Search Holidays
The Virginia Coast
One of the most popular holiday destinations on the east coast of America is Virginia Beach, where thousands of sun seekers arrive each spring and summer to soak up the sun on a traditional beach holiday in Virginia. Most visitors are drawn to the three-mile (5km) long boardwalk, lined with numerous hotels and restaurants overlooking part of the 20 miles (32km) of unbroken sand that covers the coastline here. Virginia Beach also has some interesting sightseeing attractions, particularly the Virginia Marine Science Museum, the most popular museum in the state. Historic landmarks include the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse dating from 1791 and Adam Thoroughgood House, built around 1680. There is also the First Landing Seashore State Park (where the Jamestown settlers came ashore) offering nature trails and boating. Website: www.vabeach.com
Colonial Historic Triangle
Three towns in east Virginia offer a unique histiroical attraction, as they are frozen in time and it's like stepping back two centuries when visiting Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown. The first British settlers in the 'New World' founded Jamestown in 1607. In nearby Yorktown in 1781 Americans won their independence during the last major battle of the Revolution. Visitors can now see what life was like in the fledgling Virginia during the colonial period by visiting Williamsburg, where a British flag still flies over the Capitol building and women are still wearing long dresses and ruffled caps, with men in powdered wigs populating the taverns. It all adds up to the greatest historic theme show ever, but it makes Williamsburg into more than just a recreation of an 18th-century town. Chat to the locals and you feel you are actually back in those days, as blacksmiths puff their bellows at the forge and clip-clopping horses pull carriages along the cobblestone streets. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation looks after 88 original buildings in the town, while 300 others have been reconstructed, including two taverns, a parish church, the courthouse and capitol building. Telephone: (800) 368 6511; website: www.visitwilliamsburg.com
