Newport, Rhode Island.
Cliff Walk to Castle Hill.
The Hamptons' quieter cousin — mansions on the Cliff Walk, regatta season at the harbor, and dinners at the Clarke Cooke House. Two and a half hours from our Stamford home pickup, with destination chargers at almost every hotel that matters.
America's Cup town. In an EV.
Newport in summer is one of the great American weekends: morning coffee at Empire Tea, mansions tour in the afternoon, a Cliff Walk sunset, dinner at White Horse Tavern (oldest continuously-operating bar in America), nightcap at The Clarke Cooke House. A Tesla makes every leg cleaner — no looking for parking with a manual gearbox, no $5/gal gas stations after a long drive.
Most of the boutique hotels along Bellevue Ave and Thames Street have Tesla destination chargers — Castle Hill Inn, The Chanler, Vanderbilt Grace, Gurney's Newport, The Wayfinder. Park, plug in, fully charged by morning at no charge.
Suggested itinerary:
- Friday afternoon: Pickup in Stamford · drive I-95 → I-195 → Route 138 to Newport · ~2.5h
- Charge stop: Madison, CT Supercharger · 15-min top-up · or skip entirely
- Friday evening: Check in at Castle Hill Inn, plug in, sunset cocktails on the lawn
- Saturday: Cliff Walk, lunch at The Mooring, mansions tour (Breakers + Marble House)
- Saturday night: Dinner at The Clarke Cooke House or Stoneacre Brasserie
- Sunday: Brunch at the Black Pearl, harbor walk, drive home (Tesla fully charged from overnight)
Three perfect Newport weekends.
The Sailing Weekend
Race the harbor by day, dinner at Mooring's by night. Time it with the Newport Bermuda Race in June or the Sailboat Show in September.
The Mansions Trip
Breakers, Marble House, Rosecliff, Elms — easy to do four in a day. Lunch at The Black Pearl on the wharf. Tesla beats the trolley.
The Cliff Walk Day-Trip
Don't even spend the night — drive up Saturday morning, walk the full 3.5-mile Cliff Walk, lunch at Castle Hill, drive home by sunset. Doable.