Submitted by BelleFleur11 t3_109cayt in RhodeIsland
Hello! Have some family visiting for the next few days and looking for some fun recommendations of things to do in the colder weather. I’m fairly new to RI. We love the ocean, eating/drinking/breweries, history, museums, shopping, site seeing in general. We have a day planned in Newport already. We live in the Warwick area but happy to travel up to an hour. Thank you!!
Cottrell Brewery is unfortunately no more ...
The rest of downtown Westerly is still there though and busy/beautiful as ever. A quick addition to the list is the Skating rink on Main Street, just beyond The Bridge Restaurant. As long as its not raining, its usual open for business.
On street parking is a bit of a pain but there's a pair of public lots on High Street (one next to the post office and the other on Canal St, go under the tracks and turn left) along with the garage next to the Washington Trust Building/opposite the Wilcox Library.
Cottrell closed last year😟
I just put this list on 2 other RI posts, apologies to anyone sick of seeing it.
These might be of interest?
A photo at the Brown University gates (College/Prospect) and another at the state capitol
Seven Stars Bakery for coffee
An entire Death by Chocolate cake from Greggs
Al Forno’s (best pizza honors and award from the Italian government)
PV Donuts (1 each Masala, Passion Fruit, and Boston Cream)
Walk down Benefit Street
Check out the mural on Friendship Street
Theater at Trinity
Take out from Pastiche
Ice skating down town open air rink
Pizza on Federal Hill, deep dish Sicilia’s
Day trip loop to Coffee Depot in Warren, DeWolfe Tavern in Bristol, Ocean Ave scenic drive in Newport (you can park at LaSalle to walk the cliff walk if weather permits), Thames Street cobblestones in Newport, Beavertail in Jamestown, and a stop in Wickford.
Add pizza strips, coffee syrup, Del’s, chowdah, and New York System for the win.
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Source-Al Forno:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2013/11/30/best-pizza-in-america/3785309/
Not sick of seeing it but would be nice to show the Gansett seawall some love
Sachuest Point in Middletown is a lovely place to walk, and snowy owls might be there this time of year!
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If one of the days turns particularly cold or nasty, one activity might be Monster MiniGolf in Seekonk, MA which is just over the border with RI. They have an indoor minigolf course and an arcade. And then head over to the Pinball Museum in Pawtucket where you can play rooms and rooms filled with classic pinball machines. Finish with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Providence.
Battleship Cove is pretty cool, mostly inside (still cold but not super cold), and it's not busy this time of the year.
Get a tour of the state house. You can see the original royal charter that founded the colony. It’s pretty cool.
I've heard that you can see harbor seals easily from shore around this time of year, somewhere around North Kingston? Maybe someone here will know more.
Just Googled: "Rome Point in North Kingstown, Brenton Point in Newport, Rocky Point in Warwick, and Church Cove and Usher Cove in Bristol are what Lewis calls “sentinel sites” that tend to have the highest number of seals during each low tide and are usually occupied early and late in the season."
Save the Bay also has seal watching boat tours; don't know anything about those or if they are offered now.
Newport day on your way out go up Aquidneck and stop at Ragged Island Brewery and then go up to Bristol and stop at Pivotal Brewing and grab dinner at Brick Pizza (also honorable mentions to three other Bristol breweries: Six Pack, Vigilant and Twelve Guns) you’ll have to drive up and back over to Warwick or return back down the island, but totally worth it IMO!
If you’re willing to drive to Mystic CT, there’s a nice downtown there and the Mystic Village as well
captain_carrot t1_j3xgmhf wrote
Downtown Westerly is really nice - it's a short strip with a nice downtown feel with Wilcox park running right behind it. There's several restaurants and nice little bars in the area, a few antique and curiosity shops, and a small movie theater. Grey Sail brewery is right around the corner, as well as Cottrell brewery right over the river in Pawcatuck (more or less a 5 minute drive between the two). There's the Malted Barley on main street, it's a decent sized brew pub with a good variety of craft beers and some pretty good pretzels. If it's not too cold out you could go for a walk in Wilcox park to work up an appetite, it's a really nice walk around the park even in the winter and they usually have some sort of festive decorations hanging up.
There's a couple art galleries downtown as well.