Virginia Beach

The beach is the reason Virginia Beach exists as a resort. A wide strip of pale sand runs the length of the Oceanfront, backed by a boardwalk for about three miles, and the Atlantic warms to around 26°C by August with lifeguards along the main stretch. Summer days revolve around the sand, surfing near the fishing pier and evening walks on the boardwalk.

There is more variety than the hotel row suggests. The quieter north end and the Chesapeake Bay beaches around First Landing have calmer, gentler water suited to small children, while Sandbridge to the south has dunes and rental houses rather than towers. The season is short, though: from late October to May the water is too cold for most swimmers.

Seafood is the thing to eat. Lynnhaven oysters from the inlet on the bay side are a local pride, and Chesapeake blue crab turns up as crab cakes, steamed with Old Bay seasoning or in she-crab soup, alongside fried flounder and shrimp. The best of it is found away from the Oceanfront, around Lynnhaven Inlet and the bay, where dockside places serve the day's catch.

The resort strip itself leans on chains, pancake houses and family seafood buffets, and Town Center adds a layer of more polished dining. Beyond the seafood the range is thin, with few independent kitchens, markets or a café culture to explore. Visitors who want more variety often drive half an hour into Norfolk for dinner.

This is a resort city, and its sights are few. The most significant is Cape Henry, where English colonists first came ashore in 1607 before sailing on to Jamestown; a memorial cross marks the spot near the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, completed in 1792. The Adam Thoroughgood House is a rare surviving early colonial brick home, and a small contemporary art museum sits near the Oceanfront.

The giant statue of King Neptune at the boardwalk is the city's best-known landmark. For serious history, visitors head out to the colonial sites up the peninsula rather than looking for it here.

Going out means the Oceanfront in summer: beach bars, rooftop decks and sports bars along Atlantic Avenue and the boardwalk, busy with vacationers, young locals and sailors from the area's navy bases. It is loud, casual and good-natured rather than sophisticated. Town Center has a more grown-up cluster of cocktail bars and lounges.

Off-season the strip goes quiet early, and there is little in the way of a club culture. Those who want more character drive about half an hour to the bars of downtown Norfolk and Ghent.

The landscape is flat coastal plain, but there is real outdoor life. First Landing State Park, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, has trails through maritime forest, cypress swamp and dunes. To the south, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park protect a long barrier spit of marsh and empty shoreline, reached on foot or by bike, with migrating waterfowl in winter.

On the water, the city has a long surfing tradition, and kayak trips to watch the dolphins that feed offshore in summer are a favourite. Fishing charters, paddleboarding in the bay inlets and cycling along the boardwalk path round it out. There are no hills to climb.

The great outing is the Historic Triangle, about an hour away by car. Colonial Williamsburg is a restored 18th-century capital with costumed trades and taverns, Jamestown preserves the site of the first permanent English settlement, and Yorktown is the battlefield where the Revolutionary War effectively ended. Together they make one of the strongest history days in the country.

Closer in, Norfolk has a battleship, a fine art museum and a walkable waterfront, with old Portsmouth across the river. Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers first flew, lies about an hour and a half south on the Outer Banks, and Richmond is roughly two hours west. A car is needed for nearly all of it.

This is a classic American family beach resort, and it works well with children. The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center is the main attraction, with sea turtles, river otters and a marsh trail, and there is a water park, mini-golf and the boardwalk with its bike rentals and summer street performers. The gentler bay beaches suit toddlers.

Within about an hour lie a large European-themed amusement park and water park near Williamsburg, and Colonial Williamsburg itself, where children can join in with costumed tradespeople. Hotels and rental houses are geared to families, though summer heat and the need to drive everywhere take some planning.

If you stay at the Oceanfront, you can walk or cycle along the boardwalk, and a summer trolley runs up and down Atlantic Avenue. Beyond that the city is a low-rise suburban sprawl of highways and shopping centres, and buses are sparse and slow. Sandbridge, First Landing, Town Center and anything farther afield all realistically need a car, and summer traffic into the resort area can be heavy.

Shopping is suburban American: a large regional mall, the outdoor streets of Town Center with national chains, and strip centres along the main roads. The Oceanfront adds surf shops, which have deep roots here, and a great many T-shirt and souvenir stores. There is little in the way of independent boutiques, local crafts or luxury, and nobody plans a trip around it.

Costs follow the season. In summer, oceanfront hotel rooms and beach-house rentals are expensive, especially on weekends, and eating out runs at typical American prices with tipping on top. Out of season the same rooms fall sharply. The beach, boardwalk and state parks cost little or nothing, but needing a car adds to the bill.

The city has a mid-sized performing arts centre at Town Center and a large outdoor amphitheatre that draws touring rock and country acts through the summer, while the Oceanfront puts on free concerts at stages along the boardwalk. Most of the region's serious culture is half an hour away in Norfolk, home to the Virginia Opera, the Virginia Symphony and the long-running Virginia Arts Festival each spring. There is no notable jazz or theatre scene in Virginia Beach itself.

There is no bathing tradition here, and wellness means the spas in the larger oceanfront hotels and a few day spas in the suburbs. The restorative side of a stay comes from the pace rather than any facilities. Early mornings on the boardwalk and the quiet months of spring and autumn are calm, but in high summer the resort is crowded and loud.