We surprised the kids for Christmas with a winter trip to The Greenbrier over New Years Eve. We made a really last minute decision to do this with probably only about two weeks to plan the whole thing. We looked at lots of different places to try and go and finally settled on the Greenbrier. One, they had availability. And two, they had somewhat reasonably priced/timed flights for us to get there. I used our travel agent, Melanie with MK Luxury travel, and everything went really smoothly. This had been a spot that was on our list to travel to and on my top East Coast Resorts posts, so we figured it would be beautiful in winter and still decorated for Christmas which was so charming.

Below I will share all the details of our trip… how we got there, what we did, our favorite restaurants and some of our tips if you were going to book your next vacation there.

How To Get There

It can be a little tricky to get to the Greenbrier because honestly, it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere West Virginia. We booked our flights from Pensacola to Roanoke, Virginia. We had a layover in Atlanta and the flight from Atlanta to Roanoke was just a short hour flight. From Roanoke, it is a 1hr 30 min ride to the Greenbrier. So that does add a significant leg to the trip. There is an option to fly into a smaller airport called the Greenbrier Valley Airport (LWB) which is just 1o minutes from the resort, but the only airline that flys in there is called Contour airlines from Charlotte. I have heard that there can be lots of challenges with going that route, so Roanoke it was for us! We booked a wonderful car service through Greenbrier limo service that we loved. Ask for Sharon! Our travel agent had contacted the Greenbrier hotel directly first to see about a car service and they quoted a price TWICE as much as this. So I am very thankful we found Greenbrier limo because they were excellent and had a car large enough for all 5 of us and lots of luggage.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Greenbrier, of course, in the Spring Row cottages. These were a really cute set of cottages that I heard have been renovated that sleep 5-6 guests. It is basically a one bedroom cottage with a living room that has a pull out sofa (and we also added a rollaway bed). When you walk in the front door, you are in the living room area, then you walk through a hallway with a nice walk-in closet, extra sink and vanity and the bathroom with tub and shower. From there is a large bedroom with either a king or two full/queen beds. Sometimes just having one bathroom for a family of five is annoying, but we made it all work and put all 3 kids together in the living room and we took the bedroom. The bathroom still felt a bit dated with a tiny little walk-in shower but it also had a large separate garden tub. I will mention that for us, the water pressure was amazing; but often times we would have hot water for about 30-60 seconds and then it would only just be warmish. I would have hoped for nice hot water 🙂

As for the location of the cottages, it was a short 5 minute walk to the main hotel and about a 5 minute walk the other direction to the golf and tennis facilities and outdoor Infiniti pool had it been open. It was a nice middle point, but if you are a smaller family; you may consider staying in a room in the hotel for convenience. The walk from our cottage to the hotel could get a little chilly!

How We Got Around

As I mentioned above, we had a car service from the airport because we knew once we got to the resort; we wouldn’t use a car. And that was true! Once we were at our Spring Row cottage, we were able to walk everywhere we needed to go or the hotel does have a shuttle service that you can call and catch a ride from. The shuttle runs continuously throughout the day from the lobby entrance to the golf club entrance where they have a couple of restaurants and the tennis facility.

The place is humungous, so we definitely spent the whole first day just really getting our bearings. And then once you get comfortable, it really is simple. You can do most of your walking indoors, but as I mentioned above, our cottage was a 5 minute walk outside to get to the main hotel. It was a little chilly, but we did it! One thing I didn’t think about was at night when I packed heels for my outfits…that doesn’t work well for the walk. I was literally wearing my moon boots to walk in to the hotel and changing into my heels when we got there, ha! So consider that when you are packing your evening shoes. A nice boot with more of a block heel would have been the smarter choice. Again, if you planned ahead of time; calling for the shuttle to come pick you up is also a great option. I will mention that the hotel phones in our cottage were both OUT and would not be fixed during our stay. That was quite an inconvenience when it came to trying to call for a shuttle or order in-room dining.

Where We Ate

I will mention that we ate all of our meals on property and every restaurant caters to children with a very nice Childrens menu with a variety of items for them to choose from and also with crayons and activities on the menus to keep them entertained.

Drapers – This is a beautifully decorated, soulful lunch spot that you definitely need to try at least once. We had lunch here are first day and we did have to wait about 45minutes just to get a table (which was fairly annoying!), but the food was good. They also have a fun ice cream bar to get scoops, milkshakes or try their amazing banana split!

Hotel Lobby Bar – This was definitely one of my favorite spots to hang out. Bring a deck of cards or grab one of two tables to play checkers or chess on and sit by the fire to sip a drink or just relax. Kids are allowed in this area and they do serve a small menu of food options. We ate here probably three different times during our stay for either lunch or an easy dinner. I was told I had to try one of their mint juleps here (even though I don’t like bourbon) and it really was delicious.

The Main Dining Room – We were supposed to have dinner here one night but ended up having to change up our reservations a little bit. This dining hall at dinner is a very beautiful and traditional space that requires all the men to be in jackets and collared shirts and the women to wear dresses or evening suits. So be aware of that ahead of time if you make reservations here. We enjoyed the dining experience here for breakfast as they had an extensive buffet as well as a menu you could order from. They also ask a breakfast for no workout attire, resort wear only. My kids loved the breakfast buffet!

Prime 44 – This spot was by far the restaurant highlight of our trip. We had such a fun and amazing meal here. It is an upscale steak restaurant with a very classy basketball theme to the decor. The restaurant honors, Jerry West, a West Virginia native and legendary NBA basketball player. Be sure to order some of the table side menu items that they offer…ceaser salad or Dover sole or the very best bananas foster! The kids loved this part and so did we. Everything we had was delicious.

Slammin’ Sammies – This is casual “clubhouse” style restaurant that we had lunch at a couple of times. The menu has more bar/club house style options, but it was fun for the kids because they had two pool tables and a hand shuffle board game that we all loved!

The Forum – We had dinner here on the night of NYE. It is a casual Italian restaurant that has wood-fired pizzas and other traditional Italian entrees. I think everyone liked their food pretty well. I wasn’t starving so only ended up ordering a side salad with a side of meatballs, so I wasn’t a very good judge of the meal.

In Fusion – This is a pan-Asian style restaurant located inside the casino, all the way in the back. You can bring children here, but you have to be escorted through the casino from what I was told. We went just Matt & I and I really enjoyed our meal plus the added excitement of being in the underground casino. I knew I wanted to take advantage of hitting up the casino after dinner. Our meal was really good with a mix of apps, sushi and splitting the sea bass. I would recommend this spot if you are in the mood for some asian flare.

Greenbrier Gourmet Coffee Bar – We stopped in this coffee shop daily to grab our daily cup of jo. They had good coffee and they also offered some simple breakfast options as well as some pre-made breakfast and lunch options throughout the day.

In Room Dining – We did this for breakfast one more and the kids did it for dinner one night with the babysitter and I will just say that you need to plan for about an hour wait time. The one morning we ordered breakfast the night before and gave them a delivery time and it was still about 45 minutes after the time we asked for the delivery. So just keep that in mind. Also, we were in a cottage which I am sure takes longer and it was also a busy week for the hotel.

What We Did

I always like to include “our schedule” in case it helps anyone trying to map out their trip or come up with an itinerary. Again, we had to wing this a bit because we booked the trip so last minute; but I would recommend trying to have a schedule in place especially if you have kids with you.

Our Schedule

Wednesday Dec 27th

1am arrival

Thursday Dec 28th

Lunch at Drapers
Bowling
4pm ice skating
Dinner in Lobby Bar
730pm nutcracker

Friday Dec 29th

9am -10am Swedish massage
Breakfast buffet in Main Dining Room
2pm sleigh ride
4pm pickleball 30 min
6pm escape room
815om Prime 44

Saturday Dec 30th

930am bunker tour -90 min
9-12 adventure zone – 3 kids
Lunch at slammin’ Sammy’s
130pm Madelyn & Molly princess experience – get hair done
also available for the princess experience: make up- nails painted – glitter in hair
330pm jeep tour Matt Brody Madelyn
415 lobby tea
8pm babysitter
830pm Adult dinner at in fusion

Sunday December 31st

Buffet breakfast main dining room
1pm hotel scavenger hunt
230 ropes course
9pm the forum dinner

Kids NYE available – 630pm to 1145pm ???

Monday January 1st

945qm Depart hotel with greenbrier limo service
1223pm flight ROA
4pm Arrive Home

THE GREENBRIER ACTIVITIES + EXPERIENCES

I am only going to touch the surface here of all the activities and things to do that this resort has to offer. There is honestly a ton and probably even more during the Summer time! I would recommend that you take some time before you go and really learn and study up on the options that would best fit your family.

Bunker Tour – This was a really cool experience and several people had recommended this to us. I think everyone needs to do this once if you go! I will say that they put an age limit to this which I had read 12, but at the resort I learned that it was actually 10! So in order for Matt and I to do the bunker tour, we put the kids in the kids adventure camp for the morning while we did the tour.

Kids Adventure Club – I think this was for ages 3-12 and you can sign up for a half day or full day session. We put all 3 kids for the one morning that Matt and I did the bunker tour. They have activities scheduled each day for the kids camp.

Indoor Tennis and Pickleball Courts – You do need to sign up to reserve tennis and pickle ball courts and there is a fee. They also offer clinics, lessons and family pickle ball tournaments depending on the day.

Indoor Pool & Outdoor Pool (closed in winter) – There is a really nice outdoor Infiniti pool that from what I heard is closed from maybe mid-September until maybe mid-May. There is also a big indoor pool inside the hotel which is quite nice but definitely smells like an indoor pool 🙂

Outdoor Tennis Courts (closed in winter) – Closed in winter and not sure when they open them back up.

Golf – They have several golf courses at the Greenbrier but we didn’t play any golf this trip.

Spa – They have a huge 40,000 sq foot spa area that I wish I could have spent more time in. But I did sneak in a 50 min Swedish massage that was very nice. I did have some sticker shock when I checked out and it was $300!!!

Tea time – They have a fun tea time set up every day at 4:15 upstairs by the hotel lobby bar. We made it to this twice and it was cute. They have little pick up desserts and serve hot tea and usually have some type of live entertainer singing or playing the piano.

Nutcracker – This is obviously just during the holiday season, but they have a ballet come and perform the Nutcracker. I took the girls to this our first night there but they were exhausted and only made it to intermission.

Carriage Ride – The carriage ride was cute, but I laughed on our first day because I had scheduled this as our big “afternoon activity” and I did not do my research that the whole experience from start to finish was a mere 20 minutes! So even though it was very nice, I was like, crap, now what are we going to do ???

Ropes Course – This was one of the coolest/scariest things we did on our last full day at the resort. All three kids did it and were so darn brave. Way braver than their Mama! I did it but I was such a scaredy cat! The kids did it all. You are 50 feet in the air jumping from one course to another, swinging from board to board or tight roping.

Archery – We didn’t make it to this, but would have been fun for the kids.

Skeet shooting – We didn’t make this either but I am pretty sure the age limit was 12 & up.

Ice Skating – The kids enjoyed this but do make sure you make a reservation. You really can’t just walk up and get right out there to skate.

Bowling / Arcade – The bowling is something you can walk up for as long as the lanes aren’t full. It is an older bowling alley and they give you an iPad to keep your own score.

Tons of Shops – I couldn’t get over how many shops this place had in the hotel. They have a whole hallway with tons of shops and then even more leading into the casino.

Casino – The casino is the only privately held casino in the whole country and it really was nice in size. Matt and I went here one night when we had the babysitter and the place was packed. I finally found a blackjack table to sit at but we couldn’t ever get two seats together for Matt and I to both play.

A Few Tips

Plan ahead the best that you can
Try to schedule out your days with resort activities. (check the duration of each activity)
Make sure to make dinner reservations ahead of time.
Have the men bring their sports coats
Don’t miss out on Prime 44
Be sure to hit the complimentary afternoon tea at 4:15pm any day you can
Schedule the Bunker Tour to learn some history about the resort
Check the age limit on each activity. The website had said the Bunker Tour was for ages 12 and up, so we didn’t bring Brody to that and definitely younger kids were there. I saw a sign that said 10 and up. I think he would have enjoyed it.

Final Thoughts and Review

This resort has an amazing amount of history, beauty and tradition that I absolutely loved. I will say that I found it easier to get to then I had imagined (very thankful for smooth and on-time flights) which I was pleasantly surprised by and always makes the desire to return more appealing! I loved that once you were at the resort, you really never had to leave. They have everything you need right on property; but if you wanted to venture off, you certainly could. I also have to mention how gorgeous and over the top all the holiday decor is during this time of year. It was so much fun to experience the hotel with the decorations still up from Christmas.

I mentioned a few little “complaints” that I had above. The hot water in our rooms as well as our phone lines being out. But all-in-all, we were happy with our accommodations and the service at the resort. When I best describe our feelings towards the resort as a whole with younger children in winter time, I feel like its a place that has one million different activities to offer within the resort, but you could also find yourself a little bored. And I mean that because it can be slow paced where you are people watching by the fire or playing cards or you can have an activity scheduled every hour of the day. Most activities are are an added expense although they do have some daily activities that are included. So sometimes in between our scheduled activities, I could tell the kids were a little bored. If it was Summertime, we would have just filled our extra time at the pool; but in the winter, you only have the indoor pool option. The indoor pool is very, very nice; but it is a very humid room that smells like chlorine. We never ended up making it to swim there.

I also saw lots of families throughout the resort traveling with extended family or friends. I do think its a great resort for those kind of trips as well as teenage kids! I think for kids 13 and up it would be a great spot because the kids could really have some freedom around the resort and they are of age for all of the extra activities. Like I would have loved to have played in the family pickle ball tournament with Brody, but it was for ages 12&up only.

I could definitely see myself going back to this resort with our family and trying it out in Summer time. It really is so unique and beautiful with loads and loads of Southern Charm 🙂