Richmond Transportation re-anchors at Main Street Station
Richmond Transportation
Richmond International Airport (RIC) is a midesize airport that hosts 200 daily flights. It features daily non-stop flights to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New York, Poston, Detroit, Chicaho, Toronto and Minneapolis.
Car Rentals: a the airport are provided by Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National, and Thrifty. Greater Richmond Transit Company (804-358-4782) offers public buses to the Richmond Terminal and to downtown and greater Richmond locations. Limousines: Groome Transportation (804-222-7222) limo sedans are available curbside of the Baggage Claim area. Two more providers are CMC Limousine (804-360-2122) and Gill’s Limousine (804-714-0458).
Richmond is served by two Amtrak train stations. The renovated, neo-classical Union Station located at 1500 East Main Street downtown and the other station at 7519 Staples Mill Road in the northern suburbs. Richmond receives service on these Amtrak routes:
Northeast Regional: Boston-New Haven-NYC-Philadelphia-Baltimore-DC-Richmond-Newport News
Carolinian/Piedmont: Charlotte-Greensboro-Durham-Raleigh-Richmond-DC-Baltimore-Philadelphia-NYC
Silver Service/Palmetto: NYC-Philadelphia-Baltimore-DC-Richmond-Raleigh-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami
Amtrak Northeast Regional runs 12 trains in each direction, daily. Amtrak Carolinian/Piedmont and Palmetto/Silver Service run 4 trains in each direction, daily. But in two Amtrak “Duh” moments, Carolinian/Piedmont and Palmetto/Silver Service service stop at Staples Mill, not downtown Richmond.
Charlotte-Greensboro-Raleigh-Richmond-Washington is a U.S. High Speed Rail Corridor designated for upgrade to 110 mph Amtrak service. Tracks are being incrementally upgraded from Washington to Richmond, then southward and to Norfolk by 2022.
In the Beginning … Virginia Tour
Elegba Folklore Society presents this interpretive tour of unmarked sites in Richmond’s history. Elegba may well be the ultimate Afrocentric Richmond cultural event. With all of their festival and community contacts, if they don’t know where it is, you won’t be able to find it. Tourists board a bus to visit sites where monuments do not exist. These sites tell the other story not listed in common history books. Tour leader techniques include call-and-response, vocal and instrumental music, narrative presentations and dialogue. Participants can immerse themselves in past occurrences that impact our perspectives today.
ADDRESS: 101 East Broad Street
PHONE: 804-644-3900
Metro Richmond Visitor Centers
The centers also sell tour tickets, specialty gift items, Virginia products and souvenirs
ADDRESS: 403 North 3rd Street
PHONE: 804-783-7450
WEBSITE: http://www.visitrichmondva.com
Venture Richmond
Enjoy 35-minute historically narrated tours or private charters of the James River & Kanawha Canal along the historic Canal Walk in covered boats holding up to 38 passengers; boats departs on the hour from the Turning Basin.
ADDRESS: 14th and Dock Streets downtown
PHONE: 804-649-2800
WEBSITE: http://www.venturerichmond.com/experiences/canalcruises.html
Richmond Freeway Network is generally well maintained, but freeway signage into Downtown is poor. Consult your map closely before driving here. In Virginia, radar detectors are illegal and must be removed from the dashboard. I-295 and I-64 freeways are often crowded on weekends and holidays to/from Virginia Beach. When traffic is flowing, Richmond is only 90 minutes from Virginia Beach and 105-minutes from Washington.
