Williamsburg is a part of the "Historic Triangle" along with Jamestown and Yorktown which is where the first pilgrims settled in America. You can read more about the history of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown by clicking on their names which are linked to their Wikipedia pages.
Williamsburg is also a short driving distance to Busch Gardens and Watercountry USA, a theme park and water park owned by Seaworld Parks.
(Tip # 1: Bring lots of spending money if you want to do anything)
I'm going to be completely honest, it is most definitely the biggest tourist trap I have ever been to in my entire life and I grew up near St. Pete Beach in Florida. They literally have a price tag on everything.
(Tip # 2: Quality is worth it when it comes to where you're staying, spend a little more money on a better room and know what time check-in/check-out is BEFORE you get there.)
When we first got to Williamsburg, we were completely exhausted. We had been driving all night, for about 9-10 hours, so all we wanted to do when we finally arrived at our hotel at 7:30 in the morning was sleep. We get our son and all our bags out of the car, go inside, I tell the man at the front desk that we have a reservation and are there to check-in.. he steps aside and points to a little piece of paper and tells us that we can't check in until 3PM! I did not hear a word he said after that because I was so angry and upset. I literally started crying, you do not understand how tired I was. This was the worst, being nearly 600 miles away from our own beds and being told that we can't sleep after being awake for over 24 hours now. We had to drive around in some place foreign to us with both of our phone batteries just about dead. I was half-tempted to try and find somewhere quiet and with little/no traffic and sleep in the car until we could check-in.
(Tip # 3: Google trails and nature parks that you can explore and make a schedule of things you want to do so you can do as much as you can while you're there.)
We ended up finding the Jamestown Settlement which is a museum and yet another money hungry stop in the Historic Triangle. This place is the Bermuda Triangle for your money, it just disappears. I believe the prices were about $20 (give or take) per person to walk through the museum. We immediately walked back out and started walking back to the car when I noticed a path. We turned and followed it. There was a trail between the trees with the most beautiful smells I have ever inhaled. There is so much honeysuckle! I was breathing in so much of the sweet-smelling air that me and my husband joked that we were going to have to pay for all that extra oxygen I had used. We came upon a sign that said there was a "glass house" ahead. So we kept following the trail and what we found was not what we thought, but actually a bit better than what I had in mind (an actual house made of glass). It was an old building that the pilgrims used to make actual glass products to sell. It was pretty cool watching the modern-day glassblowers make glass jars and vases from scratch. It was also right on the water, so there was a beautiful view of the James River which is connected to the North Atlantic Ocean. I've only ever been to beaches on the Gulf of Mexico (not sure if there's some kind of difference?). We had fun exploring here to try to pass the time.
(Tip # 4: Decide if this is something you would really enjoy, maybe if you were someone who loves history or old homes. For us, it was not something that we felt was something we would pay for. We can explore old homes in our own neighborhood for free.)
We tried to walk through what is now a bunch of shops in the college town of Williamsburg, VA and were told that we needed to purchase two $40 wristbands to give ourselves a tour. I could live the rest of my life without seeing a lot of things for that ridiculous price. They wanted $80 so we could walk around for a half an hour and peek our heads in some old houses... Uhhh, NO THANK YOU.
(Tip # 5: If you don't want to eat pancakes or overpriced 4-star steak & seafood for every meal, you may have to settle for McDonald's or travel a bit for a more decently priced chain restaurant.)
I have to tell you, Williamsburg is the weirdest place I've ever been to. There was literally nothing but pancake houses, seafood places, and Christmas shops.. I honestly wish we would have counted. It was seriously the funniest thing. That was the first thing we noticed when we got there was just how many pancake and seafood restaurants there were, and then we started seeing the Christmas stores everywhere. It was really strange. We joked about it the whole time we were there. The first place we ate was a place called "Astronomical Pancakes". It was very expensive (as everything there was, as we would come to find out), but the portions were pretty decent and the pancakes were good. I'm not complaining, I just wish we would have been able to take a to-go box because I would have enjoyed those leftover pancakes later. I was really hungry.
Once we were finally able to check-in to our hotel, we went to our room and straight to sleep.
(Tip # 6: Make sure to take a trip to the beach while here. It's not a real beach, but it had a really sweet small-town feel to it instead of being too touristy & overcrowded.)
We woke up around 5 or 6pm. I googled the closest beach to our hotel and it was a little place called Yorktown Beach. We got ready and left, ready to start our vacation. We had no time to waste. It wasn't exactly the kind of beach I was expecting, but it fulfilled our craving for a little salty air and sun and Ezra really loved playing in the sand and throwing water everywhere. Yorktown Beach is located on York River, which is also connected the North Atlantic Ocean. We came. We saw. We got Ben & Jerry's. We went back to our hotel. End of day 1.
(Tip # 7: If you have kids or go in the summer, you should get tickets and spend some time at Busch Gardens or Watercountry USA. It made the whole trip worth it for us.)
We spent the rest of our trip at Busch Gardens, Watercountry USA, exploring the area, and visiting local thrift stores. We even scored a VCR for $5 (which I've been wanting since I discovered the hundreds of VHS's in the basement). All-in-all, it was a very good and much needed vacation. There was definitely some crazy and stressful times during the trip, but there were just as many beautiful and fun memories made.
Thanks so much for reading, I hope you find this useful if you were thinking of taking a trip to the area. Let me know if you have visited and had a different experience or if you felt the same.
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