The Cliff Walk
Memorial Boulevard at Eustis Avenue
Newport, RI
A three-and-a-half-mile path along the edge of Newport, with the mansions of the Gilded Age on one side and the open Atlantic breaking on the rocks below the other.
The Cliff Walk is Newport's most famous walk, a public path that runs for about three and a half miles along the top of the sea cliffs on the city's Atlantic side. On one hand it borders the grounds of the Gilded Age mansions, the summer palaces of the Vanderbilts and their peers; on the other it drops away to the open ocean, where the surf breaks white on the dark rocks below.
It exists because of an old tension between public right and private wealth. The path follows the shoreline that Rhode Island law has long held open to the public, even as the richest families in America built their estates right up to its edge. The result is a rare and democratic thing: a free walk that carries anyone through the heart of a landscape that money otherwise closed off entirely.
What Guests Love
- Walking between two worlds: manicured Gilded Age estates and the wild open ocean
- Sweeping Atlantic views, crashing surf, and sea air the whole way
- Back-of-house glimpses of The Breakers and other legendary mansions
- A free, public path through a landscape otherwise closed behind walls
Worth Knowing
- The path is a mix of easy paved stretches near town and rough, rocky scrambling toward the far end
- Wear sturdy shoes; sections can be uneven, and stay back from the unfenced cliff edges
- Storms and erosion sometimes close portions, so check conditions before a long walk
- You can walk part and turn back; the northern half is the easiest and most accessible
Details
Newport, RI
Learn about The Cliff Walk
The story of the walk
Rhode Island has a long tradition, rooted in its colonial charter, of protecting public access to the shore for fishing and passage. When the Gilded Age mansions rose along Newport's cliffs in the late nineteenth century, their owners built grand estates but could not legally wall off the shoreline itself.
That set up decades of friction. Mansion owners at times tried to obstruct or close the path, and the public, backed by the shoreline tradition, pushed to keep it open. Over the years the right of way was defended and the walk was gradually improved, until it became the established public path it is today.
The Cliff Walk is now a National Recreation Trail, one of Newport's signature attractions, drawing walkers from all over to trace the boundary between the estates and the sea. Its very existence is a small monument to the principle that the shore belongs to everyone.
Walking it
The walk changes character along its length. The northern end, near Easton's Beach and Memorial Boulevard, is paved, level, and easy, passing behind the first mansions with clear ocean views, and it is the most accessible stretch for casual walkers.
Farther south the path grows rougher, narrowing to rocky, uneven ground and, near the far end, to sections where walkers pick their way over stone and even through short tunnels. This wilder part rewards the sure-footed with the most dramatic scenery, but it demands good shoes and care.
Because it is a linear path, you can tailor the outing to your energy: walk the easy northern half and turn back, or press on toward Bailey's Beach at the southern end for the full experience. Access points along the way let you join or leave at several streets.
The mansions and the sea
The Cliff Walk offers a view of the Gilded Age mansions that no road does, their seaward faces, lawns, and gardens, including the back of The Breakers, the grandest of them all. It is the one place to see how these estates were designed to command the ocean.
The sea side is the opposite of that manicured grandeur: raw rock, tide pools, seabirds, and the constant motion of the Atlantic. Waves break hard against the cliffs in a swell, and the salt wind is a steady companion the whole way.
That juxtaposition, extreme human wealth on one side and untamed nature on the other, held together by a public path, is the heart of the Cliff Walk's appeal and the reason it feels like more than just a pretty stroll.
Season by season
Spring brings wildflowers to the cliff edges and comfortable walking weather, with the sea often lively from lingering storms.
Summer is the busiest season, warm and breezy, best walked early in the day before the crowds and heat, with the mansions in full tourist season.
Fall may be the finest time, with clear air, dramatic light, thinner crowds, and big Atlantic swells rolling in as the weather turns.
Winter is stark and powerful, the walk often wind-battered and partly closed by storms and ice, spectacular on a clear cold day but to be approached with caution.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Newport
The Breakers
Along the walk
The Vanderbilts' seventy-room Gilded Age mansion, whose grounds the Cliff Walk passes directly behind.
Easton's Beach
At the north end
Newport's main town beach, with a boardwalk and a vintage carousel, at the start of the Cliff Walk.
Newport colonial district and harbor
About 2 miles, a 8 minute drive
A well-preserved colonial seaport of wharves, historic houses, shops, and sailing.