What's New

The following are highlights of what's new on the Cape and islands.

The Upper Cape

In Falmouth, the long-awaited completion of the Shining Sea Bikeway, a bike path along a former rail line that will stretch from Woods Hole all the way to North Falmouth -- about 12 miles -- is nearly here. It has taken more than 10 years for the idea of the extension to come to fruition; construction began in the summer of 2008 and is expected to be completed in the late spring of 2009. This will make the Shining Sea Bikeway one of the longest and most scenic bike paths on the Cape, only shorter than the 25-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail. The new terminus of the path will be on County Road in North Falmouth, which is the extension to Route 151. There will be parking at this end of the path, as well as on Depot Avenue and on Locust Street.

The Woods Hole Inn (6 Luscombe Ave., Woods Hole; tel. 508/495-0248), which has operated as a sort of lodging house for decades, is now a spruced up bed-and-breakfast in a very central location, with views of Vineyard Sound and Martha's Vineyard. Guest rooms are reasonably priced and the innkeepers are maintaining an eco-friendly theme with recycling, composting, and other energy saving techniques. The new restaurant at the Woods Hole Inn is Quick's Hole (tel. 508/540-4848), a hip fast food den that specializes in burritos.

Falmouth Raw Bar (56 Scranton Ave., Falmouth; tel. 508/548-7RAW [508/548-7729]), on Falmouth Inner Harbor, offers fresh steamers, oysters, littlenecks, and shrimp. Their specialty is the giant lobster roll at $25. The drinks menu is twice as long as the food menu, with specialties including frozen concoctions like Jamaican Jelly Bean, a modified piña colada.

The venerable Fishmonger's Cafe (56 Water St., Woods Hole; tel. 508/540-5376), a Woods Hole institution since the 1970s, has new owners who are working on updating the menu.

The Mid Cape

On Main Street in Hyannis is Columbo's Café (544 Main St., Hyannis; tel. 508/790-5700), the newest restaurant by Dave Columbo, the owner of the nearby Roadhouse Café. Columbo's concentrates on such classics as pasta and pizza and intends to stay open year-round.

In Yarmouth, one of the Cape's best restaurants, 902 Main, has closed. The chef, the very talented Gilbert Pepin, is now at Belfry Bistro in Sandwich (8 Jarves St., Sandwich; tel. 508/888-8550).

The Lower Cape

Weekend (217 Main St., East Orleans; tel. 508/255-9300) is a new playful shop that has opened in an 1832 building that used to be a general store. The shop's owner, Mari Pocari, a former set decorator, has stocked the store with jewelry, art, women's fashions, children's apparel and spa products.

The Outer Cape

The buzz around Bistro 404 (404 Commercial St., Provincetown; tel. 508/487-5404), a new restaurant located at the site of the former Chester Restaurant, has been very positive. This is an unabashedly fancy dining option, where diners should expect to spend close to $100 per person, including wine for a soup-to-nuts meal.

On the other end of the spectrum is Frappo66 (at the Art House, tel. 508/487-9066), an updated cafeteria where diners can have a quick snack or a complete meal at about half the price of comparable establishments. But the food is very good here and the convenience of a cafeteria-style option is undeniable.

One inn that just keeps getting better and better is Carpe Diem Guest House (12-14 Johnson St., Provincetown; tel. 508/487-4242), which has added a full-service spa with massage rooms, Provincetown's largest steam room, a Finnish dry sauna, and hydrojet spa tub. The innkeepers have also added a new building with four new guest suites, commons rooms, and patios.

Surfside Hotel and Suites (543 Commercial St., Provincetown; tel. 860/757-8616), has freshened up its decor with new bedding and linens. The two large motel buildings in this complex are on both sides of Commercial Street, so a good number of the 83 rooms have ocean views, making this a comfortable and reasonably priced place to stay.

Nantucket

The Nantucket Lifesaving Museum has undergone a $3-million renovation and is now the Nantucket Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum (158 Polpis Rd., Nantucket; tel. 508/228-1885). The museum now offers a child-friendly tour of its many unusual artifacts.

A fun new store in the center of town is Current Vintage (4 Easy St., Nantucket; tel. 508/228-5073), which stocks both upscale vintage clothing and accessories and hard-to-find wines.

A big loss on Main Street was the closing of Congdon's, one of two side-by-side pharmacies with soda fountain/lunch counters. The remaining business, Nantucket Pharmacy still has great breakfast and lunch sandwiches and the best smoothie on the island.

Provisions, a deli located at Harbor Square, has new owners. Although they still have the popular turkey terrific sandwich on the menu, the word is the old charm has been lost, at least for now.

The most exciting restaurant renovation on Nantucket is the Galley Beach (54 Jefferson Ave., Nantucket; tel. 508/228-9641), the beachfront restaurant at the Cliffside Beach Club. Prices are pretty steep, but you want to at least have a drink and hang out at the bar at this exquisite venue.

The owners of the Jared Coffin House (29 Broad St., Nantucket; tel. 508/228-1894) have still not begun upgrades, though they did replace the inn's atmosphere pub, the Tap Room, with a Chinese restaurant called Harbor Wok. The company also owns The Wauwinet, the White Elephant, and the Wharf Cottages.

Martha's Vineyard

The ownership of the Harbor View Hotel (131 N. Water St., Edgartown; tel. 508/627-7000) is still working on a major renovation, but they have finished renovating the inn's two restaurants, which are now called Water Street, a fine-dining venue, and Henry's, a clubby bar. A spa and fitness center has also been added.

The Hob Knob (128 Main St., Edgartown; tel. 508/627-9510) is trying to reinvent itself as an eco-friendly boutique hotel. Besides recycling and composting, the inn has installed eco-friendly materials, like LEED-certified carpets, low VOC paints, and non-toxic cleaning products.