Visiting Southeastern Virginia and looking for something free to do? Look no further, this comprehensive list will inform you of some of the free guilty pleasures of the area. I have been in the area for two years and can tell you that there are some free things to do here, as there are in any city. These are a few of my personal favorites; but first off I will tell you that “free” here, suggests that you have the gas money to get around this enormous place. As I’ve mentioned before, Hampton Roads is a continuum of seven cities beginning with Williamsburg, that is not far from the suburbs of Richmond, for a good sixty miles into the heart of Chesapeake. The area ends with the border of North Carolina. Suffolk is actually to the west of the area and while it is contiguous with Portsmouth the area is a bit rural east of downtown.
Traveling from Suffolk to Virginia Beach, which is essentially traveling from western edge of the metro to the eastern edge, as opposed to moving from the northern edge to the southern edge is pretty far as well at 37 miles. The area is not known for overlapping states, such as the Washington DC/Baltimore metro or the metropolitan area of New York, which sprawls into New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but the potential is definitely there for such to occur in the future. This leads into my first freebie of this area, just driving around. If you want a long stretch of road in which you can coast through in excess of the speed limit even in rush hour, this is it. There are a few highways here, with more expressways being planned as I speak. The region wants to get away from the sprawling roads but they are the hallmark of the region. With tunnels that go underneath the water and roads that go from two to six lanes each side this area has it all.
The area also has a few public parks; in particular Virginia Beach has Mount Trashmore, which is the most well known park in the region. An old landfill, Mount Trashmore, created in 1978, is a nice example of how a landfill can be put to good use. Arguably the landfills just relocated to Suffolk, but this is about the closest that this region has to a Central Park. If music is your thing there are a number of free concerts in the area during the summer in every city in the region; you should be able to find something for your particular tastes. The beaches in the area are still free, and if you do not care for the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach, Norfolk has community beaches that are quieter and more secluded.
Unlike Virginia Beach, which has built a tourist industry around the Boardwalk, Norfolk has smaller beach parks that are without lights with a sprinkling of the high rise hotels that you have to walk in-between to see the Boardwalk in Virginia Beach. To get to the Boardwalk just get onto 264, which is accessible by 64, and take it to the Oceanfront. Interstate 264 dead ends into the area of the Boardwalk, which is around 12 streets deep and 40 streets wide. All streets are numbered. Atlantic Avenue runs along the Boardwalk and turns into Shore Drive, which is still a beach just not as accessible to the public. Interstate 264 turns into 22nd Street, which is essentially in the middle of the Boardwalk.
The area should not be confused with the actual downtown of Virginia Beach, however. That is on Virginia Beach Boulevard and Independence Avenue miles from the Boardwalk. That area is fun to walk around as well, but the only thing free there is the parking. The Boardwalk has parking garages but it is cheaper to park on the street and just walk to the beach. There are also a few free spaces towards Shore Drive where the few houses on the beach are located as construction on and around Atlantic Avenue consists of an endless array of high rise hotels and condominiums.
Beaches in Norfolk are located on Ocean View avenue, which is accessible from I-64. Like Atlantic Avenue, it is an endless street crossed by tens of numbered streets but unlike Atlantic Avenue it is being redefined through ongoing gentrification and is one of the few streets where you can still find $500 dollar apartments a stones throw from $700,000 houses on the sand. One of the major obstacles of this gentrification is the simple fact that there are no cheaper places in this region to go once you have left Ocean View, unless you want to move out to Suffolk or across the water into the depths of Newport News and Hampton. Visit the area during the daytime; the beaches close at dusk anyway.
Walking around downtown Norfolk is another guilty pleasure of mine. The area is deep enough to loose ones self in but not overwhelming in that it is too big to travel on foot. As with all things in Norfolk, even downtown is struggling with gentrification as a few of its parks (housing projects) are within walking distance of three million dollar condominiums in new high rise construction. There is a lot to do in Hampton Roads if you have an open mind and are willing to look for a bargain; you don’t have to run through $100 to see a nice show at a theatre and $30 for a meal in a nice restaurant if you do not want to …
