Where Is Martha's Vineyard? Map, Distances, the Six Towns and How to Get There (2026)

Martha’s Vineyard is an island off the south coast of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. Less than four miles of Vineyard Sound separate it from Woods Hole, at the southwest corner of the Cape, and the Steamship Authority ferry makes that crossing in about 45 minutes, all year. Woods Hole is about 75 miles from Boston and 70 from Providence. Here is where the island sits, how big it is, which town is where, and every way to get there.

Where it is, exactly

Martha’s Vineyard is part of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which is made up of the island’s six towns plus Gosnold, the small town on the Elizabeth Islands. It is not part of Cape Cod, which is Barnstable County; the two face each other across Vineyard Sound.

• North: Cape Cod and Woods Hole. NOAA puts the island’s northern tip about three nautical miles southeast of the western end of the Cape. The lighthouses at Nobska Point in Woods Hole and West Chop on the island are a little under four miles apart.
• Northwest: the Elizabeth Islands, a chain running about 16 miles west-southwest from the Cape, with Buzzards Bay beyond them.
• East: Nantucket, across Nantucket Sound. The gap between Chappaquiddick and the little island of Muskeget, on Nantucket’s side, is about seven miles.
• South: the open Atlantic.

On the U.S. Geological Survey’s map the island is listed at 41°25′ north, 70°37′ west.

How big it is

The island is a little over 20 miles long, from the cliffs at Aquinnah to the far shore of Chappaquiddick; NOAA’s Coast Pilot gives the two together a combined length of 18 nautical miles. Guidebooks usually say about 96 square miles, and the 2020 Census counts 90 square miles of land in the six towns, about twice Nantucket’s. Our guide to the island’s size has the town-by-town numbers.

About 20,500 people lived on the island year-round in the 2020 Census, and the Census estimate for 2025 is about 21,150. In summer the number climbs: the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s 2024 study put the likely maximum on a peak August day at about 94,650.

The six towns, and up-island and down-island

Islanders split the map in two. Down-island is the three port towns, Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown; up-island is West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah. It looks backward on a map, since up-island is to the west. The usual explanation is longitude, which counts up as you go west, though some islanders put it down to the old sailing routes and the wind. Nobody has settled it.

How to get there

There is no bridge, so everyone arrives by boat or plane. The short version, from the three cities most visitors come from:

• From Boston: about 75 miles by road to Woods Hole, usually 75 to 90 minutes without traffic and a lot longer on a summer Friday. Peter Pan buses run from South Station and Logan Airport right to the Woods Hole ferry, in about an hour and a half to two hours. Cape Air flies from Logan all year, about 40 minutes. Our Boston guide compares them.
• From Providence: about 70 miles to Woods Hole. In summer two boats run closer to Providence, Seastreak from New Bedford and the Vineyard Fast Ferry from Quonset Point, but both have finished for 2026. More in our Providence guide.
• From New York: roughly five hours by car to Woods Hole. In season JetBlue and Delta fly from the New York airports and Cape Air from JFK and White Plains, and Seastreak runs a boat from Manhattan on select summer weekends (done for 2026). Our New York guide covers the car-free routes.

The ferries. The Steamship Authority runs from Woods Hole all year and is the only ferry that takes cars; a car needs a reservation. In summer, passenger boats also run from Falmouth, Hyannis, New Bedford and Rhode Island. After October 25 the Steamship is the only boat until spring. Our ferry guide has every route, and its ferry board shows the next sailing.

Flying. Martha’s Vineyard Airport (MVY) is in the middle of the island, in West Tisbury. Cape Air flies all year, and JetBlue, Delta, American and Tradewind add seasonal flights. See our airport guide for routes.

Getting around once you’re here

You don’t need a car. The VTA buses run all year, except on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, meet the boats and stop at the airport, and they are fare-free through June 30, 2027. Our bus guide and the car-free guide have the routes.

Where the name comes from

The Wampanoag, who have lived here for thousands of years, call the island Noepe, which the Tribe’s own glossary translates as “dry land.” The English name goes back to Bartholomew Gosnold’s voyage in 1602. Which Martha he meant is not known; as the Martha’s Vineyard Museum puts it, no one really knows why, and through the 1600s the island was more often called Martin’s Vineyard. The apostrophe is official: the U.S. Board on Geographic Names settled on “Martha’s Vineyard” in 1933. For a respectful visit to Aquinnah, see our Aquinnah guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Martha’s Vineyard part of Cape Cod?

No. It is its own county, Dukes County, across Vineyard Sound from Cape Cod, which is Barnstable County. Most people still reach it through the Cape, from the ferry at Woods Hole.

How far is Martha’s Vineyard from Boston?

About 75 miles by road to the Woods Hole ferry, then a 45-minute crossing. The flight from Logan takes about 40 minutes.

Can you drive to Martha’s Vineyard?

Not across a bridge, because there isn’t one. You can bring a car on the Steamship Authority ferry from Woods Hole with a reservation, or leave it on the mainland and ride the island’s buses.

Is Martha’s Vineyard bigger than Nantucket?

Yes, about twice as big by land: the six Vineyard towns have 90 square miles of land, Nantucket County 46.

Which town should I stay in?

For a first trip without a car, one of the three down-island towns, Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs or Edgartown, where the ferries, most restaurants are. Up-island is quieter and better with a car or a bike. Our where-to-stay guide compares them.

How we checked this

Location and length come from NOAA’s U.S. Coast Pilot 2 and the U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name database; the lighthouse distance is our own calculation from NOAA’s light positions. Land area and population come from the 2020 Census and the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimates, the summer figure from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s 2024 seasonal population report, and road distances from the Steamship Authority’s own chart. Airlines are from Martha’s Vineyard Airport’s airline page, buses from the VTA, and the name history from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. Both maps are ours, drawn from Natural Earth coastlines, OpenStreetMap coastlines and ponds (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and U.S. Census town boundaries. Checked October 18, 2026.