I’ve found myself in Richmond, Virginia a few times lately, and ended up there at the same time as a good friend from college so we took the weekend to play tourist and get to know the area.
I’m a super loyal Starwood member, but unfortunately, Richmond doesn’t really have much in the way of options, so I randomly picked the Berkeley Hotel on HotelTonight the first time I visited, and it was the best decision I could have made. It has this elegant feel to it that you don’t get with super modern new hotels. The rooms are decorated beautifully, and it almost makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. Plus, the restaurant/lounge downstairs actually has INCREDIBLE food for a pretty good deal. Make sure you plan to at least have a few apps and a drink while you’re there – they have a burger deal one night that is phenom.
The area around The Berkeley is called Shockoe Slip, and it’s a very quant strip of great restaurants and shops. In the morning, grab a coffee at The Urban Farmhouse Market – it’s a super cute little coffeeshop/cafe – all with local ingredients. If you end up with downtime during the day, this is a great place to sit and work.
For lunch I love oysters at Sam Miller’s. They are quite literally the best east coast oysters I’ve ever had. The first time I came here I think I accidentally ate 2 dozen because I just kept ordering more. All of the seafood here is amazing, so you really can’t go wrong with anything.
Another great lunch spot is Lucy’s. I feel like every meal of life is a constant struggle of eating healthy vs. delicious, and Lucy’s makes you easily feel like you can do both – they have a ton of amazing salads, including a shrimp po boy salad, and a salad with a burger on top of it.
For dinner in the area, if you’re not sick of seafood yet (who can get sick of seafood??), try out The Hard Shell, another really great seafood restaurant in the area. I went with a selection of items from the raw bar followed by their incredible mussels. Also, as a side note, the bread was REALLY REALLY good. It can get pretty busy, so I’d suggest making reservations. I arrived around 9 pm on a weeknight and there were only a few open spots at the bar.
Another spot you can’t miss over in Shockoe is the Fountain Bookstore. I love to read, and I love finding the best independent bookstores in every city, plus I always finish books on planes and realize I have nothing for the trip home. I ended up spending about a half hour just chatting with the bookseller and browsing the shelves.
On Saturday I decided to get out of Shockoe and explore the rest of the city a bit. I had plans to meet a friend at the Virginia Fine Art’s Museum, but I had about an hour before I needed to be there, so I decided to grab a coffee and walk from my hotel to see more of the city. I started by walking a couple of blocks up to Capitol Square which is a beautiful park in front of the State Capitol building. Around Capitol Square is also where I found the incredible story of Anna Maria above – the only known woman Veteran of the Revolutionary War.
From there I walked all the way along Franklin, which takes you through the VCU campus and past the beautiful Jefferson Hotel. Once you hit the roundabout, and veer off onto Stuart, you get to see some incredibly beautiful old homes. It fascinated me to look at the plaques on each home – most containing the name of the house as well as the original year the home was built.
After the Fine Art’s Museum, we drove back over by The Berkeley to visit The Civil War Museum and the White House of the Confederacy. You get a discount if you pay for both visits at the front desk, and the tours of the White House aren’t too long and are incredibly interesting and informative.
If I were doing this trip again, I’d swap the Civil War Museum/White House of the Confederacy and the Fine Art’s Museum since the former is right next to The Berkeley, and the later is right next to where we headed next.
At this point, we were super hungry, so we headed over to Carytown, which is strip of bars, restaurants, and shops, all very popular with the young professionals crowd in Richmond. We started out with appetizers at Can Can Brasserie, an amazing French restaurant. We filled ourselves up with mussels and frites, escargot, charcuterie, and some great French wine.
Afterwards we went for some fancy cocktails at The Daily Kitchen & Bar. The cocktails are very extravagant with crazy ingredients including the Watermelon Kombucha Martini, the You Had Me At Aloe – a twist on a margarita with aloe in it, and my favorite, the Cucumber Martini.
Next we stopped at Citizen Burger Bar, which has a TON of beers on tap as well as a lot of, you guessed it, burgers. They have a ton of space and a lot of big tv’s, so it’s perfect for big groups and sports.
After quite a few beers, we went a few doors down to Best Friends Forever, a small Mexican joint with potentially the best name ever. We honestly weren’t hungry, but mostly wanted to stop here so that we could make a super cute Facebook check-in. Turns out, the queso and margs are actually pretty good here, so I’d recommend a return trip.
The next time I visit I’m hoping to check out cocktails at The Jefferson, The Edgar Allen Poe Museum, and dinner at The Roosevelt. Have questions for your trip or tips for my next? Let me know in the comments!
