Geographically, Virginia has it all, from the waters of Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the peaks of the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains. Culturally, the state offers museums and Civil War sites, along with excellent seafood, wineries, and recreational opportunities to please any group.
Alexandria
VisitAlexandriaVA.com/meetings; @AlexandriaVA
Five miles from Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River, historic Alexandria is known for its Old Town, with brick sidewalks and well-preserved 18th– and 19th-century buildings. It is an ideal location for small to mid-size meetings and features an excellent array of hotels and state-of-the-art meeting facilities.
The Leadership Collection at Alexandria offers three exclusive, nationally recognized executive leadership and teambuilding locations: the George Washington Leadership Institution at Mount Vernon, with customizable programs supporting senior executive development; the McChrystal Group, founded by retired Four-Star General Stanley McChrystal, leverages diverse military and business experience to help clients build leadership teams; and veteran-owned science and engineering consulting group Building Momentum offers immersive training programs.
With offerings ranging from boutiques to full-service convention properties, Alexandria has 24 hotels and 3,367 guest rooms. One of the largest, the 496-room Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, features 45,000 square feet of recently renovated function space and can accommodate up to 960 guests. Designed by world-renowned architect Piero Lissoni, the new 180-room AKA Alexandria in Old Town has 2,700 square feet of flexible space, including a junior ballroom that fits 100 guests. The hotel also has a patio event space for small groups and an intimate cinema theater for personal screenings. Alexandria features many
historical and cultural venues for unique event settings, including Gadsby’s Tavern Museum. A favorite haunt of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, the attraction can host events for up to 160 guests. Planners might also consider hosting a paddleboat dinner and dancing cruise on the Potomac River.
Arlington County
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Home to the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, and Amazon’s HQ2 offices, Arlington has more than 290,000 square feet of meeting space. The county’s largest hotels and independent venues offer between 30,000 and 50,000 square feet of event space.
Within walking distance of the Metro station at Crystal City, AMA’s Washington Area Conference Center in Arlington features 10 meeting rooms and three breakout rooms and can accommodate meetings of five to 90 people. The conference center has a preferred rates agreement with two nearby hotels: the 686-room Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport, which has 70,000 square feet of meeting space and can accommodate up to 2,500 people, and the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel, which has 17,179 square feet of event space and holds a capacity of 900 people.
Other notable Arlington area hotels include the 419-room Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel, featuring 50,221 square feet of event space, and the Doubletree by Hilton DC-Crystal City, which has 627 guest rooms and 31,464 square feet of event space.
Charlottesville/Albemarle
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Home to the University of Virginia, the vibrant Downtown Mall neighborhood, historical attractions, and more than 40 wineries, Albemarle County—with Charlottesville as its county seat—has the right components for successful gatherings.
“We are less than half an hour from where the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah National Park meet, plus two rivers (the James & Rivanna) wind their way through the city and county; meeting/event attendees could also bring the whole family to explore the region’s history and such places as Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, James Monroe’s Highland, and James Madison’s Montpelier,” says Brantley Ussery, director of marketing and public relations for the Charlottesville Albemarle CVB.
On the Downtown Mall, the Omni Hotel offers 205 rooms and 12,441 square feet of meeting space. About 15 minutes away, the 239-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Charlottesville features 16,150 square feet of meeting space and fits 600 guests for receptions in its largest ballroom.
The stunning Forum Hotel by Kimpton is now open on the grounds of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. The five-story, 198-room Jeffersonian-style hotel features more than 22,000 square feet of indoor event space and nearly 18,000 square feet of outdoor function space, plus various onsite dining offerings. Meanwhile, the 208-room Omni Charlottesville Hotel on the historic downtown pedestrian mall is undergoing interior renovations and upgrading meeting technology. A few amenities will be temporarily impacted during the work, but hotel operations and meeting services will remain intact. The hotel has 12,441 square feet of function space and accommodates up to 579 guests for receptions.
For other venue options around Charlotte, the Dairy Market, central Virginia’s first food hall, has a lower level, the Brick Cellar, featuring 6,000 square feet of flexible event space. A restored 19th-century textile mill, the Wool Factory, is another option, featuring seven event areas and accommodating gatherings of up to 570 guests.
Just north of Albemarle County, Massanutten Resort offers year-round activities and adventure, as well as numerous gathering spaces on its 6,000 acres.
Chesapeake
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In Coastal Virginia, the Chesapeake Conference Center offers flexible floor plans, gourmet banquet facilities, and state-of-the-art audiovisual amenities for gatherings of up to 2,500 people. Nearby, the 228-room Delta Hotels by Marriott Chesapeake Norfolk has 11,374 square feet of event space and can accommodate up to 800 people. More guest accommodations are available in the area, including the newly renovated 101-room Holiday Inn Express Chesapeake Norfolk. For other options, the Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways Museum, a Georgian-style building that overlooks the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, can accommodate groups of up to 80 for seated dinners, 150 for cocktail events, or 175 for lectures.
Fairfax County
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Fairfax County features approximately 18,500 guest rooms, world-class shopping and dining, and a charming small-town vibe that still thrives in quaint but growing areas like Herndon, Vienna, Fairfax, and Clifton.
“Fairfax County has so many wonderful qualities that are attractive to meeting planners,” says Dean Miller, national sales manager with Visit Fairfax. “Our lower hotel rates, catering costs, free or low-cost parking charges, and tax rates make us an incredible value for planners and groups. Our location also makes us both easy and inexpensive to access.”
Top meeting venues include Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, offering 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and holding a capacity of 3,000 people. The newly opened Capital One Hall in Tysons features a 1,600-seat theatrical quality concert hall and 4,500 square feet of atrium space suited for receptions. Other features include an executive boardroom, classroom-style meeting rooms, and onsite catering.
Top area hotels catering to large groups and events include Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles in Chantilly, with 59,538 square feet of meeting space for up to 800 people. The 518-room Hyatt Regency Reston features 32,000 square feet of event space, 23 meeting rooms, and holds up to 1,600 guests seated theater style. In Herndon, the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport has 449 guest rooms and 39,797 square feet of meeting space. The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner in McLean boasts it has the largest luxury ballroom in Northern Virginia at 14,000 square feet, holding 1,350 guests.
The new National Museum of the United States Army offers numerous indoor and outdoor event spaces, including an 8,600-square-foot lobby that accommodates up to 450 standing guests. Meanwhile, the recently renovated Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park added two new event spaces and now offers 27,000 square feet of meeting and event space. In Vienna, the acclaimed performance venue Wolf Trap recently renovated the open-air meeting pavilions. Opening by early 2025
is the 300-room JW Marriott Reston, which will offer approximately 15,000 square feet of event space.
Fredericksburg
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Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock River, is noted for its Colonial and Civil War history; it also offers more than 2,800 guest rooms within an eight-mile radius of the city.
“Fredericksburg is America’s hometown,” says Victoria Matthews, tourism, stadium and sports sales manager with Visit Fredericksburg. “Our clients return, as they feel welcome both by the businesses they use and residents themselves.”
The 110-square-foot Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center features an 80,000-square-foot exhibit hall and 11 meeting rooms and can host events for 3,400 people. A new 92-room Extended Stay America Premier Suites – Fredericksburg, adjacent to the center, recently opened.
In 2021, the Virginia Credit Union Baseball Stadium opened as the home of the Fredericksburg Nationals Minor League Baseball team. For non-game day events, the 5,000-seat, 300,000-square-foot stadium offers various private event venue options, including a 1,600-square-foot clubhouse and 6,000 square feet of club room suites. For more intimate events in a historic downtown Fredericksburg setting, 718 Venue can hold up to 100 guests for cocktail receptions.
Downtown Fredericksburg has a safe, walkable historic district with independent shops and restaurants for all tastes. Rebellion Bourbon Bar & Kitchen offers a bourbon-inspired and locally sourced menu. The restaurant can accommodate small private events in its armory and gatherings of up to 100 people in its dining room. Another popular Fredericksburg restaurant, Foode, is available for private events of up to 100 people. For teambuilding options, “Battlefields to Business” involves trained leaders who take groups or executive teams on customized learning journeys to one of Fredericksburg’s four Civil War battlefields. The program gives relevance to history lessons and helps participating teams apply them to modern-day issues.
Hampton
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Promoted as “a city with an old soul and a youthful enthusiasm,” historic Hampton offers 2,300 guest rooms and flexible facilities for various events.
“Hampton is a top choice for vacationers and business travelers alike. We are in the heart of Coastal Virginia between Williamsburg and Virginia Beach and within a short driving distance to hundreds of world-class attractions. We’ve also got 410 years of fascinating history, with incredible museums and more,” notes Yuri Milligan, director of media and community relations for the Hampton CVB.
Venues include the Hampton Roads Convention Center, offering 344,000 square feet of flexible event space, including a 102,600-square-foot exhibit hall and a grand ballroom with banquet seating for more than 1,600. Adjoining the convention center by a covered walkway, a 295-room Embassy Suites Hotel provides an additional 4,600 square feet of hotel conference space. The hotel is finishing a room renovation project scheduled for completion this summer.
On the same campus, the 84,000-square-foot Hampton Coliseum has full-house arena seating for 11,000 and a total capacity of 13,800 people. The Stars Theater configuration allows seating for 6,200 in a more intimate setting and banquet facilities that accommodate up to 2,000.
The Hampton University Convocation Center features an 8,000-seat arena that converts into a 1,000-person banquet space. Two smaller meeting rooms each hold 35 to 45 people in a theater-style setting. Established in 1868 as an institute of higher learning for formerly enslaved people, Hampton University is also home to the Hampton University Museum, said to be the oldest African American museum in the United States, and the Emancipation Oak, named by National Geographic as one of the 50 great trees of the world.
Downtown along the city’s waterfront, the 173-room Landing at Hampton Marina, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, has 11,182 square feet of event space and 11 separate meeting rooms. The 173-room hotel—which opened in 2021—features a 6,000-square-foot grand ballroom that seats 500 for a banquet and has 1,593 square feet of divisible breakout space.
Also nearby is the Virginia Air & Space Science Center; the facility provides a dynamic, interactive component to group events and is available for private events. Under suspended aircraft that seem to soar overhead and hands-on exhibits that trace the innovations of air and space at every turn, the facility accommodates 10 to 2,000 guests for cocktail receptions, sit-down dinners, wedding events, seminars, and corporate functions.
Loudoun County
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Home to Dulles International Airport, as well as award-winning wineries, breweries, distilleries, farm-to-table dining, historic sites, and equestrian cultural experiences, Loudon has multiple venue options for planners to consider.
The 296-room Lansdowne Resort & Spa offers 55,000 square feet of meeting space, including 36 rooms and adjacent outdoor event space. The National Conference Center in Leesburg contains more than 265,000 square feet of meeting space for a total capacity of 1,800 guests seated theater style. Tucked in the rolling hills of Middleburg, Lost Barrel Brewing offers fresh hand-crafted beer and hard seltzer, an onsite restaurant featuring an artisanal menu, and event space for parties of up to 300 guests. Options include the Bale House, a restored two-story barn with two private event spaces, and a second floor Loft offering a view of the brew room.
Lynchburg
Lynchburgvirginia.org; @Visitlynchburgva; @VisitLYH
Lynchburg is home to the elegantly restored Virginian Lynchburg Curio Collection by Hilton. Built in 1913, the downtown hotel has 115 guest rooms, 8,615 square feet of event space, and three onsite restaurants. The hotel features six unique and customizable event spaces, including a 4,000-square-foot ballroom that accommodates up to 500 guests for receptions. The Lynchburg Grand Hotel, meanwhile, boasts more than 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, 17 meeting rooms, and can accommodate 900 guests.
Newport News
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City Center at Oyster Point, a 52-acre high-density, mixed-use development business district in Newport News, boasts 230,000 square feet of shops, restaurants, and a cinema. In the middle of it all, the 256-room Newport News Marriott at City Center features 25,000 square feet of total meeting space and can accommodate 1,600 guests for receptions. Meanwhile, the 183-room Holiday Inn Newport News–Hampton boasts more than 11,000 square feet of flexible event space, 10 separate meeting rooms, a business center, and a state-of-the-art theater. Its onsite restaurant, Burger Theory, features dozens of hamburger combinations, a robust local craft-beer selection, and alfresco dining.
Various area hotels have undergone upgrades and renovations. The Hampton Inn–Newport News/Yorktown recently completed a renovation throughout the property. Meanwhile, Hilton Garden Inn Newport News recently made upgrades, and the Residence Inn Marriott Newport News Airport is also undergoing renovations this year. For unique venue options, the stunning 83,000-square-foot Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center on the campus of Christopher Newport University offers eclectic event space in its lecture hall or one of its large classrooms. For evening receptions, groups can also rent the center’s dramatic rotunda, topped by cascading glass domes.
The 300,000-square-foot Ferguson Center for the Arts includes a 1,700-seat concert hall, a 500-seat music and theater hall, and a 257-seat studio theater. The venue features an open design and multifaceted layout that can accommodate banquets for 250 or receptions for 500.
Just minutes to Williamsburg and a short drive to Virginia Beach, Newport News offers museums, entertainment, and American history. It also boasts an array of excellent dining options, including straight-from-the-dock seafood, farm-to-table authenticity, chophouses, and numerous family restaurants. The area is a hub of thriving farmers markets, such as Dean & Don’s Farm Market, which offers customers fresh-off-the-farm fruits and vegetables. Historic Hilton Village in Newport News has quaint mom-and-pop shops, chefoot-owned restaurants, and bakeries.
“Newport News offers the vitality of a big city alongside the hospitality and charm of a small town,” explains Cheryl Morales, marketing manager with Newport News Tourism. “Visitors can enjoy everything from The Mariners’ Museum and its USS Monitor Center—a world-renowned museum that highlights more than 3,000 years of maritime history—to Newport News Park, which is nine times larger than New York City’s Central Park.”
Breaking ground recently in the Yard District is the James River Strand project, which involves numerous components, including an outdoor amphitheater with terraced lawn seating and designated areas for small-scale performances and events.
Norfolk
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Dawn Whittaker, director of sales with Visit Norfolk, wants meeting planners to know that her city is ready to do business. “Norfolk is one of the greatest cities in Coastal Virginia,” she says. “Its rich history, combined with a heavy military influence, iconic waterfront, and countless offerings during conference downtimes, are sure to provide incredibly unique experiences.”
The Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel and Convention Center features more than 68,000 square feet of event space, while Hilton Norfolk The Main—which opened in 2017—contains 60,000 square feet of meeting and event space and 20 meeting rooms. The 18,382-square-foot Main Ballroom fits a capacity of 2,200 guests theater style and 2,000 for receptions. The hotel’s Paul Fraim Center is a tiered auditorium—furnished with ergonomic chairs and state-of-the-art technology—that accommodates up to 90 people.
The city’s celebrated cultural centers and arts facilities double as event venues. Nauticus, a maritime discovery center located along the downtown waterfront, offers four components available for private events: The Half Moone Center, which accommodates up to 1,500 guests; the Nauticus Museum’s Brock Theater, seating up to 350 people; the decommissioned World War II-era battleship Wisconsin, featuring a main deck that accommodates up to 600 for receptions; and the 120-foot Schooner Virginia, available for private charters of up to 50 people.
Nauticus, a maritime discovery center, has a two-phase project now underway that will bring several new educational and interactive exhibits to the attraction. Phase I, which includes a “Norfolk in Time” history and science exhibit, opens this summer. Opening in 2024, the second phase will feature a refreshed visitor entry with new lighting and open spaces.
In other area developments, Perry Glass Studio, a popular attraction for groups and visitors of all ages, is expanding to include a second hot shop and will accommodate larger audiences for demonstrations, educational sessions, and events in a new 200-seat theater.
Richmond Area
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Richmond and the surrounding 12 counties
that comprise its CVB region offer numerous outstanding event spaces, ranging from convention centers to local wineries and historic sites. Visitors also have access to affordable neighborhood experiences from Hanover County to Chesterfield.
“Among many other things, the Richmond Region is a destination for discovery through art and an opportunity for outdoor adventure; it also represents progressive change over centuries of American history which occurred on these same streets,” says Jerrine Lee, vice president of sales with Richmond Region Tourism.
The Greater Richmond Convention Center features 178,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit hall space. Maximum capacity is 12,186. The convention center also has 80,000 square feet of flexible event space, including 36 meeting rooms and a 30,550-square-foot Grand Ballroom that holds up to 2,750 people seated theater style. The convention center connects via skywalk to the 410-room Richmond Marriott, which has 26,760 square feet of event space and recently completed a multimillion-dollar renovation.
Another venue, Main Street Station, initially operated as a train station but was discontinued when flooding damaged the building in the 1970s. Thanks to a $95 million investment in 2018, the classic Renaissance Revival-style structure is now a transportation hub for Amtrak and regional transit. It is also a new hot event venue in town, boasting 47,000 square feet of event and exhibit space that can accommodate up to 3,000 guests.
For guest accommodations, the 181-room Jefferson Hotel offers 26,000 square feet of flexible event space, including a 4,556-square-foot ballroom that fits 480 in theater-style seating. The hotel’s two-level James River Conference Center has seven meeting rooms that total 2,472 square feet of space. The Westin Richmond has 22,761 square feet of meeting and event space, including seven event rooms and 11 breakout rooms. It can accommodate 600 people in its largest area. The 237-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel/Richmond Midlothian in Chesterfield has 26,000 square feet of meeting space, including 25 rooms, and accommodates up to 900 guests for receptions.
The Park, a 55,000-square-foot entertainment venue that opened in 2022, features three bars, six restaurant concepts, mini-golf, duckpin bowling, virtual golf bays, plus events and auditorium space to hold a few hundred people. In 2022, the stylish 100-room Moxy Richmond Downtown boutique hotel opened a short distance from the convention center. It is also near the Dominion Energy Center, which offers more than 20,000 square feet of event space. Opening this fall, the
$50 million Henrico Sports & Events Center will provide more than 115,000 square feet of adaptable event space.
Virginia Beach
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Virginia Beach has more than 10,000 rooms citywide, with 3,500 within two miles of the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The oceanfront facility has 150,000 square feet of exhibit hall space for up to 9,400 guests at banquets and 13,440 people seated theater style. Other components include 31,000 square feet of ballroom space for up to 3,108 people.The venue also has five large meeting suites covering 28,929 square feet that can break down into 26 smaller meeting rooms. For more intimate gatherings, groups can enjoy stunning views from the 147-foot glass tower, which has a 1,077-square-foot VIP lounge complete with an observation deck that holds 50 guests for receptions. Other components include an executive boardroom for gatherings of up to 21 people and the Tower Café, which accommodates up to 75 people for receptions.
Local hotels with meeting space include the 305-room Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront, boasting 25,000 square feet of meeting and event space and fitting a capacity of 1,155 guests in its largest area. The Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront has 244 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space for up to 550 guests. The hotel’s oceanfront patio accommodates up to 200 guests.
Virginia’s Blue Ridge/Roanoke
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The Roanoke Valley has more than 650,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, 5,000 guest rooms, and the capacity to host groups of more than 10,000 attendees.
The Berglund Center—previously known as the Roanoke Civic Center—has a newly renovated arena that seats up to 10,000. Other components include a 46,000-square-foot special events center for major expos and conventions, a 10,000-square-foot exhibit hall, and a performing arts theater that seats 2,148. Located off Interstate 581, the center is within walking distance of downtown Roanoke’s shops, restaurants, museums, and hotels. The Salem Civic Center features 41,868 square feet of meeting and event space, including six meeting rooms and an event space for banquets of up to 2,000 and receptions of up to 3,000 guests.
For guest accommodations, the 330-room Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center Curio Collection by Hilton features 63,000 square feet of meeting space and 35 meeting rooms. In Blacksburg, The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center features 147 guest rooms and 23,705 square feet of meeting space. The venue has 12 meeting rooms and three suites and accommodates up to 700 guests for receptions in its largest room, which has added 8,832 square feet.
Williamsburg Area
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At the heart of Virginia’s “Historic Triangle”—which includes Yorktown and Jamestown—Williamsburg offers a range of immersive experiences and amenities that appeal to groups of all sizes, interests, and ages.
“In Williamsburg, groups will discover incredible meeting venues and guest accommodations, as well as outdoor adventures, thrilling theme parks, irresistible culinary delights, and, of course, the world’s largest living history museum,” says Victoria Cimino, CEO of Visit Williamsburg.
The 295-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg has 48,000 square feet of event space, 45 meeting rooms, and accommodates up to 1,300 people. The Williamsburg Lodge Autograph Collection Hotels boasts 323 guest rooms, 45,000 square feet of meeting space, and 28 meeting rooms, accommodating up to 1,000 people. The 300-room Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center features 26,000 square feet of function space, 16 flexible meeting venues, and accommodates gatherings of up to 1,200 people. The 405-room Great Wolf Lodge features 13,534 square feet of meeting areas and conference rooms, including eight meeting rooms. It accommodates up to 450 people. Meanwhile, the 299-room Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel and Suites contains 13,000 square feet of meeting space and accommodates up to 250 people.
For unique group excursions, the region features historic sites and attractions, including the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Revolutionary War battle sites in Yorktown, and Virginia’s Colonial capital, Williamsburg. Other attractions include Busch Gardens Williamsburg, 12 world-class golf courses, art galleries, and a vibrant culinary and craft-brewing scene.
