Harwich Port

Cape Cod harbour village on Nantucket Sound, with warm south-shore beaches and a low-key main street.

Harwich Port is a village in the town of Harwich on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, sitting on Nantucket Sound on the Cape's south shore. It is one of the more attractive and low-key of the Cape's many small centres — a modest harbour with fishing and pleasure boats, a pleasant main street, and beaches along the sound that are calmer and generally warmer than the ocean-facing beaches on the north shore.

The area attracts a mix of families on summer holiday and people who have been coming to the same houses for decades. Bank Street Beach is right at the edge of the village, while the larger Red River Beach in East Harwich has full facilities for families. Wychmere Harbor — created by cutting a channel through the barrier beach in 1888 — is one of the more photogenic small working harbours on the Cape. The Cape Cod Rail Trail passes through town, offering 26 miles of flat cycling through pine woods and past cranberry bogs.

Harwich Port has a handful of decent restaurants and a summer-season atmosphere without the traffic and commercial intensity of Hyannis to the west. It is a good base for exploring the mid-Cape.

Guide

Eating Out

Harwich Port has a good selection of restaurants for its size, leaning toward Cape Cod staples — clam chowder, fried seafood, lobster rolls — done well. Brax Landing, on the harbour, is the best-known spot: a casual, classic Cape Cod restaurant with waterside tables and a menu built around local seafood. Cape Sea Grille on Sea Street takes a more refined approach, serving seasonal New England cuisine in a handsome 19th-century building.

For lighter bites, the main street has coffee shops, bakeries, and a handful of good sandwich places. Sundae School ice cream is a local institution — simple, unpretentious, and popular with everyone who discovers it. Most restaurants are seasonal, open May through October and closed or reduced hours in winter.

Guide

Things to Do

Harwich Port's pleasures are mostly unhurried. The beaches along Nantucket Sound are the main draw — sheltered, warm, and far less crowded than the ocean-facing north shore. Bank Street Beach is the most convenient to the village centre, while Red River Beach in nearby East Harwich is larger and has full facilities.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail passes through Harwich, offering flat cycling through pine woods, past cranberry bogs and kettle ponds. It runs for 26 miles from Dennis to Wellfleet and is one of the best cycling routes on the Cape.

Wychmere Harbor is worth a stroll for the working fishing boats and pleasure craft. Fishing charters for striped bass, bluefish, and bluefin tuna operate out of the harbour in season. The mid-Cape also has several good golf courses within easy reach.