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Providence/Warwick has lovely forests, parks, for walking and hiking

Rhode Island > Providence Warwick > Outdoor Activities > Walking and Hiking
Spring on the Riverwalk in Downtown Providence, RI - Credit PWCVB
Go Providence

1 Sabin Street Providence, RI, 02903 Phone: 401-751-1177

Walkable Providence means visitors can explore neighborhoods, encounter history

It’s easy to get out and about in Providence, RI, one of the country’s most walkable cities. Its vibrant neighborhoods invite strolling, with a happy variety of restaurants, shops and arts venues. Stop by the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Visitor Information Center to get a self-guided historic walking tour map to help explore the city by foot. At Waterplace Park, walk along the tidal basin; or take the kids on a scavenger hunt through Roger Williams Park. A walk along 1.2 miles of cobblestoned Benefit Street will reveal one of the country’s highest concentrations of Colonial buildings. For more info, visit GoProvidence.com
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benefit street providence ri
Benefit Street Walking Tours

Benefit Street Providence, RI Phone: 401-273-7507

Developed starting in the mid-1700s “for the benefit of all,” this Colonial neighborhood is lined with a gorgeous collection of 18th- and 19th-century wood-frame houses. It looks like a "museum mile," in all seasons, but it is actually a functioning neighborhood on the edge of the Brown University campus. Tours meet at the John Brown House, 52 Power Street.
Hours: Tours are offered June 15 to October 31; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 11-11:30 a.m.
providence park
Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy

120 Killingly Street Providence, RI Phone:

This 88 acres of green space and wilderness park is located, oddly, on the edge of the densely populated Silver Lake/Olneyville area of Providence, so it is easy to get to for residents and visitors to Providence. This wilderness park is 88 pristine acres of trees, fields, and wild flowers, interspersed with valleys, ravines, glacial boulders, stone walls, fresh water springs and brooks. The Hill is the natural habitat for a multitude of small woodland animals including deer, fox, and wild turkey. The Great Hill of Neutaconkanut was the northwest boundary in the land agreement between Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, and the Narragansett Sachems. Guided hikes are held the first Saturday of every month. Facebook .
WaterPlace Park Central Basin - Providence, RI - Photo Credit Courtesy of N. Millard & GoProvidence
WaterPlace Park and Riverwalk

Memorial Boulevard Providence, RI, 02903 Phone: 401-785-9450

Developed during a brilliant revival of downtown Providence starting in the 1990s, this park is largely a walkway along the 3 rivers that meet in the downtown, with delightfully fanciful footbridges that cross the river at intervals. At the end of the walk bracketed by Memorial Blvd., Francis Street, and Finance Way is a circular boat basin with amphitheater-type steps where outdoor performances take place in warm weather. The river is home to the famous WaterFire art installation of broadcast music combined with fires on the water that has charmed thousands of local people and visitors.
Tillinghast Pond

Narrow Lane or Plain Road West Greenwich, RI, 02817 Phone: 401-331-7110

Tillinghast Pond offers three looping hiking trails so you can walk as short or long as you wish. Bring your canoe or kayak and paddle on the pond and enjoy the solitude of these outdoors on your Rhode Island vacation. 
Ken Weber Conservation Area at Cascade Brook

Mapleville Road Smithfield, RI Phone:

Come to enjoy this land especially in spring and fall. A springtime brook and small waterfall, rock outcroppings, a walking trail, and a four-fireplace chimney remaining from another era. A one-mile blue blazed walking trail loops through the open, rocky forest, taking visitors to property’s high spots. The brook and small waterfall are the place’s best features, along with massive outcroppings and ledges, several stone walls and numerous stately trees.
Access: Enter off Putnam Pike (Route 44) at the sign for Village at Waterman Lake, at the western edge of Greenville, across from West Greenville Road. This entrance is Mapleville Road. Park at the end of the paved roadway (do not take the forks that go up to the left).
Hiking Trail - Goddard Memorial State Park - Warwick, RI - Photo Credit George Ford
Goddard Memorial State Park

1095 Ives Road Warwick, RI, 02818 Phone: 401-884-2010

There are lots and lots of walking trails through woods and across fields in this large park on Greenwich Bay. Trails used for horseback riding. No mountain bikes. - Park Map (PDF)
Brown University Walking Tours

The neighborhood around Prospect Street Providence, RI Phone: 401-863-2378

The campus of one of America's oldest institutions of higher learning provides ample opportunity for both long and short walks.
Blackstone Park & Boulevard in Providence
Blackstone Park & Boulevard in Providence

Blackstone Boulevard Providence, RI, 02906 Phone:

Blackstone Boulevard is a 1.6-mile-long street in the upscale and beautiful East Side of Providence. It has a 100-foot wide median that is richly endowed with bushes and trees and a walking path. The street has bicycle lanes on each side of the median. The Boulevard is one of the landmarks of Providence and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This beautiful park attracts walkers and runners from all over the city. It is also very welcoming to bicyclists. Benches line the wide central path, and there is one substantial structure, a rustic stone shelter built over 100 years ago as a trolley stop. The park is cared for by volunteers and the Blackstone Parks Conservancy. - Park Map (PDF)
Stillwater Scenic Trail - Smithfield, RI
Stillwater Scenic Trail

off Farnum Pike Smithfield, RI, 02917 Phone:

Once a railroad bed, the walkway now presents a place for easy strolls where walkers can enjoy scenes of the Woonasquatucket River as it flows into Stillwater Pond, as well as water birds, song birds, turtles, frogs and butterflies. About a half-mile from the start of the walk you reach Stillwater Pond and a dam. Beyond is a smaller pond and second dam, creating a nice waterfall, near Capron Road. There are many good places to cast a fishing line.
Access: Park in a gravel lot off Farnum Pike (Route 104) between Washington Highway (Route 116) and Stump Pond dam. The walkway runs under Washington Highway and along Stillwater Pond all the way to Capron Road.
Lime Rock Preserve

Wilbur Road Lincoln, RI Phone: 401-331-7110

Only 10 minutes from downtown Providence, the preserve forms an oasis of tranquility and an important refuge for wildlife in an area that is heavily impacted by development. Ledges of dolomitic marble produce a special calcareous soil that nurtures 30 rare plant species. Beautiful ferns and wildflowers grow along ridges of recrystallized limestone.

Mowry Conservation Area

Old Forge Road between Farnum Pike (Route 104) and Log Road Smithfield, RI Phone:

This wooded area of 44 acres offer marked walking trails, places for picnics, and stocked trout stream, and stone wall left from an 18th-century forge. IN the warm seasons, water rushing through an old dam makes a nice little waterfall. An orange-blazed trail in the lower area, traveling through old hemlocks and pines, is the shorter loop. A yellow-blazed trail, accessible from the orange-marked trail, travels up a steep ridge and through hardwoods and mountain laurel. Together, the two trails equal about one mile.
Access: Look for the entrance sign and park along Old Forge Road between Farnum Pike (Route 104) and Log Road just north of Stump Pond.
roger williams park in providence RI in spring
Roger Williams Park

1000 Elmwood Avenue Providence, RI, 02907 Phone:

Roger Williams Park off Elmwood Avenue in Providence is a gorgeous Victorian-era park comprising 435 beautiful acres of drives that are great for walking or biking, lakes, a carousel, gracious buildings, a zoo and a museum and planetarium. The park offers lots of public events, and also some really helpful, downloadable maps that allow you to explore it on your own. Enjoy!
Map PDFs: Notable Buildings - Walking Trails - Notable Art - Notable Trees
Maxwell Mays Wildlife Refuge - Audubon Society of Rhode Island

2082 Victory Highway (Route 102) Coventry, RI, 02816 Phone: 401-949-5454

The Maxwell Mays Wildlife Refuge contains over 295 acres of diverse wildlife habitat consisting of upland forests, wetlands, streams, ponds and open meadow where people can visit and go walking or hiking during their next vacation or weekend getaway. The 11-acre Carr’s Pond, situated entirely within the bounds of the property, is the centerpiece of the preserve. It is home to river otters as well as many types of freshwater fish and aquatic invertebrates. The land is comprised of a relatively mature and undisturbed closed-canopy forest and forested wetlands as well as developed understory - creating ideal conditions for migratory and forest interior birds. A 10-acre field near the head of the trail also provides excellent meadow wildlife habitat.
Swan Point Cemetery

585 Blackstone Boulevard Providence, RI Phone: 401-272-1314

A historic cemetery with beautiful plantings and monuments. Walking and slow bicycloing allowed. Proper attire requested. Many noted Rhode Island politicians are buried here.