Three Things To Visit Williamsburg This Fall

We love autumn, and we love a well-researched itinerary. This fall, use ours as a guide for your trip to one of America’s most beautiful historic areas. Here are three things you should know before you visit Williamsburg this fall.

Spookiness is our Specialty

Looking for Halloween-themed fun? You’re in the right place. Like other historic American cities, Halloween has a long history in quaint Colonial Williamsburg. Dive right in and start with an eerie candlelight ghost tour (where you’ll learn real Williamsburg history), and graduate to Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens for a horrifying haunted house experience. If over-the-top terror is not your thing, come to the park during the day to ride world-class rides and roller coasters, see amazing shows and concerts, or check out Halloween Spooktacular for little kids. This family-friendly Halloween festival has themed weekends that center around Sesame Street characters and is included with park admission.

Jamestown Settlement will host its annual Halloween celebration Family Frights on October 20 and 21. This is an excellent choice for families with young children—the event incorporates imagination and fantasy with an enchanted forest trail, fairies and magical creatures, plus guests can visit the three recreated English ships to help Peter Pan fend off the crocodile. Of course, there’s plenty of trick-or-treating, too. Learn more here. 

Fun Bonus: Freedom Park will keep the park open late on the nights of October 28 and November 27 so hikers can walk one of the park trails by the light of the full moon. This would make for a fun memory with bigger kids, your partner or a good friend.

We Adore the Great Outdoors

Next on the list of three things you should know before you visit Williamsburg this fall is that we absolutely love being outside—because there are endless options for enjoying it! As one of America’s most historic cities, history and nature preservation go hand-in-hand. 

As things cool down and green leaves change to vibrant hues, fall is the perfect time to get outside in the Historic Triangle. There is a bit of an adventure culture here, with walking and biking trails that intersect historic sites and even go beyond city limits, historic gardens including green spaces at the famous College of William & Mary and the arboretum with trees that date back to the 18th century.

Freedom Park is also home to Go Ape, a zipline and treetop adventure park that you and your family will love. This is a great way to have fun, physical adventures like climbing rope ladders, leaping onto net bridges, swinging on trapezes and Tarzan swings and zipping through 600 feet of tree line. See which adventures are suitable for your group, and get ready to soar into joy!

We Love to Entertain 

Whether you’re traveling with family, friends, a significant other or just yourself, there is so much to see and experience in the Historic Triangle. Last of the three things you should know before you visit Williamsburg is how seriously we take our entertainment—from concerts of all sizes to large-scale events at the world’s most beautiful theme park, like Mardi Gras, Bier Fest, the Food & Wine Festival, Summer Nights, Pride Day, Howl-O-Scream and Christmas Town, just to name a few. 

You can also see amazing shows all throughout the year at Busch Gardens. We do fireworks on the Fourth of July and at Christmas time, and we even put our feet to the pavement (er, cobblestones) in Colonial Williamsburg with incredible street theater that teaches history in the most amazing way. Shows are performed all across the 301 acres of this living history museum by talented historian-actors—a unique experience that is scientifically proven to make your life better.

These are the three things you should know about Williamsburg before you visit this fall. What would you add?