Scenic Drives & Vistas

It's hard to find a road that's not scenic in Southwest Virginia — even the interstates provide great views and inspiring landscapes.

Off the beaten track, you can find postcard-perfect vistas. Travel through miles of beautiful farmland, forest and mountains, along rushing streams and waterfalls, over pinnacles and past overlooks.

Burkes Garden — affectionately called God's Thumbprint — is a fertile valley perched high on a mountain ridge, with farms and fields stretching along quiet byways. The former country store announces its ownership over the door, and unique signs point the way to farms and homes.

You can see for miles at Lover's Leap, where scenic Route 58 crosses the Blue Ridge. There are White Rocks in Lee County and a Pinnacle at Cumberland Gap. Rock churches and a mountain shaped like a Buffalo in Floyd County. River rapids and streams and waterfalls in Giles County. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs for 80 scenic miles through five of our counties, with plenty of overlooks to stop and take a look. Route 611 in Dickenson County provides stunning views of Flannagan Lake and the mountains between Clintwood and Breaks Interstate Park. And in between, in every county, are highways and byways that follow the paths of settlement, the crest of the mountains, or the rambling route of a stream or river.

Flannagan Lake

Flannagan Lake in Dickenson County provides scenic vistas along Route 611 on the way to Breaks Interstate Park.

Get off the beaten track. Take the road less traveled. Along the way you'll find gorgeous vistas and friendly people, shops and small cafes and bed-and-breakfast inns that invite you to slow your pace and enjoy the view.