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What are the best places to visit in West Virginia?
What is there to do in West Virginia?
How many state parks are in West Virginia?
What is West Virginia famous for?
- Hawks Nest State Park. Turns out that West Virginia is not only full of beautiful state parks. It’s also home to the newest national park, New River Gorge National Park.
- Blackwater Falls State Park. A visit to Blackwater Falls in Tucker County allows visitors to glimpse some of the most photographed nature in West Virginia.
- Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. While nature certainly takes center stage in WV state parks, it’s not the only game in town. The state is also packed full of history.
- Watoga State Park. Watoga State Park’s claim to fame is its sheer size. The largest of all WV State Parks, it encompasses over 10,000 acres in Pocahontas County.
- Overview
- Why you should visit West Virginia
- Best time to visit West Virginia
- Lay of the land
- Getting around West Virginia
- Know before you go
- How to visit West Virginia sustainably
- What to read and watch
Here’s everything you need to know about the mountain state’s rushing rivers, Appalachian hikes, and historic cities.
From the Long Point Trail in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, hikers have views of the New River Gorge Bridge, which offers bridge walk tours.
fast facts
Statehood: June 20, 1863 (35th state)
Capital: Charleston
Time zone: Eastern Standard Time
Towering mountains. Rushing rivers ideal for white-water rafting (one of National Geographic’s top 20 Best of the World travel adventures for 2024). America’s newest national park. Appalachian cuisine and folk music.
Spring: Late April through May, yellow trout lily, purple larkspur, and other wildflowers frame hiking paths such as the Blackwater River Trail in Canaan Valley Resort State Park, the Stone Cliff Trail in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, or the Central Trail loop in Cacapon Resort State Park. It’s also ramps season, when the foraged wild onions headline on restaurant menus, at the Ramps and Rail Festival in Elkins, and even in allium-forward wine.
Summer: With the highest average elevation east of the Mississippi River, West Virginia often has pleasantly cool summer temperatures. In steamier weather, visitors chill out by white-water rafting on the Lower Gauley or Cheat Rivers or by tubing in the Shenandoah or Potomac Rivers. The West Virginia Waterfall Trail spotlights cascades in places including Babcock State Park and Monongahela National Forest.
July festivals include the Sternwheel Regatta with boat races along the Kanawha River in Charleston and the Contemporary American Theater Festival of new plays in Shepherdstown.
Autumn: Gauley Season opens 25 miles of the legendary river to rafters in September and October—arrange a trip with ACE Adventure Resort or Adventures on the Gorge. Also thrilling: watching BASE jumpers hurl themselves off of the 3,030-foot long, 876-foot-high New River Gorge Bridge during the Bridge Day festival in Fayetteville.
See September and October’s peak fall foliage on scenic drives, hiking trails, or by riding restored trains, the Potomac Eagle and the New Tygart Flyer.
Winter: In the eastern part of West Virginia, mountainous terrain (40 peaks above 4,000 feet!) and high average snowfalls attract skiers, sledders, and tubers. Downhill schussers and snowboarders head to Timberline Mountain and Canaan Valley Ski Resort. Nearby, Blackwater Falls State Park appeals to families with a quarter-mile-long sled run and cabins with wood-burning fireplaces.
Cities and towns: West Virginia is within a day’s drive of nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population. In its eastern panhandle, mountain-framed Berkeley Springs has been a spa town since colonial times and Shepherdstown has Civil War history, restaurants, and shops in rehabbed vintage buildings.
Along the Monongahela River in the northern part of the state, Morgantown is home to scenic covered bridges, museums, and green spaces such as the West Virginia Botanic Garden.
The state capital, Charleston, at the confluence of the Kanawha and Elk Rivers in the southwestern part of the state, has waterside trails, street murals, and the Capitol Market, a food and crafts bazaar in a vintage train station.
Southeast of Charleston in the Appalachian foothills, Beckley has been a coal mining hub since the late 19th century. Visitors can take mine tours or browse for local crafts at the Tamarack cultural center.
In the south central part of the state, Fayetteville’s breweries, restaurants, and gear shops appeal to adventurers headed to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve next door.
Parks: New River Gorge National Park and Preserve opened in 2020 on 72,000 acres of wooded hills, deep ravines, and Appalachian plateau. The 63rd U.S. national park is popular with hikers, rafters, and mountain bikers.
By car: West Virginia is easily accessible by six interstates. You’ll need a car to explore its scenic highways and backroads. EV charging stations are available in most cities, many towns, and several state parks. Mountain areas may require AWD, 4WD, or chains during snowy weather.
By bus: Megabus has a station in Morgantown; there are Greyhound stations in Charleston, Huntington, Beckley, Bluefield, Morgantown, Fairmont, and Bridgeport.
By train: Amtrak’s Capitol Limited train operates daily to Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg; the Amtrak Cardinal runs weekly to White Sulphur Springs, Alderson, Hinton, Prince, Thurmond, Montgomery, Charleston, and Huntington.
In town: Larger cities and towns have bus service and bike share or rental programs, including the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority in Charleston, the Tri-State Transit Authority in Huntington, and Morgantown’s Mountain Line Transit Authority.
Cultural History: West Virginia’s human history begins with nomadic Paleo-Indians who inhabited the area as early as 11,000 B.C. The historic peoples most associated with the region include the Cherokee, Delaware, Shawnee, and Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Enslaved Africans were forced to work in areas that include Greenbrier, Monongahela, and Kanawha in the 18th and 19th centuries.
West Virginia is the only state formed as a result of the Civil War, carved out of western Virginia and added to the union by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery here on February 3, 1865.
Help preserve habitat by sticking to designated trails and roads and leaving no trace. When visiting public lands, properly extinguish campfires. Eat at locavore restaurants and try foraged foods such as ginseng and ramps.
Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia. A queer Asian American teacher and writer hysterically and poignantly details her triumphs and struggles living in West Virginia.
Born in a Ballroom, directed by Clara Lehmann. This documentary introduces viewers to The Hütte—a Swiss restaurants and cultural icon in the remote mountain town of Helvetia—and its spitfire founder, the late Eleanor Mailloux.
Feast of the Seven Fishes directed by Robert Tinnell. Set in a mining town in the 1980s, this 2018 holiday film depicts Italian-American family life.
The Grand Design: A Novel of Dorothy Draper by Joy Callaway. A historical novel—set at White Sulphur Springs’ extravagantly decorated Greenbrier—imagines the life and love story of Draper, the mid-20th-century interior designer who decked out the resort.
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam. This memoir set in 1950s Coalwood traces Hickam’s early obsession with Sputnik, which led him to a NASA career. (This also inspired the movie October Sky.)
Terry Ward is a travel writer who frequently visits West Virginia. Follow her on Instagram.
- Pipestem Resort State Park. Pipestem Resort State Park, 3405 Pipestem Dr, Pipestem, WV 25979, USA. Location: Pipestem, WV. Wow Factor: The park has two hotels, one accessible by tram, 26 cabins, golf courses, restaurants, and recreational activities like horseback riding at its stable - wow!
- Blackwater Falls State Park. Blackwater Falls State Park, 1584 Blackwater Lodge Rd, Davis, WV 26260, USA. Location: Davis, WV. Wow Factor: Blackwater River's "Great Falls" drop 62 feet, the state's highest above-ground falls, with a distinctive formation often icing over in winter.
- Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, 12363 Cass Rd, Cass, WV 24927, USA. Location: Cass, WV. Wow Factor: Visitors ride historic log cars pulled by a powerful geared logging locomotive on an 11-mile track laid in 1901 across the steep grades of Back Allegheny Mountain.
- Audra State Park. Audra State Park, Audra, Buckhannon, WV 26201, USA. Location: Buckhannon, WV. Wow Factor: Audra State Park, built around a 19th-century gristmill and the Audra community, preserves the historical remnants, including the visible spillway in the river.
- Tamara Gane
- Seneca State Forest, West Virginia 24934, USA
- Berkeley Springs State Park. 2 S Washington St, Berkeley Springs, WV 25411, USA. Phone +1 304-258-2711. Long before European settlers came to West Virginia in 1730, Native American tribes traveled from Canada to soak themselves in the warm waters of what is now Berkeley Springs State Park.
- Seneca State Forest. Seneca State Forest, West Virginia 24934, USA. When you’re exploring the almost 13,000 wooded acres of Seneca State Forest, it’s hard to imagine that most of the trees had been cut down when the state acquired the land in 1924.
- Babcock State Park. 486 Babcock Rd, Clifftop, WV 25831, USA. Phone +1 304-438-3004. Be sure to bring your camera when you visit Babcock State Park.
- Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park. 137 Juliana Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101-5331, USA. Phone +1 304-420-4800.
Explore West Virginia’s 36 scenic state parks, nine state forests, three rail trails and countless adventures. Discover four-season recreation and cozy accommodations. Observe scenic overlooks, cascading waterfalls, deep valleys and sprawling meadows.
Apr 27, 2023 · Once you get out into nature and experience the outdoors in West Virginia, you’ll understand why the state’s motto is “wild and wonderful.” There are so many hidden gems outside in West Virginia thanks to stunning landscapes that provide ample recreation and epic views.
Visiting state parks is a great way to explore the beauty of the Mountain State, and the drive to get to them is equally impressive. Here are nine beautiful state parks to visit in West Virginia that I’ve either been to or heard friends raving about for years.
