West Virginia

West Virginia holds four national park units, and three of them charge nothing to enter. The best known, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, covers over 70,000 acres along 53 miles of the New River. It counted 1,958,440 recreation visits in 2025, a record by the Park Service's account.

The one that charges, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, lies where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac and reaches into Virginia and Maryland. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the official Bridge Day site, Amtrak's, the airports', the West Virginia Parkways Authority's and the State Tax Division's, Recreation.gov, West Virginia State Parks and NOAA's normals.

Why does a week in West Virginia's national parks cost two adults $20?

West Virginia's national park sites charge two adults from abroad in one car $20 in total, all of it at Harpers Ferry. None of the four is on the 2026 list of eleven parks that add $100 for every non-resident aged 16 or over. New River Gorge, Gauley River and Bluestone charge no entrance fee at all.

Harpers Ferry's count covers West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland together, since the Park Service keeps one figure for the park. Gauley River had 107,879 of its visits in September and October alone, during the rafting season.

The $250 non-resident annual pass does not pay off in West Virginia. Fee-free days now apply only to US residents, though that matters little in parks that charge nothing. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where the pass does pay off.

When can you walk across the New River Gorge Bridge?

The New River Gorge Bridge can be walked only on Bridge Day, the third Saturday of October. "There is no way to walk on top of the bridge except on Bridge Day," the Park Service says. Bridge Day 2026 was on Saturday 17 October, and the official Bridge Day site now counts down to 16 October 2027.

The Park Service gives the bridge's height as 876 feet and its length as 3,030 feet, with an arch of 1,700 feet. It opened on 22 October 1977. The Park Service calls it "the longest steel span in the western hemisphere" and "the third highest bridge in the United States".

On Bridge Day in 2025, 315 BASE jumpers made 752 jumps into the gorge, by the official site's count. Pets, bicycles, strollers, coolers and large packs are not allowed on the bridge that day.

On every other day the bridge is a highway, US 19. Bridge Walk is, in the Park Service's words, "the only company" that takes visitors onto the catwalk beneath the deck, on three-hour tours. Its own site charges $79 a person for a tour of two hours or more and $125 for the Bridge Day walk, and does not say whether tax is added.

The free views are from Canyon Rim Visitor Center, the Long Point trail and Fayette Station Road, which runs beneath the bridge.

What is open at Canyon Rim and in the gorge after October?

Canyon Rim Visitor Center, on US 19 just north of Fayetteville, opens daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. all year. It closes only on Thanksgiving, 25 December and 1 January. A short boardwalk descends from it into the gorge to two observation decks with views of the bridge.

The Sandstone Visitor Center keeps the same hours. Grandview and Thurmond Depot close from November to May. The Park Service warns that Apple Maps and Google Maps may send drivers to rough parts of the park, so enter a visitor centre's address. Canyon Rim's is 162 Visitor Center Road, Lansing.

On 27 October 2026 the park's alerts listed three current closures. The upper section of the Kaymoor Miners Trail is closed Monday to Thursday until 19 November. The Rend Trail is closed through December 2027 for new parking and trestle repairs. The Burnwood group campground is closed until mid-November. On 29 October a fourth alert added that Cunard Road closes to vehicles from 9 November 2026 to April 2027.

The park runs no full-service campgrounds; its primitive camping is free, first come, first served. Charleston, about 70 miles to the north-west, is the closest major airport in the Park Service's words.

When do the New River and the Gauley run rafts?

The New River runs raft trips all year, but its season is April to October, by the Park Service's account. Its upper, southern stretch has long pools and rapids up to Class III. The Lower Gorge runs Class III to V, with licensed outfitters.

The Gauley's rafting season, Gauley Season, lasts six weekends from the first weekend after Labor Day. The Army Corps of Engineers releases water from Summersville Lake for it. In 2026 the releases were planned from 11 September to 18 October, so the 2026 season is over. The upper Gauley runs Class III to V+ and requires a minimum age of 16. The lower Gauley, 12 miles long, runs Class III to V with a minimum age of 12 to 14.

Bluestone National Scenic River, in southern West Virginia, is reached from Pipestem Resort State Park by an aerial tram. The tram charges its own fee, and Pipestem's site did not show it to us.

What does Harpers Ferry charge, and how does the shuttle work?

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park charges $20 a car, valid for three consecutive days, or $10 a person aged 16 or over on foot or bicycle. Children under 16 enter free. "This park does not accept cash," the fees page says.

Park at the visitor centre, 171 Shoreline Drive, and take the free shuttle to Lower Town. The buses run every 10 to 15 minutes, every day the park is open, and the ride is included in the entrance fee. From 2 November 2026 to 14 March 2027 the last bus leaves Lower Town at 5:30 p.m.; in summer it leaves at 7 p.m. Lower Town's own parking is "extremely limited", in the Park Service's words.

Many navigation apps send drivers into the town rather than to the visitor centre, the Park Service warns. The visitor centre lies on US 340, 8 miles east of Charles Town and 20 miles south-west of Frederick, Maryland. Lower Town's museums and the visitor centre open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Why is the footbridge to Maryland Heights closed this fall?

The Goodloe Byron Memorial Footbridge, which carries walkers over the Potomac to the Maryland Heights Trail and the C&O Canal towpath, is closed for repairs to its deck. On 27 October 2026 the park's conditions page, updated on 6 October, said the closure "is expected to remain in place this fall". A shuttle "with very limited space" runs from the visitor centre to C&O Canal Lock 34.

The closure also affects the Appalachian and Potomac Heritage national scenic trails, by the alert's account. "We strongly advise considering other trails when possible," the park's alert says. The same page listed four Lower Town exhibit spaces as closed: the Master Armorer's Quarters, Black Voices, the Civil War Museum and the Harper House. John Brown's Fort, the John Brown Museum and 14 other exhibit spaces were open.

Our Maryland guide covers the far side of the river, and our Virginia guide the Virginia shore.

Which trains stop at Harpers Ferry and in the New River Gorge?

Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg are served by Amtrak's Floridian, which runs daily between Chicago and Miami via Washington. Amtrak says it has "temporarily combined the Capitol Limited and Silver Star trains to create the Floridian". The Park Service's Harpers Ferry page still names the Capitol Limited, so expect either name.

MARC's Brunswick Line runs from Washington Union Station to Martinsburg, Monday to Friday only, by the Park Service's account. We could not read MARC's own timetable or fares.

Amtrak's Cardinal, between New York and Chicago, runs three days a week through the south of the state. Amtrak lists eight West Virginia stops, among them Hinton, Prince and Thurmond in the New River Gorge, White Sulphur Springs and Charleston; the Park Service describes Thurmond as a flag stop for passengers with reservations, which Amtrak's page does not say. Taxis serve the park from Oak Hill and Beckley.

How high are Blackwater Falls and Seneca Rocks?

Blackwater Falls is "a 57-foot cascade", in the words of West Virginia State Parks, tinted amber by tannic acid from hemlock and red spruce needles. The state park lies in Tucker County, near Davis, and opens from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its campground is open from 28 April to 31 October. The state parks name the Boardwalk Trail for views of the falls in autumn leaves.

Seneca Rocks, in the Monongahela National Forest, is "900-foot high" by Recreation.gov's description. That is all we can give: the Forest Service's own pages refused our requests, so its trail, visitor-centre hours and any fee are missing here. We also could not confirm whether West Virginia's state parks charge an entrance fee, so we give none.

Why do flights from abroad land at Washington Dulles or Pittsburgh?

West Virginia's main airport, Yeager in Charleston, has only domestic nonstop flights. American flies to Charlotte and Washington Reagan, Delta to Atlanta and United to Chicago O'Hare. Breeze flies to Orlando, Newark, Tampa and Myrtle Beach; its Newark flights pause after 3 January 2027 and are scheduled to resume in May 2027.

Long-haul visitors land elsewhere. Washington Dulles is about 40 miles from the Harpers Ferry visitor centre by our own routing; our Virginia guide lists its international routes. Pittsburgh lists Dublin, London Heathrow, Reykjavík, Toronto, Montréal, Cancún and Punta Cana among its destinations. Morgantown is about 78 miles from Pittsburgh's airport; our Pennsylvania guide covers the city itself.

How far is the New River Gorge from Washington, D.C., and from Charleston?

The New River Gorge is about 313 miles from Washington, D.C. by our own routing, roughly 6 hours to Fayetteville. The Park Service's own figure is "5 hours", which our routing could not match. Harpers Ferry, by contrast, is about 64 miles from Washington.

The distances are our own routing without traffic. Our Charleston routes take US 60 and WV 16 over the mountains, not the interstate. Through Beckley on the tolled Turnpike, Canyon Rim is about 81 miles and 1 hour 50 minutes from the Capitol.

The Park Service gives its own figures from its own starting points. It puts Harpers Ferry about 66 miles from Washington, and New River Gorge about 70 miles from Charleston's airport. Its bridge page says 70 minutes from Charleston. Kentucky lies west along I-64.

What does the West Virginia Turnpike cost end to end?

The West Virginia Turnpike costs a car $13.50 end to end, by our own sum of three tolls of $4.50. It carries I-77 and I-64 for 88 miles between Charleston and Princeton, and climbs to more than 3,400 feet at Flat Top Mountain. Its mainline plazas, at Chelyan, Pax and Ghent, take cash or an E-ZPass from outside West Virginia at the same rate.

The fourth plaza, at North Beckley on US 19 (exit 48), charges a car $0.89 by Pay-by-Plate or out-of-state E-ZPass. The Parkways Authority's table shows no cash rate there. A car with a trailer or a motor home pays $5.50 in cash at each mainline plaza.

How much colder are the Elkins highlands than Charleston?

Elkins, the NOAA station we use for Blackwater Falls and Seneca Rocks, averages 136.1 nights a year at or below freezing, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. Its snow averages 68.9 inches a year. Charleston sees 23.6 days a year at or above 90°F, against 3.8 at Elkins and 1.2 at Beckley.

The table gives NOAA's average highs and lows at four airports. Beckley, at 2,514 feet, stands in for the New River Gorge, and Martinsburg for Harpers Ferry. Martinsburg has the most hot days of the four, 26.2 a year at or above 90°F. NOAA marks the snow normals for Charleston and Beckley as provisional, so we leave them out.

West Virginia lies wholly in the Eastern time zone. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on 1 November 2026, when clocks went back an hour.

What does a Charleston hotel room pay in tax?

A Charleston hotel room pays West Virginia's 6% sales tax, the city's 1% sales tax and Charleston's 6% hotel occupancy tax. That adds up to about 13% by our own sum. Kanawha County also lists a 6% occupancy tax, and we could not confirm whether it applies inside the city as well.

The occupancy tax is local: "The West Virginia Tax Division does not administer this tax," its page says. Most counties and towns on its list charge 6%; Harpers Ferry and Bolivar charge 5%. Hotels, cabins, campgrounds and state parks all collect the state and municipal sales tax as well.

West Virginia's sales tax is 6%, or 7% in the 106 municipalities that add 1%. Charleston, Morgantown, Fayetteville, Harpers Ferry, Beckley, Davis, Elkins, Lewisburg and Martinsburg are all at 7%. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why the price on the tag is not what you pay.