Natural Bridge State Park — Attraction in Lexington

We visited on a Friday in late May 2023 (memorial day weekend). There were an amazingly large number of cards for late afternoon on a Friday. Then again it was after typical school hours.

We visited the main visitor center first. There is a giant gift shop/retail/art/souvenir store. Not sure what to call it. The food area to the right was not open. You can buy your tickets to go down to the natural bridge here or later at the small shop at the bottom of the trail. Be aware that the state park annual pass does get you 4 free admissions to this park otherwise you will be paying per person. As of time of writing the state park annual pass is $85. There was a ton of merch for the park including apparel. In the back there were a ton of toys and stuffies. To the left was artsy crafty items. We bought a number of pins and hiking medallions. There were patches, key chains and stickers galore. They even had tokens. The back toy area also had a park sign next to the giant bear which makes a great photo op.

On the bottom floor of the building there is also what they call "base camp" which is a kids discover area with animals and other displays. They had rangers staffing this area as well but they do close earlier than the store visitor center and other parts of the park. I believe it was 4PM when we visited. Kids liked playing with the interactive 3D topographical sandbox and looking at the beehive they have that goes into the building.

After this we finally headed down to the bridge area. There are a number of stairs but was honestly easier than natural tunnel hiking path and the ones at new river gorge national park. Make sure to look at the water falling down the hill as you descend the stairs. Very interesting formations and beautiful. The store at the bottom had a decent selection of items as well. When you walk around the corner you immediately see the giant bridge. Lots of benches to sit and admire the natural structure. My kids were begging to run back to the car to grab their fishing rods as there were tons of trout in the stocked creek/stream that runs under the bridge. Kids 15 and under in VA fish for free. We did the hike from the tunnel all the way back to the falls. It's relatively level and follows the creek the entire way. There is a native American village along the way which was temporarily closed. Also there are parts where you can walk down the water and there are rocks you can stand on and observe the stream wild life. We saw TONS of tadpoles while we were there. Walking all the way back to the falls was nice. The trail was paved the entire way although there were some spots that were muddy. The old salt peter mine was also cool to look at and broke up the hike a bit.

The park also has a junior ranger program. It's in partnership with many other local parks. The ranger on duty just gave us the patches and said as responsible adults we could hold onto them and give them to the kids when they had completed the requirements in the book.

Not sure we would come back out of our way to visit again as we think we have seen it all. There were a couple of trails on the upper side which we didn't get to do but not sure if it would be enough to bring us back. Definitely worth the...

I'll start saying that visiting the Natural Bridge State Park is worth the drive. The park is located in Virginia State, it took me around 3 hours 30 minutes from Raleigh, NC to arrive there.

The visitor center is right in front of the road. So, my first thought was... do we drive from here to another place? But not. To clarify doubts, I entered the visitor center. There there is a reception desk with park rangers. The entrance to the park is $9 per adult, $7 per child, and dogs enter free of charge (yayy! I have 3 dogs that most of the time travel with me). No drive from there to the park, you just have to walk towards the back of the building and be prepared to go down +100 stairs. And the hike is only 1 mile each way (2 miles total).

From there, there are 4 points of interest. The first, the natural bridge. This is just a few steps away from the stairs. It is a "Wow!" natural master piece (you can see some pics attached to this comment). There are some benches were you can sit to appreciate this beauty or read a book, or just to rest from coming down from the stairs. The second, is a cave. I could easy live there. You have to cross a small bridge to get closer and see it. The third, it is a hidden river. More than a river it looks like water coming from the mountain which always amaze me. Lastly, and the hiking ends there, you will find a very nice cascade. You can spend time sitting there and appreciating the sound of the water and nature.

My thoughts along the hike, as you do it by the river all the time, were OMG! I would like to take a bath in this river.

Just one tip, if you don't have hiking boots. Use some dark color sneakers. There are parts of the hike where you will have to walk around a little mud or water.

And... don't forget to buy a little souvenir...

Absolutely stunning natural wonder. Bigger than Niagara Falls by 55 feet?? I don’t need to see Niagara! Very helpful and friendly staff that we ran into many times, and really awesome visitors center and gift shop - probably the first park I’ve ever visited where I actually bought a freaking sick shirt of the bridge. Relatively easy walking trail, although there were some exhausting parts - especially the very beginning, but still, I wouldn’t quite call this a hike. The water fall at the end of the trail isn’t really worth seeing unless you want more of a walk. But wow this is just a mind-blowing wonder. So many people find it ridiculous that you have to pay $9 to see “a bridge” but so many people are also just plain ridiculous and don’t stop to think about how incredible and freaking awesome it really is. God created quite a special work of art in this Natural Bridge. I can’t wait to come back and just see it with my own eyes again, I do not care that it will cost me $9 whatsoever. However, because of the stairs and lack of more interactive things, I observed it to be a bit more of a chore to support a young child along for the journey - if you are pregnant or have a child that needs a stroller or carrying, this park will probably be much more difficult to enjoy. And my significant other and I’d young and relatively fit bodies had a bit of a surprisingly hard time (especially with the stairs and at the very end), and marveled in disbelief at the amount of elderly we saw taking in the challenge so adamantly. But overall I really cannot wait to visit again, even though I am 3.5 hours away. Visiting here will be a memory I will cherish for a very long time. Very highly recommend to anyone who can appreciate...