4 Days in Colonial Williamsburg: What We Did, What We Loved & What I’d Do Again
I am not a huge fan of taking a big week-long trip during spring break. Airport madness makes me want to rip my hair out, resorts are jam packed and seemingly everyone from my county winds up in the same few towns in Florida… and I loathe the idea of running into someone I “sort of” know from my son’s school or small town while trying to relax. That’s not to say I’m adamantly opposed to going on big trip for spring break, but if I’m going to drop that kind of cash on a trip, I’d rather do it when the entire state of Michigan isn’t seemingly getting the heck out of dodge. Not to mention, there is something to be said for having our small town all to ourselves. Restaurants are empty, traffic is 75% less annoying (give or take) and it just generally feels like a slower pace for that week.
RELATED: A Summer Week In Harbor Springs, MI: A Family Photo Diary
However, my son’s birthday inevitably falls during spring break and for a kid, that’s the worst possible time to have a birthday! All his friends are gone, his cousins (who are more like siblings to him) usually head out to Florida or Alabama so it’s a bit of a lonely time to have a birthday. The last couple of years, we’ve ended up taking smaller 4-5 day road trips to places we can get to in under 10 hours: New York, Washington, D.C., and this past March, Colonial Williamsburg (with a pit stop at my own cousin’s house in Leesburg, VA). It felt like the perfect timing, as our 5th grader just completed his unit on the colonies and American Revolution. It was like having our own personal little database walking around with us. If you have kids in upper elementary or middle school, I HIGHLY recommend this trip.
RELATED: Road Trip Essentials & Planning Guide
What We Did, What We Loved & What I’d Do Again
We purposely scheduled the trip during the week (versus checking in on Friday or Saturday) in order to score lower hotel prices. Unfortunately, because this was planned last minute, several of the hotels I was interested in were already booked. If you’re planning a spring trip, try to do it at least 6 weeks in advance. Like anywhere with spring break, things can book up quickly. Howver, I will say our end of March stay did not feel overly crowded.
Day 1: Exploring Market Square & Dinner at Kings Arms Tavern
Because we were departing from my cousin’s house in Leesburg, VA in the morning and only had 3 hours left to make it to Williamsburg, we were lucky that it gave us the majority of the. day to spend in the area versus being in the car all day.
I read about a cute little roadside revamped motel that I wanted to stay in for at least one night as it had such good reviews but then switched to a hotel on the property grounds for the remainder of the trip for easy access to all of the exhibits and downtown area. We checked into The Rochambeau Roadside Inn in the early afternoon. Absolutely AH-DORABLE! Clean as a whistle, charming decor, comfortable beds and a super easy check-in/check-out process. I highly recommend a stay here if you’re looking for something a little outside the box (and don’t mind a short drive to access town). I thought I got pics of this adorable little place but sadly, they don’t seem to be on my camera roll!
RELATED: Wrinkle-Resistant Travel Clothes, Never Iron On Vacation Again
After checking in, we headed into town to walk around Market Square and get our bearings. Naturally, that included a stop in some of the stores that had toys and candy. We shared a couple of appetizers at the Mellow Mushroom (and a great lemon drop martini) and headed back to the Inn to get showered and changed for our one big dinner of the trip at Kings Arms Tavern.
We knew we wanted one “splurge” dinner during the trip and luckily were able to solidify a reservation at Kings Arms Tavern. I highly recommend you eat once either here or at Christiana Campbell’s Tavern. Both make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time and get to experience what it was like to dine at a local tavern in the 1700s. Be forewarned, the food is pretty rich so make sure you go with an empty stomach. Kings Arms Tavern is known for their peanut soup (shown below). Good to try once but likely wouldn’t get it a second time. We were treated to live music and a server that was an absolute delight and full of knowledge. Had Christiana Campbell’s Tavern had reservations available, we likely would have dined at both! My tip: make sure you go after the sun sets. Dining by candlelight is so romantic and reminiscent of the times.
Day 2: Touring Colonial Williamsburg
This was our day to hit the ground running and see every possible trade shop, museum and site we could possibly see in one day. We are a family that goes until we drop and we try and cram in as much as possible into every day. If you’re a more leisurely group (or have younger kids that require you to go at a slower pace) you may want to split it up into a couple of days.
We weren’t able to check into our hotel until the afternoon so we parked at the hotel, which was on site, and got down to business. We decided to do all of the trade shops at once, the musuem in the afternoon and pepper in any of the scheduled events along the way. Our favorite trade shops? The Blacksmith & Gunsmith, the weaver and we actually found the cooper & wheelwright pretty interesting. But they were all fantastic
After touring the trade shops, we headed over to the court house for a more formal tour which I highly recommend you add to your list. Informative and interesting. From there we toured the jail and barracks and decided we would NOT want to have done anything to end up there!
Be sure to check the day’s schedule of events as they have different offerings every day. We were able to start our morning with our son getting to learn how to be a solider in George Washington’s army and at noon, we watched a live demonstration of cannon firings. I wish we were there longer to experience more of the live events like some of the outdoor plays and music, so if you can extend your trip by a day to take a bit more slowly, it will allow you to participate in or watch those daily scheduled events.
In the afternoon we headed on over to the museum, which I was surprised how engaged and interested our 11-year old was in all of the exhibits and artifacts! It’s hard to know what pre-teen boys will or won’t like, but we were pleasantly surprised at how engaging the museum was. So if you think you want to skip it, I’d definitely recommend a swing through it. I personally liked the exhibit featuring the art of Edward Hicks, while the guys gravitated towards the exhibit with all of the weapons used in the Revolutionary War. We caught a great live event which was 45-minutes with an actor playing Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps a little long for our son, but I found it quite fun. Tip: The museum has a great little cafe and you can eat outside. We grabbed a quick lunch at the cafe and it was nice to rest our feet for a minute. The prices were reasonable and eating right at the museum meant we didn’t have to walk all the way back to Market Square for lunch which definitely saved on time. Being from Michigan, we were thrilled to be able to be outdoor among the blooming flowers as it still felt like winter back at home.
We were wiped out after a full day of sightseeing, learning, observing, participating, and walking over 15,000 steps. We checked into our hotel, The Williamsburg Lodge Autograph Collection. We wanted something mid-range and this seemed to have the best reviews. We booked a premium room to have the balcony. Tip: If you do the same make sure you ask for a room that’s not on the first floor. Unfortunately, our balcony was more of a sliding door that opened into a common-space courtyard. If we opened our curtains, anyone walking through the courtyard could see directly into our room. I’d ask for a room on anything other than the ground floor.
After a quick nap, showers and a change of clothes, we were famished. Having spent quite a bit of $$$ on dinner the previous night, we were in search of something inexpensive, easy and laid back. We founds ourselves at the Virginia Beer Company. While the beer company itself doesn’t serve food, they have an excellent pizza food truck on the premises so you can indulge in some great craft beer. The food trucks on-site change often so be sure to check out their website for details about the upcoming offerings.
We always travel with cards or mini games. We love to play gin rummy!
Afterward, we had tickets to nighttime ghost tour around Colonial Williamsburg with The Original Ghost Tours. It’s a small group setting so you never have trouble hearing the guide and our family is into supernatural and ghost lore so we loved this. Tip? If you’re planning on doing this with kids (and yes, it’s appropriate for children), try to do on a day where you’re not jam packed. Our son petered out about 2/3 of the way through and we had to cut out early. But do recommend this as another fun activity!
Day 3: Touring Jamestown, The Colonial Historical Parkway & Yorktown
Time go get out of Colonial Williamsburg and tour some of the surrounding sites! Our day was dedicated to visiting Jamestown, driving the Colonial Historical Parkway and seeing some of the preserved battlefields of Yorktown. If you are visiting Colonial Williamsburg and don’t have a car, it’s definitaley worth it to use a car rental service or Turo. Seeing these sites adds so much more more color to the breadth and depth of all that happened in the surrounding areas.
RELATED: Spring Break Essentials For Moms
We started out at the Historic Jamestown Visitor Center that is actually also a large museum featuring colonial history and artifacts. It’s a good starting point as you can pick up driving maps, pay for your passes and learn about the app to download that will give you the driving route and details about each important historical site.
We didn’t follow the Island Loop Path in a linear way but started off in the Colonial National Park to see the preserved Yorktown Battlefield. Pretty thrilling to see where the final major battle of the Revolutionary War ended!!
From there, we followed the driving route and visited Yorktown, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown (one of my favorites of the day – I loved seeing the full uniforms of each army), and the Continental Army Encampment.
From there we headed on over to Jamestown settlement to learn more about Captain John Smith and Pocahontas and a recreated Powhatan Village, watched a live excavation, the memorial church and the Archaerium that was full of artifacts (with special interest in the human bones that have been found, ofcourse).
After all of our touring, we were headed back to our hotel and saw a sign for a local winery and made a quick detour. So glad we did! We stopped at The Williamsburg Winery. It featured a wine bar, tavern, beautiful grounds and a gorgeous boutique hotel called The Wedmore Place. All you lovebirds looking for a place to get married, add this to your list! Stunning and private. I went home with a couple of bottles of the Governor’s White.
Happy with our sightseeing for the day, we headed back to the hotel to rest, relax and have a bit of downtime. There was not a pool located at our hotel, but the bonus is it’s associated with the hotel across the street, The Williamsburg Inn, which does have a pool. Our son went swimming for a bit while I relaxed on our patio chairs and did a bit of reading.
We had a super lovely dinner at Berret’s Seafood. There are so many highly recommended restaurants in the area that it was hard to choose. I am a pescatarian and wanted seafood so my vote for the choice of restaurant won out.
Day 4: Celebrating an 11th Birthday & Busch Gardens
We started our morning with a fully decorated hotel room and breakfast at the neighboring hotel. He opened presents out on our little patio and then we got down to business. The birthday boy chose to spend the day at the local theme park, Busch Gardens. A couple of us are not all that daring so while we didn’t really ride the big coasters, we got our fill.
Sidenote: I got Meta glasses for this trip in order to be able to take pictures and video without having to bring my phone out of my pocket everytime and I will say in situations like a theme park or when you’re sightseeing and on-the-go, they are worth every penny! A lot of these photos were taken with my Meta glasses.
It was a long day and we finished our birthday night at the Precarious Beer Project. It’s a brewing company that has a few different food options like a taco vendor and smashburgers with a very casual vibe and some old-school arcade games that keep kids happy and busy.
Day 5: One Last Morning in Colonial Williamsburg & Our Departure
There were a few sites and things we wanted to do so we didn’t hit the road right away. After checking out of our hotel, the one thing we didn’t get around to doing was a tour of the Governor’s Mansion. We headed out on a gorgeous sunny day and got in line for the tour.
Following that, we headed back to see the canons fire one last time and visit the colonial outdoor shop for one final purchase. We made our way back into town which was FLOODED with school field trips! We did some last minute shopping at The Cheese Shop and a few other stores, drove through the campus of William and Mary to determine whether or not it may make it onto a possible college short-list some day (we decided it may!!). I love touring college campuses and this one was incredibly gorgeous with a historical feel.
One final lunch at a restaurant that had been on our list, Amber Ox, and with that – we hit the road home.
I cannot recommend this trip highly enough if traveling with your family or even as a couples trip. Heck! Do it solo and go at your own pace. Given it was our country’s 250th anniversary coupled with the fact that our son had just completed his Revolutionary War unit, the timing couldn’t have been better. Here are some of our recommendations (and things we don’t recommend) that will hopefully come in handy as you plan your own trip to Williamsburg.
Colonial Williamsburg Tips & Recommendations
- If you’re staying at the Williamsburg Lodge, they serve a buffet breakfast which normally (at least when we were there) had a line out the door. If you were given breakfast vouchers, you can walk on over to the beautiful Williamsburg Inn and your breakfast vouchers also work there! It’s a lovely sit-down restaurant with beautiful windows overlooking the property. Not many people seemed to have caught on to this hack. Be sure to tell them when you are seated that you have the Lodge breakfast vouchers so they know that when it comes time to pay the bill.
- The Williamsburg Lodge was good for our budget (and last minute planning) but it did seem like it caters more towards large groups, conventions, big groups of school trips and parts of it felt run down. If your budget allows, I would 100% recommend the Williamsburg Inn.
- Map out the walking pattern of Colonial Williamsburg before you start your day. It’s easy to get distracted by what is across the street or something interesting you see down a side street and if you are zig-zagging with no set route, it can be a time suck and you may end up missing some of the sites and exhibits you wanted to see.
- The cannon firing is a fun one for kids, as is being able to “train” to be a solider. I would build those into your schedule if possible.
- Try and catch as many live events throughout the day as you can. It really helps get a feel for what it was like to live during that time period.
- If you’re wanting to get into Kings Arms Tavern or Christiana Campbell’s, that should be the first thing you book when planning your trip. We were lucky to score a reservation at Kings Arms Tavern and unfortunately Christiana Campebell’s was fully booked during our stay. It is 100% worth the cost and you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. Can’t get in for dinner? I believe they do take walk-ins for lunch!
- I can’t speak to summer, fall and winter, but if you’re headed there in the spring, Virginia weather can be cool one day and 82 degrees the next. If you’re interested in everything I packed for our trip, you’ll find this post helpful. Be sure to pack a warmer coat (and even hats and gloves if you plan on doing any night outdoor tours) for the evenings and layers for during the day.
- The day we departed it felt like every school within a 100-mile radius was there on a class field trip. You may want to call the ticket office or information center to inquire about the schedule for visiting school field trips and build your trip around times when those aren’t happening. Our experience would have been much different had we had to wait in lines to get into each of the exhibits and sites.
- Be sure to visit The Cheese Shop and The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg. Both are two iconic establishments. Sandwiches are a must at The Cheese Shop, especially with their infamous signature house dressing. The Peanut Shop has been there forever and makes for great gifts to take home to people.
I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did! We loved every bit of it and really couldn’t find any “don’t do” tips. All of it is lovely, charming, educational and fun.
Other Posts You Might Like:
The Ultimate 10-day Coastal Road Trip In Maine
Travel Accessories That Bring Comfort
What To Wear To Disney World: Stylish & Comfortable Outfit Ideas