🌿 RelaxedWeekend · from Richmond, VA
The Oceanfront — Boardwalk Sunrises, King Neptune & Virginia's Wild Southern Beaches
Just under two hours southeast of Richmond, the Atlantic opens up at Virginia Beach — a resort strip anchored by a three-mile concrete boardwalk, a 34-foot bronze King Neptune presiding over the sand, and long fishing piers reaching out over the surf. Day one is a slow, salt-air amble: the classic Oceanfront boardwalk, oceanfront seafood shacks, the great trident-wielding statue at Neptune's Park, and an afternoon of beach time or a walk out over the water on the fishing pier, capped by an oceanfront dinner and a night steps from the sand. Day two trades the resort strip for the wild edges of the region — the dune-backed quiet of Sandbridge, the marshes and maritime forest of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park, and the historic headland of Cape Henry, where the oldest federally funded lighthouse in America stands guard over First Landing State Park's cypress swamps and live oaks before the easy drive back to Richmond. Note: Atlantic hurricane season runs June through November; check the forecast for this exposed Oceanfront trip.
Day 1 — The Oceanfront Boardwalk & King NeptuneDay 2 — Sandbridge, Back Bay Refuge & Cape Henry
Day 1 — Virginia Beach Oceanfront, VA
Day 1 — Virginia Beach Oceanfront, VA
🚗 1 hr 50 min driving📍 6 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Richmond, VA → Virginia Beach Oceanfront, VA
1 hr 50 min8:00 AM → 9:50 AM
Virginia Beach Boardwalk
★ 4.7The Virginia Beach Boardwalk is the heart of the Oceanfront — a three-mile concrete promenade running from Rudee Inlet up to 40th Street, wide enough for a separate bike-and-skate lane alongside the walkers. Arriving in the morning is the best time to have it: the light comes straight off the Atlantic, the crowds are thin, and the sea breeze is at its freshest. Benches, gazebos, and public-art installations line the route, and the sand is only a step away the whole length. It's the ideal way to stretch out after the drive and get your bearings before the day slows into beach time.
9:50 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch10:50 AM
Waterman's Surfside Grille
An Oceanfront institution since 1981, Waterman's sits right on the boardwalk with an open-air deck facing the surf. It's the home of the Orange Crush — the fresh-squeezed vodka-and-orange cocktail that was invented here and has since spread up and down the mid-Atlantic coast — and a menu built on local seafood, from she-crab soup to peel-and-eat shrimp and fresh catch. A relaxed, salt-sprayed lunch here, with the waves a few feet away, is the classic first meal of a Virginia Beach trip.
3 options · tap to switch
King Neptune Statue at Neptune's Park
★ 4.9At 31st Street, the boardwalk's signature landmark rises out of the sand: a 34-foot, 12-ton bronze King Neptune, trident raised, wrapped in sea creatures — a loggerhead turtle, an octopus, dolphins, and a giant fish — sculpted by Paul DiPasquale and installed in 2005. It presides over Neptune's Park, an open plaza that hosts the city's Neptune Festival each fall and serves as the gathering point of the Oceanfront year-round. It is the most photographed spot in Virginia Beach for good reason; walk around the full base to take in the marine menagerie worked into the statue's design.
11:50 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
Virginia Beach Fishing Pier
★ 4.4Stretching out from 15th Street, the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier carries you well past the breakers and out over open water — a wooden boardwalk into the Atlantic itself. Anglers work the rails for flounder, croaker, and Spanish mackerel, and you can rent a rod or simply pay the small walk-on fee to stroll to the end for the view back at the skyline and the long curve of beach. It's an unhurried, breezy way to spend the middle of the afternoon; the pier is also a prime perch for watching dolphins that often cruise the surf line just offshore in the warmer months.
12:50 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🍽️ Dinner5:00 PM
Rudee's on the Inlet
Tucked at the mouth of Rudee Inlet where the charter and fishing boats come and go, Rudee's is a beloved waterfront dinner spot with a wide deck over the water at the south end of the Oceanfront. The kitchen leans hard into the day's local catch — crab cakes, fresh fish, oysters, and the house Rudee's Rum Runner — and the tables on the dock catch the evening light off the inlet as the boats return. It's a slower, more scenic setting than the boardwalk strip, and the perfect place to end a day of sun and salt air.
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Virginia Beach Oceanfront Stay
Spend the night right on the Oceanfront so the boardwalk and the sunrise are just outside your door. The resort strip along Atlantic Avenue between roughly 15th and 40th Streets is lined with oceanfront hotels and high-rises — book one with a balcony facing the water to catch the Atlantic sunrise, which over Virginia's east-facing coast is genuinely worth waking for. Rates run high in peak summer; the blocks a street or two back from Atlantic Avenue, and the quieter shoulder-season weeks, offer the same beach a short walk away for less. Wherever you land, aim to be within a few blocks of King Neptune so the morning starts on foot.
Day 2 — Sandbridge, Back Bay & Cape Henry, VA
Day 2 — Sandbridge, Back Bay & Cape Henry, VA
🚗 2 hr 25 min driving📍 3 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Virginia Beach Oceanfront, VA → Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge / Sandbridge Beach
30 min8:00 AM → 8:30 AM
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge & Sandbridge Beach
★ 4.8South of the resort strip, the coast turns wild at Sandbridge — a narrow, dune-backed barrier strip of quiet beach houses that gives way to the 9,000-acre Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Here the Atlantic beach runs empty and undeveloped, backed by marsh, freshwater impoundments, and maritime forest that draw enormous concentrations of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds; sea turtles nest on the sand in summer. Walk the flat, sandy loop trails over the dikes for sweeping views across the bay, or simply take in the long, unspoiled surf. Beyond the refuge's southern boundary lies False Cape State Park, one of the most remote and least-visited parks on the East Coast, reachable only on foot, by bike, or by the seasonal tram — a rare stretch of genuine wilderness a half-hour from a resort city.
8:30 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch9:30 AM
Baja Restaurant, Sandbridge
A Sandbridge classic, Baja sits right on Sandbridge Road overlooking the marsh and the waterway, with a laid-back deck that catches the breeze off the bay. The menu is casual coastal — fish tacos, fresh local seafood, burgers, and cold drinks — and the whole place has the unpretentious, sandy-feet feel of a true beach-community hangout. It's the obvious midday stop between the refuge and the drive up to Cape Henry, and the marsh-side tables are a fine place to slow down and watch the herons work the shallows.
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Afternoon
Cape Henry Lighthouse
★ 4.4At the northern tip of Virginia Beach, where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic, the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse marks the spot where the first English colonists made landfall in 1607 before sailing on to Jamestown. Completed in 1792, it was the first lighthouse authorized and funded by the new federal government, and it still stands on the dunes of Fort Story, a working military base — a national historic landmark you can climb for a commanding view of the bay, the ocean, and the newer 1881 cast-iron lighthouse beside it. Bring a photo ID for the base entrance; the climb up the narrow sandstone tower is steep but short, and the panorama from the top takes in the whole sweep of the Cape Henry headland.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Cape Henry, Virginia Beach, VA → Richmond, VA
1 hr 55 min5:00 PM → 6:55 PM
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