Dawn

We are thinking of taking a summer vacation to Virginia Beach with our children (6 & 10 yr. old) and are looking for some info on places to stay. We would like to stay on the beach. Look forward to hearing from you.

Don

There are MANY hotels to choose from on the beach--nearly 55 blocks worth. Two of the best, IMHO having stayed at both, are the Holiday Inn Sunspree and The Cavalier. Both are on the quieter north end of the beach.

irene

I agree: Try to stay at the north end of VB. We had a small beach house and it was great; Virginia Beach itself was incredibly crowded and tacky.

Boots

Oh - but I love both ends of the beach and the middle too (Cavalier) My family has three preteens and we find the more active end of the beach (10th to about 23rd) to be great fun. But we also like the northern Ramada and the Bay's Va. Beach Resort & Conference Center.

We have stayed at many hotels here and last year I toured some rooms at hotels we missed so I could make a list for future reference and here it is:

Nice (3 star AAA) oceanfront hotels with suites:
*Comfort Inn Oceanfront Suites @ 20th
*Dolphin Inn
*Holiday Inn Surfside Hotel&Suites @26th
*Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort@39th
* Marriott Courtyard Oceanfront @ 25th

Nice (3 star AAA) oceanfront hotels without many suites:
* Ramada Inn on the Beach (new) @6th
* Sheraton Oceanfront @ 36th
* Cavalier
* Ramada Plaza Resort @57th
* Best Western Oceanfront

These hotels were not real nice (2 stars AAA quality) IMHO:
* Ambassador
* Colonial Inn
* Days Inn
* La Playa
* Oceanfront Inn
* Seaside

Avoid these at all costs. They look nice on the internet, but are horrid in real life:
* Four Sails (dirty, small rooms, smells bad)
* Station One(run-down w/old furniture)
* Marjac Suites (Rips in furniture, big stains on carpet-yuck)

tropigal

I am a life long resident of Va. Beach & cannot honestly recommend it for a vacation. The water is murky (no, its not polluted, its just murky). And as much as it pains me to admit it, it is tacky. There is also a dearth of water sports (especially compared with Norrth Carolina's Outer Banks, about 1-2 hours south), such as sailing, kayaking, wind surfing, etc. if you must vacation here. do stay at the north end. You may have a few more square inches of sand. Avoid the Cavalier like the plague! There is still dredging & construction going on, so it is unsightly & noisey. Plus it has the filthiest, most disgusting poolside bathroom I have ever been in. Try the Ramada.

antmaril

We took a vacation a few years ago to the Williamsburg/Virginia Beach. we planned on staying three nights in Williamsburg and four nights in Virginia Beach. We we got to Virginia Beach, my husband and I looked at each other and said "I don't think so". It seemed very tacky to us, including several tattoo parlors. We were supposed to stay at the Cavalier. Fortunately, I talked my way out of it. We went back to Williamsburg for the remainder of our vacation.

I don't mean to discourage you, but I would consider other options.

Teresa

Sure, Virginia Beach is tacky. But it's fun!! Our kids were 7 and 10 when we were there and they just loved it. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree--perfect for us. The area is less wild than the south end but still fairly crowded. The Sunspree has a great pool area and a nice beach. By all means go downtown at night--carnival area, street corner jugglers, dancers, etc. and tons of touristy souvenir shops. At this point in our lives, that's kind of a fun thing. If we were traveling without kids it would be a different story. We stayed at VB after four days of strenuous touring/walking in DC so this was a welcome respite. I only wish we'd had time to go over to Chincoteague--I had my oldest child read 'Misty of Chincoteague' before our trip in case we made it to the island. We didn't have time, but he loved the book and read the entire series later. So it IS possible to sneak in a little 'learning' on your trip if you choose!

Don

Antmaril, I think you must have Virginia Beach confused with another destination. Local ordinance only recently (within the past year) allowed tattoo and piercing parlors, and those are heavily regulated.

sue

When we vacation in the Virginia Beach area we rent a home in Sandbridge, which is 15 min or so South of Virginia Beach. It is a family oriented/surfer type beach and is very small and nice. More like the Outer Banks. Then we can slip into town for the boardwalk, restaurants, shops, etc but return to our quiet beach house to stay. Try looking at www.siebert-realty.com. They have a great web site and search engine for rentals. Have fun!

Marti

We just came back, and the place we stayed at (Turtle Cay-not on the beach-) was building a new oceanfront hotel, the Boardwalk. They're owned by Gold Key Resorts. I would always go for a new place, you know it will be clean and they'll try to make you happy. Have fun!

Kim

Virginia Beach has really cleaned up over the past 10 years or so. I think it is considerably more fun than the Outer Banks. As the largest resort city in the world, it offers not only the oceanfront, but many other things to do as well. I highly recommend the Ramada and the Holiday Inn Sunspree. The Ramada has a great location in the North End of the beach. It probably has the best beach of the hotels. The Sunspree has a great pool and a very nice restaurant, Isle of Capri. I've never stayed at Turtle Cay, but it looks very nice. If you decide to vacation in Va Beach, make sure you visit the Virginia Marine Science Museum. It's great. Also, check out whether or not any great festivals are going on. I really don't understand why anyone would describe the area as trashy. I guess if you just explore the tourist traps that might be all that you see. There are many great restaurants in the area-consider venturing inland for some of the better ones. Stay away from the seafood buffets! Anyhow, hope that you enjoy your trip!

lab

We stayed at the Boardwalk Resort Hotel and Villas last July when they first opened. It was a beautiful place. Very clean. There were only 2 of us in a one bedroom, but could easily have had 4 people. Nice kitchen area and living room area. The only drawback is that it was really expensive. Even with AAA discount we paid about $270 a night.
If I could find a lower rate for this hotel, I would return there for our vacation this year in a heartbeat.

andy

Dawn- I personally HATE Va.BEACH--
The waters are murky- the hotels are passable at best---

While the Outer Banks are nice, as is Nags Head- the water is VERY ROUGH-esp.for kids...

Head FURTHER SOUTH to Mrytle Beach ( I do NOT know where you are coming from)..but it is about 5 hrs SOUTH of VA Beach...

At Myrtle Beach you can get a CONDO on the Ocean for the same price as a hotel in Va Beach- PLUS there is so much stuff for young kids- an amusement park, tons of goony golf places,THE DIXIE STAMPEDE ( a country and Western VENUE --NOT a BAR- but an actual show with a singer on a real horse--but tons of KID LIVING restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe,Wilt Chamberlains Rest, Nascar Rest, Broadway at the Beach, Barefoot Landing..and if your hubs is into GOLF, there are over 100 golf courses that are OPEN to the PUBLIC...
Plus enough good restauaranst that you could NOT even eat at all of them in 1 week....

I am nearer to VA BEACH than Myrtle Beach and I drive to Myrtle Beach EVERY summer for either a week or a long weekend...Have been going there for 30 years...went to Va Beach 2 summers ago and vowed NEVER AGAIN...

JAG

Thanks everyone for all the info. Since I orginally asked this in 2002, we did not go to VA Beach last summer. We did long weekends not far from home (Cape May, NJ) and it was great. This Easter we are spending 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Sunspree in Va Beach, does anyone know if they have any Easter activities for the kids. This summer we are going to Disney World. Thanks again

mille125

just bought a time share at the boardwalk villas. excellent place

White

We went to Virginia Beach the weekend of June 21-23. We stayed at the Colonial Inn. All rooms are oceanfront and the prices are very reasonable. We paid $140. Rooms were clean and very well kept. Although check in time is 4 p.m they let us have our room around 2:30. the restaurant in the hotel is great for dinner, but breakfast was awful (both breakfast buffet and ala carte). Another great restaurant for dinner was Rockfish (rock and roll theme) dinner and breakfast were very good there. Rockfish is oceanfront.

emd

topping for Meems- see Sue's post re rental company for sandbridge houses