Island FAQ

An island a few miles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. You can only get here by boat or plane. About 20,000 people live here year-round; on a peak August day the island holds about 95,000. Six towns share the island: Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury (Vineyard Haven), and West Tisbury. Each town runs its own beaches and parking rules, and a few set their own liquor laws, so the answer to most island questions starts with “depends on the town.”

The Wampanoag have lived here for thousands of years and still do. Aquinnah is home to the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), one of two federally recognized tribes in Massachusetts. Bartholomew Gosnold put the island on English charts in 1602. Whaling money built Edgartown’s captain’s houses in the early 1800s; when whaling collapsed, the Methodist camp meetings in Oak Bluffs grew into a Victorian cottage resort, and the island has been a summer place ever since.

There are three ways:

• Drive + ferry: 1.5–2 hours to Woods Hole, then the Steamship Authority ferry, about 45 minutes to Vineyard Haven or Oak Bluffs.
• Bus + ferry: Peter Pan runs from South Station to Woods Hole (the fare depends on the date); the walk-on ferry is $22 round trip. It’s the cheapest door to door, with no parking to think about.
• Fly: Cape Air covers BOS–MVY in roughly 40 to 45 minutes of scheduled flying time, with seasonal routes added in summer.

Every route and fare is in our 2026 ferry guide.

• Drive + ferry: 4.5–6 hours to Woods Hole depending on traffic. If the car is coming across, reserve its ferry slot before you leave (more in the next answer).
• Direct ferry: Seastreak sails from East 35th St in Manhattan to Oak Bluffs on select summer weekends: about 5 hours, $175+ each way.
• Train or bus + ferry: Amtrak or bus to Providence or Boston, then a connecting bus to Woods Hole.
• Fly: seasonal nonstops from JFK and LaGuardia to MVY, plus flights from White Plains.

The Steamship Authority is the only car ferry and the only year-round service, and it sails only from Woods Hole. Walk-on tickets need no reservation and are sold in the SSA app or at the terminal; a car needs a vehicle reservation. Every other boat is passenger-only and seasonal (Falmouth, Hyannis, New Bedford, and Rhode Island). The crossing takes about 45 minutes.

• Walk-ons: no reservation needed; $11 each way, with departures roughly hourly in season.
• Vehicles: a reservation is effectively required all year, since the Steamship Authority now lists all vehicle travel on the Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard route as reservation-only, and summer weekends sell out months ahead, so earlier is better.

Schedules, fares and booking tips are in the complete ferry guide.

Most visitors don’t. VTA buses connect all six towns and are fare-free through June 30, 2027. The down-island towns are walkable, and bike paths link Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, and Vineyard Haven. Taxis and rideshares cover the rest.

Bringing a car costs $127 to $168 each way at peak (under 17 ft: $127 Monday to Thursday, $168 Friday to Sunday through September 14, then $127 flat through October), before passenger tickets. Many families park at the Steamship lots in Falmouth ($25 a day in season, $20 in winter) and walk on. With the buses free, that usually costs less and is easier.

On the off-season timetable (October 4 to April 15) it is one bus the whole way. Route 3 leaves the Steamship terminal in Vineyard Haven at 7:07, 9:07 and 11:07 AM and 1:07, 3:07 and 5:07 PM, and at West Tisbury Town Hall the same bus carries on as Route 5, so you stay in your seat. In summer, when both routes run hourly, Route 5 leaves instead from the Grange Hall stop next door (by Alley's General Store) at :38, and you change buses there. Either way Route 5 reaches the Gay Head Lighthouse at :02, about 55 minutes from the ferry, and every ride is fare-free through June 30, 2027. The 7:07 AM trip does not run on Sundays and holidays from December 27 to March 7, so it’s worth confirming departures at vta.mytransitride.com before you ride.

For the trip back: off season the last bus off the cliffs is the 6:05 PM Route 5, which meets the 6:36 PM Route 3 at West Tisbury and reaches Vineyard Haven at 6:59 PM; earlier buses leave the lighthouse every two hours from 8:05 AM. Summer timetables add later evening trips, so the VTA's current schedule is the place to check for the last bus from the cliffs. There is no VTA service on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. Track your bus live at vta.mytransitride.com or call the VTA at 508-693-9440. Full routes in our VTA bus guide, and step-by-step directions for every big trip on How to Get There by Bus.

• Late June–early September is beach season: everything’s open, the water is warmest, and prices and crowds peak.
• September is a favorite with locals: the ocean is still warm, crowds thin after Labor Day, and the fishing Derby takes over the island.
• May–June is quieter and cheaper, with businesses opening week by week.
• November–April means most seasonal restaurants are closed and ferries run less often. It’s quiet, which is what some people come for.

Summer runs 75–82°F (24–28°C) with cooler nights. The surrounding ocean keeps spring cool (55–65°F) and stretches fall: September days in the 70s are normal. Winter highs run about 40–45°F, with nights in the 20s and more wind than snow. A layer is worth packing even in August, since evenings by the water cool off fast.

• Agricultural Fair: four days at the Ag Hall in West Tisbury every August, held since 1858.
• Grand Illumination Night: the Oak Bluffs gingerbread cottages hung with hundreds of paper lanterns, one evening each August.
• Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby: five weeks of fishing, mid-September to mid-October.
• Film Festival in late March or early April and the Harvest Festival at the Ag Hall in October.

Dates and the full list are on our events calendar.

More than you’d think. Ferries and buses run daily all year, and every town keeps a core of restaurants, cafes, museums, trails and shops that never close. Our guide to what is open year-round lists them town by town, and the winter guide and spring guide describe what a quiet-season trip is like. Seasonal businesses open in waves through May and most are running by Memorial Day weekend.

• South Beach (Katama): the big Atlantic beach, with real surf, free parking and lifeguards.
• State Beach: flat, calm water on Nantucket Sound, popular with families, with the Jaws bridge along it.
• Lucy Vincent (Chilmark): clay cliffs above the sand; town sticker only in summer, open to everyone off-season.

Parking, stickers and lifeguards are run by the towns and differ from beach to beach. The details are in our beach parking and access guide, and every beach has its own page in the beach index.

Bike the shore road between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, ride the two-minute Chappy Ferry and wander the Mytoi garden, watch the sunset at Menemsha with fish-market lobster, walk the Camp Ground cottages in Oak Bluffs, hike the Land Bank trails, kayak the ponds, or fish the fall Derby. Harbor sails and charter boats run all summer.

There are five:

• Edgartown Light: a ten-minute walk from Main Street, looking over the harbor.
• Gay Head Light (Aquinnah), up on the clay cliffs; moved back from the eroding edge in 2015.
• East Chop (Oak Bluffs) and West Chop (Vineyard Haven), the two harbor lights.
• Cape Poge: out on Chappaquiddick, reachable by sand road; a light has stood there since 1801.

Yes, with town-by-town rules. In summer most swimming beaches ban dogs during the day, but Lobsterville in Aquinnah allows them on a leash. Off-season, most beaches open back up to dogs. The posted signs have the final word.

• Tisbury Dog Park (Vineyard Haven): 88 Holmes Hole Road, with two fenced off-leash areas and wooded trails.
• Trade Wind Fields Preserve (Oak Bluffs): dogs may be off leash if they stay under immediate control, all year.
• Other towns have informal spots rather than fenced parks, so a call to the town hall is a good idea before you count on one.

A few long-standing places to start with:

• The Black Dog Tavern (Vineyard Haven): the harborside tavern; the t-shirt came later.
• Art Cliff Temporarily closed Closed until further notice, per its own site Diner (Vineyard Haven): the breakfast spot people line up for, though it was closed until further notice in September 2026, so check first.
• State Road Restaurant (West Tisbury): farm-to-table and a 2026 James Beard semifinalist; very hard to book.
• Larsen’s Fish Market Temporarily closed Closed for the season until May 2027, per its own site (Menemsha): lobster on the dock at sunset.

Upscale kitchens book out about two weeks ahead on Resy in summer. Full picks, booking tips and what’s new this year are in Best Restaurants on Martha’s Vineyard (2026).

It depends on the town. Edgartown and Oak Bluffs have package stores and full bars. Vineyard Haven restaurants have poured full liquor since 2017, and West Tisbury restaurants can serve beer and wine. Chilmark is the island’s last fully dry town: every restaurant there is BYOB (corkage runs about $12 to $15 a bottle; confirm when you book). If you are eating in Chilmark, pick up a bottle in Edgartown or Oak Bluffs before heading up-island.

A rough peak-season day trip for two: $44 in ferry walk-on fares, $0 for the buses, $60–100 for lunch and dinner, plus whatever the ice cream line does to you. Overnight is where it adds up: a summer room is usually the biggest line in the budget, and a family of four bringing a car pays roughly $320 to $425 round trip on the ferry alone.

Run your own numbers in the trip cost calculator. It covers ferries, hotels, dining, and activities with current prices.

About 20,000 people stay past Labor Day, and housing is the hard part: median home prices sit well past $1M, and year-round rentals are scarce because so many houses go seasonal. Work follows the seasons too: hospitality and the trades hire heavily in summer, while the hospital, the schools, and construction carry the winter. Groceries and utilities cost more than on the mainland, since nearly everything comes over on the ferry.