Things to Do in Virginia Beach

Experience one of the fastest games played on two feet in the U.S.'s premier professional lacrosse league. The six-team league pits the best post-college lacrosse players against one another in regular-season games each year, before culminating with playoffs and a championship weekend to crown the victor in late August. During the weekend match, the Chicago Machine, a traveling team, will take on the Long Island Lizards at the open-air Columbus Crew Stadium, in a high-energy contact battle for lacrossical domination. Bring the family for a wholesome weekend activity, and acquaint the kids with the burgeoning professional sport.

Apart from the number of respective members and guests, the benefits of the Otter and Crab memberships are exactly the same. Both grant you a year of unlimited admission—including express entry through the mythical members' entrance—and, if you travel in an especially large school, both grant up to four additional guests half-off entry when accompanied by a cardholding member (per day). Although prices vary, today's deal offers you a year's access to the aquarium at a cost comparable to a single day's admission for the same number of people.

The roar of felled pins fills the spacious confines of Pinboys at the Beach, an independently owned bowling center that has been in operation for 30 years. Ball-hurlers clad in smooth-soled rental shoes seek out strikes on their alleyways seven days a week, while trying not to stare at their own reflections in the polished wood floor. After 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, the lights are dimmed and tunes are pumped up for Pinboys After Dark. Billiard tables provide alternative forms of friendly competition, and Pinboys can close its doors for a variety of private party packages including kids' birthday parties and adult parties with 2.5 hours of unlimited bowling.

The Quilting Bee delights needle workers of all abilities with an assortment of stitch-ameliorating merchandise and a variety of classes. Expert instructors schedule the individualized 2.5-hour table-runner class around students’ busy timetables, allowing seam assemblers to craft a 16”x40” table runner for bare-midriffed buffets in between meetings, family outings, or sustainable needle harvesting. No previous sewing or thimble-modeling experience is necessary to attend the table-runner class thanks to adroit thread tutors who answer any questions and guide pupils through the perils of needle-based fabric taming. Since The Quilting Bee provides a pre-cut fabric kit to all class takers and lends sewing machines to those who don’t have their own, students can leave their spinning jennies and gold-plated bobbins at home.

In 1791, Alexander Hamilton–hoping to enhance trade and safety along the coasts of Virginia and Maryland–contracted renowned architect John McComb to design a lighthouse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. McComb quickly fulfilled his duty in 1792, with the illumination of Cape Henry Lighthouse’s inaugural flame lit by the lighthouse’s first keeper, who was appointed by George Washington himself. In the centuries since the octagonal tower cast its first guiding beam across the bay, the Cape Henry Lighthouse stood sentinel over the coast and ensured the safety of incoming ships and immigrating krakens until it was replaced in 1881. Stewards of the lighthouse’s past, Preservation Virginia, ensured in 1930 that the inoperative structure and surrounding lands were reopened to the public and maintained for the enjoyment of future generations.

Today, visitors ascending the twisting iron stairs step out to the window-enclosed observation deck, drinking in 360-degree views of the water and surrounding verdant forests. A team of passionate and knowledgeable staff–most of whom have been guides for years–remain on hand to answer questions relating to the lighthouse’s history and how lighthouse keepers stave off land invasions of ghost sea captains.

Located at the oceanfront, Jungle Golf's aptly named mini-golf course pits putters against a slew of jungle-themed obstacles. As golfers traverse the 18-hole labyrinth, they must contend with breaking putts, keep their distance from the silverback gorilla statue guarding the second hole, stay dry underneath the misting waters of the fifth hole's rocky waterfall, and bribe a life-sized zebra statue to neigh during their opponent’s backswing. In-between rounds, golfers can refuel with treats from the Food Hut or head to the game room for more shrinked-down activities, such as air hockey, skee-ball, and crane-games' simulations of loading 2-ton plush rabbits onto freighter ships.