The historic town of Staunton, at southern end of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, is the perfect base for a romantic weekend at any time of year, but it’s particularly appealing in the fall and spring seasons.
In the spring, the Shenandoah is impossibly green and in the fall its leaves burst into color. Plus the weather is perfect for pretty much everything there is to do in the area.
Here are some activities I enjoyed when I visited in early May and that I recommend for making the most of a kid-free couple getaway in and around Staunton.
I also recommend some places to eat and three very different places to stay that are perfect for two.
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First : Choose Your Staunton Romantic Weekend Hotel
The Historic Blackburn Inn
Coming up the long driveway toward the Greek revival portico of the Blackburn Inn, you feel like you’re approaching a university or state house.
This isn’t by accident, the Blackburn was a refuge for the mentally ill designed by Thomas Blackburn, a protege of Thomas Jefferson’s, in the early 1800s.
The hospital’s chief doctor had the progressive notion that being in pretty and peaceful surroundings aided the wellbeing of his patients. All the rooms have high ceilings, big windows and a lot of light. The patio looks out on a perfect lawn.
As a Historic Hotel of America, the Blackburn couldn’t change its interior much. The rooms are small and almost perfectly square and there’s no avoiding the fact that they were once cells (bright paint colors would help). Some of them have their original—very thick—doors.
The beds are comfortable, but don’t bring a lot of luggage because there’s no place to put it. They do have roomy bathrooms and nice bath products.
To make up for the small rooms the inn has plenty of comfortable, alluring common spaces where you can sit and talk or read or enjoy a glass of wine (Virginia wine, ideally).
The 2ndDraft restaurant has a cozy and warm indoor dining room. Its terrace is the perfect place for morning coffee or an afternoon drink on nice days.
Tip: Even if you don’t stay, go for an afternoon drink on the terrace and stroll the grounds.
The breakfast that’s included with the room rate includes fruit, yogurt, juice and those delicious croissants from the Reunion Bakery in town. For weekend lunch and nightly dinners there is an upscale pub menu with local ingredients and dishes that change seasonally.
The Blackburn offers free parking. It’s about five minutes from the center of town. You can walk or bike if you don’t mind crossing busy roads.
if you would prefer to drive, street parking in town didn’t seem difficult and there is a public garage that’s near everything.
Downtown’s Hotel 24 South
If you want to be right downtown, steps from all of Staunton’s culture and restaurants, check in to the historic Hotel 24 South.
It had a major renovation in 2018 and the rooms are a fair size. They often run packages that include tickets for Shakespeare plays at the Blackfriars Theater nearby.
The 1924 Lounge has wingback chairs, a fireplace and good happy-hour prices, making it a nice place to relax on a chilly afternoon. The Magnolia South Breakfast Restaurant has a buffet that is a good deal, especially on Sundays.
Plus, the hotel has a large, heated indoor pool. It’s okay, perhaps even nice, to use the pool without the kids along (we do).
If you bring a car you’ll use the public garage, which is connected to the hotel.
The Romantic Inn at Meadowcroft
If you want a unique and romantic country-inn experience, reserve a cozy room at the Inn at Meadowcroft, six miles west of Staunton.
The inn is an 1820s log farmhouse that the owners expanded by adding a 1790s farmhouse.
The rooms are not uniform. Some are bigger, with nice seating areas, and some are smaller, but none are cramped. They all have modern luxury bathrooms, big beds and furniture that suits the historic ambience.
Room rates include breakfast with locally sourced ingredients and the farm’s own jams. There is a monthly 5-course farm-to-table dinner. Call for dates and details if you want to time your stay with one of these meals. And book well ahead.
Tip: If you don’t stay, contact the Inn and schedule an afternoon tea for two. It’s a nice reward for a morning horseback ride or hike in the nearby national forest.
My group’s afternoon tea began with asparagus soup, followed by cucumber, ham and chicken-salad finger sandwiches, thyme scones and more dainty desserts than we could finish (though we managed to). Of course the inn’s jams and pickles showed up, too.
5 Cool Things To Do On A Couple’s Getaway In Staunton
Take a Walk Around Town
Staunton has put a lot of effort into restoring and preserving its historic downtown. The bright storefronts and brick facades of the shopping streets give way to old Victorian houses in the residential neighborhoods.
On Saturday mornings from May through October, volunteers at the Historic Staunton Foundation give two-hour walking tours of the town.
As with a lot of larger small towns there’s more to Staunton than meets the eye and this tour is a good way to get a lay of the land.
The tour brought my group to a quaint historic neighborhood I wouldn’t have found on my own and to a not-obvious spot behind the railroad tracks with great views of the town.
You’ll probably pass Sunspots Studios Glassblowing shop during your walk and it’s worth stopping by for a look around. The items are creative, whimsical and really beautiful. A few, like the blown glass cruets, are practical, too.
By this time it’s early afternoon so it’s handy that Sunspots puts you within range of Ox-Eye Vineyard’s and Redbeard Brewing Company’s tasting rooms.
Neither serves lunch, but like a lot of Virginia tasting rooms they both let you bring your own food to accompany their popular local wine and beer, respectively. Luckily the Staunton Saturday farmer’s market is just a few blocks away from both and a good source for the makings of a light lunch.
See A Shakespeare Play
One the top reasons I favor Staunton for couple time is the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Playhouse, a recreation of Shakespeare’s indoor London theater situated right downtown. It’s worth a visit for both the plays and the theater itself.
Shakespeare created lively entertainment for a mass audience, not highbrow theater. ASC strives to keep that original spirit in its performances.
It keeps the house lights on during the plays so the actors and audience can see each other, as would have been the case in 1500s. The theater also has musicians playing modern music themed to the night’s play between acts.
The theater puts on four plays in the spring and four to five more over the summer and fall. Usually two or three are Shakespeare and the rest are modern playwrights. There’s usually a particularly family-friendly play, like “A Christmas Carol,” in December.
Drive & Hike
Staunton sits between Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the enormous George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, so there are ample opportunities to hike.
About 17 miles east of town you can pick up Skyline Drive to head north into Shenandoah or The Blue Ridge Parkway south into those mountains. Both drives offer plenty of places to pull over to enjoy scenic vistas or jump onto a hiking trail.
You can pick up the Appalachian Trail in both parks. In Shenandoah, it parallels the road for long stretches. It sits further from the Blue Ridge Parkway, but crosses it a few times.
As you make your way through the parks keep an out for the trails to Doyles River Falls in Shenandoah, and for Crabtree, Statons Creek and Panther Falls along the Blue Ridge.
Crabtree requires a short steep hike and the entrances to Statons and Panther are a little off the beaten path. But they all offer great photogenic falls when you get to them. Doyles River is probably the most accessible for wading if you catch a warm day.
We encountered ticks galore on our spring afternoon hike. I strong encourage long pants, long sleeves, socks, hats and tick repellent, as well as an evening tick check.
Explore A Cave
If Stalactites are your thing, head 22 miles northeast of Staunton to Grand Caverns. These caverns were discovered in the early 1800s and both the Union and Confederate armies usedf them during the Civil War. You can look for soldiers’ graffiti on the walls.
Seventy-minute tours take you on a mile-long walk through the grotto. While you’re there you can walk, kayak or bike ride in the surrounding park.
Ride Horses
You’ll find more than a half dozen stables that offer trail rides within 25 miles of Staunton, making this the place to visit if you and your partner like to ride.
I spent a morning at North Mountain Outfitters, 11 miles west of Staunton. The vista from the ranch’s stable area is gorgeous, with rolling hills and a vineyard nearby (photo: top).
The forested mountain trail was rugged and with enough up and downs that we had to ride actively, but the first-time riders in our group were fine.
The owner said he’s seen both deer and bears along this trail but all we was endless green foliage and wild flowers. The horses view the spring foliage as one long salad bar for them. The hardest part of the ride was keeping them from eating for the entire way.
The shortest ride North Mountain offers is three hours, but they take a break along the way and put trail snacks and water in your saddlebags (the horses know where they are). If you want to feed your horse they’ll cut your apple up for you.
Can’t-Miss Staunton Restaurants
Staunton had an ample choice of good places to eat when I visited and the restaurant scene has only grown since then. You’ll find plenty of inexpensive ethnic spots, stylish restaurants, microbreweries and coffee places. The following are two are stand-outs I really liked.
• Start your day with breakfast at Reunion Bakery. I had a quiche made with ham from local, sustainably raised pigs and it was just the right combination of creamy, eggy and salty.
You also can’t go wrong with coffee and a pastry. I also had the bakery’s flaky, traditional French croissants at the Blackburn. And I can tell you, the almond croissants are worth every calorie.
• End your day at the town’s most high profile restaurant, Zynodoa (a variation on Shenandoah), which offers great cocktails and farm-to-table food with a modern twist.
I had perfectly fried Chesapeake oysters, crunchy outside and soft inside. Then I opted for local pork cooked two ways: tender pulled pork and crispy pork belly over stone-milled grits with cheese.
The créme brulée corn bread appetizer is ideal to share; It’s studded with jalapeños and comes with honey butter for that perfect spicy-sweet balance. Heck, you could have it for dessert, except the desserts are good, too, like the creamy chocolate pie with local ice cream.
The dining room is stylish, quiet and not large (make a reservation). There’s a nice bar where you can start your evening with pretty cocktails and a chalkboard lists the local purveyors whose ingredients they’re using.
Practical Information For Your Staunton Weekendook You
How To Pronounce Staunton
If you want to show that you’re not from around these parts, pronounce Staunton the way it’s spelled. Locals act as if the “u” isn’t there and pronounce it was a flat “a” (Stanton).
Getting to Staunton
Staunton is a three-hour drive from Washington, DC, two-hour drive from Richmond, VA, and just under four hours from Durham, NC.
If you’d like to fly it’s about an hour from the Charlottesville airport and 90 minutes from Roanoke’s, which might have more flights.
Amtrak’s Cardinal line also stops in Staunton. The line makes several local stops in Virginia after running through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC in one direction, and Cincinnati and Chicago in the other.
If you fly or take the train and plan to do things outside of town, you’ll rent a car, too.
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* I was a guest of the city of Staunton and Augusta County, Va for this trip. They hosted my meals, hotel and activities. I did not promise an specific coverage in exchange for the visit and my opinions are always my own.
* Photos are the property of FamiliesGo!© except for Crabtree Falls (National Park Service).