Frequently asked questions

My Valley Day is a local discovery and outing-planning platform for Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We aggregate verified places, events, and editorial guides into one searchable, mobile-first experience — and we'll build you a custom day plan in under a minute.

The Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia, including Shenandoah National Park and surrounding communities such as Winchester, Front Royal, Strasburg, Woodstock, New Market, Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, Lexington, Luray, and the towns along Skyline Drive and Interstate 81.

Yes. Browsing places, events, itineraries, guides, the map, and the Build My Day planner are all free. We offer optional paid plans for businesses that want to claim and enhance their listing.

My Valley Day is designed and built by BGDesigns.io. You can learn more at bgdesigns.io.

Tell us where you're starting, where you'd like to end, how many stops you want, and what kinds of things you're into. Our planner scores nearby places along your route based on your preferences, opening hours, and how well they cluster geographically, then builds a sharable itinerary.

Yes. You can re-run the planner with different stops, categories, or endpoints. Use the share button to send the result to friends — the link encodes your plan so nothing is lost.

Not directly. We link out to each venue's official site, phone number, or reservation page so you book with the source. Hours and availability change — always confirm before you head out.

Some itineraries are hand-curated editorial pieces ("A Day in Staunton," "Wineries Along Route 11"). Others are auto-generated from our verified places library using a scoring engine that balances drive time, opening hours, and category mix.

We combine OpenStreetMap, Wikidata/Wikimedia, official tourism sources, venue websites, and our own editorial team. Every place is reviewed before it appears publicly, and we strictly hide listings that don't have a real description and photo — to encourage owners to claim and enhance them.

We only publish listings with enough detail to be genuinely useful — a real description, hours, contact, and a hero image. If you don't see your favorite spot, it likely needs to be claimed and enhanced. Send us the link via Submit a Place and we'll prioritize it.

Events are refreshed weekly via an automated pipeline that scans verified regional sources. New submissions and claimed-listing edits go live within minutes of admin approval.

Owners can claim their listing and edit it directly. Anyone else can use the Submit a Place form (or the report link on a listing) to flag corrections. We aim to review every report within a few business days.

Visit the Submit page from the footer. Provide the name, address, website, and a brief description — our team reviews and publishes verified submissions.

No account is required to browse. You'll need to sign in to save favorites, submit places, or claim a listing.

We support email + password, Google, and Apple sign-in. Pick whichever is easiest — they all create the same account behind the scenes.

Only what's needed to run the service: your email, optional display name, and your saved items. We use privacy-respecting analytics (Google Analytics 4) for traffic measurement. See our Privacy page for the full policy.

Email us from the address on your account and we'll permanently delete it within 7 days, including saved items and any claims.

Find your listing on the Explore page and click "Claim this listing." You'll verify ownership (typically via email at the business's domain), then unlock the listing manager.

Hours, special hours (holidays, seasonal), description, photo gallery, booking link, menu link, and current special offers. Premium plans add a featured badge, larger gallery, and priority placement.

There's a free claimed-listing tier and paid tiers for boosted visibility, sponsored placement on relevant pages, and event boosts. See the Pricing page for the current details.

Sponsored placements are clearly labeled. Editorial picks, itineraries, and search rankings are not for sale — they're driven by data quality, completeness, and relevance.

Yes. Cancel from your dashboard and your subscription stays active until the end of the current billing period — no surprise charges.

Yes. Stripe sends a tax-compliant receipt by email immediately after every successful payment.

Free option: submit it through the Submit page and our team will verify and publish it. Paid option: use Event Boost from the For Businesses page to feature it on the homepage and at the top of relevant category and date pages.

Events without a confirmed date, venue, or short description aren't published. Make sure those fields are complete in your submission.

Yes — reply to the confirmation email or submit an update via the same form. Verified business owners can edit their own events directly from their dashboard.

Yes — it's mobile-first. The experience is optimized for one-handed use while you're out exploring.

Not yet. The website is a Progressive Web App — add it to your phone's home screen for an app-like experience with offline-friendly browsing.

Email us with a quick description and a screenshot if you have one. We triage reports daily.

Share the site with friends, submit places you love, leave honest feedback, and tell local businesses to claim their listings. If you run a business in the Valley, a paid plan keeps the lights on and the data fresh.