A most wonderful time of year in Williamsburg
City named one of best places to spend Christmas
Williamsburg is among the best places in the country for a magical Christmas, according to two rankings.
The travel lifestyle website Local Adventurer named Williamsburg one of the 17 best places to spend Christmas, while Country Living magazine called the city one of the 30 most magical towns in the United States.
Local Adventurer ranked two North Carolina communities — Asheville and McAdenville, just outside Charlotte — in its top 10. Williamsburg was No. 13.
The website cites Busch Gardens’ Christmas Town and Jamestown — “to celebrate the holidays like the colonists” — as sites not to miss. It suggests restaurants Amber Ox Public House, Food for Thought and Maurizio Ristorante as places to eat.
Not surprising, leading the list is New York City with its Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and ice rink, the Rockettes Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Central Park and the dozens of Fifth Avenue window displays.
According to Local Adventurer, McAdenville, which ranks No. 2, changes its name each December to Christmas Town USA. There are over 375 trees and 450,000 lights, and the first 1,000 attendees who attend each night get free hot chocolate and kettle corn.
Asheville, at No. 10, makes the list for the Biltmore Estate, National Gingerbread House Competition and Winter Lights at the North Carolina Arboretum.
Other communities on the list include North Pole, Alaska; Vail, Colorado; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and the colorful Park City, Utah, with its decorated center town.
Meanwhile, Country Living magazine placed Williamsburg on its list of “30 Most Magical Christmas Towns in the U.S.”
Williamsburg ranked No. 24, while Middleburg, in northern Virginia, was No. 1.
About Middleburg, the
magazine says: “Settle in for an old-fashioned Christmas in the heart of Virginia’s horse and hunt country, where you can cheer on a parade of loyal hounds as they ride through the streets, sip on smallbatched hard cider and shop for old-world holiday decor.”
For travelers, Williamsburg provides “colonial holiday traditions like caroling by torchlight, fife and drum performances and interpretive programs” that “set the stage for Christmas” in the “charming” restored 18th century capital of Virginia.
The magazine points to Colonial Williamsburg’s Grand Illumination — the historic area’s annual fireworks and lights display — as well as Busch Gardens’ Christmas Town, where visitors can “stroll through European holiday traditions.”