We will be spending 4th of July week in Williamsburg this year. Plan os spending a few days at a local beach and a few days doing some sightseeing in Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, etc. any recommendations on beaches to visit and must-see or do activities while there? Where is the beat place to see fireworks? Do you recommend the sailboat tour?

Try to see the replicas of those "three ships" that brought the first Jamestown settlers.

Besides the historic colonial places, the biggest attraction is Busch Gardens amusement theme park.

Virginia Beach is about an hour away, but there are smaller, less crowded places like Buckroe Beach in Hampton,
Jamestown Beach in James City County, and Yorktown Beach in York County.

I can't comment on where to best view fireworks or whether the sailboat tours are worth it, but they both sound fun.


I haven't been down that way since 2013, but I'm sure we have members that can provide better information.

Enjoy your time when you all come down!  

Highly recommend three places:

Copper Fox Distillery
Silverhand Meadery
Williamsburg Winery

All great places to have a tasting and enjoy a relaxing and fun atmosphere.  WW has a fancy bistro and food, CFD has a great cocktail bar, and SM has a nice low key taproom in the heart of williamsburg.  If you’ve never tried Mead, I absolutely think you should try silverhand.  Some of their stuff will amaze you at its flavours.

Secondarily, the old time williamsburg shop area has some great and interesting tourist places.  The colonial Williamsburg has many different attractions, including a smith who fulltime makes black powder rifles.  Yorktown is also very cool to visit as well, and if you’ve got the time, you can take the ferry across the River and visit Smithfield (of ham fame) which is a nice little town and site of a ex-Nike missile launch facility that hs been turned into a park.

Do you have .mil/CAC?  If so, that will open the aperture of opportunities a bit more.

Try these...in no particular order...
Nauticus in Norfolk  .... enjoy a visit onboard the WISKY...a well maintained BB! Parking and onboarding is $$ but worth taking the Command and Control Tour and the below decks Maint tour!  You can crawl inside a 16 inch turret as well....
Museums...
Ft Eustis Transportation museum...both outside/covered areas, then inside. Free
American Revolution Museum...in Yorktown...very good, but $$
Ride along the Colonial Parkway from Yorktown to Jamestown ...FREE...
You'll have a few pullouts and usually during the week, there are a couple of DDGs or Amphibs moored at Yorktown Weapons Station...FREE
Old Fort Monroe (Free access, no longer a .mil reservation)...you can wander over a Coast Artillery battery and watch the Harbor traffic...usually plenty of free parking...Casemate Museum is well worth it...bonus...go inside the moat and walk up on top....a true to life pet cemetery!!!!

Thirst quenchers...
Oozlefinch Brewery on Ft. Monroe
Billsberg Brewery at Jamestown
York Pub in Yorktown, touristy and normally packed...beach is free, parking is free but goes quickly...
WW and Meadery...both have excellent tours...Meadery has honey tasting...well worth it...and you'll learn a bit in a friendly locale!
Richmond Road in WBG is wall to wall restaurants...but BEWARE parking....check to ensure parking lots aren't marked as you'll get towed quickly otherwise!

AVOID unless you want to be a statistic...Portsmouth, Norfolk, Newport News

Most areas are 2A friendly...after hours, the above 3 cities are typical free fire zones for those that favor that kind of recognition.

Last and certainly LEAST....I-64 is pretty good...3 and 4 lanes + from Toano down to Hampton...but the Achilles heels are the HRBT, and MMBT...especially during "peak hours"...expect significant backups during morning rush, both directions and on weekends. For us, southside might as well be another state.  VDOT 511 is a handy app...at least you'll know why you are sitting stuck in traffic....use WAZE for alternative routing!

The only beach that is on the Atlantic ocean on that part of VA is Va Beach.  The bay is close and it has no riptides because it doesn't really have waves to form them.  I personally take visiting company to Sandbridge beach in southern Va Beach.  It doesn't have the beach resort feeling of the oceanfront in Va Beach.  Both beaches have lifeguards during the day in the summer.  Sandbridge is far less crowded but adds about 45 minutes to your commute if you don't know the back roads.  Williamsburg is a beautiful city and is rich in history.  There are many Revolutionary and Civil war battlefields within an hour or two drive if you are into that sort of thing.  Good luck and have a nice stay in VA.