Best Indoor Activities in Williamsburg
Don’t let the cold or rain stop you from enjoying Greater Williamsburg indoors.
When the weather turns cold or soggy, no need to stop having fun. Just slip inside one of these high and dry spots — from pampering spas to unique museums to craft breweries — for memorable indoor experiences.
Get Spirited
Quench your thirst with stops at Alewerks Brewing Company, makers of many seasonal ales, stouts, and porters; The Virginia Beer Company, which offers experimental small-batch beers like hazy India Pale Ales, barrel-fermented Saisons, and craft lagers; the Precarious Beer Hall, where you’ll find cutting-edge offerings along with tacos, burritos, and wings; or Brass Cannon Brewing for brown, golden, and red ales.
Be Pampered
Relax, refresh, and recharge with a visit to an indulgent spa. From the Kingsmill Resort Spa, which offers Swedish massage, hydra-facials, French manicures, and Brazilian waxing.
Take a Dip
Who doesn’t love swimming in the middle of winter? The massive Kingsmill Indoor Pool is perfect for lap and open swims when the weather is cold outside. So jump right in. The water’s fine. The water is always 85 degrees.
Sample an Ancient Beverage
Stop by the Silver Hand Meadery for free tastings of the world’s most ancient fermented beverage. Try one of the meads, created by fermenting sugars found in honey with added herbs, spices, and fruits to create unique flavors. Among the offerings are Dream by the Fire, made with Virginia wildflower honey, pressed Virginia apples, cinnamon, cloves and allspice, and Soak Up the Sun, a semi-sweet traditional mead fermented with orange blossom honey, both perfect for a chilly evening.
Check Out Life During Wartime
At the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, wander gallery exhibits and watch films that explore the stories of ordinary people during extraordinary times, from the twilight of the colonial period to the dawn of the Constitution and beyond. Nearly every attraction is interactive. Check out the immersive 4-D film on the 180-degree screen that transports visitors to the Siege of Yorktown with wind, smoke, and the thunder of cannon fire.
Cozy Up to the Fire
Enjoy a crackling fire in the condos of the sprawling Kingsmill Resort located right on the James River. There’s nothing like a blaze to ward off the chill outside and set the mood for romance. Kingmill will provide the wood and even start and clean out the fireplace for you.
View Southern Furniture and British Ceramics
Colonial Williamsburg’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum boasts the world’s largest collection of Southern furniture and one of the largest collections of British ceramics outside England. After admiring these artifacts, relax in the Portrait Gallery, attend a lecture or musical event in the Hennage Auditorium, or take part in a hands-on activity in the Education Studio.
Get Out-let and Stretch Your Dollars
Inclement weather is made for shopping. Stretch your dollars at the Williamsburg Premium Outlets. They open at 10 a.m. daily. You could spend two hours or all day browsing through 120 stores, including J. Crew, The North Face, Nike, Coach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, L’Occitane, and Swarovski.
Relive Colonial History
Relive the experience of America’s first permanent English colony at Jamestown Settlement near the original site. Expansive gallery exhibits and an introductory film describe the cultures of the Powhatan Indians, English, and Africans who converged here in 17th-century Virginia. Discover a one-of-a-kind 4-D multi-sensory projection theater where “Bacon’s Rebellion,” a 1676 armed rebellion of Virginia colonists led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley, unfolds every 20 minutes during museum hours.
Watch a Play or Opera
Check out the entertainment at the Kimball Theatre in the heart of Williamsburg. Performances range from a play by Molière, The Imaginary Invalid, to a production of the opera La Bohème, to dance performances.
Hit the Tasting Trail
Hop in a car or a ride share and take off on a wet adventure of a different sort by cruising the Williamsburg Tasting Trail. You’ll explore the boundless creativity of local vintners, distillers, and brewers for everything from award-winning wines to small-batch beers to whiskies flavored with fruitwood instead of peat. There’s even a meadery along the way.
Celebrate American Folk Art
Discover an amazing variety of paintings, sculptures, and other objects created by talented, self-trained artists and craftsmen at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, one of the nation’s largest collections of American folk art. Ongoing exhibits feature Navajo weavings, including more than 20 rare works created by Navajo women on hand looms in the late 19th and 20th centuries; quilts, which represent the multicultural threads of American society, including the Anglo-American, African-American, German, Amish, and Mennonite communities; and American folk pottery made by 19th– and 20th-century folk potters.
Take a Deep Dive
Dig into the results of the deep dive into the past at Historic Jamestowne, where you can visit the Archaearium, an archaeology museum that houses some of the two million artifacts uncovered since the Jamestown Rediscovery Project began in 1994. The exhibits focus on the 1607-1624 Virginia Company period at Jamestown. Nearly three decades of digging have led to a new understanding of the first English settlers, their relationships with the Virginia Indians, and how they shaped a new American society. You can even put a face to the name, thanks to forensic research on the skeletal remains of early settlers that has led to their facial reconstructions.
Pay Homage to the Watermen
On the Yorktown waterfront, experience another time at the Watermen’s Museum, which exhibits boat models, photos, tools, and artifacts of the men who harvest the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. It also spotlights historical military and civilian water craft and activities and looks into the lives of the people that have worked and fought on the water.