How to Explore Richmond, Virginia, on a Budget

I’m walking across a dauntingly high suspension bridge to reach Belle Isle, a rocky island in the heart of downtown Richmond. From here, I see the James River’s tumbling rapids below the city’s skyline. Who knew Virginia’s capital was so wild?

During the Civil War, Belle Isle was used as a prison camp for captured Union soldiers, but today, the 54-acre nature sanctuary is part of the James River Park System. Richmond is like that. Turning historic landmarks into public spaces. Mixing the old and the new. Inviting people to experience places transformed from a painful past into a dynamic future.

Why Richmond is a bargain

I live in the traffic-congested Washington, DC, area, so Richmond’s quiet roads and easy street parking are a pleasure. The city is pedestrian friendly, with leafy neighborhoods bordered by colorful homes and loft apartments in renovated factories. Walking is a great way to see some of Richmond’s 150-plus murals, and city buses are free.

Richmond also has several free cultural experiences, most notably the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, with a collection that ranges from Van Gogh to Faberge. For more museum-hopping, consider the Valentine Museum, which is free on Thursdays. Showcasing artifacts from Virginia’s 400-year history, the museum also offers guided excursions (priced up to $20) of Richmond’s canal system, Hollywood Cemetery and the historic neighborhoods.

Richmond’s great outdoors

On another sunny day during my September visit, I join pedestrians and cyclists on the Riverfront Canal Walk, a 1.25-mile trail running alongside Richmond’s historic canal and the James River. Completed in 1840, the 197-mile canal transported tobacco and wheat from western Virginia to Richmond’s mills and markets. Today the still-flowing canal is lined with restaurants, parks and public art.

At the canal’s Turning Basin, I board a $15 narrated tour from Riverfront Canal Cruises. For 45 minutes, the boat glides underneath train trestles and roadways before ending in a swampy section reclaimed by wildlife. Butterflies flit among the seagrass and turtles sunbathe on fallen trees. A rumbling locomotive disturbs the quiet afternoon.

Captain Stephen Johnson shares the story of Patrick Henry, whom he calls the “spiritual leader” of the American Revolution, pointing out that his fiery “give me liberty or give me death” speech, delivered in Richmond in 1775, “set the tone” for the war. Six years later, the famous turncoat Benedict Arnold led a British raid on the city, burning it to the ground.

After the tour and a long day exploring, I’m hungry and so for dinner I order the fried catfish, candied yams and collard greens for $18 at Mama J’s Kitchen, a popular soul food restaurant in Jackson Ward. The neighborhood was nicknamed the “Harlem of the South” in the early 20th century because many black entrepreneurs opened businesses there.

Smell the free flowers

I had hoped to visit the 33-room Gilded Age mansion Maymont built by James and Sallie Dooley, who amassed a fortune in railroads, iron and steel. But the 1893 mansion is closed for renovations until early this spring, when it will reopen for guided tours that highlight Insta-worthy pieces like a swan-shaped bed and a narwhal whale tusk dressing table. 

Instead, I join the families strolling under the dappled shade of century-old magnolia trees along a path that cuts through a rolling meadow leading to the mansion’s gardens. I duck under a stone archway to walk through the Italian Garden’s colonnade flanked by fragrant rose bushes. Beyond a fringe of woodland is the Japanese Garden, where a waterfall spills into a pond crisscrossed by stepping stones.

When lunch rolls around, I drive to Scott’s Addition, where former warehouses have been transformed into restaurants and breweries. My combo lunch special of salad, spring roll, chicken and fried rice at Fat Dragon costs less than $13.

From there, I accompany fellow history buffs on a complimentary tour of the the Virginia State Capitol, co-designed by Thomas Jefferson. The Virginia General Assembly has met there since 1788, and the building doubled as the US Capitol in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. President Lincoln actually visited the capitol on April 4, 1865, one week before the Confederacy surrendered and ten days before his assassination.

I’m back in Scott’s Addition for dinner. This time at Bar Buoy, a fish shack owned by Brittanny Anderson, a two-time semifinalist for James Beard Best Chef MidAtlantic. “What dish is Chef most excited about?”  I ask the bartender. He recommends the $20 Crab Louie Wedge, and to my delight, Anderson personally delivers my giant wedge salad heaping with fresh crabmeat.

After dinner, I walk to The Veil Brewing Co. and order a $6 “Never More” beer honoring hometown poet Edgar Allen Poe.

An inexpensive walking tour

The next day, before heading home, I join the $20 Church Hill Walking Tour. My guide points out St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Henry uttered his historic ultimatum, and Libby Hill, the highest point in Richmond. My trip ends with a $13 burger at The Hill Café, where actor Daniel Day Lewis reportedly ate dinner more than once wearing his Lincoln costume. Stopping to admire the curving James River below, I notice how much of Richmond’s landscape remains green and wild alongside its soaring skyscrapers and bustling neighborhoods. I can’t help but be impressed by how this state capital, once the scene of bitter conflicts during the American Revolution and Civil War, has risen from the ashes to become a thriving city that values both the urbanity of culture and the beauty of nature.

Where to stay on a budget

While Richmond boasts luxurious accommodations, you can find appealing properties of $200 or less per night, too.

I stayed at Linden Row Inn (my midweek rate was $177 per night), which combines seven adjoining Greek Revival rowhouses built around a courtyard. The 1840s property feels like a home, with a mix of antique and modern furnishings.