can anyone recommend a hotel/motel in virginia beach?

March 7, 2010 6:47 PM

Can anyone recommend a hotel/motel in virginia beach that's cheap, clean, family-friendly and within walking distance to the beach?

I've stayed at a number of places in VB, with mixed experiences - some very nice but very pricey, or less pricey but less nice.

I'm wondering if there's any specific places that you might recommended, searching the web shows a fair number of places but I'm not sure I can see any real good picks...

Being within walking distance of the beach would be a definite plus.

Thanks in advance.

posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

Pretty much anywhere at the oceanfront is going to be within walking distance to the beach. The real question is whether or not you want it to be within walking distance of the beach and anything else.

I live here, so I don't really have any personal experience staying within hotels in the area, but I've always heard good things about the Sheraton. Not within walking distance to anything else but still on the beach is Wynwood, or if you want to be guaranteed a nice room there's always the Hilton or Turtle Cay. I stayed at The Cavalier over New Year's and it was amazing. Of course, who costs what is all dependent on what time of year you plan on coming.

Avoid the Clarion and Doubletree hotels (I use to bartend there for some time, trust me you want to avoid them like the plague). If you're coming during the summer you may want to check Craigslist as more and more people rent their residences when they are away on their own vacations.
posted by sephira at 8:32 PM on March 7, 2010

I'm a fan of the Cavalier and the Hilton. I'm not as enamored of the Sheraton, as I have found it to have aged not as well as you might like. If they would put some money into refurbishing the place, I'd love it again.
posted by Lame_username at 10:08 PM on March 7, 2010

At this time of year, priceline will give you a one-star motel for about $32/day (actually, about $39 with taxes/fees).

I've stayed in several of the one stars, and they're all pretty much the same. The one that stood out had incredibly narrow parking spaces, but strange, large, two bedroom suites -- unfortunately I don't recall the same.

But again, at least at the one star level, they're all pretty fungible.

If I did it over again, I'd get two or three star hotels, as the priceline additional cost for higher stars isn't that great.
posted by orthogonality at 1:43 AM on March 8, 2010

Response by poster: thanks for the suggestions so far; to clarify I'm planning ahead for where to stay during the summer.
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 3:12 AM on March 8, 2010

There is no such thing as a cheap hotel on VA beach in the summer. Even the Econolodge / Days Inn types of places will be over $100 a night. If budget really is the primary concern, you might look into renting one of the camping cabins at the KOA. We used to camp there every summer. It's not walking distance to the beach, but the campground has a free shuttle bus that runs to the beach every hour or so.
posted by COD at 5:50 AM on March 8, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for your comments.

FWIW I see the KOA cabins are analagous to $100 a night, a bit lower but not that much.

COD, your point is taken, so I'll either need to find someplace respectable and simply pay what I need to, or else change vacation plans entirely if money is tight.

Also I see the VB Super 8 on the beach is listed as one of the worst hotels in america. Haven't stayed there, though (thankfully)...
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:39 AM on March 9, 2010