Learn me: Virginia Vacation

The wife and I are traveling to Virginia (from NY) in 2 weeks. We have a two night stay in Smithfield due to a groupon deal, and the other three nights will probably be in Hampton since it is equidistant between Williamsburg and the beaches.

We have been told to visit Williamsburg for a full day, and that it is free to enter the "park" but tickets are available for access to some of the museums.

Besides Virginia Beach, we also have been told to check out the Jamestown settlement, the Virginia Air and Space Center and the Transportation Museum in Fort Eustis.

What are we missing? Is there anything to avoid?

As a Northern Virginia resident, you're best off avoiding the top half of this state completely :P.

VIR?

Mariners Museum has the remains of the USS Monitor as well as a ful size recreation and a number of other boats and naval artifacts. We spent much of the day there and it even kept my friends 6 year old entertained so we didn't have to rush

If your looking for something fairly quick in the Norfolk area there is the MacArthur Memorial He and his wife are buried there and it has some very interesting exhibits from his life and career.

Also in Norfolk you have the Chrysler museum of art which rotates some interesting collections into, therfe is something different every time we go there.

Since your driving down depending on where in NY you are coming from the Cheasapeake Bay Bridge is worth taking to cross into the area, and they now have an audio tour of the bridge tunnel you can download to an ipod or mp3 http://www.cbbt.com/

I would skip Virginia Beach, unless you like crowds and high rise motels crammed on the beach with only a concrete 'boardwalk' separating the two. Head a little bit south and hit the beach at Sandbridge, or if you really want to see unspoiled beach go to Back Bay and False Cape. They are at the southern end of Sandbridge and are just miles of undeveloped unspoiled beach.

Virginia beach is OK, but I've been there a few times and there isn't anything wonderful about it IMHO.

I'll put in a vote for Chincoteague and Assateague Island. Cteague is a quaint little town on an isolated island. Its like Nantucket but with Virginia charm and no lobster. Assateague is a huge wildlife preserve with a colony of wild ponies. There isn't a ton to see there (except the large, drive-through wildlife preserve) but there is a TON of history there that is really neat.

Williamsburg is awesome. I'm not a huge history buff but I loved it. They have easily enough to do to occupy a full day, maybe more. Re-enactments of battles, court trials, demonstrations, neat stuff.

I live in Norfolk and my G/F lives in Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg (CW) is free to walk around like you mentioned but there are pay attractions and tours also.

A nice free tour is to drive down the Colonial Parkway from Williamsburg to Yorktown then drive through the battlefields and reading the history signs along the way..

Like Wally mentioned the Mariners Museum is awesome if you have any interest at all in anything nautical. The Virginia Air and Space Center is very good also.

Va Beach is VERY commercial, crowded and touristy. If your into that kind of thing go for it or you could follow TJ's and Curtis's advice and find other beaches. Ocean View in Norfolk has gotten a lot better than it used to be.

Good luck and have fun.

If you need the boardwalk experience similar to what you would find at Virginia Beach, Ocean City, Maryland is only 20 minutes away from the aforementioned Assateage Island.

http://www.gwar.net/

The Gwar BQ is in Richmond next month. I have been told that it is a rollicking affair. I may attend.

FYI, the sun sets on Va Beach around 2 pm, which is when it sinks behind the towering hotels that line the boardwalk. Whether that's good or bad depends on whether or not you're working on a tan, I suppose. But yes, a very commercial beach town.

pilotbraden wrote: http://www.gwar.net/ The Gwar BQ is in Richmond next month. I have been told that it is a rollicking affair. I may attend.

I just wanted to thank you for posting that link. I would have never known that Oderus had been on Fox News as a guest commentator. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NQ_bE4xujs

I've met GWAR and still can't get over how nice they were to talk to. Cool guys all around.

Some good suggestions here already.

The admission fee for Colonial Williamsburg isn't cheap, but if you are going to spend the day, you'll regret not paying.

Yes the Virginia Beach resort area is ticky-tacky and crowded. It is also relatively compact and easy to avoid. TJ's suggestion of Sandbridge is a good one.

I'd add Fort Monroe to the list of attractions.

Go to the Surf Rider for crabcakes. There's one in Hampton and a couple scattered in Virginia Beach.

Things to avoid? The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. (Not to be confused with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel)

Edit: nearly forgot one of the best kept secrets of the area:

http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/

In reply to slefain:

One of my collge friends is a neighbor of some of the band members. I too have been impressed with them when I see them on my periodic visits. They are true gentlemen.

WOW that is a lot of useful information. Thank you! I'm going to have to spend some time looking into all of these things and mapping out the route.

Wally we're coming from dutchess county, and we're looking at 87 -> GSP / jersey tpke -> US113 -> US13. That should take us onto the Chesapeake Bay Bridge / Tunnel. Sweet. That looks really cool.

That's the way we go from Poughkepsie. Makes for a nicer ride than taking 95 down and cutting across. Like a few others have said you may want to skip Va Beach. We went because my nieces and I love mini golf and there are maybe a dozen courses in 3 blocks but otherwise there wasn't much to do except watch three Greyhound buses get ticketed for violating the cities anti cruising law. Apparently the law sees no difference between kids riding up and down the strip all night and lost people trying to find their hotel.

bluedroptop provided a link to the Military Aviation Museum. I've been there, it's well worth the visit.

Well, that was a great vacation! Though I have to mention we were in Virginia for the earthquake and the beginning of Irene, haha. We left Smithfield at 4:30 AM yesterday, headed west all the way to 81 and came north through Pennsylvania to avoid the storm and traffic.

We drove down the way Wally recommended along the coast and on the bay bridge / tunnel. That was really cool! We spent a day at Williamsburg, ended up buying the day pass tickets and we're glad we did. We also did the "ghost tour" at night... it was so-so. Pierce's Pitt BBQ was tasty but it was kind of an "oh, that's it?" experience.

We went to both Virginia Beach and Sandbridge Beach. It was very apparent why "y'all" made the comments you did about each. We are glad we saw Va Beach and the fighters flying overhead, but Sandbridge beach was the most relaxing part of the trip.

Of all the museums you recommended, we only had time for the air and space center. We got there at opening time and a retired army gentlemen who volunteers ended up giving us a complete, personal tour of the entire building. It was absolutely excellent. We are going to write a letter to the center to thank the volunteer. I cannot recommend this place enough, it was very very cool.

Other things? While staying in Hampton we found the coliseum outdoor mall thing, which was nice to walk around and find places to dine. We liked the colonial parkway drive, took the ferry across to Surry, and stayed in Smithfield for a couple of nights. It was a sleepy town but we just looked at the old homes, pretty scenery and took it easy.

Sorry for the book, but thank you for the recommendations... it helped tremendously and we had a very good time in Virginia!

Glad you had a good time. There is a lot to do and see in that area. I used to live in the Northern part of Suffolk and I really can't tell you how many times I went across the James on the ferry. The Colonial Pkwy is something I miss.

Here's a video of the ferry crossing from a few years back when we tried to set a world record of most MINI's on a ferry. There were 77 MINIs (I think there were 3 Mini and 74 MINIs, but they made no distiction.) link

You left too soon, or just in time.

The last one is OBX, but close enough. Glad you had fun, come back soon.