The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's Gilded Age mansions, a 70-room Italian Renaissance-style house built in the 1890s as the Vanderbilt family's summer home. It is run as a museum by the Preservation Society of Newport County, and the Cliff Walk passes right behind it.
A 45-foot central hall open to the ceiling, and a two-storey dining room with alabaster columns and crystal chandeliers, are the set pieces of the house tour.
The rear loggia and lawn face the Atlantic. The house was named for the waves breaking on the rocks below.
A separate behind-the-scenes tour goes into the boiler room, tunnel and service spaces that kept the house running.
Admission is a timed ticket and includes a self-guided audio tour. Combination tickets covering several Newport mansions cost less per house. The Beneath The Breakers tour is an add-on. Confirm prices and hours on newportmansions.org.
If you plan to see more than one mansion, the multi-house tickets from the Preservation Society are much better value than single admissions.
The 3.5-mile Cliff Walk runs along the shore behind The Breakers and past several other mansions, and it is free.
Midday in summer is the busiest. The first or last entries are quieter, and parking on Ochre Point Avenue is easier.
Is the tour guided?
The standard visit is self-guided with an included audio tour. The Beneath The Breakers service tour is guided and booked separately.
Should I book ahead?
Yes, especially on summer weekends. Tickets are timed and the mansion can sell out for the afternoon.
Can I visit more than one mansion?
Yes. The Preservation Society sells combination tickets for two or more houses, which is the usual way to visit Newport.
How long does it take?
About an hour to 90 minutes inside The Breakers. Add time for the grounds and the Cliff Walk.
The Breakers was built between 1893 and 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, to a design by Richard Morris Hunt, on Ochre Point overlooking the Atlantic in Newport, Rhode Island. It has 70 rooms in an Italian Renaissance palazzo style.
Since 1948 it has been operated as a house museum by the Preservation Society of Newport County, which cares for several of the town's mansions. It is the most visited historic house in Rhode Island and anchors the Cliff Walk.
This page is an independent guide for visitors. It is not affiliated with the Preservation Society of Newport County.
