After meeting at Park Plaza or being picked up from your select downtown Boston hotel, your guide will take you by air-conditioned coach to Newport, located 1.5 hours away. This New England city has been known for decades as a popular vacation resort for the rich and famous, and is truly a dazzling sight during the holidays.
Enter The Breakers, a 70-room mansion on 11 acres (4.5 hectares) of oceanfront land. Learn how this was the vacation home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II of the famous Vanderbilts, a 19th-century American family who rose to social nobility due to their enormous success in the railroad and shipping industry. Have your camera ready as you admire the elaborate holiday decorations of this opulent palace -- the grandest of Newport's summer 'cottages' of the New York elite.
You’ll have 2 hours of free time to grab lunch, browse local shops for last-minute holiday gifts, and sip a cup of cocoa on a stroll along the waterfront. Afterward, continue your tour to William K Vanderbilt’s vacation home, Marble House, a 19th-century mansion made of white marble. Observe the stately exterior and be amazed by the house's elaborate Christmas decorations as you tour the lavish interior. This gilded mansion is said to have been inspired by the 18th-century Petit Trianon at Versailles. Your guide will explain how William carried on his family’s fortune to become the richest man in the world by the time of his death in 1877.
After your tour, sit back and relax as you drive along Ocean Drive (10-Mile Drive) and admire the spectacular views of mansions and coves dusted with snow before returning to Boston.