Virginia Beach

The oceanfront runs a three-mile boardwalk with a separate cycle lane, hotels along its length and a bronze King Neptune at the centre. Just north, First Landing State Park covers the cape where the Virginia Company colonists came ashore in April 1607 before continuing up the James to found Jamestown; the park has cypress swamp and maritime forest with Spanish moss at close to its northern limit. Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape to the south are undeveloped barrier beach reachable only on foot, by bicycle or by tram, which keeps them nearly empty. The Virginia Aquarium sits behind the resort strip. Naval and air traffic overhead is constant.

Background

Virginia Beach is the most populous city in Virginia, with 459,470 people at the 2020 census, and a principal city of the Hampton Roads area of more than 1.8 million. It lies on the Atlantic at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, and modern Virginia Beach was established in 1906. Guinness lists it as having the longest pleasure beach in the world. The city sits at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the world's longest bridge-tunnel complex until 2018, and it hosts the annual East Coast Surfing Championships and the Neptune Festival.

Source: Wikipedia, "Virginia Beach, Virginia"

What you'll find

• A three-mile boardwalk - with a separate cycle lane.
• First Landing State Park - the 1607 landing cape, with cypress swamp.
• Back Bay and False Cape - undeveloped beach, no car access.
• Constant military air traffic - from the surrounding bases.

When to go

May to September. A full day.

What to expect

The resort strip is heavily commercial and crowded in summer. Military jet noise is frequent and loud. Hurricane season affects late summer. False Cape requires real effort to reach - that is why it is empty.

Nearby

Norfolk is west; the Outer Banks are south.