Overview
Matunuck is one of the villages of South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island. The village's name is from a Native American word meaning "look out." The Narragansett tribe made a summer encampment at this location before the land was sold to colonists as part of the Pettaquamscutt purchase. It is mostly a summer community in Southern Rhode Island with a small, but strong base of year round locals.
3 sights · 1 things to do · 5 places to eat · 2 bars & cafés · 1 places to stay
Updated from Wikivoyage on 1 October 2026 · Something wrong or missing? Improve it on Wikivoyage
Best things about Matunuck
Roy Carpenter’s Beach
A small private beach nestled among a bungalow community. It is open to the public for a fee, but has a general store, snack bar, picnic tables, and bathrooms.
Theater By the Sea
A theater built in 1933 that presents plays and performances. It is one Rhode Island's most historic landmarks.
South Kingstown Town Beach
This public beach charges a parking fee ($38 for residents, $75 for non-residents, good for a full year), but has a volleyball court, playground, picnic tables, bathrooms, and is within walking distance of several stores…
Deephole Beach
A parking lot for surfers, kiteboarders, windsurfers, and others who use the waters off the beach for recreational purposes. This beach along with the others in Matunuck are directly exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, becaus…
Plan your trip
Best time to visit & weather
Most comfortable: May–Oct. Summer highs reach about 83°F; winter lows dip to about 22°F. Cold months (Jan) can bring snow and ice; check road conditions. Wettest: Oct and Mar. (climate data from nearby Narragansett)
Blue bars: average daily high and low (°F). Purple columns: average monthly rain and melted snow (inches).
Getting there
- From you: to see whether to drive or fly, and how long it takes.
- WST Westerly State Airport, Westerly — 14 mi away. Directions
- NPT Newport State Airport, Newport — 17 mi away. Directions
- PVD Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport, Providence/Warwick — 25 mi away (major hub). Directions
Matunuck is right off the highway, making it easy to get to by car. The Matunuck Beach Road exit is off of US Route 1 North, with convenient left lane U-turns for south-bound motorists.
Full “Get in” guide ↓Budget & where to stay
No prices are listed for this place yet. See the Sleep guide ↓ for options.
Sample 1-day itinerary
Day 1
- Morning Roy Carpenter’s Beach, Theater By the Sea
- Lunch Joyce’s Family Pub
- Afternoon South Kingstown Town Beach, Deephole Beach
- Dinner Vanilla Bean
- Evening Ocean Mist
Stops are grouped by area so each day needs little backtracking. Check opening hours before you go.
Food for you
Cuisine (tap to filter)
What to ask about, for your diet
Diet labels come from each listing's description and cuisine; “likely” means the cuisine usually has good choices, not a promise. Check with the restaurant. Open the food finder
Photos
Map
Every listing with a location. Tap a pin for its Google Maps link.
Get in
By car
Matunuck is right off the highway, making it easy to get to by car. The Matunuck Beach Road exit is off of US Route 1 North, with convenient left lane U-turns for south-bound motorists.
By boat
Matunuck has no marinas or ports, making it inaccessible directly by boat. However, there is some dockage in Matunuck located behind several houses that border Potters Pond on the east most side of Matunuck. Its neighbor, East Matunuck, has several legitimate marinas and docking areas.
Get around
Matunuck is such a small area that motorized transportation is not really a necessity to move within it. Most places are easily within comfortable walking distance. However a bike, or if you're adventurous, a skateboard would easily be the best option to navigating Matunuck.
See
See Roy Carpenter’s Beach
A small private beach nestled among a bungalow community. It is open to the public for a fee, but has a general store, snack bar, picnic tables, and bathrooms.
See South Kingstown Town Beach
This public beach charges a parking fee ($38 for residents, $75 for non-residents, good for a full year), but has a volleyball court, playground, picnic tables, bathrooms, and is within walking distance of several stores. This calm, family-friendly beach offers 1,300 feet of beautiful beach, including a boardwalk, playground, and communal volleyball court and picnic area. It is a short walk to local ice cream, pizza and deli restaurants. Requires a seasonal pass for residents or nonresidents if you need to park; free for walk-on only.
See Deephole Beach
A parking lot for surfers, kiteboarders, windsurfers, and others who use the waters off the beach for recreational purposes. This beach along with the others in Matunuck are directly exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, because of this, Deephole and Matunuck can see some of the best surfing conditions in Rhode Island. On the flip side, Matunuck can also see some great windy conditions for windsurfers or kiteboarders who take advantage of the strong sea breeze that can develop there.
Do
- Water recreation: surfing, kiteboarding, windsurfing, paddle boarding, kayaking, and more. Matunuck can offer some of the best surfing and windy conditions in Rhode Island, making it a prime destination for water-bound thrill-seekers.
Buy
Shop Matunuck Surf Shop
A small local surfshop across from the entrance to South Kingstown Town Beach. The shop has a decent selection of surfboards, skateboards, wetsuits, surf accessories, and clothing. The prices are a little high but the proximity to the beach and water cannot be beat.
- General ATMs. Two can be found in Matunuck. One is inside of the Ocean Mist and the other is inside the Seaview Marketplace, however a service fee is assessed by both. Also these machines are not re-filled very frequently so it would be best to use others outside of Matunuck.
- Matunuck Laundromat, next to Just D's restaurant.
Shop Seaview Marketplace
The market offers a full service deli with a variety of meats, cheeses, salads, and sandwiches made with their homemade breads. Sunscreen, groceries, BBQ essentials.
Eat
Eat Joyce’s Family Pub
Rhode Island’s oldest Irish bar & grill. It is a small, quaint establishment with a definite Irish atmosphere. Its menu is designed for transient beach goers, consisting of burgers, fries, chili, chicken tenders, and the like. There are also seafood entrees and nightly dinner specials.
- The Ocean Mist, 895A Matunuck Beach Rd., +1 401-782-3740. A beach-side club, bar, and restaurant with daily specials. Every Tuesday night after 8PM it’s “Ticket Tuesday” with $5 admission (includes 2 drinks), free billiards, young crowd, and pumping reggae music. Along with Tuesday night, Monday night is 'Taco night' (3 tacos for $3), Wednesday night is 'Wing night' (6 wings for $2), Thursday night is 'Two for one' (get any two Mexican meals for the price of one), and Friday night is fish and chips with a free bowl of chowder all day long. There is always a $3 draft beer of the month.
Eat Vanilla Bean
Open in the summer. This small ice cream shop is next to the beach and directly off the main road.
Eat Just D's
A small diner next to the Matunuck Surf Shop across from the entrance to South Kingstown Town Beach. It offers a cheap diner breakfast and lunch menu. There's not too much room to eat in the shop so it would be best to go somewhere else to eat your food.
Eat Seaview Marketplace
It is a small grocery, deli, and sandwich place. The deli in back of the market has unique subs and premade food as well a decent selection of cold cuts, steaks, cheese, and fish.
Eat Seaview Cafe
Next to marketplace. From 10-11AM diner-style breakfast is served, and from 11AM-2PM diner-style lunch is served. After 2PM, it becomes Seaview Pizza which offers a variety of specialty pizzas, calzones, bread, and pasta dishes. It closes around 8PM.
Drink
Drink Ocean Mist
They have Reggae nights every Tuesday and bands play occasionally on the weekends. It's right on the water and has great views of the ocean. Tuesday nights are very popular because of Ticket Tuesday when entry is $5 and patrons receive two tickets good for any two drinks that you want at the bar. Awesome place for music artists as well. Arrive before 9PM on Tuesdays to avoid having to wait in line or getting stuck waiting as the line becomes one person in, one person out.
Drink Tara’s Joyce Family Pub
Tara's Joyce Family Pub celebrates its Irish roots with live traditional Irish music weekly. Nightly food and drink specials, including Wednesday night spaghetti and meatballs and Friday night fish and chips, have kept a devoted local following for years. This family operated bar has served Rhode Islanders for decades.
Sleep
Go next
East Matunuck offers more of the same coastline but doesn't offer many establishments open year round. It is one exit farther north off of Route 1 north.
Charlestown is the second biggest town on the southern Rhode Island coast. It has more shops, places to eat, and things to do than either Matunuck or East Matunuck. It is also home to Ninigret Park. The park is open to the public from sunrise to sunset year round. Many different recreational facilities are available throughout the park. Various special events and festivals are held throughout the summer months. It is a 10-minute ride down Route 1 south, but to get to the exit a U-turn must be taken since the exit is off of Route 1 north.
Providence is the capital of Rhode Island and offers a diverse and dynamic city setting with its feature attraction being the Providence Place Mall. It is about a 45-minute ride north of Matunuck but is worth the ride with a large variety of things to do and see.
Nearby
East Matunuck
City / town · 12 listings · 0 mi away
South Kingstown
City / town · 34 listings · 5 mi away
Wakefield
City / town · 41 listings · 5 mi away
Charlestown
City / town · 36 listings · 5 mi away
Narragansett
City / town · 95 listings · 7 mi away
Richmond
City / town · 31 listings · 10 mi away
Brenton Point State Park
Park · 1 listings · 11 mi away
Dutch Island
Park · 12 mi away
My experience
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