Eric and I visited Virginia Beach last year on the recommendation of my cousin who has been there three times I think… We stayed in the perfect AirBNB (of course), and loved all the activities and exercise options in the area. Unfortunately, we went during probably the HOTTEST weekend of the year, and I ended up with a really bad sunburn. So we didn’t do quite as much as we originally planned.
Road Trip
We live about 6 hours away from VA Beach, so we felt that was the perfect length road trip for our weekend.
Since we had just finished our first round of Whole30, I tried to pack all these nice healthy snacks. Of course, we stopped at ChickFilA anyway, because that’s what you do when you head south. At least I tried.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is 23 miles long, so my civil engineer husband really loves it… I, however, do not like being over/under water for that long. After the first five minutes I tried to sleep and not look out the windows. Here’s a not-so-great photo of the bridge through the windshield of my car.
Where we stayed
We eventually arrived at our AirBNB, two blocks away from the beach! This is a shared home, but you probably won’t see the owner at all while you’re there because you’re suite is the only room on the bottom floor.
We loved that it came with bikes and beach gear! Although, the heat made biking a little challenging (also, I’m not a good biker). Because I don’t like traveling with so much stuff, I would probably only stay in an AirBNB that provides the bikes/ beach gear. Seriously convenient.
The Boardwalk
We chose Virginia Beach for the boardwalk. Now, I know that the Jersey Shore has plenty of boardwalks. But sometimes you just need to get out of NJ, and VA Beach definitely has a different vibe. And I needed a long boardwalk for my long run that week.
Of course, I was in the middle of half marathon training, and needed to do a 9-mile run on the hottest weekend of the year. I woke up at 5am and the temp was already 85. I prayed some kind of ocean breeze would help me out (and when I complained my husband literally pushed me out of bed and told me to run). I stocked up on vitamin water and did the whole run!
You always feel great for the first 4.5 miles… and then you realize you need to run back home….
I actually hopped off the boardwalk and ran on a side street on the return run because the sun was too much for me.
Because it’s such an active community, someone had written motivational quotes on the trail!
Definitely not my fastest time, but pretty good considering the heat and sun.
Virginia Beach
Now on to the main attraction: The beach!
Our AirBNB came with all the necessary beach chairs and umbrellas… so we just needed to carry them on the two block walk to the beach. Somehow the girl who just ran 9miles carried all the gear…
I put on my sunblock and got ready to spend the day reading…
So i’m pretty sure this is the fault of the sunblock, but even with re-applying every hour, I kept burning!! Maybe I sweat it all off or something… Anyway, I was using Target-brand sport sunblock SPF 50 (all the normal brands were sold out, but I thought if I put enough on it would be ok).
For reference, when I spent a day in the dessert of Jordan, I only applied my SunBum SPF 50 once in the morning and I didn’t burn at all…
This kind of ruined the trip, because we couldn’t go to the beach the next day either… And you go to VA beach for the beach…
Eric seemed to like it though, so I still recommend it overall.
Virginia Aquarium
The next day we decided to bike to the Virginia Aquarium (since I felt burnt and crispy). We needed to spend some time in the AC.
It’s a really nice aquarium, but I didn’t take enough photos 🙁
If you’re ever there when it’s not too hot, they have an outdoor adventure park that looked really fun… but we didn’t do any of that because we didn’t want to be outside any more (also, risk of sunburn).
After riding this bike around town, I really wanted a little beach cruiser for myself… but these are not as practical in the woods/ mountain area where I actually live.
Where we ate
And we get to everyone’s favorite part of the blog post: where we ate 🙂
Dough Joe’s
208 23rd StVirginia Beach, VA 23451
Google says this place is permanently closed (maybe they closed for the season and forgot to reset it?) and their website is down – so that’s not a good sign. But I still want to mention that we got donuts here, and they were delicious. We almost couldn’t find it because it’s a really tiny shop, but the store was super busy.
I look for donuts wherever I go, so if this place closed I hope a new donut place opened up. In fact, I just googled donut shops in VA Beach, and it looks like Duck Donuts would be a good place to visit 🙂 I guess we’ll have to go back down there and check it out. And Sugar Shack Donuts which is a small chain in the VA area. So many donuts, so little time.
The Stockpot
700 19th St, Ste 106Virginia Beach, VA 23451
This place was pretty yummy, and the food was pretty 🙂 It almost had a diner feel with the bar at the counter, but was completely modernized.
My smoothie bowl was delicious, and Eric like his eggs despite all the vegetables mixed in haha.
Chix Seaside Grille & Bar
701 Atlantic AveVirginia Beach, VA 23451
We had a pretty long wait for any place on the boardwalk Friday night, and this was the first one that opened up. Of course I ordered fish tacos!
Three Ships Coffee
607 19th StVirginia Beach, VA 23451
To be honest, we didn’t actually go here (Eric isn’t a big coffee drinker), but my cousin loves it so much I had to give it a shout out. If you love coffee, be sure to visit if you’re in the area!
I know we also ate at Waterman’s one evening, and a diner for lunch one day… but these places were the most memorable/ I took photos of the food and remember.
Would we go back?
I definitely think we need to go back. First of all, we didn’t try any specialty ice cream shops, and obviously we need a new donut recommendation. I liked the clean beach and all the running/ biking trails. Also, I feel like I need to experience the town when the temp is below 114 degrees… Maybe I’ll try again in September?
Have you been to VA Beach? What did you think of it?