Looking for the ultimate 3 day Virginia Beach getaway?
I’m not going to lie, my first impression of Virginia Beach was not great.
It seemed dirty and cheap and run-down.
But once we spent a few days here and explored the local area we found some redeeming qualities that make it worth visiting (in our opinion).
Virginia Beach is a vacation spot not only for beach lovers, but all kinds of vacationers.
The Ultimate Virginia Beach 3 Day Itinerary
Three days is the perfect amount of time to spend in Virginia Beach.
It gives you time to actually enjoy the beach, but also enjoy the surrounding area.
Plus, you get plenty of time to try out all the local restaurants.
This is the itinerary we followed during our recent visit after lots of advance research and also making some decisions on the fly.
Day 1: Arrival Day
With this itinerary, I’m assuming you’re spending the first half of your day driving in from somewhere nearby.
We actually visited as part of a larger road trip and had driven up from the Outer Banks.
So day 1 is just a half day.
Where To Eat Lunch: Roma’s Pizza
Pizza by the slice is very popular all up and down the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Boardwalk.
Roma’s Pizza is directly across from Beach Quarters Resort, where we were staying, so it was a convenient place to pick up some pizza to take back to the resort with us.
They have plenty of seating at the restaurant too if you want to eat there.
If your resort gives you a coupon book, you should be able to get 15% off your order here.
We had a slice of cheese pizza and a slice of the meat lover’s pizza.
Afternoon: Check-In To Resort/Hotel
Most resort check in times are around 3 pm – 4 pm, so even if you arrive earlier, your room might not be ready until closer to that time.
That’s why this itinerary doesn’t start first thing in the morning.
But take some time in the afternoon to explore your resort and enjoy the amenities and the activities.
We enjoyed some time on the rooftop pool that overlooks the ocean.
Where To Eat Dinner: Catch 31
Catch 31 is a restaurant and bar at the Hilton on the beach.
This is another restaurant where your coupon books should have a 15% off coupon.
We just ordered some coconut shrimp to go because we wanted a quick snack before our ghost tour, but they have a full menu with a little bit of everything.
It’s a pretty large order – I think there were 10 or 12 pieces in there!
There is indoor seating, outdoor seating, and a bar.
Evening: Neptune Ghosts of the Coast Ghost Tour
The perfect evening activity, especially on your first night in town is a ghost tour.
It starts at the Neptune Statue, right where Catch 31 is, so it’s in a very convenient and central location.
The tour just takes you down the boardwalk toward the pier.
It’s about an hour long and if you’re lucky, you get to hold the EMF reader to look for ghosts and other paranormal activity.
This tour is mostly about ghost stories from the local area, dating as far back as the 1500s and as recent as 2022!
I like that the tour allows you to get acquainted with the local area and learn where to look out for paranormal activity while you’re on your trip.
We had lots of ghost activity on our EMF reader the whole tour!
Click Here To Book Your Ghost Tour Today!
Day 2: Activities
Now it’s time to go out and explore the local area.
There’s so much to do away from the beach!
Morning: Virginia Aquarium
One of the top attractions in the area is the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center.
While this is a great family friendly activity due to all the interactive exhibits, you definitely don’t have to bring kids to enjoy the aquarium.
There’s a recently expanded building with touch pools, play areas, and a vet center where you can observe animals being treated.
It’s considered one of the top aquariums in the country!
Where To Eat Lunch: Fuddruckers
There aren’t many Fuddruckers locations left, so when we drove by on our way in, we decided we should go there for a meal just to see if it was as good as we remembered.
It’s just down the street from the aquarium too!
When I was a kid I would always get the hot dog because I loved the Texas toast bun that it came on.
So that’s exactly what I got and it’s pretty much exactly what I remembered.
I would definitely eat it again!
JP had the bourbon burger with fries and onion rings.
Afternoon: Breakout Games Virginia Beach
We absolutely love escape rooms and love to try different rooms that are unique to each destination.
Breakout Games is a chain that we actually have at home (in Dayton, Ohio), but Virginia Beach has a room that ours doesn’t.
That’s the CLUE board game themed escape room.
This room is unlike other escape rooms because you play it like you would the board game.
You have to solve the murder mystery – find out who committed the murder, with what weapon, and in what room in order to “escape”.
You only get one try to make your accusation, so you better be confident in your detective skills.
We solved this room with no hints and had nearly 15 minutes to spare.
It was definitely a team effort and our prior escape room experience has come in handy.
Click Here To Book Your CLUE themed escape room at Breakout Games Virginia Beach Today!
Where To Eat Dinner: Las Palmas
Las Palmas is a very popular local Mexican restaurant chain.
There are several in the Virginia Beach oceanfront boardwalk area, but one in particular is actually on the beach, so that’s the one I recommend.
Their menu is huge with just about every sort of Mexican food you can think of.
We had a quesabirria which is a quesadilla with the birria consomme dip and chimichangas.
I was really tempted to get the Chicken Mole though because that is one of my favorite dishes.
Day 3: Beach Day
If you haven’t already spent some time down at the beach throughout your stay, today is the day to do it!
The end of the itinerary is a great time for relaxing because you know you got to see everything you wanted and you can feel like you’re getting some rest before you return home.
Where To Eat Breakfast: Pocahontas Pancakes
Pocahontas Pancakes is the most popular breakfast spot in Virginia Beach.
It’s been featured on the Food Network and it’s been around since the 70s.
It’s an old diner style restaurant with a full breakfast menu.
There’s usually a line out the door, but when we waited it was only about 20 minutes.
I had Nutella pancakes and JP had a breakfast sampler that came with pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, and French toast.
It’s good and relatively low priced compared to most restaurants now.
Morning: First Landing State Park
First Landing State Park is the area where the settlers that built Jamestowne actually first landed when they “found” America.
It’s a swampy area, so I’m guessing that’s why they moved a little further inland to Jamestowne.
When you go to this state park, I highly recommend the Bald Cypress Trail.
It starts up at the visitor center and is a 1.8 mile loop.
Most of the trail is a combination of a boardwalk trail through the swamp and a sand trail.
Hiking it in the morning is great because it’s not as busy and it won’t be so hot outside.
There’s a small fee to enter the park – just $7 per vehicle during the week and $10 on weekends.
It might be more expensive for larger groups though.
Where To Eat Lunch: Tortugas Cafe & Tiki Bar
This is an outdoor restaurant and bar located at the Ocean Beach Club resort on the north end of Virginia Beach.
We had bbq boneless wings and a taco sampler.
With it being a tiki bar, they also have great drinks.
JP had the rum runner.
Afternoon: Beach Day
Some resorts offer beach chair and umbrella rentals for free or a small fee.
There are also rentals available on the beach or you can buy extra things you need in the gift shops along the boardwalk.
We found the most stuff in Sunsations.
We only went in to get an ornament – a souvenir we get on all of our trips – but found they seemed to have the most beach gear.
Where To Eat Dinner: North End Pizza
North End Pizza is another place where you can get discounts from your resort or a coupon book.
We had 10% off from our resort, but the coupon books have discount for whole pizzas and family meal deals.
We each prefer different pizza toppings so we had half pepperoni and half sausage.
Where To Stay In Virginia Beach
We stayed at 2 different resorts during our time here because we found one on the south end of the beach and another on the north end of the beach.
This made it convenient to explore the whole oceanfront without having to walk 2 miles back and forth every time we went out and about.
So if you plan to stay for 4 nights or so, I’d recommend splitting your stay too!
Beach Quarters Resort
The first place we stayed was Beach Quarters Resort on the south end of Virginia Beach.
It’s definitely an older property, but we were able to get a 1 bedroom oceanfront room for pretty cheap.
We used timeshare points for our stay and reviewed our stay on our other blog called “Timeshares, Resorts, and More” – so be sure to check out the full review!
The best part of the resort is the 7th floor rooftop pool that overlooks the ocean.
Click Here To Book Your Beach Quarters Resort Stay Today!
Ocean Beach Club
The second place we stayed was Ocean Beach Club on the north end of Virginia Beach.
This resort is quite a bit nicer, but definitely more expensive.
We were able to stay in an oceanfront studio room on a Friday and Saturday night with our timeshare points.
The tiki bar I mentioned earlier is at this resort and the pool is really nice also.
You can check out our full review on our other blog.
Click Here To Book Your Ocean Beach Club Stay Today!
Conclusion: The Ultimate Virginia Beach 3 Day Itinerary
This itinerary lets you see all the highlights of Virginia Beach.
You can enjoy the beach, visit the historic sites, and do fun activities like ghost tours and escape rooms.
If you follow this itinerary, you’ll avoid the not so pleasant parts of Virginia Beach!
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