What to See in Virginia Beach, United States: Free Audio Guide

Virginia Beach is a coastal city where oceanfront landmarks, maritime history, aviation heritage, marine life, and local culture come together. The famous boardwalk is the natural starting point, but the city also rewards visitors who explore its museums, historic sites, Town Center, and quieter corners beyond the shore. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Virginia Beach with 33 narrated places.

What to see in Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach Oceanfront and the boardwalk

The Oceanfront is the city’s defining area: a lively stretch beside the Atlantic with a boardwalk, public art, restaurants, hotels, and places to explore on foot or by bike. It is also home to several of Virginia Beach’s most recognizable landmarks, making it a practical place to begin discovering the city.

Old Coast Guard Station Museum

The Old Coast Guard Station Museum occupies the historic Seatack Lifesaving Station, built in 1903 to replace an earlier facility. The men of the United States Lifesaving Service launched surfboats from here to rescue people from ships in dangerous waters. In 1915, the service became the United States Coast Guard.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Its collection includes surfboats, lifesaving equipment, and artifacts from the 1891 wreck of the Norwegian barque Dictator, which ran aground in the waters known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

King Neptune

King Neptune is one of Virginia Beach’s most recognizable landmarks. The bronze statue stands at the entrance to Neptune Park on 31st Street, overlooking the boardwalk and Atlantic Ocean. Designed by Paul DiPasquale, it was dedicated in 2005.

The sculpture rises above a rocky base filled with sea-life details, including dolphins, an octopus, and a loggerhead turtle. Neptune holds a trident in his right hand, making the statue an especially memorable stop along the Oceanfront.

Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum

The Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum is housed in the De Witt Cottage, one of Virginia Beach’s oldest surviving oceanfront homes. Built in 1895, the two-story brick house has an L-shaped design, wide porches, and decorative details associated with a Queen Anne summer retreat.

Inside, the museum explores the region’s wildfowl heritage through an extensive collection of bird decoys. The displays also include sculptures, paintings, carvings, vintage shotguns, and hunting equipment, showing how practical decoy-making developed into a distinctive folk art.

Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center

The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center lies just south of Rudee Inlet and brings together marine and coastal habitats in two pavilions connected by a nature trail. Its exhibits contain over 800,000 gallons of fresh and saltwater.

The Bay and Ocean Pavilion includes the Norfolk Canyon aquarium, where sharks and stingrays move through a deep-sea setting inspired by the waters off the coast. The Marsh Pavilion focuses on wetlands and features otters, seahorses, snakes, and other marsh wildlife. The institution began as the Virginia Marine Science Museum before taking its current name.

Military Aviation Museum

In the Pungo area, the Military Aviation Museum presents a large private collection of historic warbirds, with almost all of the aircraft still able to fly. The collection covers the period from the 1910s to the early 1950s and includes aircraft from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The museum was founded by Gerald “Jerry” Yagen, who began collecting and restoring aircraft in the mid-1990s. The hangars are part of the experience: visitors can see two principal display hangars, a replica World War I wooden hangar, a maintenance hangar modeled on a 1937 design, and a restored pre-war Luftwaffe metal hangar.

Old Donation Episcopal Church

Old Donation Episcopal Church is the oldest church in Virginia Beach. Its congregation traces its roots to 1637, when services were held in the home of Adam Thoroughgood. The current brick church was completed and accepted by the vestry on June 25, 1736, making it the third church built on the site.

The church was abandoned after many families moved toward what is now Kempsville. A forest fire in 1882 gutted the building, leaving only the exterior walls. The ruins were later kept in local memory through yearly services held in the roofless structure.

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is the cultural heart of Virginia Beach’s Town Center district. Opened in 2007, the modern venue has a main theater seating 1,308 people, along with the Miller Studio Theatre, classrooms, lobbies, and other creative spaces.

Its program brings together classical music, Broadway productions, comedy, dance, and community performances. Glass façades and sweeping architectural lines give the building a bright, contemporary character.

Other places to explore

Virginia Beach also has several cinemas, including Cinema Cafe Kemps River Premier, Beach Cinema Alehouse, Regal Stadium 12, and AMC Lynnhaven 18. Religious and community landmarks include Virginia Beach United Baptist Church and Christ Church. These places add further context to the city beyond its main beach district.

For travellers exploring more of Virginia, Virginia Beach can also be combined with nearby destinations such as Norfolk or Williamsburg. It is part of the wider United States destination collection.

Explore Virginia Beach with Neywo

Neywo’s free Virginia Beach audio guide includes 33 narrated places. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.

You can choose between two routes:

• Walking tour: 4.35 km, 91 minutes, and 5 narrated stops. The route includes de Witt Cottage, Virginia Beach Oceanfront, Old Coast Guard Station Museum, King Neptune, and Cavalier Hotel.
• Bike route: 2.2 km, 11 minutes, and 4 narrated stops. It includes de Witt Cottage, Virginia Beach Oceanfront, Old Coast Guard Station Museum, and King Neptune.

Download Neywo and turn your visit into a Virginia Beach self-guided walking tour—or explore the boardwalk by bike while the city’s stories play at the places where they happened.