- 1. Newport (about 40 minutes)
- 2. Mystic, Connecticut (about 1 hour)
- 3. Boston (about 1 hour)
- 4. Block Island (about 1 hour to Point Judith, plus the ferry)
- 5. Cape Cod (about 1 hour 30 minutes)
- 6. Salem, Massachusetts (about 1 hour 30 minutes)
- 7. Martha’s Vineyard (about 1 hour 30 minutes to Woods Hole, plus the ferry)
- 8. New Haven (about 2 hours)
- 9. Portsmouth, New Hampshire (about 2 hours)
- 10. The Berkshires (about 2 hours 15 minutes)
- 11. Portland, Maine (about 2 hours 45 minutes)
- 12. New York City (about 3 hours)
- Getting out of Providence without a car
- Cheap weekend getaways from Providence by car
- Last-minute weekend getaways from Providence
Providence sits within a comfortable drive of more variety than most people give it credit for, and the twelve below are ordered by how long it takes to get there. Drive times are for clear roads, so add to them for a Friday evening start.
1. Newport (about 40 minutes)
Gilded Age mansions along Bellevue Avenue and the three-and-a-half-mile Cliff Walk running behind them between the lawns and the sea. The Breakers is the headline; the walk is free.
2. Mystic, Connecticut (about 1 hour)
A seaport museum with a preserved whaling ship you can board, a working shipyard, and an aquarium next door. The drawbridge in the middle of town is the town.
3. Boston (about 1 hour)
The Freedom Trail, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the North End. Close enough that the commuter train is the sensible way to do it.
4. Block Island (about 1 hour to Point Judith, plus the ferry)
Forty per cent of the island is conserved land, with bluffs at Mohegan and two lighthouses. No booking for foot passengers on the traditional ferry, but book the car ferry well ahead.
5. Cape Cod (about 1 hour 30 minutes)
The Cape Cod National Seashore covers forty miles of the outer arm, and the Rail Trail runs most of the length of the Cape on an old railbed. Summer Saturday traffic over the bridges is the price.
6. Salem, Massachusetts (about 1 hour 30 minutes)
The Peabody Essex Museum is the real reason to come and is one of the best in New England. October turns the whole town into an event and doubles every price.
7. Martha’s Vineyard (about 1 hour 30 minutes to Woods Hole, plus the ferry)
Gingerbread cottages at Oak Bluffs, clay cliffs at Aquinnah and a working fishing harbour at Menemsha. Leave the car on the mainland unless you have booked months ahead.
8. New Haven (about 2 hours)
The Yale University Art Gallery is free, the Beinecke Rare Book Library has a Gutenberg Bible on permanent display, and the pizza argument is worth settling in person.
9. Portsmouth, New Hampshire (about 2 hours)
A compact brick seaport with Strawbery Banke, a whole neighbourhood of preserved houses, and a working tugboat fleet on the Piscataqua.
10. The Berkshires (about 2 hours 15 minutes)
Mass MoCA in a converted mill complex, Tanglewood in summer, and the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. Autumn is the obvious season and the busiest.
11. Portland, Maine (about 2 hours 45 minutes)
An Old Port of brick and cobbles, one of the best restaurant scenes per head in the country, and the Portland Head Light twenty minutes south.
12. New York City (about 3 hours)
Drivable, but the train removes the parking problem entirely and takes about the same time door to door.
Getting out of Providence without a car
The best rail position on this list. Providence sits on the Northeast Corridor, so Boston is about an hour by MBTA commuter rail or less on Amtrak, and New Haven and New York are direct. Newport, the Cape, the Berkshires and the island ferries all want a car, though seasonal buses cover some of the Cape.
Cheap weekend getaways from Providence by car
- Newport: the Cliff Walk is free even if the mansions are not
- Boston: the Freedom Trail costs nothing to walk
- New Haven: the Yale museums are free
- Cape Cod: national seashore beaches and a free rail trail
Last-minute weekend getaways from Providence
- Newport out of season, when the rates halve
- Boston, reachable on the train at short notice
- Mystic, an hour with beds most weekends
- New Haven, large enough for a same-day room
If you are deciding on the day, work backwards from the drive rather than the destination: anything under two hours leaves you a genuine Saturday, and anything past four is really a three-day trip wearing a weekend label.
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Written by
John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.
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