Newport, Rhode Island with 8 month old?
 

Hi!

My husband and I (who live in NYC) are thinking about taking our baby girl to the beach this summer, and we thought Newport, RI would be a fun place to go.

Our trip will be late July/early August, for about 4 nights. We'll have a car, so can get to neighboring towns, etc.

We realize that our daughter will be too young to appreciate all of the beauty and charm Newport has to offer -- but we wanted to go somewhere scenic and relatively family-friendly, and a destination where she can experience the beach for the first time.

I wanted to see if anyone had recommendations about family friendly accommodations in Newport (or nearby vicinity).

We really don't want to break the bank with this trip -- normally we like higher end type places, but we're trying to keep things reasonable ($250 or less if at all possible). I realize that it's a difficult task to find reasonable accommodations in Newport during high season - but does anyone have any recommendations?

We are willing to stay in surrounding areas of Newport, and would consider any type of accommodation - hotel, renting a cottage, B&B etc....

Also, if anyone has any ideas for family friendly restaurants/things to do, I would really appreciate it.... She is a very sweet, happy baby, so taking her to restaurants, etc. is no problem.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

-Mim31

Well many B&Bs don;t allow infants or small children - so I would stick to hotels or motels. Not sure that Newport has the best beach access. You might be better off in a nearby beach town - and just visit their for a couple of sights and meals.

Hmm. Maybe you should go to Cape Cod. Or Long Island.

Rhode Island has some truly great beaches, but Newport (which I love) would not be a beach choice for me. It is also quite expensive at that time of the year, and virtually none of the B&Bs will allow kids.

If you do decide on the Newport area (because you want it for the sights and restaurants), look at hotel chains in Middletown, just outside of Newport. Dull area to stay (strip malls) and still not cheap (a Holiday Inn Express can cost $200), but more reasonable than the hotels in town.

Closer to Newport (technically also with a Middletown address, but literally just across town lines and most importantly for you, right across the street from the beach:
Newport Beach Hotel and Suites. The suites all have full kitchen, I think, but they have regular rooms in the older (renovated) building. There's also a Quality Inn hotel next door that looks better than average from the outside, at least :)

If you want better beaches, you should be looking at the area called "South County" There are motels and resorts there than might work better for you , I'm not sure of the prices, though.
You'd be about half an hour to one hour from Newport, depending on where you stay, traffic (there are 2 bridges to cross) etc.
Hope this helps!

First, I think some of our confused...do you want (a) a beach vacation or (b) a vacation that includes the beach?

Would you would want to spend more than 2-3 hours at a beach with an 8 month old? If the answer to that question is no, then there is little reason to go to a more classic beach destination like the Cape or RI's South County.

To answer some of your questions, Newports Eastons (First) beach has a Carosel that I am sure they would let you ride on with baby in a front pack or in your arms on a stationary horse. A short (10 minute) drive from there is Brenton Point State Park, where on the weekends there are a myriad of cool kites being flown that I think would entertain baby for a bit. Simmons Farm, up on West Main Rd in nearby Middletown, has a petting zoo that is free (you only pay for the animal feed if you want it), she might be too young to pet the animals but not too young to look at them.

As far as lodging, look into the Best Western Mainstay on the outskirts of Newport. My sister has stayed there with her kids a couple of times and it was fine. They have a pool, and are right around the corner from a supermarket and a Walmart (being a parent myself I know the advantage of these things!). Also close to some family chain style restaurants. Yes you would have to drive into the City itself but you are going to have to drive to get to the beach, Brenton Point, etc anyway.

We did that trip when our son was just about a year old.

We stayed at the Marriott on America's Cup Avenue. It worked out fine if you're ok eating a bit earlier and not really enjoying the nightlife.

One big caveat - the drive up from Manhattan might have been the closest my wife and I came to getting a divorce. Traffic the entire way was just brutal on a Friday. We left the city at 3, thinking we'd miss the traffic. 95 was a parking lot through Greenwich. We cut through Greenwich to the Merritt figuring things would clear up around New Haven and the lack of cars would make the Merritt a better option. We sat on the Merritt.

A ride that should have been about 4 1/2 hours, even on a Friday in the summer, was close to double that. We figured we'd need to stop once to give our son a break and something to eat. We needed to stop three times because of how long we were stuck not moving and his inability to fall asleep without the motion of the car.

Newport is a place you can go with a baby. Just think carefully about when you're leaving NYC.

The other issue is that you should ask your pediatrician about taking an 8 month old to the beach. Apparently one of the biggest risk factors for skin cancer is early sunburn.

Wow, thanks everyone. Great information.

@Ackislander - To be honest, I am very worried about the sunburn issue.

My daughter is very fair - we had her out last Saturday (it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day) in NYC, but we were very careful (only walking in shade, using a sun hat, having her wear light pants, and even socks on a hot day!) She still had a slight redness on her legs when we got home - pediatrician said nothing to worry about if it's mild (no blistering, fever, etc), but it still scared me. From now on, she will never go anywhere without sunblock :)

So @LarryBee, to answer your question - I think we are looking for a vacation with beach - but not necessarily a 'beach' vacation.

This is our first 'family vacation' - so I was trying to think of somewhere that would be fun for a baby (to the extent she can 'take things in') but also be fun for us.

Having said that - we are not tied to Newport - so if anyone has any better ideas (that aren't crazy far away from NYC), we are totally open to suggestions!

@Ryan - I "LOL'ed" at your story, though I am SURE it was not funny at the time! We would be leaving from NYC on a weekday (prob would start our trip Monday), but I totally get your point. Thanks for the heads up.

@nytraveler, @janie, @ryan, @larrybee, @330east .... thank you so, so much for all of your help and thoughts.

Oh - another place I had thought about was Mystic Connecticut -- aquarium there, water, and maybe not as crazy as Newport. I know not as charming as Newport, but with an 8 month old, we're really not looking to go antiquing or do stuff like that.

Anyway, thanks again so much for everyone's help - any other thoughts, please feel free to send along. :)

You might look into Madison, CT. Madison Beach Hotel. Right on the beach. Or nearby motel and use the public beach.

Or how about the Jersey Shore. For ex, Spring Lake is a nice town. And they have great beaches down there. Or those lakes up in CT. Candlewood and Waramaug.

330east and Mim31, The Madison Beach Hotel doesn't seem to be open yet or taking reservations. I looked into it a couple years ago and I though that it was to be torn down and replaced with private houses, but I guess that plan changed.

A place that reminds me of it that might work for you is the Water's Edge resort in Westbrook CT.
Now I haven't stayed there--and I think tripadvisor reviews are pretty mixed, but the location is very nice. Walk right out of the dining room, down the from lawn to a small beach on Long Island Sound (and pool , IIRC). I had lunch there once, and the setting was nice. Easy access from NYC, probably pretty pricey, but it may give you all the beach access you need with the advantage of going back inside at any time.
If you do choose Mystic, CT, you are close to some of the nicer RI beaches .

Agree that if you're looking for a beach vacation the Jersey Shore might be a better option as the drive from NYC is far easier. I love Spring Lake, but there is a dearth of decent hotels.

I might suggest looking a bit further to the South on Long Beach Island. Several hotels right on the beach, which is something you're not going to find in Spring Lake.

We also took our son that same summer to the North Fork of Long Island. We stayed in Greenport at the Greenporter hotel. Beaches further to the East and easy enough to hit some of the towns on the South Fork for the day. Use the ferry to cut across Shelter Island. We had a much better drive on that trip than the drive to Newport.

MIM31: Don't be scared off by the traffic if you are leaving NYC on a monday. The traffic that Ryan described is unfortunately very typical for a Friday (as well as for Sundays returning to the NYC area, weekend getaway traffic) but usually other days are OK.
Mystic is nice, but you might run out of things to do if you plan on being there 4 nights. And since you clearly are not going to spend long hours at the beach each day of your vacation, I would not do the Jersey shore. I would say for a variety of things to entertain both you and baby, with a little beach of "beach" sprinkled in, Newport is a great choice.

Thanks LarryBee! Much appreciated it.

Still haven't figured it out yet - so this will be a very last minute, not-very-well planned trip - but as long as my husband and baby are with me, I know we'll have fun :)

And yes, we'd def leave on a Monday - and avoid the weekend traffic!

Appreciate everyone's responses!

Mim31, just be aware...we went to Newport in August 2009, weekday. We arrived without a hotel reservation, and ended up in what was basically the last available motel room in the adjacent town where all the chain motels and restaurants are. I think it was a Holiday Inn Express, but that doesn't matter -- the point was the town was full to capacity on a Thursday night.

Hi! Just to follow up - thank you all again for your really helpful responses. We went a different route, in the end --

We ended up renting an adorable restored farmhouse in Milbrook, New York (through VRBO) -- there is very little to do in Milbrook, but that was sort of the point. We realized (thanks to your comments!) that it wasn't as if we'd be able to take our little girl to the beach all the time, so we decided to do something more in-land.

Milbrook is a beautiful area - very country; think a lot of farmland, dirt roads, little antique stores. There is also a small but great zoo, and several gardens to walk through.

At the house, there was a big backyard for our daughter, so we brought the water to her -- we bought a blow up kiddie pool, and she had a lot of fun!

Thanks again for your responses!

Great decision, and I am glad you had a great time. Our grandaughters are visiting us here in Nantucket right now. The 6 year old is a beach girl already. The 2 1/2 year old has an attention span of about 20 minutes -- just about enough time to unpack all the paraphernalia! But they both had a great time catching minnows and crabs in a salt marsh the other day.

Thanks for letting us know how it worked out. Good manners!