Newport, Rhode Island is a popular destination year round and has a lot to offer in winter. It was particularly magical when we visited in late December as much of the city was decked out in Christmas lights. Be sure to bundle up, and make the most of wonderful Newport!

Things To Do

Walk the Cliff Walk – The Cliff Walk is a 3.5 mile walking trail flanked by the sea on one side and gilded age mansions on the other. From our accommodation, we took Uber to the far end of the Cliff Walk (near Rejects Beach) so we could walk the full 3.5 miles and then walk back to our accommodation. You also can park and walk to various points of the Cliff Walk to see it in sections. The southern portion of the walk is much more rugged and includes climbing over rocks. The rest of the trail is paved and very easy to walk along.

Tour a Mansion – Newport is known for its extravagant gilded age mansions. When we visited in late December, four of the Newport mansions were open and decorated for Christmas: The Breakers, Rosecliff, Marble House, and The Elms. You can check which mansions are open on the Newport Mansions website and buy tickets to visit one or several of them. We opted to tour Marble House and I have previously been to The Breakers and Rosecliff.

Learn at the International Tennis Hall of Fame – Even as someone who is not super knowledgeable about tennis, I found the International Tennis Hall of Fame very interesting. You can self-tour the grounds and courts of the property and then spend time learning about famous tennis players and the history of tennis in their museum.

Take a Seal Tour – Non-profit Save the Bay (Narragansett Bay) offers seal watch boat tours. I really enjoyed seeing and learning about seals in their natural habitat. The profits from their seal tour tickets go back to educational efforts to preserve the bay, so it’s for a great cause as well.

Go for a ride on Ocean Drive – Ocean Drive is a ten mile road along the southern shore of Newport. Enjoy views of the ocean and the many grand houses along the drive.

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge – Sachuest Point is a park and wildlife refuge in Middletown only ten minutes from downtown Newport. Check out the visitor center, viewing platforms, and 2.5 miles of trails. We followed this trail around the refuge which took just under an hour to walk.

Go shopping – The main shopping street in Newport is Thames Street. We enjoyed checking out a variety of stores and particularly enjoyed the Newport Mansions Store and Frazzleberries for souvenirs and Matriarch for its cool feminist themed goods. Do note that in winter most stores close at either 5 or 6pm.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Serenity Inn in Newport. It’s a charming bed and breakfast that felt luxurious in its interior design and bedding. We loved the big breakfast we received each morning, and it was easy to walk to many restaurants and shopping from the inn’s location (although they do have parking if you bring a car).

I have also previously stayed at this AirBnB and recommend it as a central and affordable option in Newport.

Where We Ate

We only ate out a handful of times on our trip (portions were so big we often ate leftovers at our accommodation!), but I thought I’d share the places I do recommend.

In Middletown, we ate at the Atlantic Grill. I enjoyed the best clam chowder I’ve ever had here, as well as a Rhode Island specialty called a Quahog (or “Stuffie”), which is a breadcrumb stuffed clam.

Along Thames Street in Newport we ate twice at the bar at The Red Parrot Restaurant. The first time we ordered Mucho Nachos which was a portion so massive we ate it for dinner and again for lunch the next day! We also went back and I marveled at the generous portion of lobster on the Lobster Rock N’ Roll. The Red Parrot is also known for their frozen cocktails and they make them strong, so bottoms up!

The Cookie Jar is a nice place for a sweet treat. The cookies are a little pricey, but I did enjoy their gingersnap and snickerdoodle cookies. The hot cider they have was also the perfect way to warm up while walking around in the winter weather!

We also enjoyed a meal at Tavern on Broadway. The Pasta Jambalaya was incredibly delicious.

TIP – If there is a specific restaurant you want to go to in Newport, I highly recommend making a reservation before your trip. We did not make any reservations ahead of time and were somewhat limited in being able to try some of the more popular locations.

Providence Add-On

We were flying out of Providence for our trip, so decided to stop in the city for a short while before our flight. We went for a walk along the Providence River Walk which we greatly enjoyed. With more time we’d recommend a day in Providence to see the highlights. A suggested itinerary can be found here.