Whether or not you are a student, taking a fall break is good for mind, body and spirit! And Virginia State Parks are filled with green spaces that can help you refresh and enjoy the autumn season to the fullest. 

Try Shinrin-Yoku

Have you heard of the practice of “forest bathing,” which is called shinrin-yoku in Japanese? Essentially, you slow down, awaken your senses and reconnect with nature. If possible, remove your shoes for a moment and really feel the ground beneath your feet. Listen to the birds and the breeze in the crisping leaves. Are there smells that differ from what you find at home? 

In the forest at Seven Bends State Park

This approach to a forest visit offers immense benefits, including boosted immunity, lowered blood pressure and heart rate, improved attention and mood, and hitting the reset button on life. You can try forest bathing in many of our parks, like Seven Bends in the Shenandoah Region.

Paddle a River or Lake

In Central Virginia, get out on the James River at Powhatan State Park. Maiden Voyage Outfitters offer rentals and a shuttle service. The flat-water float along the edge of the park to Maiden’s Landing is great for beginners as there is no white water. Relax and enjoy the trees and wildlife. 

Canoeing the James River

In the Southwest, Claytor Lake State Park provides paddlers access to 472 acres of water. While the park doesn’t rent boats directly, guests may visit Claytor Lake Water Sports at the marina to rent canoes, kayaks and hydro-bikes.

Two-Wheel Travel

If you’d rather pedal than paddle, we’ve got more than 55 miles of biking and mountain biking trails, about 138 miles of hiking and biking trails and around 256 miles of multi-use trails for bikers, hikers and horseback riders. What better way to enjoy the fresh breezes that the change of season brings? We recently shared a series of posts about New River Trail State Park, a rails-to-trails stretch that is fully bikeable. 

Cycling the beach at False Cape State Park

If the coast is calling, check out False Cape State Park, where five multi-use trails total 15.3 miles. The park’s location on a barrier spit means you can observe beaches, dunes, maritime forests of oak and pine, wooded swamps, marshes and the bay all in one visit. And Mason Neck State Park near Washington, D.C., has three miles of paved multi-use trails and rents bikes at the visitor center.

Learn about the Past

If museums are more your thing, you can find a few at our state parks. Chippokes Farm and Forestry Museum at Chippokes State Park explores the lives of Virginia farmers at one of the oldest continuously used farms in the country. See how tools, techniques and even crops themselves changed over time, and learn about domestic farm life. There’s also a 1930s portable sawmill that operated at the height of the Tidewater’s timber boom. 

Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Pocahontas State Park

At the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Pocahontas State Park, historic photographs, artifacts and personal mementos are displayed in an original Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) building. Six of our parks were created as CCC projects when the federal government put 500,000 unemployed youths to work in forests, parks and range lands across the country. 

And then, of course, there’s Southwest Virginia Museum State Park. A National Historic Landmark, the museum is housed in an 1890s Victorian stone mansion with an original oak interior. The museum tells the story of the exploration and development of Southwest Virginia from the pioneer era of the 1700s to the mining "boom and bust" era of the late 1800s. (Museum hours vary seasonally, so check before you go.)

Stay Overnight

Since fall break means time off, why not spend a night or two at one of the 29 state parks that offer campsites? Count the stars, cook over a fire and fall asleep to the quiet sounds of nature. Through the fall, there is a lot of availability for camping with electric and water hookups at Holliday Lake, Natural Tunnel and Staunton River and mid-week availability at Fairy Stone, Pocahontas, Powhatan, Hungry Mother, Twin Lakes, Occoneechee, Machicomoco, Bear Creek Lake, Chippokes, Westmoreland and Belle Isle. And Belle Isle, Claytor Lake, Bear Creek Lake, First Landing, James River, New River Trail, Machicomoco and Smith Mountain Lake have plenty of availability for non-hookup sites.

There are yurts like this at 14 Virginia state parks.

Fall is also a fine time to try a yurt, as they don’t have electricity. Our modern versions of traditional structures offer a halfway point between tent camping and staying in a full-service cabin. 

No matter how you choose to spend your fall break, we hope that some of the time you will be enjoying a Virginia state park!