Road trips by city

Road trips from Richmond

20 back-roads routes start within a 4.5-hour drive of Richmond, including 6 day trips and 12 weekend drives; 5 ready-made itineraries begin nearby.

Drive times are estimates to the nearer end of each route (straight-line miles plus a quarter, at 50 mph); the atlas itself never routes you onto an interstate once the drive begins.

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Day trips from Richmond

• VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway
  Starts in Richmond
  Richmond → Yorktown · ~90 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-64
• Lee's Retreat
  About 30 min to Petersburg
  Petersburg → Appomattox · ~110 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-85
• The Booth Escape Route
  About 1 h 5 min to Port Royal
  Washington → Port Royal · ~95 mi · 1 days · skips I-95
• The Northern Neck
  About 1 h 20 min to Fredericksburg
  Fredericksburg → Irvington · ~110 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-95
• The Constitution Route & 231
  About 1 h 40 min to Charlottesville
  Charlottesville → Sperryville · ~75 mi · 1–2 days · skips US 29
• US 13: The Eastern Shore
  About 2 h to Cape Charles
  Cape Charles → Chincoteague · ~90 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-95 (by an entire bay)

Weekend road trips from Richmond

• US 301: The Ghost Road
  About 1 h 30 min to Emporia
  Emporia → Santee · ~290 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-95 (that's the point)
• US 58: The Last Capital Road
  About 1 h 50 min to Suffolk
  Martinsville → Suffolk · ~230 mi · 2 days · skips I-85
• Bull Run to the Bloody Angle
  About 2 h 15 min to Loop from Alexandria
  Loop from Alexandria · ~240 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-95 / I-66
• Skyline Drive & the Parkway
  About 2 h 35 min to Front Royal
  Front Royal → Roanoke · ~225 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-81 (running parallel below)
• The Valley Pike
  About 3 h to Winchester
  Winchester → Roanoke · ~200 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-81
• Sherman's Carolinas Campaign
  About 3 h 20 min to Durham
  Columbia → Durham · ~280 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-95 / I-40
• The Quiet Zone
  About 3 h 25 min to Petersburg, WV
  Lewisburg → Petersburg, WV · ~160 mi · 2 days · skips I-79 (by 60 miles)
• US 11: The Valley Road South
  About 3 h 30 min to Roanoke
  Roanoke → Bristol · ~150 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-81
• Gold, Clay & Longleaf
  About 3 h 30 min to Raleigh
  Raleigh → Columbia · ~250 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-85 / I-77
• The Inner Banks
  About 3 h 30 min to Washington
  Washington → Ocracoke (via Swan Quarter ferry) · ~120 mi · 1–2 days · skips US 64 bypass
• The Midland Trail
  About 3 h 55 min to White Sulphur Springs
  White Sulphur Springs → Charleston · ~120 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-64
• The Crooked Road
  About 4 h 5 min to Floyd
  Bristol → Floyd · ~210 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-81

Named parkways and scenic byways within reach

• VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway
  Starts in Richmond
  Richmond → Yorktown · ~90 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-64
• Skyline Drive & the Parkway
  About 2 h 35 min to Front Royal
  Front Royal → Roanoke · ~225 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-81 (running parallel below)
• Blue Ridge Parkway & the Smokies
  About 3 h 30 min to Roanoke
  Roanoke → Cherokee (+ Smokies spurs) · ~400 mi · 3–5 days · skips I-81 / I-40 / I-26

Longer itineraries starting near Richmond

• Tidewater & the Outer Banks
  4 days · ~430 mi · from Richmond
  Plantation row and the first peninsula, then across the Albemarle sounds to the barrier islands — colonial capitals, wild beaches, two free ferries…
• Cradle & Surrender: Jamestown to Appomattox
  3 days · ~260 mi · from Williamsburg
  The bookends of American history in one Virginia weekend: the first permanent English colony and the Yorktown victory that won independence, then…
• Presidents & Pinot
  3 days · ~160 mi · from Charlottesville
  Monticello and Montpelier with the Monticello AVA poured between them, then Virginia's prettiest road north — grafting onto the Civil War loop at…
• Sounds & Banks
  7 days · ~560 mi · from Norfolk
  Two ferries, four lighthouses, one lost colony and the slow handoff from sound country to the Lowcountry's front porch.
• US 17: Outer Banks to Florida
  8 days · ~820 mi · from Norfolk
  The Atlantic coast road end to end: NC 12 and two ferries across the sounds, then the Kings Highway from Wilmington to Savannah and the Golden Isles…

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