shezoolover

My husband is joining me in Richmond after a business trip in October. We have 4 additional days before flying home. Have never been to this part of the US. What would be a great itinerary. We don't mind renting a car and love to see sights and eat at great restaurants. Not big on lots of monuments/museums, but certainly don't want to miss anything spectacular or a must see. We have to end up back in Richmond for return flight. Any advice would be appreciated including lodging. We love outdoor dining, people watching, wine, and beautiful nature. Thanks!

lincasanova

you have colonial williamsburg, yorktown and historic jamestown nearby.

also great wine country and monticello near charlottesville.

if you google these areas you will get lots of info.

if you search here for restaurants you will also get good recs from past reports.

JanetKMR

Depending on how much you want to spend on lodging, I would consider staying at The Jefferson Hotel on Franklin. It's beautiful and historic.

For outdoor dining and wine I would consider Karsen's (it's new and great) and Can-Can, both in the Carytown district. If you have any interest in Southern food, try Comfort on Broad Street (it's actually walking distance from The Jefferson). If you don't mind a 20+ minute drive and will be there on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights I recommend Edible Garden. They have beautiful outside seating and strive to use local ingredients, including herbs and veggies from their own garden. The Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom areas are near the James River and have a lot of places with outdoor bars and make for good people watching. If you have any interest in a quiet, romantic dinner with fresh pasta and good wine, I recommend Sensi.

machbird

I second going to colonial williamsburg, fabulous place, i'd love to go there again. very relaxed atmosphere in the area and the drive to jamestown/yorktown is beautiful. also enjoyed newport news but that's getting farther away from richmond.

didn't spend too much time in the city proper but enjoyed wandering around cary street and looking at the architecture in the fan district.

are you staying in richmond itself or in glen allen or midlothian? we hang out at the capital ale house in glen allen, it's popular with the work crowd. coming off the 288 onto the midlo turnpike (the 60) is a great BBQ place in a small stripmall, i think called JR's (someone help me here since the name might be wrong!). it's across from a UKROP's and there's a bank of america in the parking lot. the most tender bbq and best homemade pies at this place! a friend who doesn't like pecan pie had to try some of mine (i ate it saying 'mmmmm' with each bite) and ended up ordering his own, surprised that he wanted to have a whole piece to himself.

maymont park in richmond also is a good place to visit if you like outdoorsy things, though we only made it to the children's farm. i think they have a website. we did drive around it and i was glad it was sunday because we got a little confused on the roads.

enjoy your trip!

Hellion

Charlottesville, an hour away, has Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (pretty cool if you've never been there) and University of Virginia, plus lots of decent lunch spots near the university.

Williamsburg/Jamestown are also nice, and if you go, drive down there on Route 5 -- much prettier than the interstate, it's a winding road past old plantations (which you can tour, if you're so inclined). Charlottesville is also near the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is lovely. In October, the leaves should be pretty, although everyone else will be up there looking at them as well, so it could be crowded.

Richmond has a lot of Civil War history -- the Tredegar Ironworks downtown by the river has some info. And it's definitely worth it to drive down Monument Avenue (statues and old mansions) and around the Fan, to look at old houses. There are great restaurants, in the Fan and Shockoe Bottom/Slip and Carytown.

So you could make Richmond a base and drive out to Charlottesville one day, and then down to Williamsburg for a day. And if you were really Civil War buffs, Fredericksburg is also an hour north, and has several battlefields and a quaint downtown.

shezoolover

These are great suggestions. Thanks to all. Do you think that 4 days is to short of a time to make it to DC or Philadelphia? We just checked flight prices and we could actually fly home from either place for about the same price. OR, is this trying to see too much. We have never been to either city.

virginiafish

It's a 2.5 hour trip to DC (if you travel in non-rush hour times) and about 5-6 to Phila. DC may be an option, but I agree with the above posts in that C'ville and Wmsbg. are both lovely at that time of year, especially.

lincasanova

i think d.c deserves the 4 days itself.. so you just need to decide which place appeals to you more at this time,( or would be more difficult to get back to) because adding a museum packed city like d.c. PLUS any of the richmond extra visits would be too rushed IMHO.

Birdie

I live in Williamsburg, I love Williamsburg, I promote visiting Williamsburg at every opportunity but it sounds like you are looking for something different.

I suggest you enjoy Richmond during the time you are there then drive up to Charlottesville and spend a couple of days in town visiting Monticello etc. After that I would continue on to Wintergreen www.wintergreenresort.com and stay up on the mountain for a couple of days. Relaxing, gorgeous and there are a lot of outdoor activities.

girlonthego

Go West! I live in the Richmond area, and would think you would love Charlottesville and the surrounding areas. It is an hour and a half drive west of Richmond. The town is a college town (UVA) and it has some cute outdoor restaurants. It is an artsy town. Nearby are the Blue Ridge Mountains where you will experience beautiful fall foliage in October.
Going west on Rt 64 from Richmond there is a hotel/resort called the Keswick. It is inbetween Richmond and Charlottesville. It is expensive, but a very nice place to stay. In Charlottesville, you can stay at the Boars head inn or many chain hotels.
Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, is near charlottesville. A quick tour and beautiful grounds.
If you don't like Museums, don't go to Washington DC. Lots of very good musuems there. Williamsburg is nice and historical, but I think it sounds like you would like the Charlottesville area better.
Richmond is a compact city with a small downtown area with restaurants and clubs. There are areas that surround parts of the city that are not very nice. The college, VCU is expanding it's territory downtown and bringing it back to life.
In Richmond, the Jefferson, mentioned above is very nice old richmond. The location is so-so. The Omni will put you right in walking distance of the restaurants down in Shockoe slip.

shezoolover

great info. We are going to take the advice and stay in the area and plan another time to see DC and PA. Sounds like Charlottesville is tops on everyone's list, so any additional info regarding great places in that direction would be great. We have made a note of everyone's list thus far. Thanks again.