Experience the best of Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach faces the Atlantic at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, with a wide sandy beach and an oceanfront boardwalk of about five kilometres lined with hotels, cafés and a statue of King Neptune. The city is large and spread out, with navy bases and the Hampton Roads cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth beside it.

At Cape Henry, the point at the entrance to the bay, English colonists first landed in 1607 before sailing on to Jamestown, and a lighthouse of 1792 stands there. First Landing State Park has cypress swamps and trails, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park protect dunes and marsh to the south, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, 37 kilometres long, runs from the city to the Eastern Shore.

Oysters, crab cakes made from Chesapeake blue crab, Virginia peanuts and Virginia ham are the local tastes, served at seafood restaurants along the water. Summers are hot and humid, and the beach season runs through September.