With summer officially underway and as people being to travel again, it’s the perfect time to discover what’s new to explore in Virginia.
Celebrate a summer of WanderLove when you visit cities and counties all across the state. As people begin to travel again, planning an epic road trip is a safe way to explore Virginia’s endless beauty, from its pristine beaches to the scenic curves of its storied mountains.
Highlights Across the Commonwealth this Summer
Central and Southern Virginia
- Keswick Hall, slated to re-open Summer 2021 after a multi-year renovation and expansion, will offer visitors a premier luxury experience just minutes from downtown Charlottesville. The property will now feature 80 luxurious guest rooms and suites, a new spa, and a new signature restaurant run by famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The resort will still feature its renowned Full Cry golf course, designed by Pete Dye.
- Pedestrians and bicyclists can now explore the Crozet Tunnel Greenway trail that passes through the restored railroad tunnel, which lies over 700 feet below the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap.
- Buggs Island Brewery, located in Clarksville, will be moving to a new lakefront location in 2021, making it Mecklenburg County’s only lakefront brewery and restaurant.
Coastal Virginia – Hampton Roads, Eastern Shore, Chesapeake Bay
- 1865 Brewing Company, the first Black-owned brewery in Hampton Roads, will open Summer 2021. 1865 Brewing Company is a micro-brewery with beers that will have clean crisp flavors that are not overly bitter and will be a broad range of styles to include recipes with coffee and CBD.
- The Virginia Aquarium is also expanding in Virginia Beach, with a $25 million renovation of the aquarium’s Marsh Pavilion, where the aquarium’s beloved otters live. It will feature displays of live jellyfish from around the world, a giant Pacific octopus and a touch pool with Indo-Pacific invertebrates.
Northern Virginia
- The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial, the long-awaited national memorial to the women’s suffrage movement is now open. The site also is home to the new Lucy Burns Museum at the Workhouse Arts Center – a pivotal location in the fight for women’s voting rights and the passage of the 19th Amendment.
- The Capital One Center, Capital One’s sprawling headquarters complex, will debut in Summer 2021 as a new mixed-use entertainment epicenter in Tysons, featuring a hotel, performing arts venue, retail, and a 1.2-acre skypark called The Perch that brings green space, a biergarten, dog park, public art, and a pop-up food truck experience.
Shenandoah Valley
- The Red Wing Roots Music Festival, held on July 9-11 at the scenic Natural Chimneys Park in Mt. Solon, is a family-friendly event that blends bluegrass and folk music. Multiple stages allow a wide array of regional and national bands to continuously play various genres during the festival, and there are tons of organized outdoor events as well such as bike rides, hiking, fun runs and interactive kids activities.
- The Massanutten Outdoor WaterPark is now open for the summer and has both indoor and outdoor parks, including a new “MASS Mayhem” experience in which participants experience zero weightlessness as they plunge 47 feet down a half pipe.
Southwest Virginia – Blue Ridge Highlands, Heart of Appalachia
- Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards in Bristol will be opening the Nicewonder Inn in Summer 2021. This 28-room luxury boutique inn will boast inviting common areas, a world-class culinary and wine program, and beautifully appointed rooms.
- Iron Tree Brewing Company is a new brewery located in Downtown Christiansburg set to open this summer.
- The oldest and largest fiddlers’ festival in the world, the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention will be held Aug. 9-14 and pays tribute to the region’s rich culture and mountain music roots. Since 1935, this festival has brought musicians and bluegrass fans from around the world to discover the sound that defines the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Virginia Mountains
- The Carilion Clinic IRONMAN® 70.3® Virginia’s Blue Ridge triathlon will be held on June 6, 2021 in the Roanoke Valley in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The race will include a 1.2-mile swim at Carvins Cove, a 56-mile bicycle ride through Botetourt County and a 13.1 mile run on the Roanoke River Greenway.
- The Liberty Trust, originally constructed as a bank headquarters in 1910 in downtown Roanoke, is currently undergoing a full historic restoration as part of its transformation into a 54-room luxury lifestyle hotel currently slated to open in late summer 2021.
- Bedford has opened a new championship disc golf course in the New London Business and Technology Center park designed by five-time world champion disc golfer Paul McBeth.
Visit virginia.org for more on What’s New in Virginia.
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