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Holiday shoppers will rejoice at the fact that the Steamboat Springs annual Holidays in the Rockies event will happen over the course of not one, but three Saturdays this December. The event returns in person this year in a new location at the Depot Art …
The holidays are a huge time to travel and, if you’re planning to venture out, you probably have some questions about what things will look like this year. With the Omicron variant slowly spreading around the world, officials have already announced some tighter restrictions on …
A sandy beach is just a few steps away, a lively boardwalk is virtually at your doorstep, and the sunrise scene over the Atlantic seems close enough to touch: When it comes to well-located oceanside locations, Virginia Beach’s hotels and resorts tick a lot of boxes.
In fact, if having your toes in the sand within minutes of your arrival is a priority, Virginia Beach’s plentiful accommodations will more than deliver. Several dozen hotels and resorts line the 3-mile boardwalk that runs adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
Although many of the locations will get you within a quick walk to the beach, there are a few that stand out — for their extraordinary ocean views, their luxurious rooms, or their historic ambiance.
Note that I was hosted on my recent stay by the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, but all opinions remain my own.
Here are seven places for a wonderful oceanside stay in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Located on the far northern end of Virginia Beach’s row of hotels and resorts, the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront puts a stylish exclamation point on the city’s famous boardwalk. As one of the newest additions to the Virginia Beach lineup, the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront offers 305 chicly modern rooms and suites.
All of the rooms and suites come with an ocean view, and many also have spacious balconies — the perfect option for sitting and watching the waves roll in. An added bonus: I found the balcony in my upper-level room to be the ideal spot to catch the morning sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.
Along with the guestrooms, the Marriott Oceanfront also offers a full-service resort with swimming pools, a spacious lobby with comfortable seating areas, and two restaurants with sweeping ocean views.
With its oceanfront setting, the hotel’s Tulu Seaside Bar & Grill offers a front-row seat for the sunrise during breakfast. Ask for a patio table for an especially good show. Or, for a sumptuous seafood dining experience with some of the best ocean views around, Orion’s Roof is a not-to-be-missed Virginia Beach attraction.
Pro Tip: Because the Marriott Oceanfront is a part of the Cavalier Resort, guests can easily walk across the street to check out the Historic Cavalier Hotel & Beach Club and its luxurious SeaHill Spa.
Built nearly a century ago, the 1920s-era Cavalier Hotel & Beach Club retains the luxury of a bygone era even as it boasts modern touches from a recent multi-million-dollar renovation. Over the decades, the hotel known as the “grande dame” of Virginia Beach has attracted a host of luminaries ranging from U.S. presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy to celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, and Muhammad Ali.
From its spot at the top of a hill, the Cavalier overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is a quick walk to the beach. Combined with the nearby Marriott Oceanfront, the historic hotel is a part of the sprawling Cavalier Resort that offers a range of restaurants, pools, lounges, and a spa.
Guests can stop by the Cavalier’s rustic Hunt Room tavern for an evening of hand-crafted cocktails in front of a roaring fire, or the elegant Becca Restaurant & Garden for brunch in the sunroom or terrace.
The Cavalier, a part of the Marriott’s Autograph Collection, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features 85 luxurious guestrooms and suites.
Pro Tip: For a unique experience in hand-crafted spirits, plan to stop by Tarnished Truth, a distillery located in the lower level of the Cavalier Hotel, where regular tastings will allow you to sample the locally made bourbon, gin, and moonshine.
For a family-friendly stay complete with four oceanfront pools and rooms and suites of various configurations, the Oceanaire Resort Hotel is the go-to spot on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.
The resort bills itself as your “home away from home,” and it offers suites that feature living rooms, kitchens or kitchenettes, and private bedrooms. Oceanaire, which is a Diamond Resort, features an 18-story tower and four oceanside pools, including an adults-only infinity pool.
Located right along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk, the Oceanaire offers easy access to the beach, as well as to local attractions like First Landing and False Cape state parks and the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
Visitors who want to be at “beach central” gravitate to the Hyatt House Virginia Beach/Oceanfront, which is a 2-minute walk from the boardwalk and beach, about 5 minutes from the massive King Neptune statue that overlooks the boardwalk, and about 18 minutes from Virginia Beach’s quaint fishing pier.
The hotel offers 156 light and airy dens, studios, and one-bedroom suites with kitchens, living spaces, bedrooms, and work areas. All of the rooms feature balconies that overlook the Atlantic Ocean and the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.
The hotel’s pool and free breakfasts make it a popular spot for families. In addition, located right next door to the hotel, is the fun Ocean 27, a beach bar and beach park that features The Yard, which has three different areas of entertainment and fun, including a kid-friendly grass/turf area for chilling, games, and food. The Yard offers a menu of wood-fired pizza, sandwiches, barbecue, cheesesteaks, salads, and ice cream.
Pro Tip: The Hyatt House Virginia Beach is among a handful of oceanfront Virginia Beach resorts that are pet-friendly.
For a taste of the Caribbean in Virginia Beach, head to the Ocean Beach Club by Diamond Resorts, an upscale resort featuring island-inspired décor and cuisine.
The resort offers four pools, including an oceanfront adults-only infinity pool with bar service, an indoor pool with cascading water features, and two outdoor oceanfront pools. The outdoor pools are adjacent to the hotel’s Tortugas Café and Tiki Bar that offers tropical poolside cocktails like frozen daiquiris and margaritas, along with seafood fare like fish tacos and crab dip. The resort also features a 10th-floor lounge and sundeck overlooking the beach.
The Ocean Beach Club offers a range of room types and price points, ranging from cozy city-view studios to partial ocean view one-bedroom suites to oceanfront suites with a balcony and private bedroom.
Located just steps from the striking Neptune statue that towers over the Virginia Beach Boardwalk, the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront offers one of the most convenient locations for visitors who want to be in the middle of the action.
The 21-story, 291-room Hilton is the centerpiece of an entertainment complex that features an oceanfront park, retail shops and boutiques, and the beautiful Catch 31 Fish House & Bar.
The hotel is topped by a rooftop Sky Bar and an infinity pool that offers spectacular ocean views. In fact, the guestrooms come with dramatic Atlantic Ocean views of their own. Many of the rooms have private balconies, and the ocean views from the upper floors are considered among the best in the region.
If a smaller venue located slightly off the beach is more to your liking, the Barclay Cottage Bed and Breakfast is a local favorite for its historic ambiance, beautiful gardens, and wrap-around porches.
Located two blocks from the beach, Barclay Cottage Bed and Breakfast is convenient to the oceanfront and the Virginia Beach Boardwalk, but it is a bit removed from the crowds that can gravitate there.
The bed and breakfast is housed in an 1895 historic beach cottage that served as a school for 50 years. It is said to be the oldest lodging in Virginia Beach that is still receiving guests. The cottage is situated on a corner lot and features scalloped hedges, lush gardens, a great room, and a massage room.
Breakfast consists of a two-course meal that features fresh ingredients and alternates between a sweet and savory menu. Each breakfast starts with fresh fruit with a twist — grilled, poached, baked, or served in a puree.
Barclay Cottages offers a number of complimentary amenities, including bikes and helmets, beach towels, chairs, umbrellas, and boogie boards.
Late May through early September is considered the peak season in Virginia Beach because of the warm, sunny days and numerous summer activities and festivals. Summer temperatures are warm, with average highs in the 80-degree Fahrenheit range from June through September, and in the high 70s in May. Hotels and restaurants tend to be at their busiest in the summer, and rates are at their highest.
For milder temperatures and fewer crowds, fall and spring are also good choices in Virginia Beach. April posts an average high temperature of 68 degrees, and October has an average high of 71, while November’s highs are in the low 60s. Winters tend to be cool in Virginia Beach, with December, January, and February all posting average highs in the low 50s.
For ideas on activities in Virginia Beach, see:
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Welcome to NYLON’s City Guides, your one-stop shop for the ideal vacation. Here, you’ll find the ultimate recommendations when it comes to where to stay, eat, drink, shop, and more for the world’s hottest cities — all tried and tested by NYLON editors. Read on for your ideal, NYLON-approved itinerary.
Maybe it’s the inevitable result of culture’s obsession with Western aesthetics over the last few years, but Nashville seems to be at the top of the world’s travel itinerary at the moment. To be fair, the historic Tennessee city has never really left the cultural conversation. But there does appear to be a subtle renaissance happening within its music-gilded avenues — the city’s skyline dotted with new construction during my last visit there and a topic of discussion with nearly every person I met. “We’re the crane capital of the world right now,” joked my hotel’s manager on my first day.
While that may be, the bones of Nashville still run deep. Despite the recent facelift, the goings-on about town still carry a sense of humble routine: the locals frequent their favorites, the honky tonks play the old classics, and, like a small town, everyone knows everyone — just talk to the gaggle of local musicians in the smoking section outside of every bar.
In that same sense of mixing old and new, NYLON’s guide to Nashville is our ideal balance of tradition and an update to the classics. Read on to prepare your next trip to Nashville from where to stay, eat, drink, and more.
W Nashville: There’s nothing like staying in the heart of downtown Nashville, and the W Hotel’s glamorous branch is the perfect place for those trying to take advantage of everything the city’s got to offer. They call it Music City, and with W Nashville’s prime location in the flourishing Gulch area, you’re literally in the mix of it. A couple minutes drive from the hotel is the city’s illustrious (albeit a bit boring) Music Row; a few minutes in the other direction and you’re on Broadway, the main strip of Nashville, and functionally a double-lined avenue of bars and live music. Everywhere you go there’s a reminder of what this city’s known for, and in that way there’s a coursing bit of electric energy in the air.
The music motif extends inside the hotel which is completely decked out, and will lovingly serve as your safe haven after staying out at the locals’ favorite honky tonk bar until 3 a.m. The rooms are Southern-style roomy and modern, but not over-the-top. The hotel’s L-shaped pool, generous terrace of green space, and its nearly 360 degree rooftop bar all are perfect for when you’re looking to relax. When you are ready to rev it up again, you’re never out of sight range from a bar. (There’s upwards of eight throughout the hotel.) Then, when you’re ready to be revitalized the next morning, there’s The Dutch, where the hotel’s breakfast and cafe eatery with tomato poached eggs and a breakfast spread is a top choice.
Arnold’s Country Kitchen: Any trip to the South isn’t truly complete without at least one meal of hefty, decadent, and not-great-for-the-body-but-great-for-the-soul comfort food. Arnold’s Country Kitchen, or just Arnold’s, will do the trick. The certified institution has been in operation in Nashville since 1982 and serves up all its comfort classics — fried catfish, roast beef, brisket, roast chicken, and more depending on its daily menu — cafeteria style. We recommend the roast beef, which is sliced to order, the melt-in-your-mouth brisket, the gooey pie, and, duh, the mac and cheese. The best part? The whole thing will set you back, maybe, $12.
Henrietta Red: Tennessee may be a landlocked state, but Nashville’s seafood scene is still, surprisingly, popping. A standout is Henrietta Red, a white-walled and bright eatery in the city’s Germantown area that was named a best new restaurant by Bon Appetit and GQ in 2017. The spot has a stellar vegetable-forward seasonal menu, but the real star of the show is its raw bar, which boasts 10 different varieties of oysters from coasts every which way. After your fill of those, you can’t go wrong with any seafood dish, as well as the lamb sausage and gnocchi.
Carne Mare: Big spenders and meat fiends, turn your gaze to the gleaming newest location of Carne Mare, the upscale Italian chophouse by famed Chef Andrew Carmellini that’s named “meat sea” and (for you) conveniently attached to the W. You don’t need me to tell you that all the meat is decadent, sinful, rich, incredible, etc. Instead, I’ll point out two non-meat items: the beet steak, a feat of chef ingenuity that makes this vegetarian meat option a smoky, taste-bud-exciting delight, and the 17-layer chocolate cake, because, well, the reason is in its name.
The Blue Room/Third Man Records: There’s no shortage of famed bars, dives, and alcohol-dispensing spots all along Nashville’s main street Broadway, but for a truly unique drinking experience, you’ll want to visit an unlikely spot (or maybe likely spot for Nashville): a record studio. Jack White’s renowned Third Man Records opened its Blue Room Bar in July 2021, and it’s truly an all-senses experience.
Bathed completely in electric blue light with a real taxidermied elephant’s head hanging on its walls, the bar feels like entering a surreal and swanky outer-world club. Equipped with a stage, it’s the same room where hundreds of artists have recorded and posed for the label’s famed 7” vinyl series, Blue Series. While the menu’s signature cocktails skew a bit old fashioned, we recommend The Champ — reposado tequila, creme de cassis, lemon, ginger beer, orange, and bitters — to get you started.
Go thrifting at High Class Hillbilly: Something strange happens to the brain the second one lands in Nashville. A deep, sudden, and unexplainable desire to wear cowboy boots, hats, and fringe overwhelms the body. (Maybe it’s because real people actually wear those items on the daily here.) If this happens to you, sideline the Stetsons and boot stores and hit-up High Class Hillbilly, a quaint, two-level boutique thrift shop that stocks all of the above and more well-curated curios to help you complete your look. There’s normal clothes, too, and actual vintage pieces taken from the closets of notable locals and collectors. Plus, the week I was there, rumor has it Kate Moss visited and picked up a few pieces. If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me.
Visit the Museum of African American Music: Beyond being a robust, educational, and history-rectifying resource for tracing the musical lineage of the African American diaspora, the Museum of African American Music is also really fun. It opened its doors in January 2021 and has a ton of interactive features that complement its text-heavy walls, like stations for you to produce your own beat, make a song, and rap along to the greats. Learn about how every music genre really does trace its roots to the Black diaspora and, if anything, it’ll give you a place to work off a meal of Prince’s Hot Chicken from the Assembly Food Hall next door.
Do a Honky Tonk Tuesday at American Legion: American Legion Post 82 is technically a hub for U.S. veterans, but on Tuesdays it transforms into a rowdy and festive social locale complete with a dance floor and live music from local country and hillbilly bands. It’s, what we’ll say, reaaal country — but the music, most likely performed by Nashville’s most well-known honky tonk band The Cowpokes, is the best of it kind, the beers are cheap, and everyone is more than nice enough to teaching you how to two-step on the fly when you’re finally done observing on the sidelines and ready to jump into the mix.