Attractions in Virginia Beach
The Virginia Aquarium, the three-mile Boardwalk, the Military Aviation Museum's flying warbirds, and everything else worth planning a day around.
Browse Attractions
Museums
From the Virginia Aquarium to surf-history and art museums — Virginia Beach's indoor days, sorted.
Historic Sites & Landmarks
Cape Henry Lighthouse (note: on an active base — check access rules), First Landing Cross, and the Adam Thoroughgood House — 400 years of coastal Virginia history.
Amusement & Entertainment
Mini golf, arcades, escape rooms, and adventure parks — rainy-day and family-night standbys.
Boardwalk Attractions
The three-mile Oceanfront Boardwalk and everything on it — Neptune statue, amusement rides, and the bike path.
Military Heritage
The Military Aviation Museum's flying WWII aircraft and Hampton Roads' naval heritage sites — fitting for a region anchored by the world's largest naval station.
Listings
Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum at the de Witt CottageHidden Gem
Built in 1895 as a wedding gift from Bernard Peabody Holland — Virginia Beach's first mayor — to his bride, the de Witt Cottage is the oldest remaining private…
Breakout Games — Virginia Beach
The Virginia Beach location of the national Breakout Games chain packs nine 60-minute escape rooms into a Virginia Beach Boulevard storefront near Lynn Shores…
Brock Environmental CenterHidden Gem
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Brock Environmental Center is one of the most sustainable buildings in the world — holding both LEED Platinum and full Living…
Cape Henry Lighthouse
Completed in 1792, the Cape Henry Lighthouse was the first federally funded public works project in the United States — authorized under George Washington,…
Cape Henry Memorial & First Landing Cross
This quarter-acre National Park Service site — part of Colonial National Historical Park — marks where the Jamestown colonists first came ashore in April 1607…
Cullipher Farm Market
A working farm market on Princess Anne Road in the heart of Pungo, open seasonally April through October for pick-your-own strawberries, blueberries, peaches,…
Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment)Hidden Gem
At 67th Street and Atlantic Avenue, a few blocks past the hotels of the Resort Strip, sits the world headquarters of the Association for Research and…
Escape Room Virginia Beach
Locally owned and operating since 2015 — the first escape room to open in Hampton Roads. Five themed rooms (The Con Artist, The High Noon Saloon, Sorority…
Escapism
Escapism runs two escape rooms out of a Laskin Road storefront that sits directly at the Oceanfront beside the King Neptune statue — about as…
Ferry Plantation HouseHidden Gem
Tucked into a residential cul-de-sac on the Lynnhaven River, Ferry Plantation House is an 1830 Federal-style brick farmhouse built from the salvaged bricks of…
Flipper McCoys
Two blocks off the Boardwalk at 22nd Street, Flipper McCoys packs more than 150 arcade games — vintage pinball alongside current cabinets, pool tables, air…
Francis Land House
Built around 1805 for Francis Land VI, a wealthy Princess Anne County landowner, this Georgian plantation home with Federal-style interiors is furnished to its…
Grace Sherwood Statue (Witch of Pungo)
On July 10, 1706, Grace Sherwood — a Princess Anne County planter's wife accused by her neighbors of witchcraft — was tied cross-bound and dropped into the…
Hunt Club Farm
Fifty acres of working farm in the Red Mill area, a few minutes from the Municipal Center, run by the same family for generations as 'farm education and…
iFLY Indoor Skydiving Virginia Beach
iFLY puts real freefall two blocks from the Boardwalk: a vertical wind tunnel at 25th and Pacific where four fans generating 1,600 horsepower create a…
Jungle Golf
A Virginia Beach tradition for more than three decades, Jungle Golf packs 18 tropical-themed holes with lush landscaping onto a 23rd Street lot a block off the…
King Neptune Statue
Virginia Beach's most-photographed landmark is a 34-foot bronze King Neptune rising out of Neptune's Park at 31st Street and Atlantic Avenue, trident in hand,…
King Neptune's Indoor Blacklight 3-D Mini Golf
Virginia Beach has no shortage of mini golf, but King Neptune's is the one locals name when the weather turns: a fully indoor, blacklight-drenched 10-hole…
Lynnhaven HouseHidden Gem
Built around 1725 by Francis Thelaball, a plantation owner and ship's carpenter, the Lynnhaven House is one of the best-preserved examples of early Virginia…
Military Aviation MuseumHidden Gem
Out among the farm fields of Pungo sits one of the world's largest private collections of flyable World War I and World War II aircraft — and 'flyable' is the…
Miyazaki Japanese Garden
Tucked inside 97-acre Red Wing Park, this traditional Japanese garden grew out of Virginia Beach's 1992 sister-city relationship with Miyazaki, Japan — a bond…
Motor World Thrill Park
A few minutes west of the Boardwalk, Motor World packs 11 go-kart tracks and 250 karts in 16 different styles — including a European-style adult speed track —…
- Family Friendly
- Seasonal
Naval Aviation Monument Park
A 16,000-square-foot plaza at 25th Street and Atlantic Avenue holds six larger-than-life bronze sculptures by Michael Maiden telling the story of naval…
Navy SEAL Monument (The Naked Warrior)
Dedicated July 20, 2017, this Boardwalk monument at 38th Street filled a real gap: Virginia Beach — where the earliest Navy SEAL predecessors first came…
Norwegian Lady Statue
The nine-foot bronze woman gazing out to sea at 25th Street has an identical twin 4,000 miles away in Moss, Norway — Virginia Beach's sister city. Both were…
Ocean Breeze Waterpark
Ocean Breeze is Virginia Beach's outdoor waterpark, on General Booth Boulevard just down the road from the Virginia Aquarium — you can't miss it, because a…
Old Coast Guard StationHidden Gem
Wedged between Boardwalk high-rises at 24th Street sits a small 1903 Life-Saving Station — the Old Coast Guard Station, a museum on the National Register of…
Owl Creek Landing
Virginia Beach's newest big-ticket attraction opened on 38 acres of forest right next to the Virginia Aquarium's South Building campus: a 65-foot Nautilus…
Pinboy's At The Beach
Pinboy's At The Beach is a bowling-and-bar entertainment venue on Laskin Road in the Hilltop corridor, about 1.8 miles from the Oceanfront via 31st Street.…
Pleasure House OystersHidden Gem
Pleasure House Oysters farms the Lynnhaven River by hand — every oyster hand-selected, tumbled, graded, cleaned, counted, and packaged — reviving a Lynnhaven…
Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville High School MuseumHidden Gem
Housed inside the Renaissance Academy, this Virginia Beach History Museums site preserves the story of Princess Anne County Training School, the first high…
Sandler Center for the Performing Arts
Town Center's performance venue anchors the city's arts scene eight miles inland from the sand: a main hall that has hosted resident companies including the…
Seashore Cathedral (Rudee Walkway Murals)Hidden Gem
Italian-born artist Giuseppe Percivati, known as Pepe Gaka, painted the support columns of the Rudee Walkway underpass with geometric, stained-glass-style…
Stravitz Sculpture & Fine Art GalleryHidden Gem
A 7,000-square-foot gallery on Laskin Road showing sculpture, paintings, quilts, and fine jewelry from local, national, and international artists, alongside…
The Adventure Park at Virginia Aquarium
The Adventure Park is an aerial ropes and zipline course threaded through the treetops beside the Virginia Aquarium's South Building — 17 trails, 33 ziplines,…
The Canoes at Lesner BridgeHidden Gem
Ten full-size aluminum canoes, each stamped and punched with a lacy filigree pattern 'reminiscent of the decorative arts of the early settlers,' are joined at…
The Wave (Laskin Gateway Sculpture)
A 35-foot stainless steel sculpture by Indianapolis artist Jeff Laramore rises out of a 35-foot-wide reflecting pool inside the Laskin Road roundabout, marking…
Thoroughgood House
Likely built in 1719 by Argall Thorowgood II — who died during construction, leaving his wife Susannah to finish it — the Thoroughgood House is one of the…
Tidewater Veterans Memorial
Dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1988, this small contemporary memorial park honors Tidewater-area veterans from the Revolutionary War through the Iraq War.…
Tribal Axe
An axe-throwing bar and entertainment venue on Virginia Beach Boulevard, pitching itself as 'more than axe throwing': lanes for axes, knives, and ninja stars…
Upper WolfsnareHidden Gem
Built around 1759 by Thomas Walke III — whose son, Thomas Walke IV, later voted to ratify the U.S. Constitution at Virginia's 1788 Ratifying Convention — Upper…
Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
Virginia Beach's big outdoor concert venue, booked through Live Nation on a spring-through-fall touring season, combining a covered pavilion with a sweeping…
- Seasonal
ViBe Creative District Mural WalkHidden Gem
A free, self-guided open-air gallery spread across the ViBe Creative District's streets, fences, and sidewalks: large-scale wall murals, the rotating community…
Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center is Virginia Beach's single biggest indoor attraction — a two-building campus on the banks of Owl Creek, just off…
Virginia Beach Art Center — Home of the Artists GalleryHidden Gem
Housed in the landmark 'Purple Building' at 17th Street inside the ViBe Creative District, the Virginia Beach Art Center combines a public gallery, working…
Virginia Beach Boardwalk
The Boardwalk is Virginia Beach's spine: three miles of oceanfront promenade running from 2nd to 40th Street, poured in concrete rather than planked in wood,…
Virginia Beach Farmers Market
A city-run, year-round open-air market at Dam Neck and Princess Anne Roads that has been 'preserving and celebrating the city's rural heritage' for 25 years.…
Virginia Beach Fishing Pier
Pier fishing right in the middle of the resort area: this 15th Street pier extends straight out into the Atlantic from the Boardwalk, and no fishing license is…
- Family Friendly
- Seasonal
Virginia Beach Law Enforcement Memorial
Dedicated June 23, 2012, and designed by Paul DiPasquale — the same sculptor behind King Neptune — this 19-foot bronze memorial at the end of 35th Street…
Virginia Beach Sports Center
A 285,000-square-foot city-owned indoor sports complex less than a mile from the Oceanfront, built around a 200-meter hydraulically banked indoor track — one…
Virginia Legends Walk
Virginia's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame sits in 13th Street Park, a block off the Boardwalk: a free, self-guided outdoor walk honoring Virginians — by…
Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia MOCA)
Virginia MOCA is the region's contemporary art museum, and in April 2026 it opened a brand-new building on the Virginia Wesleyan University campus off Wesleyan…
Whitehurst-Buffington HouseHidden Gem
Built in 1793 by the Whitehurst family — a year after the first Cape Henry Lighthouse went up — this saltbox farmhouse sits directly across from the old…