Roanoke: Nature, Museums, and Family Experiences

Discover Roanoke between Mill Mountain and Downtown

Roanoke combines impressive nature experiences with museums, historic sites, and interactive attractions. Those planning a trip with varied interests can combine active days at Mill Mountain with culture in Downtown and family-oriented discoveries. When searching for a vacation rental, it is therefore worth first determining your preferred focus: Should the trip primarily offer trails and landscapes, or are museums, architecture, and changing exhibitions the main priorities?

Mill Mountain Park has more than 15 miles of natural-surface trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Mill Mountain is also home to a 2.5-acre wildflower garden. The Mill Mountain Greenway connects Downtown Roanoke with the Roanoke Star on Mill Mountain. The Star was built in 1949 and offers views of the surrounding valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. From the Blue Ridge Parkway, you can reach it by taking the exit for Mill Mountain Parkway at milepost 120.

The city’s trail network also offers various options for planning your day. Roanoke’s park system includes 70 parks covering more than 14,000 acres. The trail system offers 100 miles of natural- and paved-surface trails for road cycling, mountain biking, hiking, and horseback riding.

Museums, History, and Architecture

Downtown Roanoke is home to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in a century-old freight station. The collection includes steam, diesel, and electric locomotives. Center in the Square is a seven-story destination with museums, theaters, aquariums, and educational offerings. Virtual, one-day, and multi-day field trips are offered there. These different formats allow you to choose cultural and educational experiences that fit your daily schedule.

The Taubman Museum of Art offers eleven galleries as part of the Fralin Center for American Art and hosts 15 to 20 exhibitions each year. The History Museum of Western Virginia complements this with changing exhibitions offering new perspectives on local history. It traces the development of the Roanoke Valley through exhibitions and artifacts and uses interactive displays and educational programs. The Downtown Roanoke Walking Tour passes historic buildings, art, and architecture. In the Roanoke City Market Historic District, the buildings showcase commercial architectural styles from the late 19th to the early 20th century.

Further insights are available at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture. It was founded in 1985 through a community-supported initiative to preserve the historic Harrison School, Roanoke’s first high school for Black students. The location at Melrose Plaza includes galleries and event spaces. The Roanoke Pinball Museum explores the science, art, and history of pinball; its games cover nearly a century of production, from the 1930s to the present.

Discoveries for Families and Curious Visitors

For a trip with children, the third floor of Center in the Square offers the Kids Square children’s museum and several playful learning areas. These include a miniature town, a construction zone, a sensory bay, and a forest area for gross-motor activities. The Construction Zone enables role-playing and teaches concepts from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Forest Exhibit invites visitors to climb, slide, and explore.

The Science Museum of Western Virginia uses The Eye as an exhibit, theater, planetarium, event space, and classroom. The curated content covers astronomy, art, and film. At Parakeet Garden, guests can feed more than 250 parakeets and interact with them directly. The museum also displays insects, reptiles, and fish in tanks, including the Living River tank. Mill Mountain Zoo is a refuge for critically endangered, endangered, or non-releasable animals due to injuries or captivity and offers educational programs tied to Virginia’s SOL education standards.

Another playful option is Roanoke STARCADE, an interactive museum with 140 arcade machines and more than 3,000 games. After purchasing a museum card, the games can be played for free. When choosing your vacation rental, you can use this to weigh whether to focus on Mill Mountain, the cultural offerings in Downtown, or a variety of outings throughout the trip.

More Destinations for Trip Planning

If you would like to expand your trip planning beyond Roanoke, here are more places to choose from: Hollins, Vinton, Bent Mountain and Cave Spring.

Back to the higher-level travel overview: Roanoke.