September 27, 2024 · 4 min read
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
By the Credence Charter Bus team
Martha's Vineyard is about a hundred square miles of moorland, harbor towns and beach, seven miles off the Cape and reachable only by boat or plane. It absorbs a summer population many times its winter one and still manages not to feel developed. A charter bus to Martha's Vineyard is really a question about the ferry, and answering it early saves both money and frustration.
Leave the coach on the mainland
The Steamship Authority from Woods Hole is the only year-round vehicle route to the island, and space for large vehicles is limited, costly and reserved well in advance. Taking a full-size coach over is possible; it is seldom worth what it costs.
The arrangement that works for most groups: the charter delivers everyone to Woods Hole, the group walks on as foot passengers for a forty-five minute crossing, and island transport handles the rest. The coach either waits or returns in the evening. Walk-on tickets need no vehicle booking, which also removes the single hardest reservation to get in July.
The towns, and which one your group wants
- Oak Bluffs: the liveliest, with the gingerbread cottages of the Methodist Campground and the Flying Horses Carousel. The best arrival point for a group that wants to walk off the boat into something.
- Edgartown: white clapboard whaling captains' houses, a harbor full of masts, and the most photogenic streets on the island. Compact and easy to walk.
- Vineyard Haven: the working port and the year-round town. Practical rather than picturesque, and the ferry terminal most groups actually use.
- Aquinnah: the red clay cliffs and lighthouse at the western end, on Wampanoag tribal land. Forty minutes from Edgartown and the island's most dramatic landscape.
- Chappaquiddick: reached by a tiny three-car ferry from Edgartown, and quiet in a way the rest of the island no longer is.
Getting around once you are there
The island bus service runs frequently in season and connects all the main towns, which for many groups is enough. Bicycles are the other classic option, with paved paths linking the down-island towns, though the up-island roads are hillier than people expect.
For a group on a fixed schedule — a wedding party, a corporate retreat, a reunion with a dinner reservation — arrange island transport in advance rather than relying on the public service. Our wedding transportation team plans a good number of Vineyard weddings each summer, and the shuttle timing there is the whole job.
Which charter bus fits the mainland leg
- Forty to fifty-six: a full-size charter bus for the run to Woods Hole from Boston, Providence or New York, with luggage bays for a weekend group.
- Twenty to thirty-two: a mini bus is the practical size if you genuinely need a vehicle on the island, and far cheaper to ferry.
- Ten to fourteen: a sprinter van crosses without difficulty and suits a small wedding party or executive group.
Getting to the ferry
Woods Hole sits at the tip of the Cape near Falmouth, about ninety minutes from Boston in clear traffic. Seasonal passenger-only fast ferries also run from Hyannis and New Bedford, and for a walk-on group those are often simpler.
Build in real slack. Cape traffic on summer Fridays and Sundays is severe, and ferries do not wait. Groups searching for charter bus rental near me for an island trip should tell the operator the sailing time rather than the arrival time they would like — the whole schedule works backward from the boat.
Day trip or overnight
A day trip covers one town well. Walk off at Oak Bluffs, see the campground cottages and the carousel, take the bus to Edgartown for the afternoon, and catch an evening boat back. That is a genuinely satisfying day and needs no lodging on an island where summer rates are steep.
Anything up-island — Aquinnah, the Menemsha fishing village, Chappaquiddick — needs an overnight. The distances are not large but the roads are slow, and a group trying to reach the cliffs and return for a late ferry will spend most of the day traveling.
For weddings and reunions the overnight is usually decided already, and the transport question becomes shuttle timing between the accommodation and the venue rather than the crossing itself.
When to go
June and September are the best weeks of the year: everything is open, the water is warm, and the island is not full. July and August are the peak in every sense, including ferry demand and lodging prices. From late October much of the island closes for the season, which makes for a quiet, cheap and genuinely atmospheric trip provided nobody is expecting the summer version.
Booking the trip
Reserve the ferry first, then send us the sailing times with your headcount and pickup point. Request an all-in quote and you will usually have an itemized price back the same day, driver, fuel, tolls and taxes included.