How to Get Around Virginia

A car is necessary for everything outside the northern suburbs and the old city centres.

The Washington Metro reaches into the northern counties, and Amtrak serves the main cities along the eastern corridor with reasonable frequency.

Interstate 95 through the north is among the most congested roads in the country and is genuinely to be avoided at peak hours; Interstate 81 down the Shenandoah Valley is the scenic alternative but carries heavy lorry traffic.

The Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway run over 400 miles along the crest with low speed limits and no commercial traffic — they are destinations rather than routes, and they close in winter ice.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, 17.6 miles across the mouth of the bay, is the only direct link to the Eastern Shore, and it is tolled.