AutoCamp Cape Cod

I live on the Cape half the year, so it made sense that AutoCamp Cape Cod would be my first AutoCamp visit. Many people don’t realize that the Cape is really large. I live at the very end – Provincetown. AutoCamp Cape Cod is at the very beginning, and south. It’s almost 2 hours away, and that’s with very little traffic. Cape Cod + summer = loooots of traffic.

I’m sharing this info because if you are hoping to stay at AutoCamp in Falmouth, MA and plan on using it as a home base to tour the Cape, please know you will be spending a tremendous amount of time in the car. I’d recommend adding a second location such as Orleans or Chatham to explore what is known as the “Outer Cape,” including Cape Cod National Seashore.

The “islands,” most notably Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard are south of the Cape. MV is super accessible from Woods Hole, very near AutoCamp Cape Cod.

Ok, now that we have the geography and tourism out of the way, let’s talk about AutoCamp Cape Cod!

First – I cannot rave enough about the staff, the services, and their hospitality. Every single staff member was amazing. Pete at the front desk was probably the best front desk person I’ve met in all my travels. Greg and Doug in maintenance have the patience of saints going around lighting the fires that won’t start because the “Good Wood” they insist you use for environmental reasons is next to impossible to light. Sweet, patient guys!

As you have seen from the photos, we had our dog, Rory, with us. She was so very welcomed! (Note: $75 per visit for your pet to be with you). She was allowed everywhere, and there is an awesome bike path that the campground is connected to for great walks.

The location is fantastic. At the very beginning of Cape Cod, Falmouth and Woods Hole are lovely towns with terrific beaches. Sandwich is charming and very nearby. As I mentioned above, you can easily do a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard, if you choose. When at AutoCamp Cape Cod, you might want to consider a visit to Bad Martha Farmer’s Brewery. The beer was fantastic, the property beautiful, the service excellent – and the “artisan pizza” was fantastic! We took leftovers back to camp. You can heat it in the microwave, on the fire, or eat it cold, of course. You’ll save yourself a lot of money from buying food in the clubhouse!

Location

As you can see, AutoCamp Cape Cod is very near the ocean and beaches. Woods Hole is only 15 minute away. I’ve highlighted a few places the kind folks at AC CC (Pete!) pointed out to us: The Knob, Woods Hole itself (tough to find parking!), Nobska Lighthouse, and a really cool drive along the water,

Bikes

AutoCamp Cape Cod has direct access to Shining Sea Bikeway! Here is a fantastic map of the 12 mile bike path. AC CC offers bikes for free – or you can rent (REALLY expensive) e-bikes in the clubhouse. There are bike both at the clubhouse and at the bike shed, which connects to the bike trail.

Beaches

Because are fortunate to live the beach life all summer, we didn’t visit any beaches. Check the Frommer’s list of recommendations.

Clubhouse

The clubhouse is gorgeous. Really, really beautiful. There are giant glass doors facing the back of the property that are mostly kept open, so it feels open air. Of course, the doors can be closed for very cold or hot weather.

To the left is the check in/out area. Again, absolutely everyone is super nice, but try to get Pete. He’ll give you a golf cart ride/tour of the property. He’s also fantastic at recommendations of shops, beaches, drives, and pretty much anything.

To the right is the store.

Ahead, left is the breakfast/food area. The only thing I noticed was the $13 breakfast burrito. Yikes. In the mornings, they serve free coffee, tea, and granola and milk. The granola is fantastic, and it does not have raisins. This is so very, very important for such a dog friendly property! Raisins (and grapes) are terribly toxic to dogs.

Ahead right is an awesome indoor fire pit/place with some stadium seating. Public bathrooms are down the hall. Upstairs are event rooms.

Entertainment and Events

We only attended one free “Experience” – a really good acoustic guitar player/singer. The next morning, we saw there was yoga on the lawn. There were many lawn games available to be used all day for free. There are many free and paid Experiences available, at least in summer.

The Store

Well, a few negatives here. First, the website indicated “curated beer and wine.” When we arrived, there was nothing. They didn’t have their license yet. We had to make a trip back out. Turns out, it was a good thing because once we saw the prices in the store, we would have gone out anyway.

The prices for everything are very, very high! $24.95 for “charcuterie” that was really small.

Look at these meal kit prices! These would be dinners for 2 that you’d cook over a campfire. YIKES!

I wanted a soft drink. It was $8.00. There are no mass market products. Everything is specialty. No issue with that, but $8.00 for essentially an iced tea is rather much.

As I discussed in this article, You MUST buy their Good Wood for your campfire. It’s super expensive – $20/sack. One sack will get you, supposedly, a 4 hour fire, I think it was? It was more like 2.5 hours. It’s super hard to light, and it just does not give you the camp fire feel. Read more here.

There are some other issues that can and should be addressed.

Laundry / Housekeeping

Note: there is no housekeeping. Make your own bed, clean your own bathroom. Again, these are clearly intended for short term rentals. Most people, I would think, would not be bothered by this. However, do note there are no laundry services, so if you did want a longer stay, you’d have to find laundry services in a nearby town. It sure does seem between this and the lack of storage (and nightly prices) that they do not want anyone to be staying for any length of time!

Resort Fees

Yup, you read that right! $25/night! What for? Wi-fi (seriously?! Yes, it’s on the list of what the resort fees pay for). Your “free” entertainment like morning yoga and evening dude-on-guitar are also included. That seems chintzy. Free morning granola and milk took the sting out a bit.

Airstreams and Site Maintenance

The Airstreams are showing some wear on the exterior more than the interior. The cleaning crew does a great job keeping the interior clean, but the exterior needs the windows cleaned. They need washing. There is also some stripping coming off. Also…please hide the rodent traps! Rodents are inevitable, but we don’t want to see the traps in full view at every camp site. Also, while poison ivy and oak are inevitable on the Cape, we’d hope they’d keep the immediate area of the camp sites clear of the poison stuff.

Noise

In the photo, below, you’ll see the parking area. You’re not allowed to take your car to your camp site. No argument. It keeps it quieter, safer, and classier. The issue is that they provide wagons for you to take your belongings to/from your camp site. We had serious noise issues with kids who ran with the wagons over the gravel roads for hours! I sincerely hope there will be enforced rules about “no playing” with the wagons.

The same goes for the hammocks. “Hammock Row” is likely the best location on the property – until children start using them as jungle gyms. There is a playground, and kids should not be swinging, climbing, and screaming on the hammocks. Of course, AutoCamp is likely relying on parents to have a) common sense and b) oversight of their children. We know how that goes.

Aside: we had a crying baby in the tent next to us on our second night. All night. All morning. NO COMPLAINTS from us. Those poor parents had no sleep, and the baby clearly was uncomfortable. We had earplugs that were provided for free, or we could have turned on the loud air conditioning. It’s white noise! We are not against babies or kids. Unsupervised loud kids playing with things that are not toys is the issue, and AutoCamp Cape Cod needs to step up to address this.

Conclusion

We loooooved our experience at AutoCamp Cape Cod. Again, the staffing…ROCKSTARS. No, I’m not friends or related to anyone there. I don’t know anyone there. I just think great service is such a rare thing that it should really be called out.

And even though the Airstreams aren’t what I was expecting, they were still fantastic.

The entire concept of AutoCamp is fascinating to me, and we had such a wonderful time, that I realize I can combine many of my hobbies and loves: nature, glamping, Airstreams, awesome parks and locations. I have decided to make it my hobby to visit and review all the AutoCamps! As I noted, Cape Cod is my home for half the year. New Jersey is my winter home, so we will be visiting AutoCamp Catskills in the fall!

In the meantime, I invite others to submit questions, comments, and also to submit reviews of their own. I’m happy to give credit to your social accounts. Just reach out. In the meantime, happy glamping!