We don’t go on a real summer vacation every year. We try for every other year. Last year we went to the beach and we had an amazing time. We drove because roundtrip plane tickets for a family of 5 just wasn’t in our budget. We didn’t mind the drive too much but I remembered passing signs for Virginia Beach. I told my husband “We should have went to Virginia Beach, we’d be there already”. We still had a great time but couldn’t help but think that our next beach vacation was definitely going to be Virginia Beach.
So what is there to do for a newbie to Virginia Beach like me? Well my family LOVES aquariums. On http://www.visitvirginiabeach.com/ they have a link right on the home page for the Virginia Aquarium. That will be a must on our to do list. This year they have a Malaysian Peat Swamp exhibit and a Chesapeake Bay touch pool where you can touch sea animals like sea stars and horseshoe crabs.
Something else my oldest son would just love is the charter fishing on the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia coast. My oldest son loves the outdoor activities, especially fishing. I’ve always been a little curious about deep sea fishing myself.
Not all of us are fond of being out on a boat. I found out that they have food tours that I think would be a good culinary experience for my children. These tours aren’t just all about the food though. You learn a bit about the history of Virginia Beach while you’re taking in the sites and flavors. There are different types of food tours you can take like the Farmer’s Market food tour, the Boardwalk food tour, or maybe you want to go a little inland for the Capital Hill Food tour. Those are just a few of the many they have listed on the site.
There are so many places to stay too. Do we want a to rent a beach house, a condo, stay at a resort? I have no idea yet. They all sound wonderful. Have you ever been to Virginia Beach? Do you have any recommendations for a budget friendly place to stay right on the beach?
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Virginia Beach blogging program to earn My SocialMoms Rewards points. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on the topic, click here.
This is where we went last summer and we’re going back again this summer. I’m so excited. You’ll love it if you go. Everything is very family friendly.
I lived there for 4 years. Definitely check out the Town Center (not at the beach but off the Independence exit on 264) in the evenings for entertainment. They do Why Not Wednesdays and first fridays where there are local artists. Weekend evenings often have music performances by the fountain.
We also enjoyed heading over to Mt. Trashmore park. They just built a new playground not too long ago and its great.
If you want to venture to Portsmouth (just over the tunnel on 264 through Norfolk), the Children’s Museum of Portsmouth was just recently redone and its one my kids’ (and my husbands) favorite places to go.
The Norfolk Zoo is great too.