3-Day Itinerary for Colonial Williamsburg
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How much can you see on a 3-day trip to Colonial Williamsburg?
This was the exact question Peter asked me when we decided to take a last-minute trip.
So I challenged him to figure out the best itinerary to visit as much as possible on a 3-day ticket to Colonial Williamsburg.
How to prepare for your visit to Colonial Williamsburg
Check your weather app!
On our trip it poured the first day and a half, by checking a weather app, we were able to pack our Columbia rain jackets.
You also want to have nice walking shoes or sneakers.
Once you arrive at the Visitor Center grab a map as it will help you explore the village.
3 Day Itinerary
While we didn’t get to see everything, this itinerary is a guide on how we spend 3 days exploring Colonial Williamsburg.
Day 1
We started by purchasing our tickets the night we arrived in Williamsburg for entrance the following morning. The ticket line was shorter and the wait for the bus was much easier to get into the village. (Just a note: I tore my ACL before our trip so we used the bus a lot)
9:30 AM – We parked the car in the visitor center parking lot and made our way to to bus stop on the bottom level of the visitor center.
10:00 AM – Took the shuttle from the visitor center to the first stop of the Governers Palace.
10:15 AM – Governers Palace Tour (15-20 minute guided tour)
10:30 AM – Explored the Governers Palace Gardens (it was raining so we didn’t explore it too much during this visit)
10:45 AM – Walked Palace Green St towards Duke of Gloucester where we explored the Wythe Property
11:15 AM – Continuing down Palace Green we opted to respect the church service that was in progress at the Bruton Parish Church, however, we did take a quick look into the graveyard.
11:20 AM – Turning left (heading West) we visited the John Greenhow Store where we picked up a root beer before making our way to the Weaver just a few doors down.
11:45 AM – We grab the time for the next Courthouse tour then made our way East towards Merchant Square to grab lunch.
We opted for lunch at Dog Street Pub.
12:30 PM – After lunch, we raced back to the Courthouse just in time for the next show/tour where we got to participate.
1:10 PM – Once the show/tour of the Courthouse was over we made our way down to the Public Armoury, Blacksmith, Shoemaker, and Tin Plate Maker.
2:00 PM – Because of the rain we opted to end the day by visiting some of the shops such as Tarpley, Thompson & Company Store.
After taking the shuttle back to the visitor center we headed to our hotel where we took a nap and headed out to dinner and a beer from The Virginia Beer Company.
Day 2
The second day started off with some rain, so we headed back to the visitor center to grab the shuttle.
10:00 AM – We took the shuttle bus to the Capital building.
10:15 AM – We explored the Public Gaol (Jail) before heading over to Charlton’s Coffeehouse stage where we listened to Marquis de La Fayette for about 30 minutes.
10:45 AM – After listening to a riveting story we quickly made our way back to the Capital where we caught the next tour that lasted about 15-30 minutes.
11:30 AM – After the Capital tour we put our names in for the King’s Arms Tavern before taking a tour of the Coffeehouse.
Thankfully the King’s Arms Tavern uses text messaging for seating so despite being near the end of our tour we left early to make it in time for lunch.
1:00 PM – After lunch we explored the Apothecary, Milliner, and Silversmith before grabbing a snack at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery.
2:00 PM – Making our way down Gloucester St we explore some of the shops we didn’t get a chance to explore on day 1 before making our way down to the Bookbinder and Printer.
3:00 PM – We finished the day by taking a tour through the Raleigh Tavern before grabbing the shuttle back to the visitor center.
After getting back to our hotel and taking a nap we grabbed beers while playing pinball at Precarious Beer Project.
Day 3
This was our last day in Williamsburg. After packing the car we headed over the the Visitor Center one last time to grab the shuttle.
10:00 AM – Getting off the shuttle at Tavern Bus Stop, we made our way to the shops where we picked up a few souvenirs.
10:30 AM – We made our way down to the Market House before heading up to Nicholas Street.
11:00 AM – Walking down Nicolas St. we visited the Cabinetmaker & Harpsichord Maker along with the American Indian Encampment.
12:00 PM – We made it to the Randolph Property just as the down pouring rain rolled through.
1:00 PM – With a 6-hour car ride ahead of us, we opted to end our time at Williamsburg and headed back to the Visitor Center.
At the visitor center, we picked up any last-minute souvenirs before heading home.
Helpful Links For Planning Your Trip
Looking for other things to do in Williamsburg? Here are some great things to see during your stay.
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