Provincetown
USA East Coast
Possibly the least well known of all the US gay destinations, Provincetown or P’town as it is universally known has lot to offer and to live up to with its self titled Gay Capitol of the East Coast.
Located at the end of Cape Cod’s curling arm into the Atlantic Ocean, P’town has a distinctly end of the world feel. However you arrive – on the 90 minute summer fast ferry service from Boston Harbour, by 20 minute Cape Air flight from Boston’s Logan Airport, or on the 2 ½ hour road journey, you cannot help but recognise that this place is different.
In common with many end of the world places, over the years P’town has attracted a bohemian mix of artists, recluses, intellectuals and of course gay men and women. Here you can walk around holding your partners hand and not feel out of place – why? Because everyone else is doing it!
Stroll along the three miles of Commercial Street from the east end with its mix of art galleries and museums past the harbour area popular with the day trippers and the T-shirt shoppers to the west end with the boyz and girlz shops, fine dining restaurants and the Victorian clapboard homes where many of our accommodations are located.
Or explore the Atlantic seashore where this fine sand spit has been washed and blown into the most amazing shapes of sand dunes held together by fine grasses and visited by unique wildlife. And it is along here that Herring Cove beach where the boyz and girlz spend their days – girlz section, boyz section and nude section – although the latter isn’t legal in Massachusetts, as in any where in the world, its hard to see what penalties can be imposed.
And for your gay evening, why not eat in any number of gay owned restaurants, enjoying a chilled Chardonnay watching the sunset – the only place on the East Coast where the sunsets over water, then dance the night away under the stars in any one of the five world class clubs or be entertained by the many top class drag and other acts which now fill P’town during the season.
Plus you won’t get lost – from everywhere in P’town you can see the Pilgrim’s Monument. A 252 foot high stone tower erected to commemorate the Pilgrim Fathers arrival in 1620.
Whilst P’town is an all year round destination, the summer weather inevitably means the season runs from mid- May through till late October. Everywhere is open during the season and the streets, bars and clubs and beaches have a distinct buzz about them. Out of the season, apart from holiday weekends, the place is more relaxed, prices are lower and most business owners take their holidays.
Click to view the Independent Gay Guide to this destinationAccommodation