Newport State Park

8/22/25 - a beautiful park with some hiking trails and very easy access to the beach which is close to the parking lot. The sandy beach has a few mostly small rocks, but is not too bad. We enjoyed dipping our feet in the cool water. Somebody had fun stacking rocks and had to get a picture and video

One of the two large state parks in Door County, Newport State Park offers much better access to the water because it lacks bluffs. It's a fun hike with great views, plenty of woods, and a walkable shoreline. I totally recommend it.

Small, pretty park. An international Dark Park for observing the stars. Good beach and views. We didn't do much trail walking this visit.

First time, but Great trails. Will want to hike further next time. Great views. Will be back!

Surprised to hear that a big storm downed a lot of trees in the summer. Half the paths were closed. Still enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods with water views. Nice new boardwalk thru previously marshy path.

Creepy place, but on a clear night, it's worth it to go with a group to star gaze. You can see the Milky Way 🌌 with your naked eyes. No white lights allowed though, so bring a small red light so you can see the path from the parking lot to the beach and a blanket to lay on. However, if you go on an overcast day or without many people, it is VERY creepy!

I loved the views during the day. My husband and I wanted to experience the stars, but it was too cloudy. This park is especially interesting because it is considered a "Dark Sky" designation!!! We will be back.

This park has nice large trails in most cases with beautiful beaches and views provided your willing to walk a bit, there visitors center also has a nice amount of souvenir items to pick up as I like to grab a magnet and a sticker of wherever I've visited. Also they are a great place to star gaze but we didn't stay that late. There definitely a place though where you could spend a couple of days just walking around and enjoying yourself with not to many people around, only bad thing is they don't have a whole lot of bathrooms around as they are a bit stretched out and more of a hiking park, but I still would definitely love to vist them again someday!!

Newport State Park is located toward the topmost point of the Door County peninsula. We stopped by on a day when we decided to drive the length of the peninsula. It actually had somehow escaped my attention that there are multiple state parks in Door County. I knew of and have visited and camped in Peninsula State Park but hadn't heard of Newport State Park. It's a beautiful state park with both beachy and woodsy areas. The coolest thing that i wished I'd known sooner on our recent trip to Door County is that it's been designated an International Dark Sky Park. Star gazing in the rich splendor of Door County? This is your spot.

A beautiful state park located at the top of the Door County peninsula on the Lake Michigan side. It wasn't too busy for a Saturday morning. Very cool shaded trails along the coastline. Also some great places to sit (on the rocks) it's crazy the difference of temp from the solo parking lot to the beach area. This is one of the smaller state parks in reference of driving around cause it's a short drive from the ranger station to the main parking lot. Very beautiful!

Beautiful park with majestic views and white sand. We tried seeing the northern lights but with all the smoke we missed them but we enjoyed the trails and peaceful nature around us for the evening.

Our favorite Wisconsin state park for hiking! The north half from lot 1 is almost 7 miles round trip!'nn

What a great spot to take a hike! I think this park is underrated because it doesn't have traditional camping. There are 16 hike-in campsites with pit toilets nearby. I don't do pit toilets, so this is a big nope for me, unfortunately. The hiking, however, is great. There are 26 miles of hiking, and on our most recent visit, we managed about 10, by hiking in three different spots. We started out on the Newport trail and strayed off onto the Sand Cove Duck Bay trail. This portion was not clearly marked, and we often wondered if we were even on a trail, until we finally saw some signs confirming that all was good. We took the Newport trail until is met up with the Rowleys Bay trail, and circled back towards the trail head. This, alone, was almost a 5 mile hike. Next, we drove to a different part of the park and hiked the Sugarbush trail, which was another 1.3 miles. Our final visit was to the far north end of the park, where we hiked the Hotz trail, another almost 3 miles. The Sugarbush trail is at the end of a dead end road, and it feels like you shouldn't be there, because there is a house just off the road. However, there is a clearly designated gravel parking lot with a trail map, so you know you're in the right spot. The Hotz trail is also at the end of a dead end road, however, there is a small park with a parking lot located there, as well. We decided to have a little picnic, then hike the trail. There is a cool stone arch at one entrance to the trail, and the others just exit out onto the road. We've hiked here several times before, but for some reason, we never strayed away from the Fern and Lynd Point trails. This is a big mistake! Get out and explore more of what this park offers....you won't be disappointed! 45/2022

Another nice state park even on a cloudy and cool day. We went for a good hike along the shore of Lake Michigan. There are a number of paths throughout the park including some you can bike on. There are picnic tables available so we were able to have lunch out near the lake. Overall a fun place.

Newport State Park has recently upgraded part of the Fern Trail to include a wooden boardwalk. It's a little bit less than a mile, but perfect for strollers, kids' wagons, and wheelchairs. Plus, you can now go into *really* boggy areas without disturbing the areas. Great addition to an already excellent hiking opportunity.

Thi is a nice well maintained park. The trails are well groomed and marked. We hiked the Newport loop 3.8 miles. The path was mostly shaded. There are several walk in camp sites along the trail. Bring mosquito spray, you'll need it.

Great place for a Fall hike with trails of different difficulty levels and distances. Nice views of the Shoreline too where you can hike a trail loop that is near the water and gear the waves rolling in. Pet friendly with dogs on a leash required. It was more crowded this past October weekend than we imagined it would be so we kept our masks on much of the hike. Convenient parking here too.

We visited here again a few weeks ago in mid-September, and usually by this time of year it's pretty quiet, but the parking lot near the beach was almost full when we arrived on a late weekday morning. I think we were not the only ones thinking that we needed a reasonably safe still-dealing-with-this-pandemic vacation. That said, the park is big so the trails weren't even slightly crowded. Every picnic table was occupied at lunch though! We did manage to snag one. My previous review still holds true so please see that one as well. If you're planning to visit 3 or more state parks, definitely buy the annual pass as that will be less expensive than individual admission fees to 3 parks. Newport is gorgeous, so don't miss it! Still really not much cell service though just as a heads up for anyone who gets nervous being out of cell range, Also...lots of garter snakes! We think they're cool, and enjoy seeing them on every visit, but if you're seriously scared of snakes, this might not be the best park for you!

DO NOT MISS! Newport is the first state park in Wisconsin designated by IDA as an International Dark Sky Park, one of just 48 parks in the world to earn the distinction. (Check out this link for more info on this) https://www.darksky.org/newport-state-park-designated-wisconsins-first-international-dark-sky-park/ We are city-folk and normally only get to see the brightest stars. To see the night sky from this park is AMAZING Go during the day to drive through the park and walk to the night viewing area. Then come back at night to view the stars. Be sure to speak with the WI DNR park ranger for more information.

For a quick 1 hour hike , take Lynd point trail from lot 3 and then take Europe bay trail to get back to the lot. Nice views of the water

This is a great park to get away from some of the hustle and bustle of motorized transportation of all types. There are hiking trails of all levels of difficulty in the park, with some of the more scenic trails tending toward the rugged. This is not a car camping park - you must backpack, bike, or cart your gear into the sites. The advantage of this is that the sites are mostly spread out. You definitely get more privacy and solitude. The main trails that lead to all the sites are good enough that you can use a bike, cart, or wagon to wheel your gear in. Each cluster of sites has a pit toilet, and each site has a fire ring with grill grate and one or two benches. There are also food storage boxes to keep the raccoons and other critters away from your food. There are good drinking fountains with spigots to fill your water containers at each parking lot. The staff seemed courteous and friendly, which is not always a given at some state parks. Lastly, the beach is pretty nice and is a perfect place to cool off in the cold water on a hot summer day.

Newport park is an excellent place for day hiking in door county. There's a small beach close to parking overlooking Lake Michigan. From that point, there are several trails you can follow, ranging from 2 to 7 miles. The trails are flat, which it makes them easily enjoyable for everyone. A couple downsides: 1) There are massive numbers of mosquitoes in the summer. Come prepared. 2) the boundaries are not clearly marked between the trail and campsites. 3) Apart from the beach, I could not find so many scenic areas along the trail. Despite all that, I could never give a national park less than four stars because this land is so dear to my heart.

Best dark sky park in WI. Amazing hiking. Wilderness only so no improvements. Just a great place to relax when the weather is nice, so maybe 4 good weeks a year in northern WI.

We hiked Lynd Point/Fern loop and enjoyed the hike and the views! We didn't see any markings on the trails, but we survived :)

Newport State Park is a wonderful way to see Lake Michigan from the beach and take beautiful photographs from the beach. If you go off one of the main paved trails onto the shoreline trails, there are no signs until you reach 3 camp sites. You just keep walking though, because it is a just two hour walk on the trail to the parking lot. The beach is by far the most epic aspect of Newport State Park. The trails don't have much Lake Michigan scenery and I see the same plants/trees as elsewhere in Wisconsin. Newport State Park doesn't have as pretty unique landscape as Cave Point County Park. The main trails are in great shape yet the trails near the shoreline have hundreds of sharp rocks and tree roots not for weak legs. I hiked the Newport Trail, because the entire Europa trail is a gigantic loop around the outer park boundaries and didn't have that kind of time or water/food to finish that (takes whole day).

Great place to see the stars at night!! but it's a good idea to explore in the daylight first so that you know where you're going! Other people are there to see the stars in the pitch black so the etiquette seems to be to limit your flash light use (or bring red bulb lights)

This was our last stop on our "tour of lake Michigan" I have never been back county camping before, but after my experience here, i don't think i can camp any other way! You have to carry all of your stuff to your campsite, which is soooooo worth it when you reach your spot and realize that the only thing that you are going to hear during your stay is the wind, and the waves. We had our own stretch of beautiful, rocky, lake shore! There are metal boxes to keep your food and water in, since you don't want any of the local wildlife to get into your stuff....and there a pits for bathrooms. (if you need at least an outhouse with a roof and four walls, this might not be the place for you...but the "bathroom" is far away from the campsites, so you will have privacy...) I really loved it here, and i want to go back!!!

This was our first stab at backpack camping and it was wonderful. The site was wonderful, very private off the trail and on a bit of a hill so that we had a wonderful view overlooking Lake Michigan. We unfortunately hit the week window where the Mayflies were around. Thankfully they don't seem to bite, but the swarms are pretty annoying. The hiking/ biking trails are in great shape and should be able to keep you busy for awhile. Staff at the vistor center is friendly and helpful. Lots of wildlife and we even saw a bunch of pelicans that apparently live here in the summer. We will definitely be back to do more exploring!

We did not stay long enough to see the glacial remnants and broken limestone along the shore of Newport State Park due to dangerous weather. I did get to see a terrifying thunderstorm tear away across Lake Michigan. We went for a short hike, to walk off some of Bea's Ho Made raspberry filled donut holes. There were literally no human beings there, in the middle of July, except the couple that had eaten dinner at the table next to ours the previous night: just nature's quiet beauty.

This is my favorite park in Door County. The trails are wonderful for hiking or biking, the traffic is light, and the forest and lakeshore are incredible. If you want to feel like you're the only people in the park, this is a must go. It's also the only dark sky park in Wisconsin, so if you enjoy hiking into a campsite, this is the park for you to stargaze the night away.

First of all I have to disclose....this is really a hiking park. So with full disclosure, if you are looking for a park to drive through and see the sites look elsewhere. But if you want to get out for a little exercise and solitude....this is a great park. Many trail options for hiking or backpacking. Reminded me a lot of some of the great hiking we have up North in Michigan....except minus the bugs. We must have hit it perfect as bugs were not an issue when we went. It hiking and exploration are on you list for parks...this is a good one for sure!

First time in this park - did both bike trails: Newport & Europa for a total of 12 miles. The Newport is a little rough for a bike if you don't have the right kind of bike for trails - lots of rocks & roots but it was awesome! If you want to ride on a paved surface, try Peninsula Park. We were the only ones on both trails so enjoyed listening to the lake & birds along the way. Great park. We will be back!

Gigantic!!! So many trails... Snowmobiles, hiking, biking, skiing. The eagle's nest lookout tower was closed off due to structural insufficiencies. The park is beautiful and we enjoyed our time here very much. On your way out of town stop in at Wild Tomato in Fish Creek for some fire grilled pizza! It's about 8 miles from the park!

Newport SP offers a lot of trails and has a wonderful rustic feeling. Unfortunately, many trails are not marked, so you may experience some confusion while walking in the woods, but many trails offer terrific views of Lake Michigan.

This recently became an International Dark Sky Park and you definitely don't want to miss out on it. My family and I went around 9 pm and parked in lot 3 to get to the beach. The Milky Way is gorgeous and amazing. I recommend bringing blankets/towels to lay on and some bug spray and a flashlight. It gets pretty dark out there which makes the experience even more amazing!

"On Wisconsin" I am so Glad to set a flag on this spot. I don't need to raise a flag on the moon. I have NEWPORT STATE PARK. This place is sprawling, lush and intimate. Perfect place to get away with someone special. Surrounded by Nature and Water. The natural sounds of every thing from loons to crickets. This park I won't lie is allot of work to get into your camp sites, but well worth the trip. A little red wagon or some type of cart will help with the trip in. That is a pearl I just gave ladies and gentlemen. I sud jest Camp site that is at the tip of it's own peninsula, or Duck Blind. The peninsula is like Adam and eve, Adam/Adam, Eve/ Eve. You get the picture. It is very private and one of the most amazing places to enjoy the company of a person you truly dig. Bring the dog/s. They will always remember it as well. Can't say they C-word since we been there. He grabs the dog dish, leash and his favorite bone and heads for the door. It's that great. There are also allot of canoe/ kayak co. that will do a drop off for the weekend. Mnt. biking in and out. Tons of GREAT TRAILS. Bike, Hike and meander the amazing little secret of Newport State Park. On the peninsula site you have crashing water and small cliffs on one side, Glass like lagoon on the other. Great for dipping of any sort. They have fire rings and food storage at each site. Go ahead an loose your selves. I dare you. Your still reading? Your dog is already packing.

Not only is this park amazing, but all of the park rangers are, too. Thank you Michelle, Beth, and everyone else.