What's on in Newport, United States through the year

Peak crowds — Christmas at the mansions, Winter / Christmas break in United States

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Christmas at the mansions (20 Nov – 2 Jan)

Busy — Newport Winter Festival

• Festival

  Newport Winter Festival

  13–22 FebMajor festivalCrowded

  Ten days in February with more than a hundred events, from chowder and ice-sculpture contests to bar crawls and live music, built to fill the town in its emptiest month. Most of it is pay-per-event rather than free. Source ↗

Peak crowds — St. Patrick's Day Parade, Spring break in United States

• Festival

  St. Patrick's Day Parade

  11–17 Mar · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  One of New England's big St. Patrick's parades, on the Saturday of or before the 17th, down Thames Street from City Hall. The bars on the waterfront are the party afterwards, and they are full by noon. Source ↗

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Busy — Memorial Day weekend

• Holiday

  Memorial Day weekend

  23–25 MayNational holidayCrowdedBook early

  Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, opens the summer travel season: over the long weekend campsites and lodging book out, roads are slow, and parking at the most popular spots fills early in the day. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Summer season, Summer break in United States

• Festival

  Newport Flower Show

  15–25 Jun · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  The Preservation Society's garden show on the lawns of Rosecliff over a weekend in June: design competitions, landscape displays and a garden market. Tickets are timed and sell out for the Saturday. Source ↗

• Season

  Summer season

  20 Jun – 7 SepSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  A town of twenty-five thousand taking several million visitors a year, most of them in ten weeks. Thames Street, the Cliff Walk and the mansion car parks are all at capacity by eleven, and nothing takes walk-ins.

Peak crowds — Summer season, Summer break in United States

• Festival

  Newport Folk Festival

  24–26 JulMusic festivalBook early

  Three days on the lawn inside Fort Adams, the festival where Dylan went electric, and it sells out before the lineup is announced. The ferry from the town dock is the only sensible way in. Source ↗

• Festival

  Newport Jazz Festival

  31 Jul – 2 AugMusic festivalBook early

  The week after Folk, on the same fort lawn, and the oldest festival of its kind anywhere. Two big weekends back to back is why late July is the most expensive fortnight on the island. Source ↗

Still on: Summer season (20 Jun – 7 Sep)

Peak crowds — Summer season, Summer break in United States

• Holiday

  Labor Day weekend

  5–7 SepNational holidayCrowdedBook early

  Labor Day, the first Monday of September, is the last big getaway of summer: the long weekend books out campsites and lodging and fills parking early, and families thin out quickly once it has passed. Source ↗

Still on: Summer season (20 Jun – 7 Sep), Newport Jazz Festival (31 Jul – 2 Aug)

Peak crowds — Summer season, Labor Day weekend

• Festival

  Newport International Boat Show

  17–20 SepTrade-fair weekCrowdedBook early

  One of the largest in-water boat shows in the country, four days at the Newport Yachting Center in mid-September. The industry books the town's rooms a year out, so the week after Labor Day is not the quiet one it looks like. Source ↗

Still on: Summer season (20 Jun – 7 Sep), Labor Day weekend (5–7 Sep)

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Nature

  Autumn on the Cliff Walk

  10 Oct – 10 Nov · usuallyAutumn colour

  The coast turns two or three weeks later than inland New England, so the Cliff Walk and Ocean Drive hold their colour into November. The crowds have gone and the mansions are still open.

Peak crowds — Christmas at the mansions, Thanksgiving break in United States

• Holiday

  Christmas at the mansions

  20 Nov – 2 JanChristmas & New YearCrowded

  The Breakers, Marble House and the Elms are dressed and lit from late November to New Year, and it is the only time of year the Gilded Age houses feel lived in rather than toured. Source ↗

Still on: Autumn on the Cliff Walk (10 Oct – 10 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Christmas at the mansions, Winter / Christmas break in United States

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Christmas at the mansions (20 Nov – 2 Jan)