My husband and I decided on nantucket for our honeymoon in order to avoid air travel, due to lots of work travel. We were not disappointed! Nantucket is an amazing place for a honeymoon and Cliffside was great. We really enjoyed our stay here. Like anything on Nantucket, it's not cheap, but it was well worth it to be able to stay right on the beach. It is a quiet place, so certainly not where you want to stay if you're looking for excitement, outside of the sunsets, which seem to be an island affair!
Pros:
Location: Walking (15 min)/Biking (5 min) to town, as well as right on the beach. It was fantastic to walk out the door in the morning and get a chair under an umbrella for a few hours without having to pack anything or drive anywhere. It's also perfectly close to town, yet quietly outside of town. We rented bikes for the week but also walked to town. Would recommend getting bikes if you don't bring a car. It's also a quick taxi ride to town for dinner.
Staff: Everyone here was great! Whether you need a beach chair, cool ice water on the beach, or to take out a SUP, everyone is very accomdating. And if we didn't have our wallet on us to tip, all was forgiven. The only blip was that the front desk was often tied up (on the phone) with other guests or future guests. Front desk attention should be given to current guests first and foremost!
Beach: AMAZING. This place has the BEST sunsets - the entire island comes here for $20 cocktails to enjoy this, but if you stay here you can enjoy it on your own. We often brought wine and cheese onto the beach and enjoyed the sunset quietly by our room undisturbed.
Food: Galley's is an amazing location with good food. Everything is overpriced on Nantucket, but here even more so, due to the beach location with amazing sunsets. The food was great, but not our absolute favorite. Two apps, dinner and two drinks was close to $300, but it was our first night of our honeymoon so well worth it. However, the food is not as interesting here as in other places we visited.
Rooms:
The room was very pretty with great detail and cute accessories. Our room had a kitchenette which is great to have snacks, beer, wine etc. However, guests are not permitted to have other guests in their rooms. We had two friends over for a glass of wine in our room before dinner and it felt like we were sneaking into a boy's room in college or something.
Cons:
Pool: The pool is very pretty, very private and beautiful, however it is tucked away at the back of the hotel, so it's easy to forget it's even there. The hot tub is great for a late afternoon soak if the weather is a bit chilly, but other than that we forgot it was there.
Breakfast: Pretty lackluster (Bagels, donuts, bananas, apples and cereal), but at least there was some and unlike a traditional B&B you can serve yourself or even bring it back to your room, which is nice. Some sliced fruit, waffles, etc. would really add something.
Guests: Most were cordial and a few friendly, but others seemed to be annoyed if they ran into another guest. Many of the rooms are litereally on top of each other so it's tough to stay out of each other's way, especially right on the beach. Not surprising, a very NYC/CT crowd, and mostly couples over 40 or families. In our early 30s, we felt VERY young. Many of the children run around with a babysitter running after them, but none of them were truly unruly.
Overall, we were very happy with our choice. We'd love to come back soon, just as soon as we can afford it again!
- Cliffside Beach Hotel
- Cliffside Beach Nantucket
