Virginia

Virginia holds Jamestown, founded on 13 May 1607. The National Park Service names it the first permanent English settlement in North America. It also holds 216.9 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the most visited unit of the National Park System. The Parkway had 16,533,753 recreation visits in 2025, counted across Virginia and North Carolina.

Virginia's sights run from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west to Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown in the east. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026. The sources are the National Park Service's pages, Preservation Virginia's, Virginia Tax's and the Code of Virginia's, the airports' own sites and NOAA's normals.

Which Virginia park sites charge an entrance fee?

Virginia's national park sites charge in three ways: Shenandoah by the car, Colonial National Historical Park by the person, and the Blue Ridge Parkway not at all. None of them is on the 2026 list of eleven parks that add $100 for every non-resident aged 16 or over.

Shenandoah had 1,682,152 recreation visits in 2025 and Colonial 1,582,994. The Parkway's 16,533,753 cover all 469 miles. No Virginia-only figure exists.

Shenandoah has taken no cash at its gates and campgrounds since 1 July 2025. Colonial encourages cards but does not say it refuses cash. Two adults from abroad in one car pay $30 at Shenandoah, nothing on the Parkway and $30 at Colonial, or $60 in all. The James Fort site at Historic Jamestowne adds $30 for the two. No federal pass covers it.

The $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass does not pay for itself on a trip within Virginia. Fee-free days now apply to US residents only. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains when the pass is worth buying.

How much of the Blue Ridge Parkway is in Virginia?

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 216.9 of its 469 miles in Virginia, from Milepost 0 at Rockfish Gap, by I-64, to the North Carolina line at Milepost 216.9. The road charges no fee. Only its campgrounds do.

At Afton Mountain, above Rockfish Gap, Skyline Drive heads north into Shenandoah and the Parkway heads south. Roanoke is the largest Virginia city along the way. I-64, I-81 and I-77 carry signs for the Parkway. Places on it are given by milepost. The Park Service warns that car GPS units do not work well there. One of its 26 tunnels is in Virginia.

Mabry Mill, on this page's cover, stands at Milepost 176 near the village of Meadows of Dan. Ed Mabry ran its mill, sawmill and blacksmith shop for three decades.

On 26 October 2026 the Park Service's road table showed every Virginia section open except two. The road was closed between Mileposts 63.5 and 63.9 around the James River Bridge. A signed detour ran from 61.4 to 64 by VA 130 and US 501. The Roanoke Mountain Loop, at Milepost 120.3, was closed "until further notice". Bridge work between Mileposts 121 and 147 was due to bring single-lane closures from autumn 2026 to spring 2027.

How close is Shenandoah National Park to Washington, D.C.?

Shenandoah National Park is 75 miles from Washington, D.C. on its own home page. Its directions page gives two other numbers. It puts the Front Royal entrance 56 miles from Dulles airport and 70 from Reagan National. Our own routing from the White House to that entrance gives 70 miles, about an hour and a half by I-66.

The park charges $30 per car for seven days, by card only. Skyline Drive needs no timed entry. Old Rag Mountain is the one place that needs a booking. The booking is a $2 day-use ticket from Recreation.gov, required from 1 March to 30 November. October is the park's busiest month. Its lodges start closing for the winter on 8 November 2026.

Our guide to Shenandoah National Park covers the entrances, the hikes, the lodges and the current closures.

Which Jamestown is the national park, and which the museum?

Jamestown has two visitor sites with separate tickets. Historic Jamestowne, where the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia each sell a ticket, holds the James Fort site. Jamestown Settlement is a state museum run by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.

Historic Jamestowne needs both tickets: the federal $15 for an adult, bought first, and Preservation Virginia's $15 for the James Fort site and the Archaearium. That makes $30 for an adult "to see the whole site", in Preservation Virginia's words. Children aged 6 to 15 pay $5 for the second part. Both tickets are valid seven days in a row. You need the receipt to re-enter.

The site opens daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and its entrance gate from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On 27 October 2026 the Park Service's hours page said the theatre and exhibits at its Jamestown visitor centre were closed. The centre still sells passes.

What is closed on the Colonial Parkway and at Yorktown?

The Colonial Parkway, a 23-mile road linking Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, was partly closed for rehabilitation on 27 October 2026. Segments B to E, from the Fusiliers Redoubt ramp to Penniman Road (Route 199), had been closed again since about 9 September. The Park Service expected the road work to end in "fall 2026". It expected the work on the Jones Mill Pond Dam to end in mid-December 2026.

Yorktown, scene of the surrender of 19 October 1781, lost part of its Battlefield Tour Road on 26 October 2026. The park closed the section between Ballard Street and Wormley Pond to all users because of a sinkhole. You can still reach Surrender Field by Ballard Street.

Colonial's $15 adult pass covers the Yorktown and Jamestown visitor centres, the battlefield tour roads, Island Drive, New Towne and the Parkway. The Yorktown waterfront is free. Through traffic on the Parkway needs no pass. The park is open every day except Thanksgiving, 25 December and 1 January.

Why are there no prices here for Colonial Williamsburg or Monticello?

Colonial Williamsburg's, Monticello's and Mount Vernon's own websites refused our requests on 27 October 2026. This guide prints no ticket price, opening hours or timed-entry rule for them. The same goes for Jamestown Settlement, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown and Arlington National Cemetery. We would rather leave a figure out than give one from memory. Check each site before planning a day around it.

Williamsburg, with James City County and York County, forms the Historic Triangle in Virginia law. Sales tax there is 7%, the highest of the state's four rates. Richmond is about an hour away by road, and Washington, D.C. about three hours.

Arlington House, the Park Service site inside Arlington National Cemetery, lists no entrance fee of its own. It does say that parking or transport fees are possible. The Metro Blue Line reaches it at Arlington Cemetery station, near the cemetery's visitor centre. Unauthorised vehicles cannot drive into the cemetery. Drivers park at that visitor centre.

Why fly into Dulles rather than Reagan National?

Washington Dulles is the Washington area's long-haul airport, in Virginia, and Reagan National cannot be. A federal perimeter rule limits Reagan's nonstop flights to 1,250 statute miles. Reagan's international routes reach only Canada, Nassau and, in season, Bermuda. Dulles lists 67 international destinations, four of them marked as upcoming.

Dulles lies in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, about 26 miles from downtown Washington. Its Silver Line Metrorail station is about 600 feet from the terminal, a five-minute walk through an indoor tunnel. The list runs from London Heathrow, Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid to Doha, Dubai, Tokyo Haneda, Seoul, Accra and Addis Ababa. The airport does not mark which of these routes are seasonal. Check the airline's schedule.

Richmond International has about 150 daily flights to domestic destinations. Amtrak's Northeast Regional stops in Virginia at Alexandria, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Richmond, Williamsburg, Newport News and Norfolk, among others. It runs a daily round trip to Roanoke and hourly morning trains from Richmond.

The distances are our own routing without traffic. Along the Parkway itself, Rockfish Gap to Mabry Mill is 176 miles by the Park Service's mileposts. We give no driving time for it here. Virginia lies wholly in the Eastern time zone. Daylight saving time ended on 1 November 2026.

Why is October the busy month in Virginia's mountains?

October is the busiest month in Virginia's mountains. It is also when the leaves turn. The Park Service says the Parkway's colours "typically" develop in mid to late October. In 2025 the Parkway counted 2,346,934 visits in October and Shenandoah 329,565, the top month at both.

Shenandoah says its lodges and campgrounds are usually booked months ahead for September and October weekends. Its autumn page also warns that a peak cannot be predicted.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows at the three cities' airports. Richmond averages 44.9 days a year at or above 90°F, and July is Norfolk's wettest month, with 6.08 inches of rain. Roanoke, at 1,175 feet, gets 14.8 inches of snow in an average winter. The Parkway above it is higher and cooler.

Which Virginia sales tax applies in Williamsburg?

Williamsburg charges 7% sales tax, the top of Virginia's four rates, because state law adds 1% across the Historic Triangle. That covers all of the City of Williamsburg and the counties of James City and York. Virginia Tax sets the rate by where you buy.

Groceries and hygiene items carry 1% across the state. Hotel rooms carry a local lodging tax as well, 8% of the room charge in Richmond. State law also lets James City and York counties add up to $2 per room per night. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why the price on the tag is not what you pay.