Day trips from Fayetteville

Fayetteville makes a terrific base, because some of the region's best outings sit a short drive in every direction. Closest is the Midland Trail, U.S. 60 west of Hico, where Hawks Nest, Cathedral Falls and Kanawha Falls are all under half an hour away. Summersville Lake and Beckley's Exhibition Coal Mine are each about half an hour, one north and one south. Hinton and Sandstone Falls deserve a full day.

Drive times below are measured from downtown Fayetteville with no traffic. By West Virginia Tourism's reckoning, the park is "approximately 30 minutes north of Beckley" and "70 minutes east of Charleston." In Beckley, the city's Exhibition Coal Mine takes you underground into a real coal mine, daily from April 1 to November 1; one ticket ($22 for adults 18 to 54) covers the mine tour, the coal camp buildings and the Youth Museum. Allow two to two and a half hours and bring a jacket, since the mine is "always 58 degrees." Then browse Tamarack, a marketplace stocked by "over 500 juried West Virginia artists" at I-64 Exit 45, open daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Day trips by drive time, and what's open this fall

Drive times are estimates without traffic. Status checked September 22, 2026.

Pick your day trip

Midland Trail: Ansted to Gauley Bridge

The easy half-day: a 60-foot roadside waterfall, the Hawks Nest overlook, the Mystery Hole and Kanawha Falls, all on U.S. 60.

Read the guide

Summersville Lake

Clear green water and sandstone cliffs half an hour north: Pirates Cove, lakeside camping and the fall drawdown boulders.

Read the guide

Hinton and Sandstone Falls

A brick railroad town, a riverside road and the widest waterfall on the New River. Plan a full day, or come by train.

Read the guide

Two tips that save you an hour

Mind Bridge Day. On Saturday, October 17, 2026, U.S. 19 and the bridge close to traffic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., per the Bridge Day organizers, and the local detour runs over U.S. 60 through Ansted and WV 16. Anything north of the gorge, Summersville Lake and the Midland Trail included, is across a closed road that day, so save those for another day. The Bridge Day guide has the shuttle lots.

And don't mix up your Sandstones. The Sandstone Visitor Center at I-64 Exit 139 and Sandstone Falls on River Road share a name but sit 22.5 road miles apart, and you reach the falls through Hinton. The Sandstone Falls guide has the directions, and the waterfalls guide compares it with the park's other falls.

The gateway towns at a glance

• Oak Hill (about 11 minutes): 8,179 people in 2020, and the town where Hank Williams died on his way to a concert on January 1, 1953.
• Lansing (about 5 minutes): the community just across the bridge, 2.5 miles northeast of Fayetteville on U.S. 19, and home to Canyon Rim Visitor Center.
• Hico (about 11 minutes): the U.S. 19 and U.S. 60 junction where the Midland Trail begins; 239 people in 2020.
• Ansted (about 18 minutes): a bluff-top town on U.S. 60 named for a British geologist, 1,303 people in 2020.
• Glen Jean (about 18 minutes): an old coal and railroad center across from park headquarters; 90 people in 2020.
• Thurmond (about 33 minutes): by 1910 the C&O's "chief railroad center" on the mainline, per the Park Service; five residents in 2020, and Amtrak still stops on request.
• Summersville (about 30 minutes): the Nicholas County seat, 3,459 people in 2020, and the town nearest the dam.
• Minden, part of Oak Hill since 2015, is an EPA Superfund site for PCB contamination, listed in 2019; it's a residential community, not a place to visit.

Coming soon

Guides to Beckley and Charleston are on the way. Until then, road, train and airport details for the capital are in getting here. Staying in Fayetteville keeps every trip here an easy out-and-back, with dinner back in town each evening; the map shows what's available for your dates.