• Cruise the Potomac River for scenic views of Alexandria, Washington, DC and the Mount Vernon Estate.

• Take a walking tour of Richmond (website: www.visit.richmond.com), the state capital that was also the capital of the Confederacy. This compact city is ideal for walking tours of historic districts and is ringed by Civil War battlegrounds.

• Join a whale-watching excursion from Virginia Beach, and see the humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins at play.

• Spend the day at Paramount's Kings Dominion theme park (website: www.kingsdominion.com), 32km (20 miles) north of Richmond, and enjoy the best rollercoaster collection on the east coast.

• Travel the scenic Skyline Drive, which traverses the Shenandoah National Park and follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains (website: www.nps.gov/blri). Outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy hiking, canoeing, horse riding and a variety of naturalist programmes.

• Enjoy the fun and sun at Virginia Beach (website: www.vbfun.com), a popular seaside town offering a range of attractions and facilities.

• Tour Norfolk (website: www.norfolkcvb.com), home of the largest naval base in the world, and inspect the USS Battleship Wisconsin, the last battleship built by the US Navy. Fish off the pier, learn to sail or take a harbour cruise on a 19th-century cargo schooner.

• Catch a ticket to adventure on wild rides, stage shows and family entertainment at Busch Gardens (website: www.buschgardens.org) in Williamsburg.

• Join in the Chincoteague Carnival in July and watch the ‘saltwater cowboys' herd the Chincoteague ponies across the Assateague Channel at low tide.

• Try white-water canoeing on the Shenandoah, Maury and James rivers. Rapids as high as class IV are found along urban Richmond's stretch of the James River.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.