The city's focus is its long straight sandy beach, lined with all the usual hotels and motels, and backed by a boardwalk strip of bars, restaurants and nightclubs. The forty-block downtown area is too spread out to walk the length of, but you should find all you need within a smaller radius, as it's fairly homogenous. During the day, the main activities are sunbathing and playing in the waves; Virginia Beach is one of the main east coast surfing centers, hosting the summer-long Billabong competitions. You can rent surf, skim and boogie boards from Wave Riding Vehicles, at 19th and Cypress (tel 757/422-8823). Away from the sands, most of the action is along Atlantic Avenue, the main beachfront drag.
High-tech interactive exhibits and an IMAX theater combine at the Virginia Marine Museum , 717 General Booth Blvd (daily: mid-June to early-Sept 9am-9pm; rest of year 9am-5pm; $9.95, or $14.95 with IMAX show; ), which features all things aquatic, from submarines to seabirds, and has a pleasant nature trail linking its two main buildings. The museum organizes regular dolphin-watching expeditions in summer ($17; reserve a day in advance at 757/437-BOAT).
The eccentric A.R.E. Visitors Center at the headquarters of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, at 67th Street and Atlantic Avenue (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 11am-8pm; free), focuses on Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), a pioneer in hypnotism and ESP, known as "the sleeping prophet" because of his alleged ability, while in a trance, to diagnose and heal the ailments of individuals anywhere in the world. Visitors can use an enormous metaphysical library, or join "testings" of group ESP (daily June-Aug at 1pm; free).
Once the people-watching on the town beach starts to pall, head a few miles up or down the coast to find some beautiful and much more peaceful stretches of golden sand. To the south lie the four-mile-long Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge , where you can walk or fish but not officially swim or sunbathe, and False Cape State Park. Closer at hand to the north, the thick woodlands of First Landing State Park was the site at which the first English settlers touched land in 1607 before moving on to Jamestown; it is now popular with weekend boaters and cyclists, and has a beach on Chesapeake Bay. Several adventure organizations such as Sandbridge Eco Sports, 577 Sandbridge Rd (tel 757/721-6210 or 1-800/695-4212), run kayaking and dolphin-watching expeditions in the area.
