I always wanted to spend a night in the Alpine, but having grown up a mere twelve miles from here,…read morethere was no need to. But my partner and I just returned from a trip that included two nights at what I believe is now Abingdon's oldest motel, and we were quite charmed.
The Alpine consists of about twenty rooms fanning out from a central office. The Swiss couple who built the place in the early Sixties named it for the landscape they had left, and indeed its hilltop perch near old U.S. 11 leading into the town of Abingdon makes it a very pretty site with views of Virginia's tallest mountains. The motel grounds are nicely landscaped, great for picnics or just watching the sun rise and set, and a haven for birds. Hard to believe that down the hill from the Alpine are the full complement of chain motels, eateries, gas stations, and Interstate 81 (north to Roanoke, south toward Knoxville, TN). We were aware that a superhighway exists down there, but the noise was not obtrusive.
As others have said, the rooms are large and solid -- gave me a shock to see how standard motel rooms have shrunk since about 1980. Very clean rooms, solid, comfortable, modern. I have about two-and-a-half complaints about the Alpine that kept me from giving it five stars: (1) the phone in my room didn't work (this may not matter much to folks who use their cell for everything). (2) The lone soft-drink machine was broken . . . plenty of ice, but no sodas at all. I ran across a motel a few years ago with the same problem, and the office simply sold us soft drinks. (3) The "Continental" breakfast was meager, mostly coffee and mini-muffins. Even so, and at this price, the Alpine is still a "find"! For those who enjoy a full breakfast, a Cracker Barrel and a Huddle House are right on the way to I-81.
It would be wrong of me not to add that Abingdon is home to the venerable Barter Theater, a legitimate performance venue that is the 'State Theater of Virginia.'