Start from 22 curated places around Westerly, RI, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Nana's Westerly
Downtown Westerly's most talked-about all-day spot, turning out sourdough doughnuts made to order, a rotating cast of artisan pizzas (the birria pie is worth the trip), and standout pasta like cacio e pepe. The menu evolves constantly with whatever is in season, and the iced lattes are taken seriously. Lines form on weekends — arrive early or join the wait list.
Cinder Restaurant
A downtown scratch kitchen in a barn-style room with sliding garage doors that open onto a riverside patio. The short menu is built around house-smoked meats and handmade naan tacos — burnt-end and smash-burger tacos, brisket, and smoked chicken — with sides like cornbread and naan chips and a strong lineup of gluten-free and vegetarian options. Craft cocktails, wine, and cold beer round it out.
Trails & outdoors
Napatree Point Conservation Area Trail
A roughly 3.1-mile loop around the Napatree Point sandspit — one of the most rewarding coastal walks in southern Rhode Island, rated 4.6 on AllTrails across nearly a thousand reviews. The trail hugs the shoreline in both directions, giving you Atlantic surf on one side and the calm of Little Narragansett Bay on the other. Shorebirds nest here in large numbers and harbor seals are frequently spotted off the point in spring and fall.
Dr. John Champlin Glacier Trail
A 2.3-mile loop through a 134-acre glacially sculpted park near Winnapaug Pond, with interpretive signs explaining the Ice Age kettle-and-kame terrain underfoot. The landscape is unusually varied for this coast — ponds, sand barrens, kettle holes, and a ridge with clear-day views over Winnapaug Pond to Block Island. It draws a steady following on AllTrails with more than 700 reviews.
Things to do
Granite Theatre
Westerly's year-round community theater, housed in an 1849 Greek Revival former church at 1 Granite Street on the highest point downtown. Reopened as the Granite Theatre in 2000, the company stages Broadway plays, musicals, children's productions, cabaret acts, and lecture programs across its season. With fewer than 150 seats, the house is intimate enough that every seat has a clear view of the stage.
Westerly Summer Pops
A beloved summer tradition on the lawns of Wilcox Park: the Chorus of Westerly and the Pops Festival Orchestra perform a free evening concert of classical and pop favorites, capped by a Grucci fireworks finale. Now past its 45th year, it draws thousands of picnicking locals and is treated as the social event of the season.
Landmarks & sights
Westerly Library & Wilcox Park
An 1894 yellow-brick library built as a Civil War memorial, its foundation and trim cut from local Westerly granite, paired with the adjoining 15-acre Wilcox Park. The park is a Victorian strolling arboretum with more than 150 labeled tree species, a bronze sculpture walk, and a reflecting pool, and it remains the civic heart of downtown by hosting the Virtu Art Festival each spring and the Chorus of Westerly's Summer Pops each summer.
Misquamicut State Beach
Rhode Island's most popular state beach — a half-mile arc of powdery white sand facing the open Atlantic with lifeguards, restrooms, and concessions in summer. The surf is consistent enough for boogie boarding and the water temperature becomes genuinely swimmable by July. The beach corridor along Atlantic Avenue backs directly onto the sand with beach bars and rental shacks.