Landing at Martha's Vineyard Airport in West Tisbury gives you an easy home base, with island towns, beaches, and lighthouses all close by. Martha's Vineyard is an island of six towns off Cape Cod, each with its own personality, from the whaling captains' homes of Edgartown to the fishing shacks of Menemsha. There are no chain stores, traffic lights are rare, and bikes often beat cars.

Standout experiences on Martha's Vineyard: - Walk the gingerbread cottages of the Oak Bluffs campground, painted in candy colors - Ride the Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest operating platform carousel in the country - Stroll Edgartown's white-clapboard streets and harbor front - Watch the sunset over the fishing boats in Menemsha with a lobster roll in hand - See the red clay Aquinnah Cliffs and the Gay Head Lighthouse at the island's western tip - Take the tiny Chappy Ferry across to Chappaquiddick for quiet beaches - Bike the paved paths between Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown - Jump off the Jaws Bridge, a local rite of passage from the famous film - Spread out on South Beach or the calmer sands at Joseph Sylvia State Beach - Visit the farm stands and Island Alpaca in the up-island countryside

The Vineyard splits into down-island towns with shops and ferries and up-island areas of farmland, stone walls, and ocean cliffs. Everything on Martha's Vineyard is within about 40 minutes of the airport, and the island bus system reaches nearly all of it. Summer is lively, while September brings warm water, open restaurants, and far fewer people.