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I'll be driving from NYC and would like to visit a nice beach for a long weekend (4 days/3 nights) next month. I'd like to limit my drive to 8 hours and my budget for hotel, food and fun is about $1,000.
I'd prefer something quiet as opposed to touristy areas like Virginia Beach and Atlantic City, and heard that there are some nice beach areas in RI. Any recommendations?
If you are traveling alone, and you want a central location for beaches, the Connecticut casinos, and downtown Providence, I would suggest you go online and check out Super-8 Motel in West Greenwich or Hampton in Coventry. These are right off exits 6 and 7 off rt.95 and are certainly less than $100 a night. Go to the online sites or call the free info numbers and ask if they honour AAA membership discounts or give a discount for cash rather than credit! You might check Warwick hotels, too. But West Greenwich and Coventry are an easy drive to Misquamicut, Sand Hill Cove (Wheeler State BEach) abd Barragabsett / Scarborough. It is also only 29 minutes to downtown Providence. There are a bunch of good locally owned restaurants all over Warwick, Coventry and East Greenwich which don't break the bank. Amd if you wany casinos, Mohegan Sun, Foxwood, and Twin River (In Lincoln, R.I.), are easy drives.
If you are traveling alone, and you want a central location for beaches, the Connecticut casinos, and downtown Providence, I would suggest you go online and check out Super-8 Motel in West Greenwich or Hampton in Coventry. These are right off exits 6 and 7 off rt.95 and are certainly less than $100 a night. Go to the online sites or call the free info numbers and ask if they honour AAA membership discounts or give a discount for cash rather than credit! You might check Warwick hotels, too. But West Greenwich and Coventry are an easy drive to Misquamicut, Sand Hill Cove (Wheeler State BEach) abd Barragabsett / Scarborough. It is also only 29 minutes to downtown Providence. There are a bunch of good locally owned restaurants all over Warwick, Coventry and East Greenwich which don't break the bank. Amd if you wany casinos, Mohegan Sun, Foxwood, and Twin River (In Lincoln, R.I.), are easy drives.
West Greenwich and Coventry are interior/woodsy and are in no way beach communities. Each is a good 20 minute drive to the beaches. Warwick is 30 minutes away. I'm guessing the OP wants to stay very close/walkable to the beach. Check out Narragansett, a great little town with fabulous beaches (Narragansett Town Beach, Scarborough). Also check out Matunuck Beach in South Kingstown. I'd try googling motels in each area to see rates and what's available. These beaches are only about a 3 hr drive from Queens. Good luck!
I agree: West Greenwich/Coventry are certainly not beach communities! My recommendation of them is based on price, availability, and central location (easy drive) to ALL south county beaches and other areas she may want to visit. Its an easy drive down rt.2 or rt.4 or rt.1 to all the beaches. I also believe rooms within walking distance of the beaches will be pretty expensive, if one can be found.
By the way, one of my favourite beaches is little Weekapaug, and also East Matunuck.
Well I think what Hx was pointing out is that West Greenwich and Coventry are quiet, an easy drive to some of RI's best beaches, accessible to Foxwoods and Providence, and affordable; although it is the sticks. RI beaches are some of the best in NE, outside of the Cape which can be a zoo. Anything north of the outer Cape, the water is wayyy too cold. Misquamicut would be a quick ride from NYC too.
I agree with this but I was under the impression the OP wanted to stay closer to the beach since they mentioned Atlantic City and VA Beach being too touristy. Your recoomendations are good ones...several guests stayed at the West Greenwich location when my son was married at Whispering Pines a few years ago.
Thanks for the suggestions. It would be nice to have lodging within a 10-15 minute drive to the beach and to also be able to drive to restaurants, stores, etc. nearby. I would like to be on the western side of Narragansett Bay.
I just remembered. If you want a SPECIAL UPSCALE experience and be right near all the nicest beacdhes, stay at the Sheter Harbor Inn. They are listed in the link above. It is a very nice place and has wonderful gourmet dining as well.
My opinion is that you could stay anywhere in between Warwick and Westerly and the drive to the beach wouldn't be that much of a difficulty.
This puts you relatively equidistant between a great deal of RI's beaches and a variety of shopping and dining experiences such as Wickford and Narragansett for "cutesy" shopping versus Matunuck and Charlestown beaches for the quiet beach experience. Staying close to RI route 2 also gives you an option for commuting to the beach areas of Charlestown by using Route 2 instead of Routes 4 and 1, which are popular and congested with "beach traffic" on heavy days.
Closer to Warwick also gets you a choice of more accomodations and Warwick is the first town generally considered to be the line where more "urban" RI begins and it is closer to "big box" shopping, the airport, et cetera. However, Warwick is a bit of a charm-free zone and the main street through Warwick would remind you perhaps of Roosevelt Field in Garden City, Nassau County if you've ever been there.
Once you cross from Warwick into East Greenwich, however, there is a marked difference. Things become quite suburban. Closer to the water are the "charming towns". As you drive south, accomodations get more expensive and there are fewer choices as far as where to stay.
I just drove to overnight with friends in Narragansett on Saturday and the drive from Providence took exactly 45 minutes and this is high season with heavy-ish traffic both ways.
Much of Warwick would be considered suburban to a lot of folks outside of New England. While it is "urban" for Rhode Island, it is hardly a "city". The only truly "urban" feeling areas of Rhode Island are Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and East Providence; and even most ofthese are not exclusively "urban".
By comparison, Warwick is mostly suburban sprawl with some very quaint areas as well.
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