7 best Wintergreen adventures for your family

Are you planning a trip to enjoy outdoor activities at Wintergreen Resort in Virginia? If you and your family are looking to indulge in the excitement and adventures this ski resort has to offer year-round, you’ve come to the right place for the top things to do at Wintergreen.

From wineries to distilleries, cidery experiences, hiking trails, biking, canoeing, kayaking, outdoor pools, snowboarding, and snow tubing, you’ll find it all here. From racing down a mountain to flying in a glider high above the ground, here are seven of the best adventures you can plan for your family while at Wintergreen Resort.

Wintergreen Resort is one of Virginia’s premier attractions in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Wintergreen recreation area is the home of the Devils Knob Golf Course and Stoney Creek Golf Course. Some of our multi-bedroom rentals overlook the 18th hole of the Devils Knob course itself! Some of the most fun and exciting family adventures at this memorable getaway include Discovery Ridge, the Plunge, Camp Wintergreen, and Lake Monocan.

Experience Discovery Ridge Adventure Center

Discovery Ridge is an indoor/outdoor adventure center right in the resort where you can go prospecting for gems, play 18 holes of miniature golf with a ride-and-ski theme, bounce on a bungee trampoline, or throw discs on the nine-hole disc golf course. Inside, you can climb a bouldering wall or try your hand at Wintergreen’s very own Ninja Warrior Course. To run the highly challenging Ninja Warrior Course, you must be at least 48 inches tall.

Take The Plunge with your family

The Plunge is the largest tubing park in Virginia and is open year-round. In the winter, you can enjoy snow tubing on challenging courses. During the summer months, you’ll go tubing on Neveplast slides, which let you slide at top speed without snow or water. Tubes can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour down a hill longer than three football fields! Don’t worry about climbing back up afterward — you and your tube can take a conveyor lift back to the top to give it another go after each run.

Each tube holds only one person, but tubes can be hooked together if the conditions permit, allowing you and your family to ride the slide together. Tubing at the Plunge requires tubers to be at least 42 inches tall, so it’s only recommended for those ages six and above.

Pint-sized adventures at Camp Wintergreen

Camp Wintergreen is a daily and weekly summer camp designed just for kids. It’s appropriate for children ages three to 12 and is held at the Treehouse Facility at Wintergreen Resort. It’s far from a babysitting service, as kids go hiking, learn about outdoor survival, get hands-on with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) activities, learn how to cook food from all around the world, explore art history and art techniques, and unlock their own creative potential. The drop-off time is between 8:30 and 9 a.m. daily, and pickup is at 4 p.m.

Grab one of our family-friendly 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom rentals where you can enjoy the comforts of home like cable TV, fully-equipped kitchens, in-unit laundry, and Wi-Fi. After relaxing, you can drop the kids off for their adventures and head out on the Blue Ridge Parkway to spots like the Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery and the Devils Backbone Brewery. Or, if a cidery is more your speed, visit Bold Rock Hard Cider to try some famous craft cider.

Take a beach day at Lake Monocan

From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, Lake Monocan is open for a world of activities. It is staffed with a lifeguard (weather permitting), so you can swim in the lake. You’ll need to bring your own towels, but you can rent loungers and chairs around the lake’s edge and enjoy plenty of shaded areas from the sun. The lake also has a sandy beach where kids can enjoy digging and building sandcastles.

A variety of activities are offered at Lake Monocan for days of adventure. You can find paddle boards, kayaks, aqua cycles, and a snack bar here. Want to barbecue? The picnic area offers outdoor charcoal grills. Some fees may apply, so check with the resort visitor center before you head to the lake.

Adventures outside of Wintergreen Resort

You don’t have to stay at Wintergreen Resort to get the most from your travels. You can buy passes to enjoy the resort areas even if you don’t book at the resort hotel. In fact, our rental properties allow you to have your own private family space to return to between adventures. Within an hour or two of your rental property, you’ll find towns like Lynchburg, Nellysford, Rockfish, Roseland, Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Afton, and Nelson County. This also opens the door to a variety of other adventures outside the ski resort, including hiking, horseback riding, and even flying through the skies.

Go hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Wintergreen ski area is just minutes away from miles of beautiful trails that offer hikers stunning mountain vistas and a chance to reconnect with nature. One of the most gorgeous hikes is along Crabtree Falls. These cascading waterfalls include a series of major and minor falls, dropping over 1,200 feet in total, the highest vertical drop east of the Mississippi River. A paved path of approximately 700 feet leads to the Crabtree Falls overlook and is easy enough even for little legs to traverse. More advanced hikers can try the longer, approximately 3-mile trail that rewards you with four additional overlooks.

If you’re looking for a kid-friendly hike, check out The Nature Foundation’s TRACK Trails, which include self-guided signs and activity brochures to help your kids engage with the outdoors. Two TRACK Trails exist near Wintergreen ski area: the Blue Ridge Railway Trail at Piney Ridge Trailhead and the Rockfish River Trailhead. Kids can register their TRACK Trails on the Kids in Parks website and earn prizes to add fun to their outdoor adventures.

For a more challenging experience, the Humpback Rocks Trail offers a stunning 3.5-mile round trip through the mountains. You will have the chance to visit historic log cabins and see rock formations that are millions of years old. This hike is not easy, but the views at the top are worth it!

Less experienced hikers can still enjoy Humpback Rocks via the Mountain Farm Trail, a quarter-mile hike leading you through an outdoor museum featuring genuine local historic buildings and costumed characters educating visitors on Appalachian Mountain life in the 19th century. Information about this trail can be found at the Humpback Rocks visitor center.

Go horseback riding through Appalachia

You can also book family-friendly horseback riding tours with several local stables. Each is only about 30 minutes from the resort. The stables that offer these tours include the Indian Summer Guide Service, Appalachian Horse Adventures, and Rebels Run at Afton Mountain. You can book tours that travel through wineries, cideries, and breweries that end at the tasting room of the venue through which you booked.

For child-friendly experiences, the Indian Summer Guide Service offers a backcountry horse riding tour to let you experience the beauty of Appalachia. This tour includes information about the countryside and an optional box lunch for your family. Saddle up and see why the Blue Ridge Mountains have enchanted visitors from all over.

Fly the skies with Shenandoah Valley Soaring

The Shenandoah Valley Soaring Club allows you to take gliders and soar high above the mountains. This club is not a commercial enterprise, but you can sign up for an introductory membership. If you do, you get a demonstration flight with one of the certified pilots. Your membership will then be good for three months, and if you fall in love with gliding, you can schedule more instructional flights. A certified flight instructor conducts each instructional flight. To take advantage of this activity, passengers must be no taller than 6’5” and between 80 pounds and 230 pounds.

Recommended lodgings

Do you need a place where your family can rest and recharge from all this excitement? Few things beat a short-term rental that gives you all the comforts (and privacy) of home. Recharge between your travels in a newly renovated 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom condo with tons of space, full laundry and kitchen facilities, WiFi, smart TVs, and libraries of games, books, and movies. Get away from the hustle and bustle after your day of adventure and recharge for the next day in the peace and luxury of a high-end rental.

Find your adventure at Wintergreen Resort

Remember this: To get the most out of Wintergreen Resort, you don’t have to stay in the confines of the resort. You can book an elegant, spacious, and comfortable apartment that has been newly renovated and gives you access to the entire region, including everything the resort has to offer. Don’t limit your family’s adventure. Book an Airbnb and explore the entire region with your family.