Getaways

>>A thriving arts scene, glorious scenery, serious Southern cuisine, charm and hospitality … and did we mention 400 years of history? Virginia’s capital city of Richmond (www.visit.richmond.com) has it all for a weekend getaway.

SEE: The arts are big in Richmond, which has its own resident symphony and ballet. Don’t miss the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts—with the largest collection of Fabergé objects outside of Russia—and catch a movie at the Byrd Theatre, one of the last great movie palaces of the 1920s still in operation. (The 80-year-old Carpenter Theatre is being renovated as part of Richmond CenterStage, a performing arts complex set to open in fall 2009.) Get your history fix at St. John’s Church, where Patrick Henry gave his "give me liberty or give me death" speech, and the Museum of the Confederacy and its White House of the Confederacy (home of Jefferson Davis during the Civil War). Stroll Monument Avenue, the only avenue in the U.S. designated a National Historic Landmark.

STAY: Presidents and dignitaries stay at The Jefferson Hotel, so why shouldn’t you? This historic hostelry, opened in 1895, is gracious, grand, centrally located … and one of the nation’s best hotels, as a AAA Five Diamond Award recipient. The Sunday champagne brunch in the Jefferson’s Rotunda is a local tradition.

DINE: Richmond takes its eats seriously. Enjoy Julep’s New Southern Cuisine, housed in a charming 1817 building. Davis & Main features award-winning American cuisine, homemade desserts and Tuesday night jazz. And the lively Can Can Brasserie has French fare with a Southern twist.

SHOP: Seek the buzzing Carytown neighborhood for unique buys. Here the upscale—Chasen Galleries of Fine Art and Glass, with more than 100 artists, sculptors and glass artists represented—happily coexists with the fun and funk of fashion boutiques Lex’s of Carytown and Pink. Take home a piece of history from the cozy, jam-packed Sheppard Street Antiques.