You can fish, find a shipwreck memorial, and meet a 12-ton sea king all on one Virginia walk

It’s bigger than you think

Three miles of Atlantic Ocean, a 34-foot bronze sea god, a shipwreck memorial that connects Virginia Beach to a small town in Norway, and a pier where you can drop a line without a fishing license.

The Virginia Beach Boardwalk has been drawing people to this stretch of Virginia coast since 1888, and more than 2.2 million visitors a year still find reasons to come back.

The real question is how much of it you actually know about.

Three miles of open Atlantic on your left

The boardwalk runs from 2nd Street all the way to 40th Street, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and hotels, shops and restaurants on the other.

The American Planning Association named it a Great Public Space in 2009, and you can see why the moment you step onto it.

The concrete promenade is 28 feet wide, and a dedicated bike path runs its full length, separate from pedestrians, so walkers and cyclists never have to fight for space.

From five blocks of wood to a concrete seawall

In 1888, the boardwalk was five wooden blocks connecting two hotels. Then a fire tore through the Princess Anne Hotel in 1907 and took the original walkway with it.

The 1962 Ash Wednesday Nor’easter finished off what the fire left behind, sending 30-foot waves through sections of the structure. The rebuild that followed in the 1990s cost $100 million.

Workers moved more than 125,000 truckloads of sand and poured 81,000 cubic yards of concrete to raise the seawall that stands today.

King Neptune keeps watch at 31st Street

The bronze King Neptune at 31st Street stands 34 feet tall and weighs more than 12 tons.

Sculptor Paul DiPasquale designed him, and because American foundries turned down the job due to the statue’s size, it was cast in China using a 3,000-year-old technique called lost-wax bronze casting.

At his feet, an octopus, two dolphins, a sea turtle, a lobster and 12 fish surround the base. The city dedicated the statue on Sept. 30, 2005, during the Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend.

Six bronze statues trace the history of naval aviation

Naval Aviation Monument Park at 25th Street and Atlantic Avenue tells the story of naval flight across three eras. The first statue honors Eugene Ely, the first aviator to fly off a ship’s deck.

The second freezes a World War II moment, a pilot and crew scrambling through a flight deck hatch. The third shows a male pilot, female pilot and maintenance chief from the modern era.

Granite storyboards run throughout the park, tracing the full arc of naval aviation from 1910 to the present.

America’s first fully accessible oceanfront playground

JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park at 2nd Street opened on May 22, 2010, and it was the first 100 percent accessible oceanfront playground in the country.

The 15,000-square-foot park has wheelchair-accessible entrances, raised sand tables, a sensory board for children who are autistic or visually impaired, and sculptural play features shaped like dolphins, a surfboard and a wave, all accessible from a wheelchair.

The park was inspired by local surfer Josh Thompson after his ALS diagnosis. Free beach wheelchairs are available from April through October.

Drop a line without buying a fishing license

The Virginia Beach Fishing Pier at 15th Street stretches about 1,000 feet into the Atlantic. No fishing license required.

You can rent a rod and reel from the bait-and-tackle shop on-site and try for croaker, bluefish, flounder, spot or Spanish mackerel.

The pier runs open from April through October, with 24-hour access from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

If fishing isn’t your thing, you can pay a small fee just to walk the pier and look back at the coastline from the water.

Surrey bikes, cruisers and skates for every pace

The dedicated bike path running the full three miles of the boardwalk stays separate from foot traffic, and rental stations along the route put you on a beach cruiser, tandem bike, inline skates or a four-wheeled surrey that seats up to six people.

Cherie’s Bike and Blade Rentals has been operating here since 1984 and now runs 14 locations across the oceanfront. If you want a longer ride, the path connects to the Cape Henry Trail through First Landing State Park.

Free live music every summer at three different stages

The Oceanfront Concert Series puts free live music at the 17th, 24th and 31st Street parks every summer, with national recording artists and local musicians sharing the calendar.

Neptune Park at 31st Street also runs free outdoor movie screenings during the season.

The Live on Atlantic program adds more free street performers and entertainment along the boardwalk and Atlantic Avenue.

On a warm summer evening, you can walk three miles and catch three different acts without spending a dollar.

The Neptune Festival takes over 30 blocks every September

The Virginia Beach Neptune Festival has run every year since 1974. The 2026 edition marks its 52nd year, running Sept. 25 through 27.

It fills more than 30 blocks of the boardwalk with concerts, a craft show with over 200 artisans, and the International Sandsculpting Championship, where 22 artists build sculptures that take over the beach.

Most of it is free, including the Grand Parade, all concerts, and children’s activities at Poseidon’s Playground. An 8K race, surfing classic, volleyball tournament and Dock Dogs competition round out the weekend.

History runs the length of 13th Street to 24th Street

The Virginia Legends Walk at 13th Street Park, dedicated in 1999, marks the lives of famous Virginians with plaques, including Edgar Allan Poe, Ella Fitzgerald, Booker T. Washington and Patsy Cline.

A block away, the Virginia Beach Surf and Rescue Museum at 24th Street sits inside a 1903 Life-Saving Station on the National Register of Historic Places, holding more than 1,800 artifacts and 1,000 photographs.

The de Witt Cottage, built in 1895, houses the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum nearby, and a Navy SEAL Monument unveiled in 2017 stands close by as well.

The boardwalk doesn’t shut down when summer ends

Winter brings a drive-through light display called the BayPort Credit Union Holiday Lights at the Beach, running from late November through New Year’s Eve.

The Holiday Parade at the Beach lines Atlantic Avenue with floats and marching bands each December. Horseback riding on the beach is available in the winter months.

April brings the East Coast She-Crab Soup Classic, putting local restaurants in friendly competition.

Come spring, the Stars, Stripes and Spurs weekend puts live entertainment, bull riding and barrel racing right on the oceanfront.

Walk the Virginia Beach Boardwalk in Virginia

The boardwalk runs along the Atlantic Ocean from 2nd Street to 40th Street in Virginia Beach and is free and open to the public year-round.

If you’re driving, municipal parking garages sit on Pacific Avenue at 9th, 25th and 31st Streets, and lots charge a daily fee.

The Atlantic Avenue Shuttle, Route 30, runs the full length of Atlantic Avenue with stops about every 15 minutes during the season, so you can skip the parking search entirely and ride in.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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