Cliff Walk, Newport

This is easily one of the most beautiful walks on the U.S. East Coast. There are places where it's a paved leisurely stroll and places where you have to navigate over rocks, and you never get tired of seeing the massive mansions all along the route. Just an amazing place to visit.

Walk alongside of the ocean. It's a trail behind all the magnificent mansions in New Port. Mostly pavement, but some paths are rocky and definitely need sneakers and careful steps. Great scenery and breezy. Walk with care and enjoy it!

The cliff walk is quite nice with some beautiful views, but the 'cliffs' are at best 10-15ft above sea level for most of the walk. It also can be pretty crowded in the area North of The Breakers mansion, where it is mostly a smooth concrete walkway. The path is narrow, and a serious hiker finds her-/himself often 'trapped' behind larger groups of folks strolling along at a very relaxed pace, in particular when walking from North to South. It reminded of a walk through a crowded mall at times. South of The Breakers, more and more stretches of unpaved, bare and sometimes rather steep rocks or muddy trails are interspersed. Once the stream of people heading South reaches the first unpaved stretches, all those folks with unsuitable footwear and little children have to literally scramble and crawl over the rocks to reach the next trail exit (there are only a few) and most walk back through the streets. For these reasons, the most spectacular and fun areas of the walk near the tip of the peninsula are also the most peace- and joyful for more serious hikers. I therefore recommend to start at the Southern tip of the peninsula, and walk against the stream of people. Oh, the paved parts of the cliff walk seem to be under constant construction. It can happen that one has to leave the path and walk for a couple of blocks through the town, in particular in the Northern areas. Another nuisance were a rather unusually high number of dog poop piles in many unpaved areas. This and the sometimes tricky climb over the rocks require to watch your steps...

Beautiful scenery. Narrow path at some points and there are a few stairs (about 6, here and there), but most is well paved or packed trail and easy to walk.

Such a beautiful place! A walk I could do everyday, twice a day!!