Newport, RI Outdoor Activities

At 14,000 square feet, the Bank of America City Center dwarfs the famed ice rink at New York City's Rockefeller Center and provides visitors with plenty of room to skate for hours. All winter long, the rink hosts public sessions as well as Learn-to-Skate classes for beginners and drop-in refresher classes for adults. Located in Kennedy Plaza, skaters can enjoy a day of gliding against a backdrop of Providence landmarks during open skate sessions, group skating and birthday parties. After graceful spins across the ice, guests can indulge in cocoa, coffee, and delicious eats from downtown Providence's nearby local haunts.

In 1958, Ryan Family Amusements founder James A. Ryan opened a simple, eight-lane bowling alley, planting the foundation for a slew of entertainment centers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At 10 locations, visitors enjoy a variety of arcade and skill games in addition to traditional candlepin, tenpin, or duckpin bowling. Every Friday and Saturday evening from 9 p.m. until midnight, bowling lanes take on an incandescent glow, allowing bowlers to experience futuristic entertainment without the inconvenience of rising jetpack-fuel prices. Bumper bowling is available for younger players, and an onsite concession stand refreshes responsible adults with glasses of beer and wine.

Trumpets blare over the fairgrounds. As the king and queen ride through town, peasants and shopkeepers all kneel immediately, verbalizing praise and respects to their liege lord. Meanwhile, a man in shorts stands amid the crouching peasants eating a turkey leg the size of his arm as his kids tumble off the Jacob's ladder across the dirt road. This is but a snapshot of the special moments at King Richard's Faire, a renaissance festival that gathers period artisans, performers, and food merchants to celebrate the Age of Enlightenment along with visitors.

After a bit of practice throwing axes, visitors can stroll in optional costume to see fortunetellers, cobblers, and blacksmiths who have mastered ancient crafts. Knights ride to battle on the tourney field to win the king's and crowd's favor, and eight stages, a tournament field, and a mud pit bring in acts ranging from minstrels and jugglers to fire eaters and exotic animals.

Who said golf was a rich man's game? We didn't. It was a filthy, lying cyber-bully.

A climber slowly ascends a steep rockface, supporting all his weight on the smallest of footholds. Ignoring the heights, he searches for another place to grasp, finding purchase on an oval stone. His final step to the top rewards him with the thrilling satisfaction of beating the beastly incline and views of children running across the floor.

Carabiner's Indoor Climbing rock gym, one of the tallest in New England, brings the sport of rock scaling to urban residents. Walls that range from 15- to 65-feet tall grant visitors of all skill levels climbing routes that strengthen muscles, improve body awareness, and serve as a training ground for the NYPD’s Spider-Man division.

Certified climbers start visitors on their paths to climbing autonomy with personal belay classes that cover basics and safety tips. The gyms also offer grounded fitness with weekly yoga classes.

Most physical confrontations involve a level of personal risk, but at Cartland of Cape Cod, fun-loving competitors let robotic Boxerjocks do the swinging. Safely tucked away in a cage of steel, operators trigger sidesteps with the thrust of a joystick and jabs with the punch of a button. The unusual attraction is just a taste of what the epicenter of family fun has to offer, from vintage Indy-style go-karts to colorful bumper boats and water-balloon slingshots. Visitors who want to keep dry can head to the 20-hole mini-golf course, batting cages, and the area of classic coin-operated kiddie rides, and can still escape the heat with a scoop of ice cream rather than laboring to befriend an iceberg.