The Breakers, built in 1895 as Cornelius Vanderbilt II's Newport summer mansion, has been a National Historic Landmark since 1994. Admission costs $32 for adults and $14 for children 6-12, free for children 5 and under. It's open daily 9am-5pm, with last admission at 4pm. The back terrace is closed for restoration from January through November 2026, though the surrounding gardens and back lawn remain open during that time.
The back terrace is specifically closed for restoration from January through November 2026, so confirm current construction status directly before arriving, since this is a dated limitation, not a permanent feature of a visit.
The surrounding gardens and back lawn remain accessible during the terrace restoration, so the closure is partial, not a full mansion shutdown; a visit still delivers genuine value even during the construction period.
Arriving after 4pm means missing entry entirely even though the site technically stays open until 5pm, worth building genuine arrival buffer time in rather than cutting it close to the stated closing hour.
The Breakers sits on Ochre Point Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, part of the city's Bellevue Avenue Historic District, walkable from downtown Newport.
The Breakers rewards checking the current restoration status and arriving well before the 4pm last-admission cutoff. Its full architectural and family history is covered in full below.
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