Sunday, May 11, 2008

Post Travel editor K.C. Summers drove to Charlottesville last week for an overnight at the Keswick Hall resort hotel. Her reporter's notebook:

DRIVE TIME

About 2 1/4 hours from the Beltway

COST

$502 for food and lodging package

GETTING THERE

Keswick Hall has a helipad, but if your chopper's in the shop, take Interstate 66 to U.S. routes 29 and 15 to Charlottesville. (Watch out for the speed traps outside town.) Keswick Hall is six miles east of C'ville. Take the 250 Bypass to Route 22 east; after two miles, turn right on Hunt Club Road. Keswick is up the hill on the left.

KESWICK HALL

Regular rates at Keswick start at $425 a night for a "signature room," but a promotion, which runs through Sept. 11, offers rooms at $225 Sunday through Thursday. A variety of packages also are offered. The Gastronomic Package includes one night's lodging, a five-course chef's tasting menu dinner (wine not included) and continental breakfast for two, starting at $395 for a "hall guestroom," but that deal wasn't available when I booked. The cheapest rate I could get was a signature room for $435, which jumped to $502 when taxes and tips were added. Golf, wine, romance and spa packages also are offered. Be prepared for annoying surcharges: $10 for an Internet connection, $15 to $28 for afternoon tea.

Activities: The hotel has a full-service spa, with hour-long massages starting at $115, and an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course ($130 to walk 18 holes on weekends, $150 with golf cart). Also available: hot-air balloon rides, fishing (fly or cast) and tennis -- all for a fee. What's free: swimming, biking, fitness center machines, croquet and billiards.

WHAT ELSE TO DO

The Charlottesville area is home to the presidential trifecta of Monticello (the estate of Thomas Jefferson), Ashlawn-Highland (James Monroe) and Montpelier (James Madison), plus Jefferson's Academical Village, a.k.a. the University of Virginia. C'ville's historic Downtown Mall is great for shopping, people-watching and used-bookstore-browsing, and the city is a haven of fine dining (see last week's Food section guide at http://www.washingtonpost.com/food).

Local vineyards, including Barboursville, Horton, Jefferson and Montedomaine, offer tours and tastings; see http://www.virginiawine.org for details. Also nearby: antiquing, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking and white-water rafting.

INFORMATION

Keswick Hall, 800-274-5391, http://www.keswick.com. For information on Virginia attractions: Virginia Tourism Corp.,800-847-4882, http://www.virginia.org.