10+ Fun Things to Do in Bridgeport, CT (from a local)

Note: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a commission. More details are here.

Looking for things to do in Bridgeport, Connecticut from locals? Keep reading for some of our favorite spots after four years of living here.

Bridgeport’s top attractions are its famous parks: Seaside Park’s long stretch of beach and Beardsley Park’s zoo. Many visitors love catching a concert at the amphitheater or taking the ferry across the Long Island Sound on a beautiful day. Plus, downtown Bridgeport and the Black Rock neighborhood offer some great attractions and restaurants.

We’ve gotten to know Bridgeport pretty well since we moved here from PA four years ago. Rich’s parents grew up here, and since we’ve lived here ourselves, we’ve seen it throughout the year, day and night, and various parts of the city.

And I’ll be upfront: it has its challenges, like many other cities. Despite Bridgeport’s sometimes negative reputation, good things are happening here. 

I’m excited about the future of Bridgeport. I really believe in this city—its culture, beauty, and history shouldn’t be overlooked. 

There are plenty of things to keep you busy in what is known as CT’s park city. Especially if you’re a fellow Connecticut resident, don’t miss visiting this shoreline city. 

Keep reading for ideas to help you plan some fun activities in Bridgeport, CT!

🚴🏾‍♀️ Go Biking or Jogging by the Beach

Year round, the paths next to the water at Seaside Park offer a great place to enjoy nature on a jog, walk, or bike ride. In the off season, you’ll often have the views to yourself, but on summer afternoons there are lots of people, music, and energy if that’s more your thing. 

The park has two sides—the wooded side and the beach side. The pathways follow the water for the entire length of the park.

Personally, my favorite time for a walk or bike ride is early on a summer morning before the gates open to cars. There are usually a few others out for walks with friends or a morning jog, and the golden light along the beach is beautiful. If the morning hours coincide with low tide, it’s especially magical because the shallow water creates a lot of tide pools.

Read More: Visiting Seaside Park: Everything You Need to Know

🔎 Visit the Discovery Museum

If you’re looking for something to do with kids during a heat wave or rainy day in Bridgeport, the Discovery Science Center and Planetarium is the perfect spot. With hands-on science exhibits, rotating special exhibits, and planetarium shows, there’s tons for kids to explore. 

When I visited, there was a beautiful art exhibit as well as aviation history, both of which I found interesting to explore as an adult.

The center has a food court with concessions, and guests are also welcome to bring their own lunch.

Get details here.

🎸 Check out a Concert at the Amphitheater

A mostly covered outdoor music venue, the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater is relatively new to Bridgeport–it used to be the home for a minor league baseball team. Since it was renovated and converted to a music venue, it’s been a popular Bridgeport spot with tons of great bands playing every year.

Catching a concert here is one of the best things to do in Bridgeport. From Kings of Leon to Goo Goo Dolls to The Head and the Heart, we’ve gone to at least one show per summer since we’ve moved here.

🚢 Take the Ferry Across the Long Island Sound

It’s one thing to look out across the sound at Long Island on a clear day, and it’s entirely another thing to take the ferry across as you look back at the city disappearing in the distance. I always think there’s something special about getting out on the water when you’re visiting the shoreline, and the ferry from Bridgeport is no exception. 

The Bridgeport ferry takes you to Port Jefferson, New York, a cute Long Island town where you can wander, shop, or grab a bite to eat before heading back to Bridgeport. 

While riding the ferry, you can enjoy the views from the top where there is plenty of seating, or stay inside if you prefer. Each of the ferry boats also have general concessions, as well as a lounge with food and alcoholic drinks. 

🛼 Enjoy outdoor roller skating at Skateport Saturdays

In the warmer months (June – October), head to Post Office Square for outdoor rollerskating with Skateport.  

Skateport has been growing over the last few years and offers some lesson events during the summer, as well as Skateport Saturdays, a community event with skate rentals, DJs, food trucks, and outdoor games. 

I finally made my way there for their last event in 2025 (as a spectator only), and the atmosphere was so fun. They even had free admission and free rentals thanks to sponsor for that date! Young and old, experienced and newbies, everyone was out having a great time. 

Check out their Instagram or Facebook to see the schedule, cost, and stay updated on what’s coming next.

🌅 Catch a Sunset at Fayerweather Island Light

Seaside Park is the most beautiful place in Bridgeport to watch a sunset. 

If low tide coincides with sunset, I recommend walking along the boardwalk path towards the lighthouse for a beautiful view. While not exactly quiet on summer evenings, this walk is absolutely magical. 

If you really want to soak in a beautiful sunset with a pier, harbor full of boats, and a lighthouse on a peninsula, head to the far end of the beach. 

The sun sets opposite from the lighthouse (behind the harbor to the right), so you can get a pretty good view from the small pier or the rocky peninsula. If you want to be active while enjoying the sunset, you can walk all the way out to the lighthouse and back. 

Tips for walking to Fayerweather Island Lighthouse:

• Walk to the right along the shore path once you need to get around the tree area. 
• Take bug spray and/or walk quickly as there is a marshy area on the peninsula.
• The park closes at 8 PM so be sure to allow enough time to return to your vehicle. (You won’t be locked into the park, but the police start patrolling with sirens to get everyone to leave. I also wouldn’t recommend being in the park after dark for safety.)

Check out my Seaside Park guide for details on visiting the park and more tips.

🏖️ Take a Water Taxi to an “Island” Beach

Have you heard about the former amusement park on a beachy Bridgeport island that used to attract tens of thousands of visitors daily? 

At various points throughout the 20th century, this island had everything from a baseball stadium where the Chicago Cubs played an exhibition game, to a carousel, roller skating rink, ballroom, performances by Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra, a ballet, and a rollercoaster. 

Today, Pleasure Beach is just a quiet beach in Bridgeport, and its surprising and tumultuous past has almost all been swallowed up by nature.

You can take a free water taxi out to the island (on what’s now technically a peninsula) on summer weekends. (Unfortunately, the City of Bridgeport just announced that Pleasure Beach will be closed for the 2025 season due to the presence of both ticks and protected bird species nesting.)

While Pleasure Beach doesn’t have the amenities of Seaside Beach nor is it as much of a destination, it’s an affordable alternative, especially for Bridgeport residents who want a quiet nature escape. 

Read more: Guide to Bridgeport beaches

🧘🏽‍♀️ Do Outdoor Yoga with an Ocean View

Yoga in Our City offers free outdoor yoga in city parks across Connecticut from mid-May through early October. There are three parks in Bridgeport with classes: Seaside Park, Beardsley Park, and Ellsworth Park. 

The yoga classes at Seaside are held twice a week on a beautiful lawn on the “wooded side” (as I call it) and have an ocean view. This is one of my favorite things to do in Bridgeport on beautiful summer and early fall days! 

Their Instagram and Facebook pages are the best places to get class schedules and weather updates.

🎭 Catch a Live Performance at the Bijou Theater 

Once a popular location for silent films, this historic theater in downtown Bridgeport now hosts live music, comedy, and theater–from the Candlelight concert series to tribute bands to Afro Cuban jazz and more.

We visited earlier this year for a Candlelight Concert, which featured a Yale student quartet performing Hans Zimmer pieces, and it was excellent. 

I recommend dinner at EAT Noodle, which is right next door. (Their curry crispy chicken with rice is to-die-for. If you don’t like heat, they have some non-spicy ramen and pho options that are quite good.)  

Other nearby dining options: Trattoria ‘A Vucchella and Joseph’s Steakhouse. 

🥃 Enjoy a Distillery Tasting and Tour (21+)

Started about 10 years ago, Fifth State Distillery was the first licensed distillery to open in Fairfield County after Prohibition. It’s named for the fact that Connecticut was the fifth state to join the union. 

Located on a quiet street in Bridgeport, this is very much a family operation, which you feel from the moment you step inside. 

They produce award-winning liquors, flavored vodkas, and specialty spirits. 

The distiller, Rob Schulten, is a former chemical engineer who’s clearly passionate about both his craft and the Connecticut history surrounding it. We could tell he not only knows his stuff, but that he’s curious and a great storyteller—all marks of a great tour guide in my opinion. 

He told us they’re especially proud of their gin, and they’ve won CT gin distillery of the year four years in a row by the New York International Spirits Competition. 

(I think I even started to develop more of a taste for gin as I learned about what it should taste like!)

Throughout the one-hour experience, Rich and I enjoyed numerous cocktail samples (the ginger vodka in the cranberry mule was fantastic), along with some tastings of whiskey, vodka, and gin. As all the guests sat around tables, Rob talked about how they only use Connecticut corn for all their products (he works with farmers he knows and trusts), as well as some other Connecticut ingredients. He also shared a ton about the distilling process as we had a mini tour of their facility.

The whole team (Rob and bartenders Sandy and Julia) was incredibly welcoming, and overall it was just a fun way to spend an hour on a Saturday afternoon in the fall. 

See More (Full Experience + Our Top Picks): Tasting and Tour at Fifth State Distillery in Bridgeport, CT

Tasting Details: Generally offered during the colder months* on Saturdays from 3 – 4 PM. Cost is $10. Check their website for exact dates and times. 

*I’m working to confirm whether they have set months throughout the year or if they vary.

🌊 Stroll by the Water at St. Marys-by-the-Sea

This park is an oceanfront walking path that wraps around part of a peninsula in the Black Rock neighborhood. It offers views of the Sound, Jennings Beach in Fairfield, and Fayerweather Lighthouse in Seaside Park. 

There’s also a small section of rocky beach and a tidal estuary that serves as an important habitat for shorebirds. 

To park along the road in this area, you technically need a Bridgeport parks sticker, which is a bit pricey for non-residents. I have heard different things about how much this is enforced, but do keep in mind that you could be ticketed any time of year without one. 

An alternative is to park somewhere on a nearby street in Black Rock and walk to the park. Please be considerate of residents. 

You could even park near Harborview Market, take a nice walk through the neighborhood and park, and finish with breakfast or lunch at the market. 

🦜️ Search for Wild Parrots at Seaside Park

One of the quirky fun facts I love to throw out about Bridgeport is that there are wild parrots that live here year round. 

Yes, these Monk Parakeets native to South America survive Connecticut winters in their huge colony stick nests. Of course, non-native wildlife species can wreak havoc on local ecosystems, and they should never be introduced intentionally. 

So while it’s not really a good thing that colonies have established themselves here, it is pretty fascinating to see a tropical bird living wild in a New England city. 

If you want to spot some wild parrots in Seaside Park, I recommend walking around the woodsy side of the park, as there are many nests in the trees there. You’ll probably hear them before you see them–their tropical-sounding call stands out, even if you aren’t a birder. 

Once you hear them, you’ll know where to look. 

Their bright green feathers stand out, but note that they fly quickly from tree to tree. In particular, I’ve noticed they are especially chatty and active in the late afternoon, and I’ve seen tons of them in the trees near the arch entrance around that time.

🎫 Go to Soundside Music Festival (TBC)

Formerly called Sound on Sound, this two-day music festival ran from 2021 – 2024 in Seaside Park during September. Unfortunately, in 2025 they unexpectedly canceled without providing details as to why.

In the past, the show featured artists like The Head and the Heart, Caamp, Noah Kahan, and more.

The location has a great view of Long Island Sound and is right next to Seaside Beach.

It remains to be seen if this festival will return in 2026 and beyond.

Dates: TBC

More Info: Soundside Music Festival

🛒 Go Shopping at Mongers Market (CLOSED)

I am leaving this activity in this post for now in case someone else is able to reopen the market in the future.

Mongers Market was a destination in itself and a fun way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning, the only day it was open.

Perhaps classified as a flea market, Mongers Market was full of more than just secondhand goods. This was definitely not just a giant thrift store. Vendors (or “mongers”) rented out space to sell a variety of items like furniture, signs, clothing, lighting, jewelry, dishes, and decor. 

The space itself was especially interesting. Mongers Market was opened in 2018 inside a huge old factory, bringing new life to Bridgeport’s industrial past.

Whether you were on a mission to find something specific or just wandering, this Bridgeport market was a place to spark curiosity! 

Read More: See what the market was like in our full Mongers Market guide with photos.

We’ve lived here for several years and still have a bunch of Bridgeport activities on our list (outdoor axe throwing, a comedy club, a mural tour, and rollerskating popup, to name a few). I’ll be updating this post with more in the near future!

What other fun things to do in Bridgeport would you add? Let us know in the comments!