Boots

On a recent trip to Virginia Beach, I did a summary of oceanfront hotels that my family has liked for the benefit of folks who don't go there often and need advice.

Following are hotels that are oceanfront and are nice (all 3 star AAA quality). We have stayed in all of these over the past few years:
-Holiday Inn Sunspree resort 39th&Atlantic
-Ramada Inn on the Beach 6th&Atlantic
-Marriott Courtyard OF 25th&Atlantic
-Sheraton OF 36th& Atlantic
-Ramada Plaza Resort 36th&Atlantic

Here are some nice oceanfront all-suite hotels. We have stayed at most of them over the years:
-Clarion Resort 5th&Atlantic
-Comfort Inn OF suites 20th&Atlantic
-Dolphin Inn can't remember&Atlantic
-Holiday Inn Surfside- 26th&Atlantic
- Va. Beach Resort & Conference center - this lovely place is on the bayside of Va. Beach, but WOW! what a place. Great suites

Here are some places I would not recommend. I toured a room in each. Most of them were rundown and probably 1 or 2 star AAA ratings:
-Four Sails 33rd&Atlantic
-Station One 24th &Atlantic
- Marjac Suites ? &Atlantic
ALSO avoid: Ambassador Hotel, Colonial Inn, Days Inn, La Playa, Oceanfront Inn and Seaside.

Hope this helps!

Karen

Hey Boots, thanks so much for the info.That was so nice of you. I plan to take a trip to the beach soon especially after reading the article in The Wash. Post (Sun 9/30). The latest I've ever been to VA beach was in Sept. and we had a wonderful time. So we shall pack up and go one weekend this Oct. We'll be sure to check out one of the suites. Again, thank you.

ingrid

Karen,
also check out the article on Frommers.com, about VA Beach packages including accommodation/food/whale watching/tickets to Marine Museum.

Don

Good list. I would add the Cavalier Hotel at the north end of the beach to the "nice" list. It's a very nice 3 star full service hotel at the top of the commercial end of the strip, next to private beach homes. The new section has all rooms with beach view; the original art-deco style hotel across the street on a grassy hill has been recently renovated and has the most charm of any VaBeach hotel (IMHO).

Holiday Inn Sunspree at 39th is an excellent choice among chain hotels at the Beach.

Boots

Thanks Karen for the nice comment! I do agree with Don that both Cavaliers (oceanfront and across the street "hilltop")are also very nice. The hilltop Cavalier is great, but not OF, but the indoor pool there is awesome. The only problem we had when we stayed at the Cavalier is that is the noise from the military jets from Oceana woke us up at night. Maybe it's right in the middle of their flight path (and keep in mind this was several years ago) but I noticed the noise more there than further north or south of that part of the strip.

janie

Visited Virginia Beach this summer for the first time. Stayed oceanfront at the Marriott Courtyard. I agree, nice hotel. But, there was constuction (beach expansion) going on, which ruined the view, and caused traffic up and down the beach. Anyone know the status of this work? Also, I agree about the jets being a problem. We had a good stay, but won't return.

charlie

From recommendations found at this site I stayed at the VA Beach Resort and Conference Center this past May. Yuck! This place is a 2 star place at best. Our room was depressing and sparsely decorated in battleship gray. Huge trash can next to a beer bottle opener mounted on the wall in the laughable kichenette. Broken tile in the bathroom. Dingy balcony furniture that looked like had never been cleaned. The room needed a major overhaul. The pool was very unappealing. Not kept up at all. The whole place reminded my wife and I of a place a bunch of high students would go after graduation or maybe spring break.
This is not a place for people with any discriminating taste. I could write a few more paragraphs spelling out all things we were dismayed about with this place but please just take my word for it and avoid it. There must be better places to stay in VA beach. And with a better beach too.

Amy

In response to Charlie-
Being from Virginia, it's funny to hear the words "Virginia Beach" and "discriminating taste" in the same breath. VB's a really fun place to stay and has some reasonably priced, convenient hotels. (I agree that the Cavalier and Holiday Inn Sunspree are good places to stay if you're there for the weekend.) But they're definitely not luxurious! If you ever go back, I'd rent a house in Sandbridge, it may be more your speed.

White

We went to Virginia Beach the weekend of June 21-23. We stayed in an oceanfront room at the Colonial Inn. Rooms in the new section are oceanfront and the prices are very reasonable. We paid $140. Rooms were clean and very well kept. Beware, there is the old section of the hotel across the street and the new section right on the board walk, be sure and specify the new section (higher rate). The new section has the indoor pool, the old section has an outdoor pool which you can use also. the old section has a covered parking garage that you can use also (keeps your car cool!) The restaurant in the hotel is great for dinner, but breakfast was awful (both breakfast buffet and ala carte). Another great restaurant for dinner was Rockfish (rock and roll theme) dinner and breakfast were very good there. Rockfish is oceanfront.

clatimer

This past weekend, our family took a trip to Virginia Beach and stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree. The beach weather was perfect with lots of activities for the entire family. However, we were very disappointed with the hotel. From the start, check-in was a 25 minute wait, elevator kept us up at night, restaurant was out of items on three seperate visits, housekeeping overlooked ice bucket bags, and coffee refills repeatedly, messy pool area with no towels and few chairs. The beach experience was wonderful for all of us. We would have preferred a cleaner and better maintained hotel.

Captain1

Thanks to all of you for your accurate descriptons. Just returned after a visit to set up a 2005 meeting. Toured 6 properties. Good news! The Courtyard Marriot Oceanfront at 37th. is pricey, but beautiful and comfortable. Good and reasonably priced food on site. The Sheraton Oceanfront is upgrading its rooms, and the beds are covered with downy duvets and crisp linens, so plump I wanted to climb right in. The decorations are softly nautical, and it was the friendliest staff of all. Those were the 2 highlights. While the Clarion is under renovation, it still looked tacky and dingey to me. The Crowne Plaza is pleasant and reasonably priced, but right on the busy highway. The VA Beach Resort Hotel has dark, long hallways and is very dated. It is, however, right on the beach, overlooking seagrass, if you pay the additional money for such a room. There are condos for rent at Turtle Cay, which are beautiful and across the street from the beach. Compared to other suites in the area, they are similarly priced with gas fireplaces. Hilton Hotels are building a new property opening in 2005. Enjoy!

MargaretDH

Has anyone stayed at Virginia Beach recently? Is it good for family stay? We are booked at the Thunderbird tentatively. Do you know anything about it?

rb_travelerxATyahoo

MargaretDH: I hope I am wrong, but if I recall the place (Thunderbird; I've never stayed there) ... I don't think I liked the looks of it. There are a LOT of hotels on the "strip", and I may not be recalling the correct place, but I'd advise you to continue trying to get info, so you can cancel if necessary.

The names of all those places and my memory of the one's I've not stayed at start to blur immediately after a vacation. I've often thought of taking dig-cam pix of each place & documenting thoughts on them for when questions like yours come up, but that's hard to do when I'm on vacation.

sojourner

We stayed at the Comfort Inn OF 2 years in a row when we attended the air show. The hotel is in a nice, quiet location. Our only beef was the noise from the doors to the parking garage which banged all night long. As far as the noise from jets, that's why we go down. Beach Blast is not to be missed. It's usually on a Sat. night during the Air show. This hotel is near a small park, too, which has entertainment some nights. Expensive during the air show, maybe not worth the price but we like the area so this is our place. Try to get tours of Oceana and Norfolk Naval Base. We can be proud!