Norfolk

A navy city on Hampton Roads, where the battleship USS Wisconsin and the world's largest naval base reflect the power of the sea. The Chrysler Museum of Art and the waterfront downtown are worth a leisurely stroll.

Norfolk is located on Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia, where the Elizabeth River meets Chesapeake Bay. It is home to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and to the world's largest naval base.

The downtown area stretches along the Elizabeth River. The Nauticus maritime center and the USS Wisconsin battleship, Town Point Park, the Waterside District, and the ferry terminal form a continuous waterfront. Walking north, you reach the MacArthur Memorial, St. Paul's Church, the Freemason Street Historic District, the NEON arts district, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Further north is Ghent, a neighborhood full of restaurants. On the city's north side are the naval base, the botanical garden, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, and the beaches of Chesapeake Bay.

The best seasons are April to June and September to October. April brings the Norfolk NATO Festival, also known as the International Azalea Festival. July and August are hot and humid, and hurricane season runs from August to October.

Getting there: Norfolk International Airport is about 15 minutes by car from downtown. Amtrak trains connect to Washington, D.C. The light rail line, the Tide, runs through the city, but a car is needed to reach the more scattered attractions.

Plan to spend 1 to 2 days. It can be combined with Virginia Beach and Williamsburg as a southeastern Virginia loop. Visiting the naval base requires a valid photo ID, and foreign visitors should confirm the requirements in advance.

Top sights

• Nauticus & Battleship Wisconsin – A maritime science and technology centre on the Norfolk waterfront, with the decommissioned Iowa-class battleship USS Wisconsin moored alon…
• Virginia Zoo – A mid-sized zoo in Norfolk with giraffes, rhinos, orangutans and an African savanna area, an easygoing choice for family outings.
• MacArthur Memorial – A memorial that houses General MacArthur's tomb, set in a 19th-century former city hall, with artifacts from World War II and the Korean Wa…
• Chrysler Museum of Art – A free general art museum with some 30,000 works from ancient Egypt to modern art, and a particularly famous glass collection.
• Naval Station Norfolk – The world's largest naval base, where aircraft carriers and destroyers line up at the piers; you can take the official base bus tour for a…
• Elizabeth River Harbor Cruises – Harbour cruises from city-centre piers, sailing along the Elizabeth River for close views of aircraft carriers, destroyers and the Norfolk…
• Ghent District – A Victorian-era historic neighbourhood just north of the Chrysler Museum, lined with restaurants, bars, antique shops and independent store…
• Hermitage Museum & Gardens – An Arts and Crafts-style estate on the Lafayette River, whose house holds collections spanning five thousand years of Asian and Western art…
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church – The only building to survive Norfolk's 1776 fire, with a cannonball fired by a British warship still lodged in its wall, marking a starting…
• Waterside District – A dining and entertainment complex by the Elizabeth River, with restaurants and bars set along the water, and the departure point for ferri…
• Town Point Park – A grassy park on the Elizabeth River in the city centre, the main venue for Norfolk's festivals and concerts, with ships passing on the riv…
• Elizabeth River Ferry – A paddlewheel-style ferry linking Norfolk and historic Portsmouth; its low fare makes it the best-value 'cruise' on the Elizabeth River.
• Olde Towne Portsmouth & Naval Shipyard Museum – A historic colonial-era old town just across the river, with many 18th- and 19th-century houses, and a riverside naval shipyard museum tell…
• Ocean View Beach – A long sandy beach on Norfolk's north shore facing Chesapeake Bay, with gentle waves and shallow water; quieter than Virginia Beach and goo…
• NEON District – A former auto row north of downtown, transformed into an arts district with large murals, galleries and theatres lining the streets, perfec…
• West Freemason Street Historic District – The most intact 19th-century residential district downtown, with cobblestone streets lined with Federal-style and Greek Revival houses.
• Fort Norfolk – A riverside fortress completed in 1794, one of the earliest coastal gun batteries built by the federal government in the United States, and…
• Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge – A vast primeval swamp forest southwest of Norfolk, with boardwalks through cypress wetlands; Lake Drummond at its centre is one of Virginia…
• Hunter House Victorian Museum – A Romanesque Revival house built in 1894, with its Victorian furniture, decor and collection of medical instruments fully preserved.

Where to eat

• Doumar's Cones and Barbecue – A century-old family restaurant that claims to be the birthplace of the waffle cone, still making cones on an 1905 mach…
• Freemason Abbey – An American restaurant in an 1873 former church, known for its award-winning she-crab soup, crab cakes and roasted beef…
• Handsome Biscuit – A popular brunch spot on Park Place serving secret-recipe Southern biscuits filled with fried chicken, bacon and sausag…
• Luce – A small Italian restaurant on downtown Granby Street, where chef Tony Caruana's handmade pasta and drink list draw stro…

Itineraries

• Virginia Mountains & Founding History – Travel east from Shenandoah through Charlottesville, Richmond, and the Historic Triangle to the coast.