Things to do in Newport
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Newport
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring: Daffodil Days and the Oyster and Chowder Festival, quiet mansions and good value, but the sea is far too cold to swim.
Best months overall: warm weather, sailing, Cliff Walk and beach days without August crowds and top rates.
Peak Newport and peak prices, with the Folk and Jazz Festivals back to back in late July and early August at absolute capacity.
Fall foliage, Motor Week, the Bowen's Wharf Seafood Festival and wedding season hotel prices on Saturdays.
By mid November many beach, sail and seasonal restaurant operations have closed or cut hours.
Winter: Christmas at the Mansions and the Winter Festival are real draws, otherwise cold Bay wind, early darkness, many closures and lowest rates.
What's on
- St. Patrick's Day Parade A Saturday in mid March
A genuinely big local parade in March.
- Daffodil Days April
Tens of thousands of blooms, with the Cliff Walk at its prettiest.
- Newport Oyster & Chowder Festival Mid May each year
Held at Bowen's Wharf in mid May.
- Newport to Bermuda Race Every two years in mid June; next start in June 2028
The race start is a summer calendar fixture.
- Newport Pride late June
Held in late June.
- Newport International Polo Series Saturdays June-September
Saturday polo at Glen Farm, Portsmouth, June to September.
- International Tennis Hall of Fame Open July
Time a Tennis Hall of Fame visit around the July tournament if you can.
- Newport Folk Festival Last full weekend of July each year
Held at Fort Adams State Park.
- Newport Jazz Festival Usually the last weekend of July or the first of August
Held at Fort Adams State Park, straight after the Folk Festival.
- Newport International Boat Show mid-September
A major harbour takeover in mid September.
Best things to do in Newport
Cliff Walk
A free 3.5 mile coastal trail with surf on one side and the great Bellevue Avenue houses on the other.
The Breakers
The largest Vanderbilt summer house, all scale and ceilings, with grounds rolling to the Cliff Walk and sea.
Newport Harbor Cruise
A narrated harbour cruise past Fort Adams, Castle Hill Lighthouse and the big houses, best seen from the water.
Thames Street, Bowen's Wharf and Bannister's Wharf
Newport's waterfront spine of cobbled wharves, chowder houses, bars and galleries, best walked before crowds build.
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The 1880 Newport Casino where the first US Open was played, with grass courts you can book to play on.
Fort Adams State Park
A huge coastal fort with tours, tunnels and ramparts giving the best harbour panorama in town.
Ocean Drive and Brenton Point State Park
A free 10 mile coastal loop ending at a wide windy headland park made for sunset, picnics and kites.
Touro Synagogue
America's oldest synagogue, dedicated in 1763, opening up colonial Newport beyond the Vanderbilts.
Where to stay in Newport
Downtown / the Wharves and Thames Street
first visit, no car needed
Everything walkable, harbour cruises, restaurants and bars, and where Newport's evenings happen.
Bellevue Avenue / Cliff Walk / Easton's Beach edge
mansions, romance and quiet luxury
Grand hotels near the historic houses, steps from the Cliff Walk's north end, calmer and prettier at night.
Broadway / Washington Square
local feeling downtown base, repeat visitors and groups
Better value inns and rentals around the year round main street locals use, still an easy walk to the harbour.
Goat Island
families and groups wanting a resort base
Big resort hotels, marinas, pools and harbour views one causeway from downtown, with breathing room downtown cannot offer.
Middletown
budget and beach base, car required
Hotels at a fraction of in town summer prices, minutes from downtown and walking distance to Second and Third Beaches.
Ocean Drive / Castle Hill
splurge and disappear
Essentially one great hotel in its own 40 acres at the harbour mouth, superb if the hotel is the trip.
Think twice about
- North End / West Main Road corridor
Highway commercial sprawl around the Pell Bridge ramps and big box retail, with no walkable charm, so you drive everywhere.
- Seasonal Middletown beach motels in fall and winter
A meaningful share of the cheap beach stock is seasonal, so check it is actually open and heated before basing there off season.
- Listings in Fall River, Providence or inland Portsmouth sold as Newport
Some platform listings stretch Newport generously, and 25 minutes is not Newport on a festival weekend.
- Lower Thames Street on summer weekend nights
Loud on summer weekend nights, a feature for a bachelorette and a bug for a light sleeper, so ask for a room away from the street.
Best restaurants in Newport
Aurelia at Castle Hill Inn
Newport's most romantic dining room, a four-star prix fixe built on New England farms and the Bay outside.
Giusto
Freestyle Italian on Hammett's Wharf using Rhode Island ingredients, Newport's best all round restaurant.
Clarke Cooke House
The classic see and be seen Newport dinner in an 18th century house, famous for peppered tuna and the Snowball dessert.
White Horse Tavern
Dinner inside America's oldest operating tavern, opened in 1673, with a serious modern colonial menu.
22 Bowen's Wine Bar & Grille
The wharf's steak and seafood power dinner, with prime steaks, local seafood and a deep wine list.
Brick Alley Pub
The everyone's happy downtown workhorse since the early 1980s, with a huge menu and portions built for post sailing appetites.
Bar 'Cino
The locals' Italian bar grill on Washington Square, known for grilled pizzas, chicken Milanese and espresso martinis.
Flo's Clam Shack
The clam shack to cross a town line for: clam cakes, clear broth chowder and whole belly fried clams since 1936.
Best coffee in Newport
The Nitro Bar
The Thames Street coffee pick, with the blueberry latte as the local guide order.
Outdoor things to do in Newport
Schooner Aquidneck
A 90 minute to 2 hour day or sunset sail from Bowen's Wharf past Fort Adams and Castle Hill Lighthouse.
America's Cup Charters
Crew, grind and steer a former America's Cup 12 Metre, the expensive physical sail sailors come to Newport for.
Sail Newport
Rhode Island's public sailing centre at Fort Adams, with lessons and rentals and beginners genuinely welcome.
Private charter from Bowen's Wharf
A private boat day with swim stops, Castle Hill from the water and no festival crowds, best split six to eight ways.
Sachuest Beach (Second Beach)
A mile plus of soft south facing sand in Middletown, the beach locals actually choose, big enough to rarely feel packed.
Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge
Ocean hugging refuge trails straight off Second Beach, with birding, harbour seals in season and rocky shoreline.
Second Beach surf and paddle rentals
Beginner surf lessons and board rental at Second Beach's calmer surfers' end, with committed surfers heading to Narragansett.
Newport National Golf Club
Rhode Island's best public golf, an Arthur Hills links style course where wind off the ocean is a genuine factor.
Best hotels in Newport
Castle Hill Inn
Forty acres at the harbour mouth with mansion rooms, beach cottages, a private beach, spa and the famous sloping Lawn.
The Chanler at Cliff Walk
The only hotel actually on the Cliff Walk, a 19th century mansion with 20 rooms and Easton Bay views.
The Vanderbilt, Auberge Resorts Collection
A 1909 Vanderbilt mansion turned Auberge hotel near Thames, with pools, a spa and a roof deck over the harbour.
Gardiner House
A design forward boutique on Lee's Wharf opened in 2023, with Flora restaurant and harbour terraces.
Forty 1° North
A sleek harbourside boutique off Thames with marina views and a popular waterfront bar and restaurant terrace.
Hammett's Hotel
The smart mid range downtown default, a modern hotel in the middle of everything and home to Giusto.
Hotel Viking
The big 1926 grande dame on Bellevue with a spa and rooftop bar, usually a clear step below the top luxury tier.
The Wayfinder Hotel
A renovated motor hotel turned boutique built around local artists and a good pool deck, a 10 minute drive downtown.
Is Newport expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $120 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $275 a person |
| Splurge | $650 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- The Breakers: a few days ahead
- Newport Harbor Cruise: a few days ahead
- International Tennis Hall of Fame: a few days ahead
- Touro Synagogue: a few days ahead
- Rough Point: a few days ahead
- Schooner Aquidneck: a few days ahead
- America's Cup Charters: a few days ahead
- Sail Newport: a few days ahead
- Folk and Jazz Festival tickets sell out and should never be bought as speculative secondary tickets.
- Summer weekend hotels, especially festival, July and October weekends, need booking months ahead.
- Sunset sails and private charters need days to weeks ahead in July and August, and Aurelia, Giusto, Clarke Cooke House and White Horse dinners need reservations.
Is Newport safe?
- Newport has no visitor facing area to avoid for safety, and solo travellers report it walkable, well lit and busy.
- Real hazards are the Cliff Walk's southern rocky section, rip currents and cold water at Atlantic beaches, and sun and harbour wind on boats.
- Bring a layer for a sunset sail, as Newport Bay gets cold after sunset in every month, and carry flexible plans in hurricane season.
Newport travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Parking is the biggest trap: central wharf lots can approach 100 dollars a day, so arrive before 10am, park once in a municipal or Gateway lot and walk.
- Paying for three or four mansion interiors in one trip, and wharf restaurants chosen purely by harbour view for your one big dinner.
- Using Easton's Beach as your beach day when Second Beach is five minutes further, and driving to Fort Adams on a festival day without a pre bought parking pass.
Getting around Newport: public transport and more
- Park once, then stop driving: Newport is small and walkable, and the car is for Middletown beaches and Ocean Drive excursions.
- Use RIPTA trolleys from the Gateway Center for The Breakers, Cliff Walk trailheads and Bellevue Avenue.
- Closest airport is Rhode Island T.F. Green, about 30 to 40 minutes by road; Boston Logan is about 75 to 90 minutes.
Who Newport suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Newport your trip
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