bridgewater marina

We were traveling through the area and stopped at Bridgewater Plaza to get a look at the lake. We inquired about rentals and ended up on a 2 hour sightseeing tour in a rented pontoon. Our rental was a newer tritoon with a large engine. We were quickly able to see most of the lake. Staff was very helpful and meticulous about every aspect of the rental. We are already making plans to return and do a weekly boat rental.

this is a really neat place to visit on SML....several places to eat, live bands, ice cream shops, gift shops, boat gas (no public launch) and games for kids....all connected by wooden docks/walkways that make this really cool place....this is one of those spots you can pull up to on your boat, if you can find a "parking spot" and end up spending a few hours without knowing it....but you don't regret it! some stuff is a little expensive, but hey, you're on vacation!

Really nice people. really poor experience. Rented a 190 HP boat to water ski. Took a 6 day rental and received an old worn out boat that would not pull us out of the water on a slalom ski. They have better boats, but ours did not meet our needs. When we asked why the boat seemed underpowered we learned that each boat was not optimized with the best propeller to minimized maintenance complexity. If you know boats, you know the size of the propeller is critical to success when skiing.

The Bridgewater Marina is just one of the businesses at Bridgewater Plaza. If you are trying to map out places you want to go in the area, check the address because there are a lot of them right here in this same complex, including a Smith Mountain Lake visitor's center. We went today to check on prices to rent a boat and we are so impressed with the plaza that we are going to try to plan an overnight trip to a hotel within walking distance. The marina has great courtesy docks and the marina itself sells all kinds of lake and touristy things. They have some really nice Smith Mountain lake t-shirts and sweats. Their prices on boats seem reasonable.All of Bridgewater Plaza is connected by boardwalk and there are several restaurants, a couple of gift shops, a really neat miniature golf course called Harbortown Mini Golf, an arcade, and a "midway" featuring one of those rock climbing structures and a place to throw basketballs. People feed the fish and ducks popcorn from the boardwalk and I've never seen so many huge fish. The plaza is multi-level and has an open bar called Mango's in the middle that has a stage out by the bar. Harbortown Mini-Golf is on the top level over the lake and is made to look like an old west town. Prices are higher here than in the surrounding area. For instance, a burger at Mango's runs $9 and their entrees can easily get into the teens. It looks like it might be a little bit of a tourist trap but it still looks like fun. We stopped in at Mango's to sit at their bar and have a beer (they carry the local craft brews from Sunken City and Devil's Backbone). It was very touristy but fun.

This marina supplies various locations on Smith Mountain Lake, VA with rental boats. We called a phone # for a marina at our resort and the call was forwarded to the marina. The incompetent employee at the marina never informed us our call had been forwarded and our rental boat contract was now at a location 30 minutes by car and 45 by boat. They refused to change the reservation or bring a boat over to the true location of the phone number we called. Then we were given not one but two pontoon boats that regularly left us stranded on this 22,000 acre lake. Neither boat had communication equipment or a working horn. We have owned boats our whole lives and even to us this was a scary and very dangerous situation. The owners response to our many problems over the course of our 3 day rental was to say his "girls" all answer the phone saying Bridgwater marina thus we should have known and taking $ 65 off a $410 price. His helpful wife suggested we take our business elsewhere which we definitely will and I suggest others do the same. Truly an awful businessman. Do not use.

This plaza was a fun place to visit during our vacation to Smith Mountain Lake. You can get there by boat and car. There are restaurants, souvenir shops, an art gallery, a game room and outdoor amusement area. At one of the convenience stores, you can buy popcorn and peanut butter to feed the carp, the boys and I loved this. At the game room, there are lots of games that you can play for tickets to redeem for prizes (the plastic boardwalk kind). Definitely plan a visit there if you have children.

Been coming to SML for years. Bridgewater is full of shops and restaurants. Its a great way to spend an afternoon just looking the shops and grabbing a bite to eat.