Located midway between New York and Florida, Virginia is considered the gateway to the South. It is also sometimes classified in the Mid-Atlantic region. Virginia is bordered by Washington, D.C. (the country’s capital) and Maryland to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, and West Virginia and Kentucky to the west.

Williamsburg is located in what is called the Tidewater region of Virginia, located on the Virginia Peninsula.  The climate is warm and pleasant in the spring and fall, hot and humid in the summer, and usually mild in the winter with only a few weeks of freezing temperatures and usually three or four snowfalls of less than ten centimeters.  The land in Williamsburg is basically flat with only slight rises in elevation, and students walk or use bicycles for on-campus transportation.  For off-campus trips, Williamsburg has a bus system that students can use.

The city that is now Williamsburg was designated as the capital of the British colony in 1699, and at that point known as "Middle Plantation." Later the name was changed to Williamsburg, after King William III of England. The town received a royal charter in 1722 and officially became the City of Williamsburg. Williamsburg is one point of a historical triangle, including historic Jamestown, the first English settlement in the New World, and Yorktown, where the tide of the Revolutionary War turned at the Battle of Yorktown.

Williamsburg and the surrounding area offers plenty of shopping, dining, outdoor recreation and parks, historic sites, and amusement parks, many of which are reachable by bus or taxi.

Williamsburg is 240 kilometers from Washington, DC; 64 kilometers from Richmond, the state capital; and 97 kilometers from Virginia Beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The city is accessible by air, bus, and rail transportation.