Planning a Trip

Visitor Information

For information on planning your trip or assistance while you're here, contact the Visitor Information Center, 2100 Parks Ave., Virginia Beach, VA 23451 (tel. 800/822-3224; www.vbfun.com). A large board has phones connected to the reservations desks of major hotels and resorts. Particularly helpful are the center's annual "Vacation Guide" and a free map showing public restrooms and municipal parking lots in the resort area. The center is at the eastern end of I-264. It's open daily from 9am to 5pm, to 8pm Father's Day through Labor Day weekend.

A satellite office is in First Landing State Park's Chesapeake Bay Center, 2500 Shore Dr. (U.S. 60) (tel. 757/412-2316). It's open daily from 9am to 5pm.

There are information kiosks at the beach on Atlantic Avenue at 17th, 24th, and 30th streets from late spring through October. Note: These are the only official visitor information booths at the beach; most others with "tourist information" signs are come-ons for the many time-share sales operations here.

Racks at the visitor information center and elsewhere contain several slick give-away tourist publications packed with information and money-saving coupons.

Getting There

By Plane -- Virginia Beach is served by Norfolk International Airport, about 15 miles west of the oceanfront resort area.

By Car -- Follow I-64 to I-264 East. I-264 ends near the heart of the oceanfront resort area. Also from the west, U.S. 60 becomes the scenic Shore Drive, which dead-ends at Pacific Avenue on the northern end of the ocean beach; a right turn takes you along this main north-south drag through the resort area. From the north or south, U.S. 13 and 17 will take you to I-64.

City Layout

The city of Virginia Beach covers a huge geographic area between the Chesapeake Bay and the North Carolina line. There's no real downtown; instead, it's like one giant suburb. Most municipal offices are at the southeastern end of Princess Anne Road, at what used to be the seat of Princess Anne County before it was absorbed by the city. The largest commercial district is known as Pembroke, off I-64 at the intersection of Independence and Virginia Beach boulevards, where the up-and-coming Virginia Beach Town Center houses many national restaurants and retailers.

You can forget about all that if you're here on vacation, for all the fun is at the Oceanfront, the prime resort area. Here you will find a solid line of big hotels, restaurants, beachwear and souvenir shops, and video-game arcades. The famous Boardwalk and its adjacent bike/skating path run along the beach from 1st Street at Rudee Inlet north to 39th Street. Behind the beachfront hotels, Atlantic Avenue takes you north-south between Rudee Inlet and 42nd Street. A block inland, the four-lane Pacific Avenue goes from the inlet all the way north to Cape Henry (it's a much speedier way through the resort area than Atlantic Avenue). At Rudee Inlet, Pacific Avenue gives way to General Booth Boulevard, which takes you southwest past the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center.

To the north, Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet at Cape Henry, home to Cape Henry Lighthouse, Fort Story, and the First Landing State Park.

Some 12 miles south of the resort area, Sandbridge is an oceanfront enclave of cottages, condos, and a relatively undeveloped public beach. Sandbridge is aptly named, for it constitutes a "sand bridge" connecting the Virginia mainland to North Carolina's magnificent Outer Banks chain of barrier islands, which stretch for hundreds of miles to the south of here. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, a maze of "back bay" marshes and waterways makes this a natural jewel comparable to Assateague Island on the Eastern Shore. You can't drive from Sandbridge to the Outer Banks because of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park, which protect the peninsula and offer undisturbed beach and marshland for hikers, bikers, bird-watchers, and sun worshippers.

Getting Around

Between mid-June and Labor Day, especially on weekends, parking spaces near the beach can be as scarce as hen's teeth. Try the municipal parking garages on Atlantic Avenue at 3rd, 9th, 19th, and 26th streets or a few private pay lots along Pacific Avenue (the visitor information center has free maps that show them).

I usually leave my car at my hotel and get around on the VB Wave Trolley, whose Route 30 runs from May through September, about every 15 minutes from 8am to 2am along the entire length of Atlantic Avenue. You can transfer at 40th Street to the regular Route 33 bus for First Landing State Park and other points to the north.

Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends, the Museum Express Trolley (Route 31) runs daily, about every 15 minutes from 8am to 2am between Atlantic Avenue at 40th Street and the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center on General Booth Boulevard. And the Shoppers Express (Route 32) goes from Atlantic Avenue to Laskin Road past the Hilltop Shopping Center to Lynnhaven Mall.

Fare on any VB Wave Trolley is $1 per ride except for children shorter than 38 inches tall, who ride free. It's more economical to buy a 1-, 3-, and 5-day Discount Fare Card for $3, $5, and $8, respectively. All permit unlimited rides. Buy them at the automated blue-and-yellow dispensing machines at the trolley stops or at the transit kiosk on Atlantic Avenue at 24th Street.

The trolleys are operated by Hampton Roads Transit (HRT; tel. 757/222-6100; www.hrtransit.org), which also provides public bus service in the region. HRT's oceanfront terminal is on Pacific Avenue between 19th and 20th streets. From there, the Route 20 bus goes to downtown Norfolk (it takes up to 2 hours each way), while The Boomerang shuttles will take you on day trips to Williamsburg and Busch Gardens. Regular bus fares are $1.20 for adults, $1 for children younger than 19, free for kids shorter than 38 inches tall. Exact change is required.

For a taxi, call Andy's Cab Co. (tel. 757/495-3300).