise past the lighthouse at $500 for the boat, three-hour trips (Lambert’s Cove, the Jaws bridge with a swim dock) at $700 plus $100 an hour after that, and fishing trips at $750 for three hours. Six guests, BYOB, gratuity extra. At six people the sunset cruise works out to about $83 each.

Another small-boat option out of Oak Bluffs is Cottage City Charters: a Coast Guard certified captain who lives on the island year-round takes groups of up to six on sunset cruises or custom full and partial day trips around the Vineyard, the Elizabeth Islands and Nantucket Sound, on a 31-foot boat. Prices are not published, so they come with the quote.

If you want to fish without hiring the whole boat, the Skipper at Slip 74 in Oak Bluffs Harbor is the island’s only walk-on party boat: $100 a person for four hours, rod, reel, bait and license included, two trips a day in summer (8 to noon and 1 to 5) and one in spring and fall, on a wooden head boat launched in 1941. Serious offshore anglers go to Menemsha, where a private half day runs about $750 to $900 for the boat; our fishing guide lists the captains. For sailing, the sailing page covers charters and lessons; note that Broad Reach, which many older articles still recommend, moved to Maine and no longer sails here.

The quiet option is a kayak. Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck sanctuary runs naturalist-led paddles on the calm water of Sengekontacket Pond at $45 to $78 a person depending on the tour, and rents boats for self-guided trips at $50 to $60. Every launch site, rental and route is in the kayaking guide.

Whale watching: not from here

The whales are at Stellwagen Bank, seventy-five miles north, so there is no whale watch boat on the island. The realistic options are a mainland trip from Provincetown or Plymouth at about $75 a person, or a private day out of Menemsha at about $2,400 for the boat. The whale watching guide explains how to fit the mainland version into a Vineyard week.

From Boston in a day

If you are in Boston without a car, the tour we'd recommend is the all-in day trip: a minibus from downtown, the 35-minute Falmouth ferry, about six hours on the island and the bus back, listed from about $129 a person, thirteen hours door to door, with a three-hour narrated island tour as the optional add-on. It removes every logistics problem in one booking, which is what a day-tripper is paying for.

Doing it yourself costs about $70: Peter Pan from South Station or Logan to Woods Hole at $24 to $40 each way and the Steamship Authority ferry at $22 round trip, then the free VTA bus on the island. It is cheaper and more flexible, and it is the version we walk through in the day-trip guide; the tour wins only when you would rather not think about timetables.

What we would skip, and what sells out

We'd pass on anything that promises the whole island in an hour, since the one-hour bus tours never leave the down-island triangle, and on a sunset sail booked for the day after a front comes through. Before booking any boat more than a week out, the weather policy is worth reading. What sells out, every year, is anything with a boat or a named guide attached: the Jaws walk in July and August, the sunset charters on weekends, the party boat on fair-weather mornings. Beaches, trails and the towns you can decide on the morning of, and our activities page covers all of those.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tour is worth it for a first visit?

The three-hour island bus tour from Oak Bluffs, about $55 to $70 a person: six towns, the Aquinnah cliffs and Menemsha in one loop, and the only way to see up-island without a car in an afternoon.

Is the Jaws walking tour good?

Yes. Mike Currid’s one-hour “Amity” walk in Edgartown, $45 adults and $35 children, has run since 2011 and sells out in peak weeks; the same company’s Edgartown History Tour runs 90 minutes or two and a half hours.

What about a boat?

Cheap Therapy Charters out of Oak Bluffs: a two-hour sunset cruise is $500 for the boat, three hours $700, six guests, bring your own. For fishing with no experience, the MV Skipper party boat is $100 a person for four hours with gear and license included, two sailings a day in summer.

Is there a cheap guided option?

Felix Neck’s naturalist-led kayak paddles on Sengekontacket, $45 to $78 a person, or a self-guided rental at $50 to $60 a boat. The African American Heritage Trail runs narrated tours in season and $50 walking tours of Vineyard Haven or Edgartown.

Can I do a day trip from Boston with a tour?

The all-in trip, minibus from downtown Boston, the Falmouth ferry and about six hours on the island, lists from about $129 with an optional three-hour island tour. Doing it yourself costs about $70 in bus and ferry fares.