Colonial Williamsburg
What To Do
Historic Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a scenic, historic town that makes you feel like you are walking back to the 1700s. We did not purchase the Williamsburg tickets, but we were still able to walk around the neighborhoods and go into Raleigh Tavern Bakery. If you want a more in-depth experience, you should purchase the tickets!
Here is a downloadable map and details of the daily events in the town. They recommend you park at the Visitors Center and take the free shuttle bus to the downtown area to reduce the amount of cars in the area. However there is plenty of free parking in the modern-area parts of town that you can drive to.
Shopping
We enjoyed going into A Chef's Kitchen for amazing wine samples and $10 bottles of wine. The owner, John R. Gonzales, was kind enough to share stories with us about his experiences as a chef in Colonial Williamsburg and to explain that his shop used to be for cooking classes (pre-covid). He has written cookbooks of the food he used to make when he was a chef at the one of the historic taverns. Walking around this area is William and Mary College, and lots of places to shop.
Williamsburg Winery
We thoroughly enjoyed Williamsburg Winery. This experience is about a 10-minute drive from downtown Williamsburg.
Other To Do's
With this weekend-long adventure, there are a few things that we wished we planned ahead for: gotten tickets for the Haunted Williamsburg tour, made reservations at one of the taverns in the historic town, and looked at the events calendar to see what was going on in the town for free.
If you have extra time to explore, my coworker recommended going to Riverwalk Landing in Yorktown (about 20 minutes away). Our waitress at Amber Ox, Miriam, recommended we go to Billsburg Brewery, the ferry by Billsburg, the pub at Riverwalk, and the parkway by James River and York River.
Where To Eat
Amber Ox Public House & Precarious Beer Project
Next to Colonial Williamsburg, we walked to Amber Ox Public House and the Precarious Beer Project where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and drinks.
Gabriel Archer Tavern
On the same property at Williamsburg Winery is Gabriel Archer Tavern. You can make reservations at the tavern for the full-menu experience (we recommend this) or you can get a limited menu from the 1619 Wine Pavilion.
Accommodations
We stayed at the Historic Powhatan Resort, which is a complex of townhouses and condos on the premises of an old historic house about 10-15 minutes from the historic town. There are a lot of amenities on this campus that we did not have the time to engage in.
