There is no "closest" to downtown per se, most of them are within walking distance to different parts of downtown.

If you have a list of choices from the gift-card, I can let you know if any are in a further out location.

In any case you will not have to really do any driving (trolleys and walking distance to most things) The only driving you might want to do is the 10 mile drive around Ocean Drive....you'd need a car for that.

Newport Grand has slots and simulcasting (Horses, Dogs, Jai-Alai) but no table games....nothing like Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, but you could kill a few hours and have some fun.....alas, Jai-Alai was closed down a few years ago.

Most of the B&Bs are located closer to the downtown area versus the mansion area. A few years ago we stayed at Ivy Lodge on Clay St. This is one located near the mansions but then would be a walk to downtown/shops/restaurant area. Most of the mansions have free parking so when going around this area you can either park or there is a shuttle bus to take you around. So I'd opt to stay closer to the downtown area and make sure the B&B you get has offstreet parking (or parking arrangments) as overnight parking on the street is limited to residents stickers, etc. or you'll need to pay for parking. Check and see what B&Bs are available then do a mapquest to see where they are and make sure to check out what the B&B says about parking.

Check out www.attwatervilla.com

My wife and I stayed there a couple of years ago.

It's in a good location, the rooms are large and nice.

All round we thought it was very good and would return.