Virginia Beach is a city of about 460,000 people at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and the three miles of boardwalk in the first photograph are what it sells. That part is simple: a wide concrete promenade with a separate cycle lane, a wall of oceanfront hotels behind it, a fishing pier, and a long shallow beach that is patrolled through the summer. What is less obvious is everything else attached to it. THIS CITY CONTAINS OCEANA NAVAL AIR STATION, it sits beside Norfolk, which is the largest naval base in the world, and it is where the English came ashore on 26 April 1607 before sailing on to found Jamestown. Visitors notice the first of those within an hour of arriving, usually by looking up.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
We receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
What Is Here
THE OCEANFRONT IS A RESORT STRIP AND IT IS HONEST ABOUT IT. Atlantic Avenue runs behind the boardwalk with the shops, the chains and the bars; the boardwalk itself runs from about 2nd Street to 40th and is genuinely pleasant to walk or cycle at either end of the day. The KING NEPTUNE statue at 31st Street is the landmark everybody photographs. The further north you go, the quieter and more residential it gets.
CAPE HENRY IS THE PART THAT MATTERS HISTORICALLY AND ALMOST NOBODY VISITS IT. FIRST LANDING STATE PARK marks where the Virginia Company's ships put men ashore in April 1607, and the OLD CAPE HENRY LIGHTHOUSE of 1792 standing above it was among the first public works commissioned by the new federal government, authorised by George Washington and paid for by the first Congress. It is on the Fort Story military base, so access is through a checkpoint with photo identification, and it closes without notice for operational reasons. The newer 1881 iron lighthouse stands beside it and is still working.
THE SECOND PHOTOGRAPH IS THE FISHING PIER AND THE RESTAURANT ON THE END OF IT. Virginia Beach Fishing Pier charges a small fee to walk out and more to fish, and it is the best place to understand the sandbars and the gaps between them, which matters for the rip current section below.
THE INLAND HALF IS MARSH AND IT IS BETTER THAN THE BEACH. BACK BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE and FALSE CAPE STATE PARK run south down a barrier spit towards the North Carolina line, reachable only on foot, by bicycle or by tram, with no road through, and they hold one of the significant snow goose and tundra swan wintering grounds on this coast. The city also has the FIRST LANDING cypress swamp trails, which are closer and easier.
AND THE NAVY IS NOT BACKGROUND. F/A-18 Super Hornet squadrons fly out of Oceana over the city, the noise is loud and frequent and entirely normal, and the base runs an airshow in September. Norfolk next door offers naval base tours and holds the battleship Wisconsin. If military aviation interests you this is one of the best places in the world for it; if it does not, book away from the flight paths.
When to Go
Late May, early June and September are the best weeks. Water warm enough to swim, air in the mid to high twenties, and the school-holiday crowds either side of you.
July and August are hot, humid and at capacity, low thirties with high dewpoints, afternoon thunderstorms on many days, and the Atlantic around 26 to 27 degrees. The boardwalk is busy from morning to midnight.
HURRICANE SEASON RUNS JUNE TO NOVEMBER AND PEAKS FROM MID-AUGUST TO EARLY OCTOBER. This coast is exposed and has been hit; see the safety section. NOR'EASTERS in autumn and winter do comparable damage with less notice and are the storm type locals worry about more.
November to March is mild and empty. Daytime in the high single figures to low teens, water far too cold, many oceanfront businesses closed or on short hours, and the refuge at its best because the waterfowl are in.
Getting There
Norfolk International is about 30 minutes from the oceanfront with good domestic service. Washington DC is about three and a half hours by road, Richmond about two, the Outer Banks about an hour and a half south.
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE-TUNNEL IS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT. If you are coming from the north it carries you 28 kilometres across the mouth of the bay on trestles that dive into two tunnels so ships can pass over you. It is a toll road, it is spectacular, and it CLOSES OR RESTRICTS HIGH-SIDED VEHICLES IN WIND, which is worth checking in a storm.
You can manage the oceanfront on foot and want a car for everything else. The boardwalk, Atlantic Avenue and the pier are walkable; Cape Henry, Back Bay and the marsh are drives. There is a trolley along the oceanfront in season and a light rail line in Norfolk that does not reach the beach.
The Virginia Beach Packing List
Humid subtropical summers, hard indoor air conditioning, mild damp winters and strong Atlantic sun.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women has two real uses on a hot beach. The first is the TRANSITION, which is the actual thermal problem here: a 32 degree humid walk followed by a restaurant or a hotel lobby at 20 degrees, several times a day, where a cotton shirt that absorbed the first chills you through the second. The second is the shoulder seasons and winter, when this coast is cool and windy and a wool layer under a shell is exactly right for the refuge trails.
A long sun hoodie is the most practical sun garment for a beach week, because reapplying sunscreen to your shoulders every two hours for six days does not happen in practice. With it a wide brim UPF 50 sun hat.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket, packable, for the summer thunderstorms and the winter nor'easters.
From November to March a Columbia Fast Trek II fleece, which also handles the air conditioning in July.
An insulated water bottle, which in this humidity matters more than in dry heat because you lose a great deal and register less.
Not linked and worth packing: INSECT REPELLENT, which is close to mandatory for Back Bay and the cypress swamp trails, where the mosquitoes and biting flies are serious from May to September even when the beach has none; A RASH TOP for long days in the water; SOMETHING WITH SLEEVES FOR INDOORS, the practical lesson of any southern resort; PHOTO IDENTIFICATION if you intend to visit the Cape Henry lighthouse, because it is on a military base; AND EAR PROTECTION IS NOT NEEDED but a tolerance for jet noise is.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Virginia Beach
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile. Virginia Beach has its own police department and the city runs a lifeguard service on the resort strip through the summer; the United States Coast Guard covers the water and is reached through 911 or VHF channel 16.
RIP CURRENTS ARE WHAT ACTUALLY KILLS PEOPLE HERE AND THE ESCAPE IS COUNTERINTUITIVE. This beach has a bar-and-trough system, which means water piling over the sandbars runs back out to sea through gaps in them in narrow fast channels, and those channels look like the CALMEST, least choppy water on the beach, which is exactly why swimmers pick them. A rip does not pull you under, it pulls you out. DO NOT SWIM AGAINST IT: swim parallel to the beach until the pull stops and then come in at an angle, or float and raise an arm. SWIM IN FRONT OF A LIFEGUARD STAND, which on the resort strip means roughly Memorial Day to Labor Day and specific hours, and understand that the quieter north end and the Sandbridge beaches are substantially unpatrolled. The National Weather Service office in Wakefield issues the daily rip current outlook for this coast and it is worth reading on the morning of a beach day. LIGHTNING is the other summer killer and Virginia gets thunderstorms on most July and August afternoons: thirty minutes indoors after the last thunder, and a boardwalk, a pier and an open beach are three of the worst places to wait one out, so a lifeguard clearing the water is not being cautious. HURRICANES run June to November with the peak from mid-August to early October, and the city issues evacuation orders by zone with the Sandbridge spit and the oceanfront going first; NOR'EASTERS in autumn and winter flood the same streets with less warning and are what locals plan around. The National Hurricane Center is the track to watch. AND THE SLOWER FACT WORTH KNOWING: Hampton Roads has the HIGHEST RATE OF RELATIVE SEA LEVEL RISE ON THE AMERICAN EAST COAST, because the land here is subsiding as well as the water rising, so nuisance flooding on a high tide with no storm at all is now routine in parts of the city. Ordinary marine life is present: jellyfish in late summer, and stingrays in the shallows where the SHUFFLE rather than the step is the local habit.
US State Department travel advisory: there is none, and this is not an omission. The State Department issues travel advisories for other countries, not for the United States itself, so no US advisory for this destination exists to link. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United States gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits. The FCDO names no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States. The same advice also covers Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Main hospital: Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, with Sentara Norfolk General about 30 minutes away as the region's level one trauma centre and an academic hospital. Urgent care clinics are plentiful along the resort strip and are the right choice for jellyfish stings, sunburn and minor injuries rather than the emergency department. Dial 911 for any emergency. This is the single biggest practical difference for a visitor: there is no public health system, an emergency room visit without insurance can run into thousands of dollars, and an ambulance is billed separately and is not free. Comprehensive travel insurance with a high medical limit is not optional in the United States, and you should carry your policy number and the insurer's 24 hour number somewhere you can reach them. Urgent care clinics handle anything short of an emergency far more cheaply and quickly than an emergency room, and are the right choice for a sprain, an infection or stitches.
The authority that decides access: Virginia State Parks publishes First Landing and False Cape access and closures, and the Back Bay refuge publishes its own seasonal restrictions, which are substantial because the southern section closes to protect nesting and wintering birds. The Cape Henry lighthouse sits on an active army installation and its access rules are set by the base rather than by the lighthouse.
Official health authority: the CDC travellers' health pages, the US federal health authority for visitors. covers the national health information service and travel health guidance
Embassy contact: the United States is the host country, so there is no US embassy to contact. Your own country's embassy is in Washington DC, with consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Miami and Boston. Find yours before you travel and save the number.
Official tourism authority: Brand USA, the national tourism marketing body. covers the region, and the Virginia Beach visitor bureau publishes the lifeguard stand locations and hours, the trolley season and the Oceana airshow dates
Takeaways
Rip currents look like the calm water. Swim parallel, never against, and stay near a stand.
The English landed at Cape Henry in 1607. The lighthouse is on a base, so bring identification.
Navy jets fly over the city daily. Book away from the flight path if that matters.
Nor'easters worry locals more than hurricanes, and the land here is sinking as well.
Solo women safety assessment: Virginia Beach is easy and unremarkable to travel alone. The resort strip is busy and well lit from morning until late, the boardwalk is patrolled, eating alone is completely normal, and the city is large, residential and prosperous rather than a seasonal shell. Petty theft from cars and from unattended beach bags is the commonest crime and the answer is the obvious one; the Atlantic Avenue bars carry the usual resort caution about watching your own drink and leaving with the people you arrived with. THE REAL RISKS ARE THE WATER AND THE WEATHER. Rip currents are what kill people on this coast, they look like the calmest water on the beach, and the escape is to swim parallel to the shore rather than against the pull; swim in front of a lifeguard stand and treat the north end and Sandbridge as unpatrolled. Thunderstorms come most summer afternoons and a boardwalk, a pier and an open beach are among the worst places to be in one, so thirty minutes indoors after the last thunder. Hurricane season peaks from mid-August to early October and the city evacuates by zone with the oceanfront and Sandbridge first, while autumn and winter nor'easters flood the same streets with less notice. Jellyfish arrive in late summer and stingrays lie in the shallows, where shuffling rather than stepping is the habit. Insect repellent matters inland at the refuge far more than on the sand. 911 WORKS, THE CITY HAS A SUMMER LIFEGUARD SERVICE, AND NORFOLK'S LEVEL ONE TRAUMA CENTRE IS HALF AN HOUR AWAY.
Reading On
Virginia Beach sits where the Chesapeake meets the Atlantic and this library covers the coast in both directions. North, the Washington DC packing list covers the capital three and a half hours away and the Baltimore packing list the city at the head of the bay. South down the same shoreline, the Myrtle Beach packing list covers the Grand Strand with the same rip current problem, the Charleston packing list and Savannah packing list the two great historic ports, and the Hilton Head packing list and Jekyll Island packing list the managed island resorts of the Low Country and the Georgia coast. Inland in the Carolinas, the Raleigh packing list and Charlotte packing list cover the piedmont and the Asheville packing list the mountains. For the mid-Atlantic cities, the Philadelphia packing list and Gettysburg packing list cover Pennsylvania. For the country, the USA travel guide for women carries the regions, the driving and the seasons in full. For why wool handles humid heat and hard air conditioning in the same hour, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
