The mountain state is often the victim of a bad reputation, perhaps unfairly given. The state has natural beauty to spare, a fascinating history that extends back to the civil war, and is home to more folktales and legends than perhaps any other place in the country. If you do choose to escape into the Appalachian wilderness this Christmas, you will be given numerous examples of just how magnificent the landscape of West Virginia truly is.

While a smaller state like West Virginia may not have as many towns to offer as Texas, Vermont, or even the Carolinas, the few gaps between wilderness where people settle are more than worth a weekend or two of your time. So whether you are visiting family or always wanted to see the Mothman statue with a Christmas hat on it, there is plenty to offer in wild, wonderful West Virginia — just be sure to play John Denver as you enter!

The modest town of Lewisburg sits just shy of the Virginian border, with a population count of just under 4,000. When people think of ideal Christmas towns, Lewisburg tends to sit at the top of the list. If you are in the southern bend of West Virginia and want to make your holiday an unforgettable and restorative experience; Lewisburg is in a league of its own.

The downtown of Lewisburg is a humble cluster of brick-made buildings during most of the year, though the heart of Greenbrier County really outdoes itself as the holidays approach. You can take a ride on a carriage, drop a letter off at St. Nick’s personal mailbox and enjoy all the southern shops and amenities with a fresh coat of Christmas decor. There is a large number of unique gifts and souvenirs, so last-minute holiday shopping is still on the table.

Greenbrier Valley Theatre is a small entertainment center that offers holiday-themed shows for close to a week and is a good way to wind down from a chilly afternoon spent downtown. The event is always suitable for all ages and typically has a play that celebrates the culture and history of West Virginia. If music is more your thing, they almost always have musical performances at the Theatre as well.

Those that grew up in small towns are all too familiar with how exciting it is when the state fair rolls into town. To feel the warm rush of nostalgia, take a day and visit the Christmas lights show that allows you to take in the lights while leaving the heater running. After, get out and stroll through holiday-themed games, and workshops (the fun, festive kind). Don’t forget to see several beloved Christmas characters and enjoy a town recreated entirely out of gingerbread.

Outside of the holiday theme, there are several places to cheat on your diet with delicious down-home food. For a more refined experience, enjoy the classy atmosphere of The French Goat where you can feast on anything from smoked trout to truffle fries. For a casual, warmly-lit dinner, check out the Livery Tavern which can do everything from grits to filet mignon. Craft beer fans can try some local tastes at the several breweries and beer gardens in and around Lynchburg.

Sat between where the Shenandoah river runs into the Potomac, Harpers Ferry is a town filled with historical museums, parks, and a number of old forts to stick your head in. Just a short swim from Maryland, the town has a population of about 280 people. Outside of its historical attractions and exceeding close proximity to the Appalachian Trail, the dainty settlement has plenty of reasons to settle in for a while during the holidays.

While several people adore the bright, boisterous Christmas lights that adorn our family and friends’ homes and run up their electric bills – Harpers Ferry takes a vastly different look during the winter season. The decorations are well laid out with a minimal, quiet aesthetic that doesn’t overtake the victorian buildings that run through the main streets.

During the first two weekends of December, the historic hole-in-the-wall bustles with activities from another time with horse-drawn carriages, several subtle shops throughout, and no shortage of activities that range from live music to meeting the big man and missus themselves. Don’t forget to walk along the streets as carolers make their way through the small village, with dim lamplight guiding the path.

Speaking of music, there are few fiddlers better than those found in the Appalachian mountains. In an area that is responsible for the genre of Bluegrass, it’s no small surprise that outside of the familiar Christmas tunes we know and love; Harpers ferry has a very eclectic group of musicians playing stringy renditions of old yuletide favorites.

When the thrill of the time-capsule town has slowly subsided, take a trip to the Historic National Park to catch a glimpse of their massive, well-decorated Christmas tree. If you feel peckish, there are a surprising amount of highly-praised restaurants, taverns, and pubs in and around the area. While it may not have the bustling lights of Charleston (which is likely a selling point to most of us), Harpers Ferry is a well-maintained look into the past that promises a quiet, undisturbed afternoon that the whole family will enjoy.

On the opposite end of the state sits Wheeling, a cozy riverside city that borders the Ohio river and the state itself. With a population sitting around 26,000, the water-adjacent hub sits along the rolling hills of west Appalachia and offers an incredible laundry list of attractions ranging from the Wheeling Christmas Parade to the Oglebay Festival of Lights, which is one of the biggest in the nation.

The festival of lights is an experience that will take you about one hour, though it’s an hour worth wasting. From the 10th of November all the way until the 8th of January the lights will be shining throughout the park from sundown until the clock strikes twelve. Due to the well-deserved notoriety of the event, it is lightly recommended that you go on a quieter day to ensure that you aren’t sitting in a lengthy line for a while.

The entire route spans six incredible miles of radiating luminaries, a wide spectrum of different colored Christmas decor, and more lights than we can mention. While the event is technically free, they gently recommend donating thirty dollars to help pay for the event. If you find yourself within 100 miles of Wheeling come Christmas time, do yourself and your family a favor and experience a West Virginia wonderland brought to life by a sea of incandescent holiday lights.

For those that don’t want to man the wheel while enjoying the trip, you can also pay for a trolley to take you through for 18 – 25 dollars depending on what day you go.

While the sun is out, you can check out the zoo which brings in a holiday theme during the winter months. Outside of the wide variety of exotic mammals, animals, and birds, you can bring the kids and kids at heart to Santa’s workshop. If the entire event sounds too appealing to pass up, you can spend a night at the hotel which offers a Christmas gift shop. While there you can enjoy a variety of foods, warm drinks, and s’mores.

Back in Wheeling, there will be Winter on the Plaza, which is a large festival of music, games, and plenty of events to keep you firmly enthralled. Throughout the plaza, you will be able to hear the delightful hum of a live band and enjoy food, drinks, crafts, and more from a long line of merry merchants. There will be crafts to awaken your creative side and all fans of the North pole can line up to ask Santa for a gift.

The town is well-known for its culinary chops and you should take in all the different foods it offers. There are plenty of breweries and pubs for a road-weary parent as well as several cultural specialties that range from French food to Italian and southern comfort cuisine.

Since we have gotten into a rhythm with towns bordering other states, let’s get into the wonderful winter retreat of White Sulphur Springs. A creekside village of around 2,000; White Sulphur Springs is a charming sprawl of cottages, homes, and brick-constructed buildings in a beautiful expanse of otherworldly scenery. If you are looking to vacation in a town straight out of a Christmas calendar, White Sulphur Springs is an excellent choice.

While the town doesn’t have attractions that are known nationwide, it has a competent collection of Christmas celebrations that will leave you satisfied and unperturbed by shoulder-to-shoulder tourists. The first thing to mention is the tree lighting ceremony just outside the Greenbrier resort, which comes with a variety of sweets, soul-warming drinks, and the occasional Christmas carol.

Early in December, the town has a holiday parade that takes place through Ingleside Ave around 5 p.m., though there will be food, vendors, and more starting at 4. The parade is a nostalgic callback to the small-town celebrations from childhood. Squad cars flash their lights, fire trucks tread past excited onlookers with waving people decorating the roof, and plenty of holiday cheer to last you the day.

For fans of winter sports, you will be racing around to get every event checked off your holiday list as the great outdoors are visible from every angle. There are a number of ski resorts close by and the town even has an ice skating rink where you can learn very quickly that there is a skill to it. The town also has horse riding should you want to get off your feet for a while and let a pony do the work.

Those that enjoy unique adult drinks should stop in at Big Draft Brewing, one of the premier restaurants in town that has its own holiday activities throughout December. This year they had an artisan market, live entertainment, bingo night, and breakfast that Santa RSVP’d for. While we have you on an empty stomach, there are a scattering of food trucks around the main parts of town that are delicious and usually come bearing a toasty cup of apple cider.

North of Harpers Ferry lies Shepherdstown, a 1,500-person town full of colonial architecture that looks as if it was transported from a bygone era. Stationed just east of the Potomac River, the cozy town is a frontrunner for the ideal hallmark town of West Virginia. Outside of its civil war museum and beautiful countryside, the southern hamlet has a great festive vibe through the holiday season with a surprising amount of fun to keep you entertained and enchanted until the vacation ends.

If you blare White Christmas as early as October, you will fit right into Shepherdstown. Once the turkey is cut, consumed, and refrigerated the town gets to work on bringing the Christmas spirit. The town begins its holiday with the McMurran Hall tree-lighting ceremony, followed by storytime with the better half of the Claus family. Soon after kids can line up to meet Santa while parents enjoy the large bonfire just outside the building.

December 3rd marks the Shepherdstown Christmas parade, which has live music and more floats than you would expect from such a modest township. The local shops will be open during and after the event so you can wind down with a few souvenirs and quick conveniences. The downtown is remarkably pretty throughout the year and worth a walkthrough.

If the shops in the downtown don’t satisfy you, stop into the annual Ho-Ho-Holiday market which features crafts, gifts, and more from local talents and merchants. The market is open throughout the month of December and each week promises new goods and decorations to look through. It’s a great excuse to take in the local creative scene while also admiring the quiet comfort of the idyllic village.

The food selection is not quickly scoffed at with several businesses offering seasonal delights on top of their already appetizing menu. Take a break at the Blue Moon Cafe for a Christmas breakfast with the Clauses or spend a bit of time reacquainting yourself with the guilty pleasure of southern comfort food at the pubs and diners throughout the town.

There are several symbolic parts of Christmas and one of the most often overlooked is the glowing, snow-covered train that is prominently featured in several holiday movies, postcards, calendars, and more. For those looking to warm themselves to the sights of Appalachia with the accompaniment of several yuletide jams, the Polar Express is a must-visit.

The event starts in the attractive town of Elkin and steams its way through the picturesque peaks of the Allegheny’s. Fans of the movie will be delighted by the similarities, with several scenes being recreated. Kids and parents will be offered cocoa, candy, and more while they enjoy the blissful atmosphere of the winter trek. They recommend that you dress in bedtime apparel, as the passengers did in the original movie.

Just outside the town of Point Pleasant – home of the Mothman – the West Virginia Farm Museum hosts an enchanting light show that has a few million lights spread throughout the grounds. The farm museum is beautiful year-round though they take extra care to make the Christmas show one of the best in Appalachia.

Visitors will be overwhelmed by the carefully illuminated architecture, farm equipment, and vintage tools that spread across the ground. Whether you care about the history of West Virginia Agriculture or simply enjoy lights as much as the Mothman himself; this event is a must for anyone in the general vicinity.

While in the area, fans of folklore can check out the Mothman statue (sporting a festive Christmas cap) as well as the museum.

The Feast of The Seven Fishes is an Italian tradition that originates at the foot of the European peninsula. The feast stems from an old Catholic tradition in which people would abstain from meat, taking advantage of the tenuous religious definition of what food group seafood falls into. The festive affair is alive and well in Fairmont, where the event has become one of the most well-known winter traditions in West Virginia.

Starting off the Italian pastime is the lighting of Fairmont’s sizable Christmas tree, followed by caroling and hot holiday drinks. Those looking to do Christmas shopping can sneak through dozens of vendors and meander through the countless options available to them. The event wraps up on the weekend, with a bountiful harvest of aquatic appetizers and entrees to choose from. There are several activities throughout, including culinary coaches and entertainers.

International Christmas Towns

Looking to travel abroad?