We were in Floyd from May 22 to May 24, 2021, as part of our week-long RV caravan with friends, and we returned in August!
Floyd is a wee tiny town with an awesome name just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of southwest Virginia. It’s a scenic 2.5-hour drive from Fayetteville WV, our previous location. Floyd is renown for its live music scene, including the big annual music and art festival FloydFest, which is on our to-do list for 2022! In addition to live music everywhere you look, Floyd has a sweet little downtown strip of shops and restaurants, and a surprising number of breweries, distilleries, and cocktail bars.
Campground
We stayed at Chantilly Farm, a huge, beautiful campground ten minutes from downtown Floyd. It was peaceful, even with a wedding reception going on up the hill. We were happy to see a disc golf course (with no trees this time!) as we drove into the campground. Our one complaint was that the internet was pretty nonexistent. We loved the place though, and will stay there again next month.
Eating (while enjoying live music)
Our first order of business upon arriving was to walk around downtown Floyd and figure out where to see music. Dogtown Roadhouse was rated highly online and had a band that night, so we got a dinner reservation, and it was fantastic! You should see how many exclamation points are in my notes! The pizza was just ok, but the band was really talented, and we had a blast! The deck looks nice too if there’s no music and you’d rather sit outside. We’ll go back for sure in August!
After our bike ride the next day, we grabbed lunch from the counter at the adorable Floyd Country Store and pulled up a folding chair in the alley outside to listen to a community bluegrass jam session. It was a happy, laid-back scene and the food–vegan chili for me, some kind of meat over local grits for J–was wonderful. If you go, you must get a cheddar biscuit. J proclaimed it “the perfect biscuit,” and he has a lot of biscuit experience.
There was no live music at the grocery store (even in Floyd). We wanted to shop local at Slaughters’ Supermarket; they had the basics, but maybe the selection at Food Lion is better.
Drinking
Buffalo Mountain Brewery has a dark, lodge-feeling taproom and lots of outdoor space. Their style of beer isn’t our favorite, but we enjoyed sitting on the patio, and considered going back to hear the band later (and would have if chilling at our campsite weren’t so delightful).
5 Mile Mountain Distillery is a popular spot–parking was a little tight in the middle of the afternoon (AirstreamDog motto: go early!). They make cocktails with their own moonshine and rye and while the flavors weren’t our favorite, we highly enjoyed sitting at a shady picnic table and listening to the band. I’m not exaggerating about live music everywhere in Floyd. It’s pretty amazing.
Floyd has a speakeasy, complete with a secret entrance! Lush Lounge makes well-crafted (and quite expensive) prohibition-style craft cocktails in an old house with a maze of dark, interestingly-decorated rooms. It made me want to decorate my entire house with peacock print (J says no). Lush’s sibling The Blind Pig was closed for renovations, but we plan to try their Asian food next visit.
Cycling and disc golf
Our “hike one day, bike one day” rule for the trip sort of fell apart in Floyd, because I didn’t love any of the hikes I read about. Please give us hike recommendations close to Floyd! Instead of hiking on our non-biking day, we played disc golf on the super (but hard to follow without a map) course at the campground.
The bike loop we found was fabulous. And hard! The 28-mile loop starts from downtown Floyd, climbs up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, then flies back down into town. It’s gorgeous, but some of those climbs are really tough!
Floyd is a gem and we’re looking forward to returning in August!
One Reply to “Two nights in Floyd, VA”