Start from 17 curated places around Beckley, WV, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Pasquale's Italian Restaurant
A Beckley institution with over 55 years of continuous operation, serving traditional Italian red-sauce cooking — pastas, veal, chicken marsala, and the kind of tiramisu that earns loyalty — in a comfortable dining room that has fed multiple generations of locals without changing what works. The consistency is the point: this is the restaurant Beckley residents bring their parents to.
Little Sicily
A locally owned Mediterranean and Italian kitchen on Robert C Byrd Drive where a veteran chef produces handmade lasagna, wood-oven pizza, and Mediterranean-influenced dishes with noticeably higher kitchen care than the surroundings might suggest. The spotless dining room and attentive service make it a consistent favorite among Beckley diners who want something a step above the chains.
Trails & outdoors
Castle Rock Trail
A 1.1-mile loop starting near the Grandview Main Overlook in New River Gorge National Park — compact but rewarding, with exposed sandstone outcroppings at Castle Rock itself that deliver dramatic elevated views over the New River canyon. The short length makes it an ideal add-on to the Grandview Rim Trail, and the rocky terrain at the summit feels genuinely wild for a trail this accessible.
Little Beaver Lake Front Loop
A gentle 1.1-mile lakeside loop at Little Beaver State Park circling the park's 18-acre lake through mixed forest with seasonal wildflowers, fishing spots, and consistent wildlife activity. One of the most popular easy-to-moderate trails in the Beckley area, with a 4.6-star AllTrails rating from 233 reviews — a reliable option when New River Gorge trails are crowded or conditions are uncertain.
Things to do
Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine Tours
The guided underground tours at the Exhibition Coal Mine are the most distinctive entertainment experience in Beckley — riding a man-trip car into actual working mine tunnels while a retired miner explains how coal was extracted, what daily underground life involved, and what the industry meant to the communities that depended on it. The experience is educational in the deepest sense and produces a genuine shift in how visitors understand the region.
Theatre West Virginia
A 50-plus-year tradition of outdoor drama staged in the open-air Cliffside Amphitheatre on the rim of the New River Gorge at Grandview — anchored by Honey in the Rock, America's oldest outdoor Civil War drama, first performed in 1961 and dramatizing West Virginia's birth as a state during the war. Each summer the historical drama runs in repertory with a Broadway-style musical, and the long-running Hatfields and McCoys production is set to return after a fundraising campaign to rebuild its stage cabins. More than a million visitors have seen the productions since they began, making this the defining summer cultural experience in the Beckley region.
Landmarks & sights
Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine
The largest coal heritage museum in the region, where retired miners lead tours through 1,500 feet of actual mine passageways that worked through the mid-20th century. The experience of going underground with someone who spent a career there produces a quality of explanation you won't find in a conventional museum — the tour is educational in a way that stays with you, and the surface campus with its reconstructed company town buildings adds significant context.
Tamarack Marketplace
West Virginia's flagship artisan marketplace where juried work from more than 2,800 craftspeople across all 55 counties is displayed and sold under one roof — pottery, glass, woodwork, jewelry, baskets, and food products that represent the best of Appalachian craft tradition. The jury process is rigorous enough that the quality floor is consistently high, making this a better source for authentic West Virginia craft than anything you'll find at a souvenir shop.