Newport mansions
 

Plan to visit the Newport mansions during the holidays.Will visit The Breakers and Beechwood and have time to visit only one more. Any suggestions?

Keep in mind not all of the homes are open during this time of year- You can count on The Breakers, The Elm and one other- additionally The Beechwood is really done well (interactive) we traveled to Rhode Island last year during the holidays.
If you do a google search you will find t he three open Mansions are available as a package--the Astor's Beechwood Estate is separate, and worth the visit.

Try www.newportmansions.org. Some are decorated beautifully for the holidays. I have to say that Mrs. Astor's was interesting, but no where near as opulent as the others (Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Rosecliff, Chateau sur-Mer). The Breakers is the most extravagant. Parts of Marble House were modeled after the Palace at Versaille, so if you've been to Versaille, it might not be that impressive to you. Rosecliff is where the Great Gatsby was filmed. All have interesting stories.

Mrs. Astor's Beechwood and Belcourt Castle are privately owned and have separate websites. The others are owned by the Newport Historical Society.

Marble House and The Breakers were my favorites by far.

Just thought I'd update this thread, since we visited Marble House (Mom's favorite) during Thankgsiving week.

The outside of MH wasn't decorated at all. However, the giant exterior Xmas tree was just being delivered, so maybe we were just too early. On the inside, the entrance hall and first two rooms on the tour were nicely decorated for Christmas. The rest of the rooms were not.

Also, Marble House did not have a guided tour, just an audio tour. One of the docents told us that only the Breakers had a guided tour. I'm not sure if that's just because we were there midweek, or if that is their winter schedule.

Marble House is beautiful and its history is very interesting. I think you can't go wrong with any of the mansions. Amazing what people did with their money before income taxes :).