Wife and I will be stopping for a few days in the Danville area to take in the tank museum in a couple months as part of a traveling vacation.
Any areas to avoid?
Any pre-emptive new gun laws down there, or any other areas through your once free commonwealth to be aware of?

No concealed squash-head rounds and no spaced armor.

Last time I was there (and it’s been a few years) no CCW, metal detector at the door.  But, the owner was walking around strapped.  Bit of a hypocrite if you ask me.

Metal detector at front door. Other than that, it's awesome. The race track, Virginia International Raceway, is there too. May be some event when you go.

A few years ago I was working near Danville in South Boston. I never made it to the museum as they had weird hours/days it was open and it just never worked out. Make sure of the open times and plan accordingly.

Now, about Danville. It’s a shithole and those that live there will tell you that. Lots of gang activity believe it or not. At night do not get caught out especially near downtown. Depending on your travel plans, I would do the tank museum and continue on to where you’re going so as not to spend the night there. As for a few days in that area, good luck, there ain’t much.

The museum is pretty impressive, but as others have mentioned no CCW unless you're LEO and there is a metal detector. Danville is not a particularly great area, though I go there fairly frequently to grab something to eat or to do a bit of shopping (I live in South Boston, about 30 miles east of Danville). There are a few fairly decent restaurants in town, which is a plus.

Otherwise, the gun laws really haven't changed much recently apart from the roll back of statewide preemption which now allows localities to prohibit firearms in government buildings, parks, etc. I'm not sure what - if any - ordinances Danville has passed in that regard. That said, I wouldn't go around Danville without having a firearm on my person, though you probably don't have much to worry about if you're not engaging in "high risk activities."

Thanks for the replies, everyone. About what I figured.
I used to come to Va. alot in the 90’s and 2000’s when my children were, well… children. Mostly east for the battlefields and museums. Never a problem. Back then trouble spots were easy to distinguish.
But just like Pennsylvania, it seems the liberal policies on housing and all the other free money, have enabled the vermin to spread to areas that were once decent, safe regions since colonial days.
Any new gun laws was what I was mostly concerned with, as Virginia never in the past had any concerns about me being legally strapped and having regular capacity mags for the pistols and rifles with me.

Unless the locality changed the law, there is no duty to report to LEO if you are legally carrying.  

Reason I mention it:  an out of stater (visiting from N.Carolina) assumed he had to hand over his CCW card along with his DL when he was pulled over in Falls Church, VA.  

He was arrested by a pair of officers who were ignorant of reciprocity.   Charges eventually dropped, of course, by a judge who knew better.  But he could have just kept his mouth shut and signed for the ticket.

This was a few years back.  NOVA is a whole lot more liberal than Danville, so I wouldn’t worry too much.