Newport, Rhode Island

Newport has real swimming beaches within a few minutes of the harbour. Easton's Beach, known locally as First Beach, faces the Atlantic at the foot of the Cliff Walk, while Second and Third Beaches in neighbouring Middletown are longer and wilder, with Third Beach sheltered on the Sakonnet River side and calmer for paddling. Gooseberry Beach on Ocean Drive is a small, protected cove, and the south-coast beaches around Narragansett are about forty minutes away.

The water peaks around 20°C to 22°C in August, cool but comfortable, and the season runs only from late June to early September. Outside it the beaches are for walking, not swimming.

Eating in Newport is about New England seafood: lobster rolls, clam chowder, stuffed quahogs, fried clams and raw bars with local oysters, best taken on the wharves off Thames Street with the boats in view. Rhode Island adds its own quirks, such as clear-broth chowder and clam cakes. Beyond that there are smart dining rooms on Bellevue Avenue and in old harbour buildings, some good bakeries and breakfast spots, and wineries on the island's eastern shore.

Range is narrow for a visitor staying several days, much of the waterfront caters to day-trippers, and several places shorten their hours or close in winter. For wider choice, Providence is under an hour away.

Newport's great sight is its Gilded Age summer 'cottages' along Bellevue Avenue: The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms and Rosecliff, palaces built for the Vanderbilts and their circle in the late nineteenth century, several open to visitors with rooms intact. The Cliff Walk runs behind many of them, so you can see their lawns from the sea side.

The older town is just as rewarding. The Point and Historic Hill hold one of the largest groups of colonial houses in the country, alongside Touro Synagogue, the oldest standing synagogue in the United States, Trinity Church, the Redwood Library and the Colony House. Add the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the old Casino and the granite Fort Adams, and that makes two or three full days. Museums beyond these are small.

Going out in Newport means the bars and pubs on and around Thames Street and the wharves: sailing crowds, wedding parties and summer visitors spilling between waterfront decks, Irish-style pubs and a few cocktail bars. On a July Saturday it is loud and busy, but there is little in the way of clubs and the night ends early. Out of season much of it winds down to a handful of local pubs. Visitors wanting a bigger night head to Providence.

Newport's landscape is the rocky Atlantic edge of Aquidneck Island. The Cliff Walk runs about 5km along the shore between mansions and surf, and Ocean Drive loops past Brenton Point, where kites fly over wave-cut ledges. Sachuest Point refuge and the Norman Bird Sanctuary next door are good for coastal walks and birdwatching, especially for seabirds and migrants in spring and autumn.

The water is the other half. Newport is one of the great sailing towns of North America, with charters, lessons and harbour cruises, plus kayaking, paddleboarding and surfing at Second Beach in autumn swells. Cycling the island's coast roads is pleasant. There are no hills to speak of, and winters are raw and windy.

Providence is under an hour away, with Brown University, the RISD Museum and a strong restaurant scene, and Boston is reachable in about an hour and a half by car. Closer to hand, Bristol has a handsome waterfront and colonial streets, Jamestown is across the bridge, and the seasonal ferry runs to Block Island, a quiet island of bluffs and a small town.

To the east, New Bedford's whaling museum and old district are about forty-five minutes off, with the coastal villages of Little Compton and Tiverton on the way. Westwards, Mystic's seaport museum and the old Connecticut shore are a little over an hour. Almost all of this is easiest by car.

Newport is safe and small, and children enjoy the summer beaches, especially the calmer water at Third and Gooseberry Beaches, the carousel at Easton's Beach, the ramparts of Fort Adams and harbour boat trips. Save The Bay's small aquarium, by the visitor centre on America's Cup Avenue, has touch tanks of crabs, skates and other Narragansett Bay creatures and makes a good hour, especially on a wet day. The Norman Bird Sanctuary has gentle trails, and kite flying at Brenton Point is a local habit.

The headline sights are long mansion tours that interest parents more than children, and there is no zoo or theme park. Summer crowds and traffic on the narrow streets make peak days tiring.

The centre is small and walkable: the harbour, Thames Street, the colonial streets of the Point and Historic Hill are all close together, and Bellevue Avenue and its mansions are a longish walk or a short bus ride up the hill. Local buses and a summer trolley reach the main sights and beaches, and a seasonal ferry crosses the harbour.

Getting there and out again is the harder part. Most visitors arrive by car, summer traffic on the narrow streets and island bridges is heavy, and parking is scarce and slow. A car is needed for beaches outside town and nearly every day trip.

Shopping is small-town and nautical in style. Bowen's and Bannister's Wharves and Thames Street hold galleries, preppy and sailing clothing, jewellery and gift shops, much of it aimed at summer visitors. Bellevue Avenue has a few smarter boutiques, and Spring and Franklin Streets are known for antiques and decorative arts. It makes a pleasant afternoon, but there is no department store or real fashion depth, and many shops shorten their hours in winter.

Newport is an expensive place to stay. Summer and early autumn room rates in town are high, with weekends and festival periods the steepest, and seafood dinners, mansion tickets and parking add up quickly. There are few budget options in the centre. Visitors on a tighter budget stay in Middletown or further up the island, come midweek, or visit in late autumn and winter, when prices fall markedly.

Newport's place in music history rests on its summer festivals. The Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, both held at Fort Adams with the harbour behind the stage, are among the most storied in the country, and the Newport Music Festival brings chamber music into the mansion ballrooms each July.

Outside those weeks the scene is small: some live bands in waterfront bars and a little community theatre. For opera, orchestras or a fuller theatre programme, visitors go to Providence or Boston.

Newport has no bathing culture of its own. Wellness here means the spas in the larger waterfront and resort hotels, some yoga studios, and the restorative pull of a seaside town. That pace is best in the shoulder seasons, from May into June and from September through October, when the Cliff Walk is quiet and the harbour slows down. High summer, with wedding parties and traffic, is far from restful.