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 Cottage
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…
- Hidden Gem
- Family Friendly
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…
- Family Friendly
Brock Environmental Center
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…
- Hidden Gem
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,…
- Family Friendly
- Toddler Friendly
Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment)
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…
- Free
- Hidden Gem
- Quiet & Peaceful
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…
- Family Friendly
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 House
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…
- Hidden Gem
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…
- Family Friendly
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…
- Free
- Family Friendly
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…
- Free
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…
- Family Friendly
- Toddler Friendly
- Free Parking
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…
- Family Friendly
- Wheelchair Accessible
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…
- Family Friendly
- Toddler Friendly
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,…
- Free
- Wheelchair Accessible
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…
- Family Friendly
- Toddler Friendly
Lynnhaven House
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…
- Free
- Hidden Gem
Military Aviation Museum
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…
- Hidden Gem
- Wheelchair Accessible
- Family Friendly
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…
- Free
- Free Parking
- Quiet & Peaceful
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…
- Free
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…
- Free
- Family Friendly
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…
- Free
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…
- Family Friendly
- Seasonal
- Toddler Friendly
- Free Parking
Old Coast Guard Station
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…
- Hidden Gem
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…
- Family Friendly
- Wheelchair Accessible
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.…
- Family Friendly
Pleasure House Oysters
Pleasure House Oysters farms the Lynnhaven River by hand — every oyster hand-selected, tumbled, graded, cleaned, counted, and packaged — reviving a Lynnhaven…
- Hidden Gem
Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville High School Museum
Housed inside the Renaissance Academy, this Virginia Beach History Museums site preserves the story of Princess Anne County Training School, the first high…
- Free
- Hidden Gem
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…
- Date Night
- Free Parking
Seashore Cathedral (Rudee Walkway Murals)
Italian-born artist Giuseppe Percivati, known as Pepe Gaka, painted the support columns of the Rudee Walkway underpass with geometric, stained-glass-style…
- Free
- Hidden Gem
Stravitz Sculpture & Fine Art Gallery
A 7,000-square-foot gallery on Laskin Road showing sculpture, paintings, quilts, and fine jewelry from local, national, and international artists, alongside…
- Free
- Hidden Gem
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,…
- Family Friendly
The Canoes at Lesner Bridge
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…
- Free
- Sunset Views
- Hidden Gem
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…
- Free
- Wheelchair Accessible
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…
- Free
- Family Friendly
- Quiet & Peaceful
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.…
- Free
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…
- Family Friendly
Upper Wolfsnare
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…
- Hidden Gem
- Quiet & Peaceful
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 Walk
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…
- Free
- Family Friendly
- Hidden Gem
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…
- Family Friendly
Virginia Beach Art Center — Home of the Artists Gallery
Housed in the landmark 'Purple Building' at 17th Street inside the ViBe Creative District, the Virginia Beach Art Center combines a public gallery, working…
- Free
- Hidden Gem
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,…
- Free
- Family Friendly
- Date Night
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.…
- Family Friendly
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…
- Free
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…
- Free
- Family Friendly
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 House
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…
- Hidden Gem
- Quiet & Peaceful