BEST FOR WALKING
Nauset Beach stretches 10 miles from Orleans -- where there's a snack bar near the beach entrance and plenty of parking -- to Chatham. Taking a long walk on the ocean side of the Cape is especially nice if you wake early enough to catch the sunrise.

On Maine's southern coast, the walk from below Ogunquit Beach to Wells Beach can be a vigorous 5-or-so-mile workout. Get dropped off at Oarweed restaurant and walk along Marginal Way, a cliffside footpath in Ogunquit with dramatic views and fragrant sea roses, and head north toward the 2.5-mile-long expanse of Ogunquit Beach. Break for a picnic (or just to rest) at Footbridge Beach, then meet your ride at Mile Road in Wells.