Virginia Beach Ocean Front

Beautiful beach and boardwalk with great restaurants. Way too many tourists in the summer, so the locals can’t really enjoy the beach as they would like to. I like going there off season for walks and restaurants since that is the only time I can really enjoy it.

5 stars for winter and 1 star for summer which means 3 stars total for me. I only love the ocean front in the winter when it is empty. It is quiet and peaceful. You can still go down there in the morning and watch the dolphins swim by. Many of the shops and restaurants are closed. There are many local restaurants that stay open year round and there are awesome local restaurants within walking distance. Oh and another great thing in the winter, free street parking!
Summer is soooooo crowded, trash every where and parking is crazy! Some lots charge over $ 20. Do not be fooled, if you drive further back, you can find much cheaper lots or free residential parking. There are a lot of weirdos in the summer, trying to sell you drugs as you are minding your business walking around. The bathrooms are far apart and your typical over used, under cleaned beach bathrooms. They do have showers to rinse off at, that’s a plus! I will end with something positive about summer, the festivals and concerts! That’s all.

I love this place!!!
Nice pavemented Boardwalk which allows smooth ride for strollers and separate road for bikers for safety.
we could walk along the boardwalk for hours and still be amazed by cute art displays on almost each street.

Some of the beaches in the middle of the action can get incredibly crowded, although the beach is still fairly clean despite this. The great thing about Virginia Beach, though, is the incredibly long stretch of beach. This allows you to get away from the crowds, park off a random side road on one of the higher numbered streets, and have a wide stretch of beach to yourself. The waves were excellent this past weekend, from the storms out to sea, so I appreciated having a lot more room. So average out the 3 star beach in the middle of things and a 5 star experience further out, and you get 4 stars.

There are tons of activities to do on the beach. The boardwalk is right there with tons of restaurants and things to do and see. The sand is really soft and the people aren’t too rambunctious.
Would I recommend this?
Of course, why wouldn’t you go to the beach?

Virginia Beach is beautiful and clean — cleaner than the beaches in New York City (yes, I’m looking at you, Coney Island!). There are several five star hotels lining the boardwalk on the beach and many tourists such as myself. Forget your bathing suit or surfboard? No problem! There are an abundant of beach themed stores that sell swim gear as well as beach necessities as well! If you’re coming here, you must be aware that there are more seafood restaurants here than ever, so make sure your diet isn’t restricted or else you’ll have to drive to get food elsewhere instead of walk nearby.

This review is for the beach during the day only. At night I don’t think I would hang out here. Anyway I’m way past my out after dark prime anyway. It is such a nice beach though. Very clean and especially off season a wonderful place to exercise. Fortunately for me I live right around the corner and after six months of living here, I’d say it’s high time I got with the program and started taking advantage of this great place. During the summer I don’t really hang around this area as it is a little crowded for me. I go instead to my own little secret area of beach with FREE parking. I’m not going to bitch about the tourists at all because honestly they bring a lot of much needed revenue to our economy and help keep this beach beautiful and a wonderful place to go.

The most important thing for any visitor to know is VA Beach is unlike a lot of the other East Coast destination beaches. While famous sites like Ocean City, Atlantic City, and Wildwood feature rustic boardwalks jammed with custard shacks and «5 T-​shirts for $ 10» stores, VA Beach has evolved and really led the effort to shove all the commerce behind the hotels to the street.
As a result, you’ll find a much wider, more modern look to the VA Beach waterfront that’s very accessible for running and biking. That is, if you can successfully navigate all the people who would rather walk and stare at their phones instead of enjoying the view.
The «morality signs» as I call them will always get due attention on Web sites like Unilocal,because they’re easy fodder for pedestrian reviewers. The fact is, VA Beach is the primary beach for Hampton Roads, which is home to Norfolk, one of the largest ports in the world. To be fair, a lot of scum visit VA Beach, so a robust police force (and local ordinances) is required to keep this place in business. Without it, VA Beach becomes Atlantic City — a flaming dive skid mark of a town with a repulsive waterfront.
The VA Beach waterfront improves each time I visit. We’ll check in again in another year or so.

I love the Oceanfront! Sometimes when I walk down the «Block» (19^th-​21^st ST), I remember some crazy fun times. For the longest time, those strip of bars was all I really knew about the oceanfront but after living here longer and exploring more the area I grew to love almost everything about it. Now many of my visits here are for walks on the boardwalk, which is really concrete walk way not an actual boardwalk, checking out the different festival attractions, free concerts, awesome restaurants and participating in some of the local races like the Wicked10k and the Shamrock 8k. One day I will run the Rock-​N-​Roll Half marathon. Until then I will continue to explore the many local restaurants that I have yet to try and people watch. Summer and spring is very busy and parking can be a little bit of a pain but the decks and lots have discounts for residents of Virginia Beach and free parking during the off-​season which is the time the locals take the area back and is in my opinion the best time to try and find some of the hidden gems in the area.

Plenty of parking, lots of hotels for fairly inexpensive rates, lots to do for young and grown folks alike. I lived out in the Hampton Roads area for over 4 years and this would always be the hot spot on the weekends especially with some beautiful weather. It’s very clean too and they try to control the rowdiness at night as much as possible. Love walking around and doing window shopping on the weekends! If you’re vacationing in the area you’ll definitely want to put this on your to do list!

I have been to many countries and cities, but now retired from the Military, I have settled here in Virginia Beach. The Oceanfront has evolved over the years and gets better as time goes by.
They’ve widened the boardwalk several years ago which is awesome. Another thing I like about the setup is the hotels face the boardwalk with some «green space» inbetween here and there, as opposed to Atlantic City where all of the shopping, food and everything is jammed right there on the boardwalk. In Virginia Beach, they have put most of the «shopping» on the other side of the hotels along Atlantic Avenue.
And I’ll add, the bike lanes they have made would actually be quite effective if zombies on cellphones were not walking across them blindly, but that is not a knock on Virginia Beach, that is a knock on Society! ((Biker: 1. CellZombie: 0. Ah well, pay att’n!)
Va Beach is kept family friendly and clean. Lots going on in the summer, from the American Music Festival, to live bands playing at the different outdoor venues, and the etc.
And the one reason I personally love the Oceanfront: They have 5k runs almost every weekend, and of course the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in the fall, plus the Shamrock half and Full Marathon in the Spring. The Oceanfront Rocks!

Wtching the Virginia Aquarium stranding team release 3 turtles back into the ocean, not far away some horses in a corral waiting to be ridden on the beach. Watching a toddler discover this sand for the first time all in the same day.
These are some of my favorite reasons for being in Virginia Beach

This is the reason people come to Virginia Beach.
The beach has grown over the years. There is tons of things to do besides sit on the beach. The hotels keep growing and the there are bunches of great restaurants.

Five years ago I wouldn’t have said this… Now that the summer is over, I’m going to miss the Oceanfront. I’ve had some great experiences over the last couple of years. Yeah, my days of partying it up at Excess are long behind me but since my college days I’ve found my new love for Catch 31 and SkyBar. During the summer I was able to enjoy a few days on the beach catching some rays making my fair-​colored skin friends even more jealous of tan skin. I’ve become more appreciative of a walk, jog or bike ride on the Boardwalk. Make your way down the high numbered streets, park in the neighborhood and walk along the beach late at night. It may very well be illegal to be out there but it sure is refreshing and peaceful. Summer, come back soon, please.

Waa! Waa! Waa!
You hear that crying? It’s the sound of the reviews from the locals on Unilocal about VA Beach because they’re having a tantrum and don’t want to share. (Minus my guy J David as he’s got the story straight.)
Look maybe it’s because we were there in mid-​September as opposed to being there «in season» or maybe it’s because we really didn’t venture anywhere on the concrete walk (can’t be a boardwalk when there’s no wood) outside of 25^th-​35^th but to me I really don’t see what all the bitching and complaining is about?
First off the beach is FREE! Don’t like it, go to Jerzee and feel free to get treated like a human ATM machine for beach tags while the tag Gestapo asks to see your papers five times a day. Your beach is again, awesomely free and paying for access does not make anything better as you still deal with the same issues that come with a summer tourist season at any seaside location.
The concrete walk is not over developed as most shops and things are not even on the concrete walk but are on Atlantic Avenue. Again, go to Ocean City MD/​NJ, Wildwood, LBI, etc. and then you’ll see some crass over commercialized boardwalks.
The beaches are immaculately clean and so is the concrete walk.
If I had to find fault with something beach wise it would be that the smoking thing is out of control. Apparently everyone down here views smoking as a recreational activity or a hobby because it was hard to sit somewhere on the beach and not have someone light up in the near vicinity every day. (Yick!)
One other thing… why is it that no one goes in the water? We had some seriously sunny days with highs around or a little less than 80 and while the beach had a good number of people on it the water was deserted. Even on the weekend with lifeguard coverage. I don’t know so I will digress.
I mean this is starting to sound ludicrous but aside of the smoking issue compared to the beaches I’ve been to in NJ or even in DE, VA Beach to me has the right mix of everything with beaches, food, entertainment, activities along with a bit of high end class that isn’t trailer trash like the Dirty Jerz.
What’s not to like?

Oh Va Beach Oceanfront, you are so much better than I remember you being!
I haven’t been in nearly 2 years, and this last visit (a Monday mid morning stroll on the boardwalk with my boyfriend), was a pleasant surprise!
It just seemed SO much better than I remember. The sand was nicer, the boardwalk was nicer, and it was clean. I mean, Cali and Miami beaches it ain’t, but it’s still not bad!!! People totally take this place for granted. I kind of did, but not anymore. The party/​night life on the other hand, is probably a different story.
Best to come here during the day time, during non-​tourist season, which is when we most recently went, and I’d have to say, it was kinda perfect! :)

It is, after all, Virginia BEACH and if you’ve come all this way then you need to spend some time in the sun and get sand in all sorts of uncomfortable places.
They’ve done a fab job of building a boardwalk (even if it’s not boards but asphalt) that goes for quite a distance if you want to walk your way from one end of it to the other. It’s about three miles or so.
And then over on Atlantic Avenue, where the tourist shops and restaurants and hotels are located, plenty of opportunity for more people watching. Note that while pedestrians do have the right of way, not all the tourists driving know that. So watch carefully and be ready to hop to it when they don’t look like they’re stopping.
This is definitely the «high» end of the beach with the most tourists and the biggest happening vibe. Expect lots of people who don’t have a care in the world and are more than willing to let others clean up after their mess. If you’re looking for a different vibe, there are other beaches nearby.
Enjoy the beach, y’all!

This place is beautiful. I love the view of the ocean while riding my bike. They have a lot of places where you can rent bikes so you dont have to bring your own. Its a great place to come with the family.

The boardwalk on Virginia Beach is a bit different than most. It isn’t lined wall to wall with shops. Its mainly fronted with hotels and restaurants, with the occasional rental bike shop or ice cream place. Most of the shops are on the main drag a block over. There is a very wide walking path closest to the beach with a bike lane closer to the hotels. Lots a beach access every couple of blocks.
The city does a great job of keeping the place clean, with regular trash pickup and maintenance people day and night.
Only downside is the crowds of homeless or drunk people hanging out at hassling people. Saw it nearly every day I was there.
Other than that, it was a great vacation!

How can you fairly write a review of the whole Virginia Beach Oceanfront and not feel like something has been left out. Well obviously it’s impossible to be all inclusive of everything, but I will touch on a few of the things I like best.
My family mainly utilize the area around the Hilton Hotel and King Neptune. From the time my children were very little we have enjoyed the boardwalk, music and small playground in the sand. First and foremost the VB Oceanfront is a family beach. Yes it gets crowded during peak Summer days, but it’s not party central with teens and young adults acting like fools. What I have seen is responsible beach goers for the most part.
A few of my favorite things about the VB Ocean Front is entertainment baby. FREE concerts taking place at two venues within ten blocks, or so is Numero Uno. Our family take advantage of the beach and concerts throughout the year, not just on season. As a matter of fact the off season in the Fall is awesome. Also Beach Street USA would be a close second. The city and our tax dollars I suppose, pay for evening street acts all Summer long, it’s good! How genius of the city to provide FREE entertainment that caters to tourist so they have a warm fuzzy feeling of our city in hopes of returning.
For locals the beach is our backyard, the reason our city is unique. The City of Virginia Beach work very hard to keep the beach impeccably clean. Trash cans are sprinkled every where you look. The boardwalk is most often kept tidy, but if it’s not and you spot garbage pick it up. The restrooms are kept immaculate. Anyone that has been to other beaches can tell you that a clean and safe restroom is a beautiful thing.
We are now in the Summer season which is the start of many families and tourist enjoying the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Get out and enjoy all there is to offer at our beach and realize if your local we live in paradise.