100 Things to Do in Virginia Beach Before You Die

Virginia Beach is a city of dichotomies. To the south, Virginia Beach boasts beautiful landscapes, stunning water views and a thriving farming community. In the northerly half, tourists come by the millions each year to the resort and surrounding tourist areas, while the locals work and play year-round in Virginia’s most populous city. Within its borders, Virginia Beach is home of the East Coast’s Master Jet Base, Naval Air Station Oceana, and a Navy SEAL unit responsible for capturing and killing Osama bin Laden. Stretching 497 square miles, with 35 miles of coastline, Virginia Beach offers something for everybody, including a top-notch education system and one of the safest cities of its size in the United States. It’s here people move in and out with new military orders, and it’s where many people remain throughout their entire lives. Regardless of whether they’re natives or transplants, visitors or seasonal workers, people can find something new and exciting to do in Virginia Beach 365 days a year. In the following pages, a few unfold.

Toni Guagenti grew up in land-locked Ohio, but ventured East for college, where she first fell in love with the Atlantic Ocean via trips to Ocean City, Md., and then via her first newspaper job on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Eventually, a job led her to Virginia Beach, where she quickly became a local--devouring the seafood, basking in sunsets and sunrises, and, eventually giving birth to a daughter, a true Virginia Beach native. Guagenti still revels in the beauty of Virginia Beach and the hospitality of its people.