The Greenbrier Guide

If you were anywhere near my instagram back in February, you know that we spent a weekend at The Greenbrier! I surprised Andrew for our anniversary (which also happens to be his birthday) with the trip. I secretly arranged for him to have a Friday off from work, and waited to tell him about the trip until the night before. Then, we drove to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia for a gorgeous, snowy weekend!

When I was preparing for the trip, I was searching high and low for cool plans and honest reviews of the food and activities on the resort and in the area, and I could barely find any! I’m going to list out our weekend below, and along with it the changes we’ll be making for our next trip. (That should say it all— there will be another trip!) Hopefully, this can help you guys prepare if you’ve never been or are thinking of booking a stay.

Friday:

-Drove to White Sulphur Springs, WV. We were coming from Columbia, so we treated ourselves to an early lunch at Shake Shack in Charlotte on the way up. We left around 10, but both agreed we would try to leave earlier next time! We were so thrilled to see snow as we got to the mountains. The drive was beautiful.

-Arrived at the hotel. It was so much bigger than I imagined. Truly huge! With the help of the valet, we unloaded the car, checked in Andrew’s shotgun (for clay shooting later), and found the front desk. Within a few minutes, we were shown to the cutest room and set down our things! At this point it was pretty late in the day, and we were tired from driving. Also, the snow was really coming down! My original plan was for us to drive to Lewisburg just a few miles away for dinner, but the snow and ice said otherwise. We changed and headed downstairs to find some dinner.

Our view + the snow. It was so pretty!

-We ate at In-Fusion in the Casino. It was good! We had dumplings and sushi, and were a little shocked at how good the sushi was… You never know at a resort! [This was our first encounter with the fees and taxes that come with food at The Greenbrier and one of the biggest drawbacks— there are a ton of fees tacked on to food in the resort. Our meal cost almost double what the food and drinks actually cost after all of the fees were added. That being said, our meal was good, but it wasn’t “pay double in taxes and fees” good. ya know?] Regardless, it was so convenient. They also gave us celebration dessert!

-We ran back to the room to change into something warmer and went exploring. It was still snowing, so we went outside for some photos and got our bearings inside of the hotel. Just that evening (and mostly inside) we walked FOUR MILES. Like I said earlier, this hotel is huge. We found the main dining room, indoor pool, a bowling alley, some bars, shops, sitting rooms, ball rooms… it was all there.

-Got back to the room, showered, and climbed into bed. Whew, we were tired.

Saturday:

-We woke up early to enjoy breakfast in the main dining room. It was amazing! the china and decor were beautiful, and it was bustling with people.

-Next, we went on a tour of “the bunker.” There’s a whole, wild history in The Greenbrier that I won’t spill here but I will say that the tour was fun and I would definitely recommend. It’s about an hour long and chock full of history! There is a fair amount of walking, too. They say that when you book, and I’m here to confirm it. (Also I’m no expert, but I do love spy mysteries and conspiracies… this place definitely got me thinking!) Sorry, I don’t have photos from this part. We had to leave our phones in the room!

-We changed clothes and jumped on a shuttle to the gun club: it was time to shoot some sporting clays! I’d never done it before, but let me say: it was so much fun. The course was beautiful and our instructor was top notch. It essentially turned into a coaching session that we ~definitely~ needed. I would absolutely go again. (Andrew brought his own shotgun and shells, and I rented one of theirs. We brought our own eye and ear protection, but they have it available!)

After our chilly + friendly competition. Andrew beat my score by 3 clays.

-After all of that hard work- because it is shockingly hard work- we went back and put on our bathing suits. It was indoor pool time! The pool is original and incredible- it’s also very deep! [Note here: We are pool people. If there is a pool, we are in it.] We floated and swam for two and a half or three hours, had the sweet lifeguard take our picture [read: I embarrassed the heck out of Andrew], and pretty much had that enormous pool to ourselves the whole time. The water was warm and not too chlorinated.

DREAM POOL

This was a self-timed photo. We propped Andrew’s phone up with a shoe and hoped it wouldn’t fall into the 9ft deep end.

-Finally, it was time for some dinner. We went to Prime 44, the most reviewed and recommended restaurant on the resort. It’s a steakhouse, and very fancy. It was also delish! [This is one we agreed we would come to again despite the aforementioned fees and taxes.] The Caesar salad was amazing, our steaks were lovely, and the asparagus we got on the side was good too! I did try the lobster mashed potatoes, but they were not my favorite. It may have been an off-night for those because SO many people told me to try them! We were stuffed at the end of this meal and another complimentary dessert. We even took leftovers back to our mini fridge.

-We came back to our turned down room and candies were waiting on us. I saved them for later and got all tucked in and went to sleep! We had a big day!

Sunday:

-We decided we wanted to get home pretty early, so scratched our morning swimming plans and checked out around 9. On the way out, we stopped for gas and got breakfast at a little breakfast place called Cook’s Country Kitchen. It was inexpensive and exactly what we wanted— a non-fast food breakfast!

-We came on home! On the way, we met a friend in Charlotte for some lunch at Optimus Hall. We were so sad to come home so soon, but this quick trip was still a ton of fun.

Takeaways:

• We decided that our ideal stay would be five days/four nights: On the way up, we would stay one of the nights near Snowshoe Ski Resort and do some snow tubing and skiing. That would leave three full days to explore at The Greenbrier, go to Lewisburg, and see all of the caves and gorgeous nature all around that area.

• We think this would be a cool place for a romantic getaway, but also for a group of friends or couples to go! There are a lot of activities that would be fun for a group of 4 or 6. (Or more if you have that many friends.)

• Next time, we’re thinking of bringing a cooler with some chicken salad or sandwiches, and some snacks to avoid some of the unnecessary fees we ran into. We would 100% enjoy some of the meals we had again, but some were more expensive than we would want to pay a second time around. We also want to go to the Italian place next time! It looked and smelled so good.

• The time of year we were there was perfect for us. Not too crowded and chilly. We loved the snow, too. We’d love to do the drive in the fall— all of the trees would probably be incredible!

• Take cash for tipping!

• Join the mailing list for cool deals and offers. They always have something neat going on! We used a discount from an email they sent in late 2019. This is definitely a splurge, but we would go again!

• Next time, I want to add a historical tour to the list of our activities. There is a ton of US history there that I would love to hear all about.

• I was very concerned about the dress code and what we needed to wear while I was packing, but I think I was more worried than I should have been! For the evening meals, I wore a dress or jumpsuit and Andrew wore a jacket or blazer and chinos (+ a tie at the steakhouse). During the day, I was in black pants (my thick ponte leggings) or nice, dark jeans with sweaters, and Andrew was in khakis and polos with his jacket! We saw a wild mix of outfits, from very casual to very dressy; I think we were in the right zone of clothes!

• It was so relaxing to have everything right there. Call and make reservations ahead- everyone is so helpful. The staff was there to help with every single thing we ever wanted!!

I think that covers it all. At the end of the day, I can’t get over the whimsy and magic of the hotel and the beauty of the location. I would 100% recommend a stay. I’m already planning our next trip!! (In my dreams. First, we gotta get through this pandemic. Stay well, everyone!)

xx