A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to do a mini tour of New England. If you follow along on Instagram, you probably saw some of the tourist attractions we hit. It was a whirlwind 5 days with 10 states visited! We were heading to a wedding in Boston and decided to take advantage of the sightseeing opportunities since we haven’t had the chance to explore much of New England. Our first stop on our tour was Newport, Rhode Island. It was a quick stop (just about 24 hours!) but we packed a lot into our time there. Here is my travel guide for Newport, Rhode Island: 24 Hours in Newport!

Wharf Southern Kitchen & Whiskey Bar

We left super early Thursday morning to make the trek up to Newport. We had to watch the timing since we didn’t want to hit rush hour traffic in D.C., Baltimore or New York City! Fortunately, we only hit a little traffic around NYC. We considered that a win! By the time we arrived in Newport, it was around lunchtime. I had a few lunch restaurants in mind, but while walking around by the water, we discovered the Wharf Southern Kitchen & Whiskey Bar. We checked out the menu and were seated in the cutest outdoor seating area. The weather was amazing — a cool breeze and in the 70s. We laughed that we traveled 7.5 hours from Virginia to get southern food, but since a lobster roll was on the menu, we decided it was ok.

We started off with the fried green tomatoes with crab and it was phenomenal. I have had a lot of fried green tomatoes in my life and these were by far my favorite. (They were so delicious, I forgot to take a picture!) Next up was the lobster roll. This was my first true lobster roll and it didn’t disappoint. I have had a bite of a lobster roll here in the D.C. area before, but it wasn’t that great. This was the perfect way to kick off our 24 hours in Newport!

Outfit details can be found in this post

International Tennis Hall of Fame

The International Tennis Hall of Fame has been on my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember. For those who don’t know, I started playing tennis when I was 5 and played competitively throughout college. Needless to say, tennis has been a huge part of my life! I would recommend a trip to the Hall of Fame if you are a tennis fan. While the museum wasn’t exactly like I expected, it is definitely a must-see for the tennis player or fan. It takes you through the history of the game and even has some memorabilia from some of the most accomplished players of the game. It was so fun to see the dress Maria Sharapova wore to win the French Open and the ball that John Isner used to hit his 10,000th ace. Also, the grounds were gorgeous! It made me feel like we were at Wimbledon! You can read more about the International Tennis Hall of Fame here.

Newport Vineyards

I joked that Richard can find a winery wherever he goes, but I will say it was interesting to check out a winery from a different region of the country. I have shared our love for visiting Napa in this post and a little about Virginia wine country in this post and this post, so we were excited to check out this new area. Considering the climate in Newport, it’s remarkable they are able to grow their own grapes. And so many varietals! If you are looking to try winery from a different region, I would recommend a stop at Newport Vineyards. Just something to keep in mind: the tasting room is located at the vineyard (you can go on a tour to see the vines!) so it is a little bit of a distance from downtown Newport. Also, they had the cutest gift shop with kitchen towels and other gifty items.

22 Bowens Wine Bar and Grille

This was another spur of the moment eating decision after leaving Newport Vineyards. We weren’t exceptionally hungry after eating that huge lobster roll at lunch, but knew we had to eat something. Knowing there were a lot of restaurants by the wharf, we headed back down to that area to see what we came across. We stumbled upon 22 Bowens Wine Bar and Grille and after checking out the menu, we decided to see how long the wait was. It was a beautiful and cool evening and the wharf was PACKED. We expected that we would have to wait, even though it was later than the typical dinnertime. Thankfully, 22 Bowens was able to seat us immediately. Huge plus!

While we wanted to try everything on the menu, we tried to pick a few things that we felt we couldn’t miss. We split the burrata and the tomato salad for an appetizer. These are two of my favorite appetizers regardless of the restaurant and they did not disappoint! Then we did something we have done at a steakhouse: we split a steak! There was no way we could each eat an entire entree so we thought this was the best solution. And it really was! The sides were enough to share and we split a baked potato (I really ate the majority of it because Richard isn’t a fan of baked potatoes!) and the lobster mac and cheese. I only had a few bites (it was pretty rich) but we felt compelled to add the lobster given our location! It was a great restaurant that we both would highly recommend. Such a fun atmosphere to be down by the water!

Cliff Walk

We were up early the next morning ready to accomplish as much as we could before taking off for Boston. We only had a few hours left in Newport and wanted to make the most of it. Next up: the Cliff Walk. See all the amazing views of Newport’s coast along with some of the most beautiful mansions located on the water. We walked a little bit of the Cliff Walk to get a view pictures and the views were amazing. Even with the hurricane just off shore! You can see in some of the pictures how dark the sky was off the coast. And the wind was crazy! I highly recommend packing comfortable shoes and walking the entire Cliff Walk if you can. I know this is one of the top things on our list to do when we return to Newport. You can find more information about the Cliff Walk here.

The Breakers

While there are quite a few historic mansions in Newport, The Breakers is the grandest of them all. Known as the Vanderbilt’s summer “cottage”, this is must-see while visiting Newport. Unfortunately, we were super tight on time by the time we finished the Cliff Walk. We asked someone at The Breakers how long it would take to go through the mansion, and we were told to plan for at least 1.5 hours. We needed to be on the road to Boston in less than hour to make it in time for the rehearsal dinner so this is something we will have to save for our next trip. You can read more about The Breakers here.

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It was a quick 24 hours in Newport! However, I am so excited we were able to mark another city and state off our list. We will definitely be planning a return trip! Have you ever been to Newport, Rhode Island? What were you favorite sights?

Thanks for reading, friends! I hope you all have a great rest of the week and weekend. See you back here on Monday!