Newport Is Among 14 Best East Coast Beach Towns: Condé Nast

NEWPORT, RI — Newport is among The 14 Best Beach Towns on the East Coast, according to a new list from Condé Nast Traveler.

"Like Oak Bluffs, Newport is a beach town known for its houses, though a very different sort," Conde' Nast Traveler wrote. "Ten enormous, historic mansions—once the summer homes of the Vanderbilts, Nevada silver heiresses, and other Westerners of unimaginable wealth—remain standing along the famous cliff walk. Today however, they are museums. The most famous two are The Breakers and Rosecliff. The Newport mansions famously earned the ire of writer Joan Didion, who wrote in her essay The Seacoast of Despair, “To stand in the dining room of ‘The Breakers’ is to imagine fleeing it, pleading migraine.” Today, in lieu of the Great Gatsby-esque lawn parties of yore where swans roamed the grounds, Newport attracts visitors of all stripes for events such as the Newport Folk Festival."

The luxury lifestyle and travel magazine said the beach towns along a stretch of coastline from Maine to Florida are summer hotspots for fun and entertainment, whether vacationers are seeking places teeming with crowds or a quieter, small-town atmosphere.

“From charming, historic New England towns to tropical Southern getaways, there is so much to explore this summer,” the magazine said.

Organized from the Northeast to the Southeast, the 14 beach towns on the list are:

• Bar Harbor, Maine
• Rockport, Massachusetts
• Oak Bluff, Massachusetts
• Cape Cod, Massachusetts
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Montauk, New York
• Cape May, New Jersey
• Chincoteague, Virginia
• Ocean City, Maryland
• Nags Head, North Carolina
• Pawleys Island, South Carolina
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Tybee Island, Georgia
• Siesta Key, Florida.

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