What's Bristol RI like? A good place for a few days in August? Anyone familiar with Bristol Harbor Inn?

Bristol is not a tourist town. Newport would be a better choice. I am not familiar with the Bristol harbor Inn.

But it is a very pretty little New Englandy town. We drove through last fall and were mightily impressed. They even have a red white and blue stripe down the middle of their Main Street. We managed to get lost trying to find Poppasquash Point where Bristol Marine is located. We own a Bristol (sailboat) and gone up from Newport specifically to find it's birthplace. We did find it, and the Point was beyond the shipbuilding yard...and the home of some extremely wealthy big names, evidently.

It looked as if it would be close and an easy drive from Newport, but it was not, thanks to traffic and lights--at least 40-45 minutes. If you plan to stay there to tour Newport, I wouldn't!

The Herreshoff Marine Museum is there with some pretty fantastic boats from what I understand. He designed ours and I'd have loved to have toured but didn't have time. Friends who did loved it...but then they are sailors. gt;

Bristol is most famous for its' July 4 parade - the oldest in the country. The stripe on the road marks the parade route. It's really not a destination per se, although it is a lovely town.

I don't know anything about the Inn but I too agree that Bristol is worth a day trip. There is a lovely house museum and garden called Blithewold that is worth touring. There are also numerous antique shops. It would be possible to get to both Newport and Providence as day trips if you use Bristol as a base.

The Bristol Harbor Inn is fairly new. We stayed there just after it opened last year. We were attending a wedding and the location was convenient. The rooms were nice, a comfortable size and reasonably well appointed. There was not much of a view of the water from any of the rooms. Bristol is a small New England town, so there isn't a lot going on. There are a couple of restaurants. As someone noted above, it is about a 45 minute drive to Newport so if that is the focus of your trip, you might want to take the driving time into account.

While visiting friends and family in New England, I visited the Blithewold Mansion & gardens --- http://www.blithewold.org
Lovely spot overlooking the Naragansett (sp?) Bay.