Rhode Island, for me, is the little state that could. Before we get right to my favorite things to explore or show visitors to do in Rhode Island while I lived there, I want to show you a video.
Rhode Island was in the spotlight for a hot moment during its bid for Amazon’s second headquarters. Governor Gina Raimondo said Amazon was impressed by the state’s bid for their second headquarters, but they didn’t think Rhode Island could be home to that many incoming employees. So,
While Rhode Island won’t be home to the giant tech company, I’m still amazed by how much this video showcased, as someone who still finds the time spent living in the Ocean State to be incredibly special. As a side note, it wasn’t disclosed how much Rhode Island or the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation spent (taxpayer dollars, private funding etc.) producing this video, but you will learn a lot about what the state has to offer.
The rest of this list now are my own personal suggestions on things you can do in Rhode Island (with or without Amazon!)
10,000 Suns
If you look closely, you’ll find a bright pop of color in Rhode Island.
10,000 Suns is a public art installation, and interim park. It’s a summer-long botanical display, which started in 2016 when more than 10,000 sunflower seeds were planted on the patch of land under the highway which was empty land.
Sunflowers are easily stunning and the bright yellow is eye-catching for what’s otherwise an abandoned patch of land. They can grow over 10 feet tall in the course of a couple of months and the Design Under Sky team chose the flower specifically. They explained on their website, “It’s a great pollinator and food source, actively attracting bees and birds. And, it is a phytoremediator, having the capability of sucking toxins out of the ground. It was these qualities that I sought to deploy the sunflower onto this vacant (and polluted) land
My favorite flowers growing up were Sunflowers, so this next stop is an easy addition to my list. You’ll have to monitor the spring and summer season and plan the timing just right on this one to see the full spectacle. We got to catch the tail-end of the sunflowers in September.
To get there: The field is located in between S. Main/S. Water/Wickenden St. in Providence, Rhode Island and is open day and night to the public. The easiest way is to map yourself to the intersection of South Main and South Water streets, and then keep your eyes open! You’ll have to use nearby street parking, and then cross the street to walk over. It’s open day and night, and free to the public.
Go to the beaches
This is an obvious one, but if you’re visiting the Ocean State during the height of spring or summer, you need to explore to the many, many beautiful Rhode Island beaches has to offer. From the local beaches in Warwick down to Narragansett, there’s enough to do for anyone who loves to be near the water. There are so many beaches, I wrote a dedicated post here on some of my favorites for you to check out.
The Newport Mansions
I don’t know why it took me so long to explore the different Newport Mansions in Rhode Island, especially since that’s the absolute number one recommendation I got the most from NBC viewers or locals welcoming me to the state. I guess I was waiting for an excuse to go, and finally toured some of the mansions during my parent’s visit last year.
Some history about the different Newport Mansions: the most well-known stops are The Breakers, Rose Cliff, and Marble House.
Most of the houses are within walking distance of one another in the Bellevue Avenue-Ochre Point neighborhood in Newport, which is a little more than 30 miles away from Providence.
There’s an official 10 mansions you can tour: The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Rosecliff, Chateau-sur-Mer, Kingscote, Isaac Bell House, Green Animals Topiary Garden, Hunter House, and Chepstow.
The names may sound familiar to you.
The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages.”
It’s one big social and financial status symbol from the Vanderbilt family. You’ve heard of the Vanderbilt family (hopefully not just from the show Gossip Girl) because of their involvement with shipping and railroads, way back in the 19th century. And they made a fortune, enough that this major mansion was just one tiny operation.
My parents and I checked out the Breakers’s “butlers’ quarters.” Which, quite frankly, bigger than my apartment in New York City. The Breakers took a longer time to pass through since it’s the most popular and often has the biggest crowds.
It’s also among the biggest mansions, so moving at a good speed will take you at least 90 minutes, and if you’re religious about using the audio tour that’s included, it may take a bit more time. Since it was my parents’ first time visiting Rhode Island, we also took time to take photos along the way, so we probably wrapped up within 2 hours at the Breakers.
We also went to the Rosecliff mansion. It’s modeled after the Grand Trianon, which is the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles. No joke there. Many wouldn’t have guessed such a marvel was hiding in Rhode Island.
It was built by Theresa Fair Oelrichs, a silver heiress from Nevada, who was known as one of the three great (party) hostesses in Newport. I’m obsessed with period pieces like The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice, so what I would give to simply go back in time and attend a ball at Rosecliff. I’m sure it was epic, and amazing.
While the Breakers was spectacular in its own right, I liked the Rosecliff a lot more. The gardens were beautiful, even though we didn’t see them in peak bloom. And instead of just a lavish show of riches like the Breakers, the Rosecliff felt more personal, curated. Like a place with a garden I would have liked to
Some of the mansions may look even more familiar to you because scenes from films
While we were checking out the Rosecliff, they were setting up for a wedding! It took me a little bit of journalistic digging (aka Twitter searches), and I found out the wedding set-up was for Harrison Barnes, Dallas Mavericks’ max-contract forward, who married his longtime girlfriend, Brittany Johnson. Twitter videos show the Golden State Warriors’s Steph Curry was there for the wedding in Newport Rhode Island too.
You can buy visitors’ passes/tickets and different tours from the Preservation Society of Newport.
It depends on how many mansions you want to walk through and how long you want to stay. We were winded after doing the Breakers and the Rosecliffs, so if you want to do the same two, it’ll cost: $29 for the Breakers and one other property; or if you’re feeling VERY adventurous, there’s a way to sign up for the five (5) property passes, and it’s $35. Otherwise, you can pick and choose the mansions and tours as you want.
Area Bonus: I’ve only driven by and not yet gone inside, but St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Newport, Rhode Island is where Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and John F. Kennedy were married on September 12, 1953. They had over 800 guests!
If you go: the historic Roman Catholic church complex at 14 William Street in Newport, Rhode Island within the Diocese of Providence. You can also check out the virtual tour here.
Cliff Walk
To make your travels easier, our next stop is nearby! Here’s a local and visitor favorite, and always on the list of suggestions I get. The Newport Cliff Walk is a public access walkway and trail that weaves around the eastern shores of Newport.
If you didn’t want to go in the mansions themselves, you’ll have a chance to see them from afar here, where you’ll get the full view of the ocean, the mansions, and the rocky shores.
I injured my knee some months before exploring this trail, and it was an easy, smooth walk. Some families pushed kids in strollers, others just had children walk beside them. It wasn’t physically exhausting in any way, that is, unless you want to make it so. The walk runs 3.5 miles and about two-thirds of the walk is in easy walking condition, and you can exit the walkway or turn around at any time.
What I love about this walk is, there’s the opportunity to be social and friendly, especially with everyone buzzing along the trail. Many people with their dogs (on leashes) and are chatty because it’s easy to talk about the weather and the views. But there’s also a good opportunity for a quiet, solo stroll.
I think I enjoyed the walk so much when I was there, I didn’t stop often to take many pictures. But here’s one stunning view. We went at the end of
A beautiful spot people like to stop at is the 40 steps, which connects at
The 40 Steps used to be one recreation spots for the servants who worked at the Newport mansions during the Gilded Age. It was known as a gathering spot for dancing, music, and those stunning views.
Today, it’s a spot many
The new granite steps are courtesy of the Forty Steps Restoration Fund and bear the names of donors who spent $3000 each for their step.
There are different entrances to the trail, and you’ll likely have to find good street parking nearby. The “official” start of the walk is at the western end of Easton’s or First Beach at Memorial Blvd. The trail runs south with major exits at Narragansett Ave., Webster St., Sheppard Ave., Ruggles Ave., Marine Ave., Ledge Rd., and ends at Bellevue Ave. at the east end of Bailey’s Beach locally referred to as Reject’s Beach.
The Cliffwalk itself is free.
Go to a New England Patriots football game
As a Seahawks fan, this is painful to write. I know, I know, keep reading.
Patriot Place: What I also like about Gillette Stadium is all the entertainment, shopping, and eating you can do nearby at Patriot Place, the area that surrounds Gillette Stadium.
My go-to is “Showtimes at Showcase Cinema de Lux Patriot Place.” It’s a theater where, on a different level, you sit at comfy reclining chairs towards the top of the seating AND you can order food and drinks. It’s lively before the show.
I think the woman sitting to the right of me really enjoyed seeing Black Panther, so much that she ordered three Margaritas. We both had some steak tips and fries. You can continue to order food and drinks (clearly) even as the movie starts, by pressing a button and whisper
The downside of is you’ll drop a pretty penny (about $26) to see a movie and eat here. But I like to treat myself here and there, and when a movie would be MORE spectacular on a big screen with some food and drinks, this is the spot to be. Make sure you buy your tickets online ahead of time, the seats reserved fill up quickly. You can also pay for the tickets through your Amazon account.
Gillette and Patriot Place is in Foxborough, Massachusetts – an average 30 minutes from Providence.
Capitol Building
I might have taken for granted how much I reported inside and outside of the Rhode Island State House because there’s actually a lot to say about the massive marble dome you can spot when driving anywhere near Providence.
A little-known fact: the Rhode Island State House dome is the 4th largest, self-supported marble dome IN THE WORLD. It’s just behind St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Minnesota State Capitol, AND the Taj Mahal in India.
The State House is open to the public Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. except for holidays. Free guided tours are offered hourly between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The last tour departs at 3:00 p.m.
Go to the border of the downtown and Smith Hill sections of the state capital city of Providence, at 82 Smith St.
Providence Place and its views
The main shopping mall is Providence Place. You can see the building throughout the downtown Providence area. Macy’s and Nordstrom are the anchor stores and you can catch a movie onsite at the 16-screen Showcase Cinema De Lux. Dining includes the typical mall staples: P.F. Changs, the Cheesecake Factory. There are 143 main stores listed, and multiple floors to go through.
When I want to go on a walk, this is a fun spot for me to window-shop. And because there are so many floors, the view from the high levels are pretty.
The parking garage is a little bit of a hassle, but they’ve worked to make it a little bit easier by having automatic green and red lights above the parking stop ot help you see what’s open.
Parking Fees: 0 – 2 Hours, FREE; 2 – 5 Hours $2; 5 – 8 Hours, $15; 8 – 20, $20. While parking fees cap at $25 for the full day.
Catch a Providence Bruins game
Also called the P-Bruins. A local favorite: heading to home games at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The P- Bruins are the ice hockey team that feed into the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League.
The games are fun. The New England fans, especially Providence fans are loud. You might even see a lot of heckling involved.
Although their home arena is at the Dunkin’ Donut Center, the center also hosts a lot of big events and speakers throughout the yea.
Drive-In movie theater
I didn’t know drive-in movie theaters still exist. So this is a cool little throw-back spot. This one a 20-minute drive from Providence at Rustic Drive-In Theatre in North Smithfield. It is definitely old-school rustic, a little off the beaten path for sure, date night or solo movie night or a car full of friends with some food and drinks in the truck? Perfect for that.
The cost was $27 per car and you get a double-feature. The refreshment stand has all the basics like popcorn, soda.
There are three screens at the drive-in theater, relatively far apart. The sound through the radio was crisp and audible. We didn’t have a problem at all with the sound. But, some people kept their car engines running. We kind of rotated between off-and-on, which I’m not sure was entirely great for the car.
Some people did sit on top of their cars to watch. A little too cold for me, though I did see some blankets.
The screen you pay to go see has another movie on the same screen after it. But you’re technically not supposed to drive to a different screen nearby. Not that we didn’t see people doing that, but as a heads-up on their policy. Our second movie that played right after was Super Troopers 2 and I was not amused and bored the entire time. But we stayed.
So, fair warning, this drive-in theater oddly used to be a pretty sordid .. or perhaps, a salacious spot, as some locals say. I couldn’t tell at all when I went to see A Quiet Place there. The rumor is it used to show some very mature films. I haven’t seen any listing for something even remotely like that anymore.
Would I go again? Not sure. I felt it was good to experience, but I’d rather go to the reclining leather chairs with food at Patriots Place.
A Providence Rhode Island Theater:
But here’s the spot to satisfy your broadway, theater, and art needs .I saw the Lion King at the Providence Rhode Island Theater, which I loved after seeing it in New York City back when I was younger. Hamilton is even coming this summer in July of 2019, so there are some pretty good shows that cycle through! Tickets are up in the hundreds now (to be expected) but it looks like it’s not too late to find some Hamilton tickets.
The Providence Theater is a pretty elaborate set-up with some beautiful ceiling murals and a nice stage. But here’s the spot to satisfy your broadway, theater, and
The theater changes its lineup a lot, so check the listings before you go.
Try some of the best places to eat
Last but not at all least, I compiled a list of all the places you should eat. Rhode Island has quite the range of food, and I loved exploring many spots on my own. There are so many great places to eat, I wrote a dedicated post here on some of my favorites for you to check out.
Don’t forget before you go! Other suggestions? Please leave a comment on this page, down below? We’ll continue adding more to the guide and LOVE reading
I’ll be updating more to the Adventures in Rhode Island guide, make sure to subscribe to this post to get the latest updates and newest travel tips and stories!
