Martha's Vineyard

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Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

It’s true that you have to pay for a ferry or a plane to get there; that many restaurants, inns and shops depend upon a steady flow of flush wallets; and that the cost of living on the island was nearly 60 percent higher than the national average, an April 2007 report showed. But the island also has relatively inexpensive dining and accommodation options and shopping bargains. And quintessential Vineyard pursuits like going to the beach and strolling through the historic towns are free.

To see how easy it is to visit the island on a budget, I made a trip over Memorial Day weekend. While the Vineyard, especially for accommodations, can be much cheaper off-season, the holiday weekend is the start of high season, when more people are looking to save more dollars. The bottom line? I spent less than $1,000, including transportation from New York, for three nights and four days for me, my wife, Kate, and our 7-month-old daughter, Alice (who, it must be said, traveled with her own food).

Transportation options to the Vineyard are limited to plane or ferry (and if by sea, with or without a car). We took a train from New York to Kingston, R.I., ($94 a person on Amtrak round trip), a 20-minute shuttle to the ferry terminal in Quonset Point, R.I. ($36 round trip), and the 90-minute boat to Oak Bluffs ($94.50 round trip) on the Vineyard Fast Ferry (www.vineyardfastferry.com).

It would have been cheaper, and faster, to fly from New York into Martha’s Vineyard airport (as little as $154 round trip on JetBlue, with a change of planes in Boston), but the train-to-ferry route was a pleasant five-hour journey with napping opportunities for all.

Accommodation options cover a wider spectrum, from $1,000 suites to camping. If you really want to save some money, you can book a tent spot ($48) or a one-room cabin ($125, bring your own bedding and utensils) at the Martha’s Vineyard Family Campground (www.campmvfc.com). Or you can stay at the Hostel International-Martha’s Vineyard (www.usahostels.org), where dorm beds are as little as $27 and the private room is $75 to $150.

Going up from there, you’ll find inexpensive B & Bs with rates around $100 a night, even in high season, but those tend to be located up-island (meaning, in the more rural, western part of the Vineyard), and the ones I found with availability didn’t allow small children.

A good online source is the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce (www.mvy.com/islandinfo/placestostay.php). You’ll find, for example, the Attleboro House overlooking Oak Bluffs harbor, which has high-season rates as low as $105 for two, if you’re willing to do without a private bathroom or television. Most places I called had at least a two-night-minimum stay.

We stayed at the Dockside Inn, and judging by the size and location of the room, we got the last one. Situated just a few blocks from where we debarked in Oak Bluffs, the inn is accurately described on its Jolly Rancher-like bathroom soap wrapper as a “candy colored Victorian B & B on the harbor.” Our room had two chairs on a porch so Kate and I could hang out after the baby went to bed, a hot tub in the garden area and, most important, a very reasonable rate of $105 for Sunday and Monday nights and $150 for Saturday.

After checking in, we walked across Circuit Avenue into the Coop de Ville bar and restaurant, and started our weekend with a Wachusett Green Monsta Ale ($5) and a nicely fried, though possibly hyperbolic, “Vineyard’s Best Fish Sandwich” with fries ($7.99).

There are, generally speaking, six towns on Martha’s Vineyard. Oak Bluffs, because of its size, green spaces and confluence of dining, night life and accommodation options, is the most trafficked and touristy, but also the most fun. It has a town beach, a pretty seaside park with a gazebo, and a lively bustle along Circuit Avenue, the main commercial drag.

Tucked behind the T-shirt and fudge shops is a relatively untouched piece of New England history: the Martha’s Vineyard Campmeeting Association (www.mvcma.org), a one-time Methodist tent camp that evolved into a dollhouse-like neighborhood of small gingerbread cottages around a large central tabernacle. Walking between the tiny colorful houses, where neighbors enjoyed afternoon drinks on their porches, was free, and the Cottage Museum (a bargain at $2) captured Kate’s imagination with its depiction of how camp dwellers lived — antique beds, made up with delicate bedspreads and laid out with 19th-century clothes fine enough for the summer’s biggest revival meeting.

Though Alice is too young to fully appreciate such amusements, we took her for her first carousel ride ($1.50) on the Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest continuously running platform merry-go-round in the country and a national historic landmark. Here’s a small money-saving tip: Grab the brass ring from one of the two metal ring dispensers and win yourself a free second ride.

There are a number of inexpensive dining options in Oak Bluffs. A popular place is Sharky’s Cantina, which offers large servings of Mexican fare and loud music in a crowded dining space that is light on the charm. Which is what made Slice of Life just across the street stand out.

This simple cafe with a breezy screened-in porch serves food that is, as one local woman enthusiastically described it to me, “gourmet delicious.” We enjoyed a portobello sandwich with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and arugula on a ciabatta roll ($9); a fried green tomato BLT with applewood smoked bacon and basil mayo on toasted rosemary bread ($9.50); a subtly flavored but satisfying New England clam chowder ($5.50), complemented by a Wachusett IPA ($5.50) and finished with a parfait glass of velvety butterscotch pudding ($4).

Getting between towns without a car is easy, and cheap, on the highly reliable Martha’s Vineyard Transit Authority (www.vineyardtransit.com) buses. We took multiple trips between Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, Vineyard Haven and West Tisbury (with requested intra-route stops at the beach and a farm). The basic fare is $1 per town you ride through; so from Oak Bluffs to adjoining Edgartown, it costs $2 each way. But you can also get a $6 day pass (or $15 for three days).

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