Newport, Rhode Island · Four-Star · ★★★★
Forty 1° North
Christie's Landing on Thames Street. The only Newport hotel where the dock is the front door.
Christie's Landing on Thames Street. The only Newport hotel where the dock is the front door.
"The most modern hotel on Newport Harbor. Thirty-two rooms wrapped around a private 26-slip marina, with Christie's restaurant pouring from the dock. If you want the harbor at your door and Bowen's Wharf at your back, this is the address."
Forty 1° North opened in 2009 on Christie's Landing — a stretch of wooden wharf at 351 Thames Street that for decades had been dockside Newport at its most working-harbor. The hotel was the first serious boutique to plant itself on the water rather than up on Bellevue Avenue, and the strategic call has aged well: the harbor has only become more central to how Newport actually spends its summer, and the rest of the luxury inventory still has to drive guests down to dinner. Forty 1° North guests step from their room directly onto the dock.
The property has 32 rooms split across two harbor-front buildings — the Mainsail Building, the original waterfront block, and the Northstar Building, the slightly newer wing that lifted the room count and added the larger suites. Every room is harbor-facing or harbor-adjacent; the categories worth specifying are the ones that open onto a private balcony directly above the slips, where the morning view is rigging, masts, and the wakes of charter boats heading out for the day. Interiors are restrained New England modern — navy, oak, brass, white linen — without the nautical-themed kitsch that ruins lesser harbor hotels.
Christie's, the hotel's flagship restaurant, is the social engine of the property. The dining room runs along the dockline with full glass to the slips; the back terrace puts you within fifteen feet of moored superyachts at the busy end of summer. The kitchen is reliably classic Newport — chowder, oysters, a local catch, a reasonable wine list — without trying to compete with the more ambitious tasting-menu rooms across town. Pelham East, the bar inside, handles the cocktail half of the evening properly. The Trawler is the harbor lounge for a quieter drink after dinner.
The 26-slip private marina is what truly distinguishes the hotel from every other Newport address. Owners of larger yachts can dock directly at the property; charter clients can be picked up and dropped off at the dock without ever leaving the building. The harbor master's team handles arrivals discreetly, and during summer the slip list reads like a Mediterranean week — the kind of guest list that makes Forty 1° North the de facto Newport headquarters for anyone arriving by water. For those of us who do not own boats, the watch from the terrace is itself part of the appeal.
The location does the rest. Bowen's Wharf is a one-minute walk north along Thames; Bannister's Wharf is the next block beyond. The Brick Marketplace, the boutique shopping that runs back from the harbor, is a thirty-second crossing. The Tennis Hall of Fame, Bellevue Avenue, and the start of the Cliff Walk are a short cab or fifteen-minute walk uphill. Forty 1° North does not pretend to be the place to mark a fiftieth wedding anniversary the way Castle Hill does; it is, instead, the harbor-front modern hotel for a younger weekend — bachelor and bachelorette weekends, anniversaries with a maritime tilt, honeymoons that want walking access to dinner rather than a peninsula drive.
For an anniversary that wants the harbor rather than the mansion, Forty 1° North is Newport's strongest answer. Book a Northstar suite with a private balcony, take dinner at Christie's on the dock at sunset, and let the hotel arrange a private sailing charter from its own slip the next morning. The concierge can stage champagne on the balcony, organise an evening cruise around the harbor at golden hour, and book the corner table at Christie's that puts you closest to the water. Discreet, unfussy, and genuinely romantic — the harbor does the heavy lifting.
Forty 1° North is the working bachelor and bachelorette address in Newport. Block four or five Northstar rooms, walk to Bannister's Wharf for the night out, and roll back to the harbor terrace for the closing drink. The hotel will arrange a half-day charter — sailing yacht or motor — out of its own marina, with catering staged through Christie's. The Pelham East bar handles late arrivals; the Trawler runs quieter once the dining room turns over. Walking access to Bowen's, Bannister's, and the Thames Street bar circuit means no one needs a car all weekend.
For a honeymoon that wants Newport's harbor side rather than its mansion side, Forty 1° North works. The Mainsail Building suites face directly over the slips; the Northstar suites have the larger bathrooms and the proper balcony depth. Christie's at sunset, a sail charter from the dock, breakfast on the harbor terrace, and Bannister's for evening cocktails together — the entire week is walking distance. It is the modern, casual honeymoon counterweight to Castle Hill or The Chanler. Pair with two nights at one of those for the full Newport sweep.
Rates checked May 2026. Price may vary by date.
Forty 1° North is the dock-front address for anniversaries with a maritime tilt and bachelor/bachelorette weekends that don't want to leave Thames Street. Compare it against the rest of Newport.
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