The Whaling Museum in New Bedford boasts huge whale skeletons, and what it bills as the world's largest ship model, a half-scale whaling vessel.

The road passes through classic Cape towns like Barnstable, Wellfleet and Truro, where there are excellent swimming beaches and great walks on the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Quirkier attractions include Salty the Seahorse in Mattapoisett, a 38-foot-tall sculpture that once advertised a gift shop, now long gone. The townspeople restored it. and surrounded it with a small park. It's a good place to down a lobster roll, hamburger or cup of chowder from Oxford Creamery, just a quarter mile east of Salty.

The Moby Dick Pulpit in New Bedford's Whalemen's Chapel seems to be an authentic artifact of the town's whaling past. But surprise, the chapel's pulpit, built to resemble a ship's prow, is a 1961 construction put in because tourists familiar with the movie treatment of Herman Melville's novel expected to see it.

Where to stay. Rooms at the first new hotel to open in downtown New Bedford, the Fairfield Inn & Suites, start at about $180 a night.

Beyond that, there are a wide range of accommodations along Route 6, everything from old inns to luxury hotels. But plan ahead: No vacancy signs are everywhere in summer.