As we were driving to Newport, Rhode Island with Tiny Traveler, aged 4.5. And I wondered what we would do during a weekend stopover there.
On previous, child-free trips, Rich and I grooved in the hot sun at the famous Folk Festival, kayaked in Narragansett Bay, slurped raw clams and drank a lot of beer. None of these activities were likely to go over well with our preschooler.
But as it turned out, there were more things to do with kids than we had time for and plenty of restaurants that suited our needs, too. Here are ideas for things to do, eat and drink on your own family weekend getaway in Newport.
Read More
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• This Article is featured in GPSmyCity. Download it for offline reading or create a self-guided walking tour to visit the attractions highlighted here. Or download the app.
48 Hours in Newport, RI With Kids: Where to Eat, Sleep & Explore
Where To Stay: A Central, Kid-friendly Newport Hotel
On many summer weekends, the best hotel is one where you can find a room. This port town is popular and holds a few summer music festivals, so it can easily be booked out in high season.
The Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina where we stayed is next to Bowen’s Wharf, on the water, right off of Thames Street. It’s exactly where you want to be.
The rooms are a good size for sharing with kids. The harbor-facing rooms on the first floor have private patios and Adirondack chairs.
On the upper floors, only some of the water-view rooms have balconies. Be sure to ask for one if your kids go to bed early. It’s a handy second room in warm weather.
The heated salt water pool was a treat to swim in. And we could step outside to sit in the sun after our swim.
The hotel’s Salt Water Harborside restaurant has a fantastic view and a good menu. But with so many places to eat in town that we didn’t get around to trying it. Next time I would make a point of at least having breakfast there once.
Top Things To Do With Kids
Explore the Harbor
We arrived at noon and immediately headed to Bowen’s wharf for a boat tour of the harbor. The wind and sun on an outdoor deck can be a lot for a little kid, so we chose the Majestic, which has some inside seating.
Tiny Traveler looked at the boats, the fancy houses and the action in the harbor while I listened to a tour that included local history, sailing trivia and gossip about who owned which yacht and who had partied in which mansion.
Tiny Traveler was mostly content for the hour it lasted, but started to get squirmy toward the end. I wouldn’t take a longer tour.
Walk Around The Town
After lunch and a swim in the pool, we took a walk down Thames Street to window-shop and admire the harbor views.
We stopped at Kilwin’s candy store, across from Bowen’s Wharf, to watch workers dip caramel apples. It’s become a mainstay of cute tourist towns and has a lot of fun candy and fudge. We bought chocolate-dipped Oreos and pretzels or after dinner.
Go To The Beach
Though I hear it can get busy on summer days, expansive Easton’s (“First”) Beach on Memorial Drive wasn’t crowded on a weekday morning.
We got there early and snagged a coveted metered parking spot (for three hours max) so we didn’t have to pay to park in the beach parking lot.
It’s a huge beach and when the tide is out it can be a long walk to get more than ankle-deep in the water, which is convenient with little kids who just want to splash around. Teens and older kids might prefer it when the tide is in.
Attractions at the beach have evolved over time—there was a carousel at one point— and the area is in transition after the beach sustained storm damage. So who knows what will be there the next time we go?
In the meantime, the showers and changing rooms are fine. And there’s a clam and burger shack, so you don’t have to leave the beach for lunch.
Tip: If you bring lunch or snacks, make sure to secure them. When we came back from playing in the water we found a seagull on our blanket trying to get a box of Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies open.
The Cliff Walk & Cottages
The Sea Cliff walk starts just before the beach and we walked the first leg of it, stopping for photos at the 40 steps. If you’re not going to the beach, parking on Narragansett Avenue will put you closer to the end where the Breakers and other impressive “cottages” are.
Either way, I think that this is something you have to do on a Newport visit. It’s free. And if you’re with kids who might not do well touring inside the cottages, it at least gives you a good look at them from the outside, which is impressive enough.
A self-guided Cliff Walk tour can tell you which cottage belonged to what family and other interesting tidbits.
I thought Tiny Traveler was too young for the cottage tours (the original owners called them this to distinguish them from their larger winter homes). The tours are expensive and can take up to 90 minutes per house.
The Trolley Tours that take you around town and let you choose one of three cottages to tour are very popular. I’ve not done them. But kids generally like the trolley part of trolley tours, and it’s an easy way to get some Newport History if a harbor tour doesn’t suit your family.
The Breakers and Marble House have audio tours specifically for kids, so if you want to see one of the cottages, I’d try one of these.
Another option for sampling Gilded-Age splendor with young children is the Green Animals Topiary Garden at Brayton House, at the northern end of the island in Portsmouth.
Enjoy A Kid-Friendly Happy Hour
Our first day’s walk came to an abrupt halt at O’Brien’s, a pub on Lower Thames with a large outdoor patio. Little kids ran around a large stone fountain in the center, harvesting plastic ducks and fish with toy crab nets. Nearby, their parents relaxed with their happy hour pints. Our entire family was sold.
Most of the food is standard bar fare, but the waitress told me the cod was local, so we decided to stay for dinner and ordered the fish & chips.
The crust was thin and crunchy and well-seasoned (not your usual puffy beer batter), and pleasantly surprised me. I even managed to lure Tiny Traveler away from the fountain long enough to eat some of it.
Next Time We’re in Newport…
One thing we really wanted to do and didn’t was to visit Thames Glass. By appointment, anyone aged 7YO and up can create an ornament, paperweight or vase. Families can stop by to watch the glassblowing anytime.
If you’d like a morning that’s fun and free, a few Newporters suggested heading out to Brenton Point State Park. On windy mornings, especially on the weekend, you can picnic and watch a lot of kite flying. Pick up a kite for yourself on Thames St.
3 Kid-Friendly Newport Restaurants
The restaurants around town are pricey and busy, especially on the wharf. But most are kid-friendly and generally good. Almost everyone serves fresh seafood. Always ask what’s local.
• After our boat ride, we stopped at 22 Bowen’s, where Tiny Traveler had a kids’ burger and I had a summer salad.
But all the in-the-know local diners around us were ordering the lobster grilled cheese, piled high with plump, pink lobster meat. As much as I enjoyed my salad, I clearly had ordered wrong. We didn’t have a chance to go back for a do-over.
• After the beach, we popped over to nearby Flo’s Clam Shack, a well-known seafood shack. Tiny Traveler got a kick out of the patio’s desert island theme, especially eating her hot dog under a shaggy pink umbrella.
But the food is hit-or-miss. Fried clam bellies were piled high and good, but the “stuffy” (a large stuffed quahog) was short on clam, long on breading and oddly sticky.
• On our second evening, we ate at Scales and Shells, a seafood restaurant on lower Thames that was quiet when we walked in at 6:00 but jumping by the time we left at 7:30.
There’s no kids’ menu but early in the evening they’re kid-friendly. You can make a kid’s dinner from sides or half-portions. Tiny Traveler had two sides: spaghetti and grilled asparagus.
My clams Neapolitan, a pasta dish bursting with clam juice and garlic, was easily the best thing I ate on our entire East Coast road trip.
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* Photos of the Harbor, O’Brien’s and Scales & Shells (Eileen Gunn©); Kilwin’s candy apple (Kilwin’s), the topiary garden (Newport Mansions), the Breakers, First beach and Thames Street (Pixaxbay).