Start from 33 curated places around Norfolk, VA, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Doumar's Cones & Barbecue
A Norfolk institution since 1904 — Abe Doumar invented the waffle cone at the 1904 World's Fair and his family has been making them fresh at this Ghent drive-in ever since. The North Carolina-style barbecue is the savory main event; the original cone-making machine is still on display and running.
Crudo Nudo
Ghent's Italian-leaning small-plates spot — raw preparations, handmade pastas, and a menu built for grazing and sharing. The pasta program is the reason locals come back: tagliatelle, pappardelle, and seasonal fills change with what the kitchen is excited about.
Trails & outdoors
Bald Cypress Trail (First Landing SP)
The signature trail of Virginia's most-visited state park — 1.8 miles of boardwalk through a rare coastal bald cypress swamp, one of the northernmost cypress swamp ecosystems on the East Coast. The trail passes over the water directly through the cypress canopy; osprey, great blue herons, and river otters are regular sightings.
Cape Henry Trail (First Landing SP)
A 7-mile out-and-back through the varied ecosystems of First Landing State Park — dune forests, freshwater ponds, marsh habitat, and eventually the Chesapeake Bay beachfront at Cape Henry. The best long trail option in the Hampton Roads area for those who want genuine forest immersion near the coast.
Things to do
Chrysler Museum Perry Glass Studio
The only glass studio of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic — a 33,200-square-foot working facility adjacent to the Chrysler Museum where visitors can watch live glassblowing demos at noon daily for free. The studio also offers hands-on glassblowing classes ranging from 90-minute beginner sessions to multi-day workshops.
Harrison Opera House
Virginia Opera's home venue — a 1945 WWII-era USO theater lavishly renovated in 1993 into a 1,600-seat opera house. The Virginia Opera season runs fall through spring with productions ranging from classic works to American opera. The building is also used by the Norfolk Symphony and for touring musicals.
Landmarks & sights
Chrysler Museum of Art
One of the finest regional art museums in the South — 30,000+ works spanning Egyptian antiquities through contemporary American art, with a particularly remarkable glass collection. The adjacent Perry Glass Studio is the only one of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic, offering free noon glassblowing demos every day.
Nauticus & Battleship Wisconsin
Downtown Norfolk's maritime discovery center anchored by the USS Wisconsin, one of the largest and last battleships built by the US Navy (BB-64) — you can walk the deck of this WWII and Korean War veteran at the city's waterfront. The museum itself covers maritime science, naval history, and Chesapeake Bay ecology.