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United States United StatesIsland

Martha's Vineyard

227 km² of land in the Atlantic Ocean.

When to go

Martha's Vineyard seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
EdgartownOak BluffsWest TisburyVineyard Haven
N 5 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

227km²

Area

159km

Coastline

82m

Highest point

Peaked Hill

14,729

People

21°C

Warmest sea

August

10km

To the mainland

When to go to Martha's Vineyard

Best for the beach from July to August.

The sea is warmest in August (21 °C) and coolest in February (4 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States

Martha's Vineyard is an island in United States. It covers 227 km², with 159 km of coastline. Its highest point, Peaked Hill, rises to 82 m. About 14,729 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 10 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • Cape Cod Gateway Airport (HYA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 41 km in a straight lineCar hire at PVD airport (Providence/Warwick)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • FerriesHyannis - Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, The Chappy Ferry, Woods Hole - Vineyard Haven Ferry, Quonset Point - Oak Bluffs Martha’s Vineyard
  • 10 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
  • From July to Augustbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Martha's Vineyard.

  • 78beachesLong Beach, Squibnocket Beach, Stonewall Beach and 75 more
  • 13viewpointsWest Chop Vista, Great Sand Bank, Tashmoo Overlook and 10 more
  • 4lighthousesEast Chop Light, Gay Head Light, Edgartown Harbor Light and 1 more
  • 4ferry terminalsIsland Queen, Falmouth-Edgartown Ferry and 2 more
  • 11named peaksPeaked Hill, Prospect Hill, Whiting Hill and 8 more
  • 1ruins and archaeological sitesBrickyard Site
  • 2campsitesMartha’s Vineyard Family Campground
  • 15hotels, guesthouses and apartments
  • 73restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Martha's Vineyard in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Martha's Vineyard, each with its own numbers.

  • 23beaches and covesCoastya
  • Beach with the warmest sea

    21.0°C

    Gay Head Town Beach

    sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

23 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

  1. Katama County Beach20.9°C
  2. Lake Tashmoo Town Beach20.9°C
  3. Bend-in-the-Road Beach20.9°C
  4. Eastville Beach20.9°C
  5. Edgartown Beach20.9°C
  6. Fuller Street Beach20.9°C
  7. Lighthouse Beach20.9°C
  8. Oak Bluffs Town Beach20.9°C

15 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 23 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 91 %0–50 m
  • 9 %50–200 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Martha's Vineyard227 km²
Malta247 km²
Madeira Island742 km²

20 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

  • Edgartown4,306 people
  • Oak Bluffs3,778 people
  • West Tisbury2,510 people
  • Vineyard Haven2,114 people

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)33510142024242116117
Night low (°C)-2-21510152020171272
Sea (°C)5447111520211916128
Rain (mm)90841091038692797896118105115
Wet days11101111111110119101012
Sun h/day3.74.95.76.97.37.88.48.07.05.14.23.1
Wind (km/h)272626232120191820242526

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.7+1.7+1.8+0.7+0.1+1.8+2.2+2.2+1.2+1.3+1.5+0.8
2021+0.6−0.3+0.2+1.0+1.6+2.1+1.7+2.0+2.4+2.5+1.0+0.6
2022+0.3±0.0+0.8+1.2+0.6+1.7+1.5+1.7+1.5+0.4+2.0+0.2
2023+0.6+1.2+1.2+2.0+1.8+1.1+1.7+0.4+1.0+0.7+0.5+0.2
2024+0.1+0.2+1.7+0.9+0.8+2.2+1.2+0.5+0.5+0.8+1.2−0.2
2025−0.9−0.8+0.4+0.5+1.3+0.8+1.1+0.3+1.1+1.3−0.6−1.3

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Marthasvineyard-edgartown-lighthouse
Alex Wilcox Cheek · CC BY-SA 4.0
Marthasvineyard-Aquinnah-cliffs-summer
Alex Wilcox Cheek · CC BY-SA 4.0
Boulder Gay Head Aquinnah Clay Cliffs Beach Marthas Vineyard
EgorovaSvetlana · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fishing South Beach - early morning low tide - Katama during fishing derby on Martha's Vineyard, USA
William Waterway · CC BY-SA 3.0

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q49148) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit