If mediocre, overpriced food, sitting in traffic, and swimming in a sea of Karens is what you might call "worthy", I would highly recommend it, yes.

Where should I go instead?

Staying downtown would put you a lot closer to some great food and places to explore. I live in the west end, but even I can’t deny I miss living downtown sometimes

It depends what you’re looking for, but personally I’d stay closer to the city if you want to experience Richmond..unless you plan to explore out from short pump

If shopping is something you're targeting (what most people go to Short Pump for), check out Cary Street. Full of local, beloved shops and restaurants. The Poe Museum is over there, it's maybe 10 minutes from Riverside Drive, some of the best recreation on the James. Go walk the bridge to Belle Isle and stand in the middle of the River. The museum district has fabulous outdoor space and many of the museums are free. Maymont is the local wildlife refuge, there are bison, bears, foxes, and eagles. See a show at the national, or some stand up at the Sandman. Visit one of the many breweries in Scott's Addition.

If you grew up here, you probably remember and long for a time before Short Pump. Richmond has the culture, Short pump has the money. It's very.... Cheesecake Factory. Not sure how else to describe it.

Short pump is literally a non descript suburb. Stay in Richmond

I’m looking for good bars and restaurants. Ideally, cheap eats like a fucking excellent donut or burger or fried rice.

If i were staying here from out of town, ive heard good things about Eileen RVA. Pretty nice airbnb/hotel in Church Hill, close to downtown, easy parking, maybe 15 min walk from the Pulse (rapid city bus, which happens to be free for the moment)

Where did you ever get the idea to take a vacation to Short Pump?

Stay closer to downtown , Shortpump is all commercialized overpriced chains. Let me know if you need any recs for food or entertainment!

There are a dozen towns between Baltimore and short pump that are identical to short pump.

Just drive twenty minutes south of Baltimore and you’ll find a town full of chain restaurants, strip malls, and car dealerships. It’s the exact same thing as short pump

Search up The Fan (main st/Cary st) or Scott’s Addition, that’s where your great food and bars are gonna be..carytown is cool too to walk around

Lol this is funny

Going to Short Pump would be like going to White Marsh. Sure, you can do it, but I'd personally pick somewhere actually in the city to stay if I was coming for a visit...

As a resident of Short Pump, dear God no. This is where soulless families raise their kids (again, I am one). There is nothing fun to do here. The food here is chain crap and the occasional "meh" place. No soul. Stay downtown. You got money, The Jefferson, if not Google something. Downtown has culture, brewery, food, history, and everything is walkable.

Is this a joke?

No :(

We all make mistakes ❣️

I’m from Zambia, I’m not very familiar with Richmond. I just thought I’d see

Welcome in! We're all half-joking. Short Pump isn't that bad, and it's considered a fancier upscale area. I am sure it would sound nice if you saw an advertisement! But it is very commercialized and soulless and cultureless, which the people from the city really resent. We aren't making fun of you, just the idea of Short Pump being a travel destination, which we all also know Short Pump would love to be. Carytown/the Fan will give you the experience you're looking for.

Then go to Richmond?

Short Pump isn't fancy- it's literally just a bunch of chains around a suburban mall

Unless you like traffic everyday sure

Of course it is, that's why all the state senators live over there and everyone talks shit about rich kids in the West End. You can be jealous, but you can't say it's not an upscale place.

Staying in Short Pump when you visit Richmond is like staying in Arundel Mills when you visit Baltimore. Both are manufactured outposts resulting from suburban sprawl. Neither have an ounce of character and largely consist of chains and big box stores.

It's not fancy or upscale, it just has more expensive new construction houses and better school districts.

Westhampton, River Road and Windsor Farms are fancy/upscale etc.

Oh right, they built that hotel onto the side of the mall so that regular middle class people could fly in for the day and go shopping at Michael Kors. Yeah I forgot they were targeting just your everyday, average working person when they added the Warby Parker.

http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Richmond-Virginia.html

Michael Kors and Warby Parker aren't particularly expensive either.

Thanks for giving our guest an excellent example of why people say Richmond would be fabulous, except for the people. You can split hairs about old money vs new money, but you just outed yourself as a classist asshole.

http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Richmond-Virginia.html

Lol I don't know what you're going on about. There's tons of normal people in Short Pump and the west end. It's not fancy, formal, upscale etc. that's literally just nonsense unless you think all newer suburbs fit that description.

You are delusional if you think the money isn't the reason Henrico County West End schools have the best public school test scores in the area. It's about access to resources. Wealth in Richmond is heavily concentrated in the white west end. To deny that is just racism, really.

Country style donut for a burger.

Cobra burger or jack brown for a burger.

Fried rice is harder, Peter Chang Scott’s addition for authentic Szechuan fancy, china panda for America take out style.

I never said that people in Short Pump or the west end are poor. It's just not some ultra wealthy elitist area like you're making it out to be.

I called it upscale- you're the one getting offended at the notion, it sounds like because it's not upscale enough for you. Just because you look down on people who live in mcmansions doesn't mean those people aren't comparatively wealthy to the rest of the city.

I'm not offended you're just saying ridiculous and misleading things.

[deleted]

Honestly I don't know why I even wasted my time on some egotistical dude such as yourself when there is data that can't be argued with.

http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Richmond-Virginia.html

I would say the Short Pump location of Peter Chang is worth a visit if you’re only going to one

Just because the median household income in a geographic area is above the median for the entire metro doesn't mean the area is an ultra wealthy elitist area like you're implying.

There's ton of normal people in Short Pump and the West End.

That data also supported my earlier point, there's like 10 other geographic areas in the metro with a higher median area than the one high income area near Short Pump (looks like Wyndham but not totally sure)

Editing to add that I'm not a man since you keep responding multiple times to anything I comment on reddit

Why that one?

You know that the colloquial reference to Short Pump includes places like Wyndham, and you are REALLY stretching to pretend that's not the case. Yes, the rich people in the West end took their rich people money and built short pump. Some of them come from slightly different neighborhoods that are very close by and that all house other wealthy people. Wyndham is literally 5 minutes from Short pump.

I've also referred to your gender exactly one time, and we've never interacted before. Bit of a sensitive drama queen aren't we? "Anything you say on Reddit", huh?

You literally sound insane.

You literally sound insufferable.

Actually go to Richmond and not a suburb

It’s his original Richmond location and while I love the food from both, the food at the Short Pump location is just a step above

Lmao

Lmao…no

On the other hand the hotels are cheaper in short pump. So you can stay there but spend your time in Richmond.

If you end up in Short Pump, Arilang sushi is to die for.

El Paso Mexican has the best white sauce. Like 20 minutes from downtown, lots of this subreddit love to hate on it

It’s fine if there’s a good deal on a hotel and you don’t mind driving a bit to get to the city itself. Like getting a hotel in Towson for a trip to Baltimore (but a little closer since the region isn’t as big).

If by staying you mean spending your time in short pump then I guess but there’s not much there you couldn’t find in say, White Marsh or Columbia.

This was funny but no one is helping him. No, do not stay in Short Pump. If you like walking to breweries and restaurants Scott’s Addition is a good place. I suggest Tazza’s kitchen for dinner and then Starhill Rooftop or the Veil after for some beer. Museum District is quaint but you’ll probably have to Uber to places. The Fan is about the same. You could stay Downtown, there is plenty to do and see there. Richmond does have a lot of historical places to visit and there are a couple of museums right near each other (VMFA, Science Museum, etc.)

Been going to the short pump location for several years for Peter Chang’s, and a trip to Scott’s Addition one is more expensive with lower quality food. Maybe a few years back it was alright, but my friends and I have had noticeably worse or bad food experiences each time we’ve ended up there. Our table ordered 3 orders of the shredded tofu skins, and all three were notably salty with literal crystals of salt for added texture, as an example.

Stay wherever you like, everything's a short drive from everything around here. Enjoy your stay!

This is either a hilarious troll or the dumbest question I’ve ever seen. The nova equivalent would be, let’s go to DC and stay in Reston or Vienna the whole time.

The city won’t bite, but it may nibble a little bit. If you’re into that sort of thing

Edit: I see that OP is actually not from the US, so probably not a troll. That’s my bad. Stay in the city, short pump is a glorified series of strip malls from former farms.

Vienna is cool as fuck though

The Fan is your place, then.

lmao just go up 95 to bel air and save yourself some time

Not sure why the downvotes here - with a car, it's easy enough to stay in Short Pump and get into downtown within about 20 minutes at any time of the day other than weekday rush hour, and having a car in the city is convenient enough.

Are there more compelling hotels in the city, and will it be a better experience? Sure. But there's often a $200+ dollar a night price difference between what's available in the city, and what's available out in the suburbs. If that's the difference between making the trip work and not, then stay out in the suburbs and come on down.

Anything SP related gets downvotes for some reason. It's silly, but it's reddit. I don't live in SP but many many people do. If it sucked so bad, why do so many people love it there?

no. Stay in the city. Or go rent a place out in the baltimore suburbs, you'll find short pump indistinguishable.

very definition of not short pump, which is every chain

I'd say reverse... short pump isn't owned by Peter Chang anymore, SA is

upscale or upper middle class yes. Fancy or wealthy no. Biggest thing is no poor people, it's homgogenous high middle income.

If you ask the people at CCV if they live in short pump you will get sour and offended looks

love is strong. Quality of schools, no poor people, no crime

Lmao

Damn, apparently people hate Vienna here. I wish we had hand pulled noodle soup as good as lotus garden down here. Or Plaka grill :(

I got detained twice in Vienna, bad vibes. Also like why go to Vienna when Arlington and Alexandria are closer to the district and have better food, etc

Well that sucks. I just hate the fucking traffic there.

Short Pump is like Fairfax to DC so...

No

I think of short pump as being more comparable to hunt valley but I don’t have a ton of time in at arundel mills and haven’t lived in Baltimore for a decade

No.

No.

Hahahaha! I grew up in Hunt Valley and my sister is still there! I agree about the proximity of Short Pump/Hunt Valley to Richmond/Baltimore (vs Arundel Mills). Today, York Road from Shawan to Towson is like a combination of the worst parts of Midlothian Tpke and Broad Street, but with more traffic lights and fewer lanes. Once you get past Towson, York starts to more like Midlothian north of Chippenham toward the city, but with squeegee boys. Come to think of it, with all of the new strip malls, hotels, apartments, restaurants, and grocery stores, Arundel Mills is more like Hull Street south of 288, but with a Casino and a giant outlet mall.

Yeah my family are all still in Baltimore county. Can’t say I love it there. Wife and I moved to Richmond area from Texas recently so parents are still happy to have us close and to drive a few hours to see us, and I’m not in a rush to go hang out in Baltimore until they get burned out on the drive down 😂

You couldn’t pay me all the money in the world to move back to Baltimore. Richmond is a much more livable city - quality of schools, affordability of housing, cost of living, etc. I moved here in 1994 and wouldn’t think of going back.

There are lots of decent hotels in city. The Omni, Hilton Downtown, the Berkeley, etc.

Some people seem to want brand new houses built near entirely car-centric retail. I suspect they are too busy on Nextdoor to post on Reddit.