Weekend in Williamsburg
based on 7 votes
My husband and I recently went to Colonial Williamsburg with his sister, her husband and baby. Here's how Williamsburg works, what to see, what to skip, and what you can expect to pay.
- Category: Perfect weekend
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Traveler type: Culture, Sightseeing, Shopping, Active/Outdoors, Never been before, Repeat visitors
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Appeals to: Couples/romantics, Families with small children, Families with teenagers, Seniors, Budget travellers , Tourists, Pet owners
- Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
- Tags: colonial, Williamsburg, ghosts, vacation packages, history, food, walking, weekend
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| Casual dining restaurant located at "The Woodlands." Comparative to a Friendly's, only they serve stuff like potroast and potpies. Also, burgers, sandwiches, pizza. A little pricier than a Friendly's because it is part of Williamsburg, but not as high as prices within the park. If you're going to eat outside the park anyway, go to the Cracker Barrell which is closeby or a Burger King or something. Save your cash to eat in one of the Taverns. Food is fairly good, service was extremely slow in the beginning. |
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Basic, barebones motel style rooms, but by far the most affordable in WIlliamsburg and perfectly comfortable and adequate. Approx. $73/night. Rooms have adjoining doors which is nice if you're travelling with family or friends and need more than one room. Cribs available upon request. The lobby folks were very friendly and helpful. A great continental breakfast is included. Coffee, Tea, hot chocolate and juice are available in the lobby until 11 pm. Takeout trays and cups with lids provided--take it back to your room!
What to know: When you pull in the hotel parking lot, note that the building on the left has train tracks right next to it. Avoid this building or at least the left side of that building at all costs! The train shakes the beds! We were in 3600 and 3602. Don't stay in that side of the building on any floor!!! Also, Eat your breakfast upstairs in the additional seating of the lobby. It gets crowded and noisy downstairs. There is even another buffet and coffee station up there! |
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| VERY pricey, but worth it one time if it won't break the bank. The only reason we ate here was because it was included in our package plan that we had paid for. I had something about Chops of Shoats which was maple glazed pork loin, my husband had game pye. We had the Grand Mushroom, salads, chocolate torte, pepermint stick ice cream with almond macaroons and chocolate sauce, cider, and peanut soup. For the love of all that is pure and holy, do NOT get the peanut soup! They serve the most amazing bread, plus texas toast with 3 kinds of relish. The pickled watermellon rinds are surprisingly good! All this would have cost us about $100 including tip, but it was paid for in our package. Entrees are $26-$36. Salads are $5-7. Soup is $4. I didn't notice the dessert prices. Now that I think about it, maybe you should just have lunch here. |
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4. Ghosts & Legends Package
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Definitely go with a package. Fall is an incredible time to see WIlliamsburg. We went Veteran's Day weekend. It was crowded but not unbearably so. Traffic getting there from Philly was rough, though. Anyway, the ghost tour itself was a huge let down. It was over in less than an hour. They sat us in a house and told us 2 stories that had nothing to do with the house or Williamsburg. The story teller was precious, but it was totally irrelevent to our surroundings. Then they moved us to the Governor's Palace and sat us in the West Advance room and told us another story that had nothing to do with the Palace. Then a really obnoxious storyteller with the most irritating voice in the world talked to us about old wives' tales and they weren't scary and had nothing to do with death. It is also obnoxious that the story tellers pretend to be from the period. I've been on ghost tours in Philly and Boston and both were fantastic. Williamsburg should send their ghost people on them.
When you pick your package, Governor's Inn is the least expensive hotel. We paid $320 for two people which included 2 nites hotel, 2 full length of stay passes to the town and attractions, two dinners all inclusive at King's Arms Tavern, and 2 tickets to the ghost tour. There is another ghost tour in town called Tavern Ghost Walks. We didin't go on it, but it looked a lot better than the Ghosts and Legends tour. They were walking around to different buildings and hearing the stories of what took place in them. That is more what I expected. If I were doing it again, I'd book the Autumn Splendor package and pay out of pocket for the Tavern Ghost Walk. It's gotta be better.
Here's how the dinner works: You get all your non-alcoholic drinks, a soup OR salad, an appetizer, an entree and a dessert for each person. Tip is already included too. You pay for bar drinks and if you choose a specialty item (noted on the menu) you pay a $5 surcharge (if noted with one diamond) or $10 surcharge (if noted with 2 diamonds). I read bad reviews of Kings Arms online, but we loved it and our waiter was fantastic! |
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| We went here for lunch. The restraunt isn't as posh as it looks outside. Pretty casual. Really cool wine room which you can see from the dining room. The food was so so, but the desserts are spectacular! You MUST MUST MUST order the Death By Chocolate. 7 layers of pure heaven! But share. It'll make you sick if you don't. My sister in law ordered the chocolate temptation, also divine. |
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| All the tradespeople are worth visiting, but the apothecary is my favorite. For one thing, it is so organzied with all those jars! Secondly, the women in there are very kind and knowledgeable. Ask them about whether or not the colonists remedies were accurate to todays standards and what ones really worked but aren't approved by the FDA. I'm serious--they really told me this stuff! Really cool. |
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| Absolutely my favorite site. The house is impressive but the gardens are glorious! Don't miss this jewel! Also a great long tour if its rainy out. |
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| Has a cozy fire burning in the entrance building for when it is cold or rainy out. The house is really cozy and pretty inside. Part of the ghost tour takes place here. |
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| Important to see, good place to go if its rainy. A pretty long tour. Watch out for the gum Nazi's--hide your gum under your tongue. Don't even let them SEE your baby's stroller or you'll want to punch them in the teeth when they snippily tell you you can't bring it in (like they do everywhere there! Bring a marsupial pouch.) |
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The weather was rainy, so we decided to drive to the Bassett House (purchased and lived in by the Rockerfellers while they restored Williamsburg) which had its own parking and wouldnt require a walk. When we arrived, we walked into the welcome center and met our tour guide, who was blind! He told us to follow him over to the house for the tour, and started walking over to it, feeling his way along with his blind person stick. After coming out of the welcome centers restroom, I said to Neil, Car and Micah,
Hey, did he check your tickets?
Carolyn said that he just asked them if they had tickets. We were really nervous about having a blind tour guide. How would we be able to ask him questions about stuff?
On the bright side, he wasnt able to see the baby spit up on the Rockefellers carpet, and Neil was really happy that he could touch everything without being reprimanded. And hey, we left with a new place setting of china! JUST KIDDING!!! He was super knowledgeable about the Rockerfeller family and the house. He'd been doing tours for 14 years or something. He was able to answer all our questions. When we finished the tour and got back to the welcome center, we wanted to take our picture . As we posed for the picture, Carolyn was holding the baby facing her, and Neil said,
hey Carolyn, the babys facing the wrong way.
And the blind guy said,
Man, that happens to me ALL the TIME in pictures!
Then the receptionist said,
Do you want me to take the picture so you can all be in it?
and the blind guy said, Yeah, you dont want ME to take it!
What a great blind guy!
On a gramatical note, quotation marks and apostrophes don't come up right in this program for some reason. Im not just punctuationally challenged. |
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| I wasn't sure if I should put this under "shopping" or "dining!" When you're feeling peckish, stop in here. In the back are tons of samples of gourmet snacks! Sweet and salty! YUM! It is on the Wren Building end of town, behind the shops on Duke of Glouscester St. There is a toy store and behind that are more shops. Go through the parking lot back there and you will see the Peanut Shop. They also leave water and dog treats outside for your four legged friend. |
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12. Colonial Williamsburg
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Some things to remember:
Bring a marsupial pouch or backpack carrier for your baby. You can't bring your stroller in any of the buildings or on the shuttle.
Hide your gum under your tongue when inside.
There is a shuttle from the visitor's center or your can walk or you can park at: Bassett Hall, near the Wren Building, at Christiana's Tavern. |
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| Shield's is a great place for lunch. You go in, order at the register, pick it up in the next room and go to one of the dining rooms to eat it. Just like you would at Panera! We had the cheese, sausages and fruit platter for 2 ($15). Do NOT pay $2.25 for a bottle of water, because what you can't see from the ordering room is that in the pickup room they have a huge cooler of tap water and cups. Their frozen lemonade is good on a hot day. |
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Compliment hipworldtraveler
hipworldtraveler
The skinny on Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
