The historic port city of Norfolk, Virginia, along the Elizabeth River, balances its rich naval heritage with modern art and natural beauty. Marvel at the mighty USS Wisconsin, see world-class art at the Chrysler Museum, and explore the massive Norfolk Botanical Garden.
Our 2-day itinerary blends the must-sees with authentic local experiences.
Table of Contents
Norfolk Virginia Itinerary
Our itinerary is perfect for a weekend trip to Norfolk giving you lots of time to visit Norfolk’s must-see places.
Day 1: Norfolk’s Downtown Waterfront
- Experience Nauticus’ interactive exhibits, spanning maritime science, underwater environments, and port technology.
- Discover over two centuries of regional naval history and impressive ship models at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Nauticus.
- Walk beneath the massive 16-inch guns of the USS Wisconsin BB-64, a floating city and one of the largest battleships ever built by the U.S. Navy.
- Walk Norfolk’s Downtown & Waterfront and find history, arts and culture.
- Cap off the day aboard the three-masted schooner American Rover, for a scenic sunset cruise along the Elizabeth River.
Day 2: Arts, History and Gardens
- Stroll the quiet streets lined with beautiful red-brick homes in the Historic Freemason District, Norfolk’s oldest neighborhood.
- See luminous Tiffany glass pieces and world-class fine art within the Chrysler Museum of Art‘s many galleries
- Step across the street to discover the art of glassmaking through the Perry Glass Studio‘s live demonstrations.
- Explore themed gardens across 175 acres of the Norfolk Botanical Garden on foot, by narrated tram, or on a seasonal boat tour.
- Savor fresh Chesapeake Bay seafood, including regional staples like creamy she-crab soup and briny local oysters, at a Norfolk Restaurant.
If you have more time, slow down your second day by moving your visit to the Norfolk Botanical Garden to Day 3. You’ll be able to truly enjoy its massive grounds at a relaxing pace.
Norfolk Virginia Attractions Map
Use our interactive map to navigate Norfolk Virginia’s top attractions, neighborhoods, and landmarks with ease.
Nauticus
Nauticus is a fully interactive naval and marine museum right on the downtown waterfront. It includes immersive tech, naval history, and direct access to the massive WWII battleship moored outside.
For the hands-on interactive exhibits head to the 3rd floor. At the Water Table, we assisted ships of all kinds as they navigated and interacted with vessels on Norfolk’s Elizabeth River. We tried to weld 2 sheets of steel together in the AR Welder exhibit. The kids did a better job! We also matched marine careers with the specialized gear they use in their jobs. Aquaticus, for visitors 10 and under, looked like a lot of fun to us. Kids explore the undersea world of the Chesapeake Bay. There is much more, including a full theater, on the 3rd floor.
On the 2nd floor, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum traces over 242 years of United States Naval history. It is one of ten official U.S. Navy museums and, while within the Nauticus building, it is free to visit.
A large gallery on World War II’s Battle of the Atlantic focuses on submarine warfare, while permanent displays cover conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War. A collection of naval ship models show vessels from the Age of Sail to the Nuclear Navy. See a replica of the USS Monitor’s turret. For those interested in naval history, this is just a sampling.
From the second floor, take the walkway over to the Battleship Wisconsin, berthed right alongside. Visitors unable to board the ship can visit using the Ship Experience Access Room (SEAR), to take a virtual tour of Wisconsin. We spent about 2.5 hours at Nauticus, half of it aboard the ship.
USS Wisconsin BB-64
The museum’s star attraction, the Battleship Wisconsin, is an Iowa-class battleship. She is one of the largest and last battleships ever built by the U.S. Navy, and was officially commissioned into service in April 1944.
Wisconsin’s service record spans three conflicts: World War II, the Korean War, and Operation Desert Storm. During WWII, she joined the final bombardments of the Japanese home islands and earned six battle stars. The ship holds a unique distinction as the last battleship in the world to fire its main guns in combat (1991 Operation Desert Storm). USS Wisconsin was decommissioned at the end of September 1991. The world’s last battleship was decommissioned in 1992.
Walking onto the deck, the size is staggering. The ship stretches over 887 feet (more than 2.5 football fields) and 108 feet wide. The main armament features nine 16-inch guns in three turrets. Each barrel is roughly 67 feet long and has a range of up to 24 miles. Wisconsin was home to over 2,900 sailors during her WWII deployments.
We wandered multiple decks exploring the galley, dining rooms, chapel, medical section, and more on our own. Guided tours reach the engine rooms and command centers further below. Even if you don’t have an interest in naval warfare, Wisconsin is interesting to tour just to imagine it as a floating small town.
Downtown & The Waterfront
Norfolk’s downtown waterfront blends history, culture, and entertainment along the Elizabeth River. A three-mile tree-lined promenade with open green spaces connects the attractions, making this the city’s central entertainment district. Just a few blocks north, there are several worthwhile places which can be visited on a short walking loop.
As you explore, watch for the colorful Mermaids of Norfolk sculptures, a beloved public art initiative which began in 1999 and continues today. Vibrant mermaid sculptures are displayed throughout the city, celebrating its maritime identity. The City of Norfolk’s interactive Mermaid Spotting Map can turn tracking them down into a fun scavenger hunt. Mermaid souvenirs are available throughout the city.
For those arriving by cruise ship at the modern Half Moone Cruise Center, you’ll be dropped off right next door to Nauticus in the middle of the downtown waterfront. The massive scale of modern ships beside the historic battleship creates a spectacular waterfront view.
Continuing southeast from Nauticus, Town Point Park occupies the historic spot where Norfolk began in 1680. This eight-acre waterfront park hosts over 100 festivals and concerts each year, including the annual Harborfest.
On the waterfront, at the western edge of the park, stands the Armed Forces Memorial, honoring service members from the area who died in service. Its 22 bronze letters lie scattered across the plaza as if blown by wind, each one based on the actual words of a fallen U.S. service member.
On the eastern edge of the park, there’s a splash fountain with more than 25 ground-level jets. It’s a great spot for kids to cool off on a hot summer day. During major waterfront festivals, the fountain is often turned off and covered, transforming the area into additional walkway and event space.
Walk north, away from the waterfront, on Martins Lane to Main Street. Straight ahead is the entrance to Selden Market. We walked through the beautifully renovated building which gives new small businesses low rents and short leases. This fills the hall with a rotating mix of vendors from handmade jewelry and vintage fashion, to specialty coffee shops and restaurants. We understand a number of startup businesses have been able to launch from here to bigger venues around the city.
Walk Plume Street east to Bank Street. Turn left and walk to the MacArthur Memorial which occupies Norfolk’s stately 1850 former City Hall, a Classical Revival landmark. Its central rotunda holds the tombs of General Douglas MacArthur and his wife, Jean. General MacArthur chose Norfolk as his final resting place because of his mother’s deep family roots in the city. Nine galleries display his uniforms, weapons, and Asian art objects like porcelain. Admission is free. For more about his life and service, check out the short introductory film showing in the visitor center. The exterior is beautifully lit at night.
Walk west on City Hall Avenue to Granby Street. The hotel on the corner doubles as an art destination. It occupies the beautifully restored 1912 Royster Building and takes its name from the on-site Glass Light Gallery. It is home to more than 65 glass works, including pieces by renowned artist Dale Chihuly. Admission is free. Even the hotel lobby feels like part of the exhibit, where a pair of six-foot glass bunny sculptures, “Pops and Bunny” by Dutch artist Peter Bremers, greet every guest.
Walk back toward Town Point Park (south) on Granby Street. The beautiful Owen B. Pickett U.S. Custom House with its classical Revival architecture, stands at the corner of Granby and Main. Completed in 1858, it served the U.S. Customs Service, one of the first federal agencies established in 1789. Norfolk was designated one of the nation’s original ports of entry.
For a different perspective of the waterfront, we enjoyed a harbor cruise aboard the American Rover.
American Rover Sailing Cruise
The American Rover is a 135-foot, three-masted topsail schooner offering two-hour narrated tours of the Elizabeth River and Hampton Roads harbor, including a popular sunset option. When she entered service in 1986, she was the largest three-masted passenger topsail schooner in the U.S. Her distinctive red tanbark sails have been a signature sight of the area ever since.
Inspired by 19th-century Chesapeake Bay cargo schooners, the vessel is Coast Guard certified for 129 passengers. During the sail, you are welcome to lend a hand hauling the halyards or take a turn at the helm.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time on the water. The captain’s live commentary on the commercial traffic and military vessels docked along the river was impressive. The route glides past key landmarks like the Battleship Wisconsin, Old Fort Norfolk, the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and active regional shipyards. Below deck, climate-controlled lounges house a ship’s store and bar serving drinks and snacks. Evening sails often feature live acoustic music.
The American Rover docks at Waterside Marina right beside the Waterside District, making it an easy spot to grab dinner or drinks before or after your cruise.
Historic Freemason District
Just a short distance west of downtown, the Historic Freemason District is Norfolk’s oldest neighborhood and makes a lovely morning walk. It was Norfolk’s first district listed on the National Register in 1972 and features tree-lined brick-paved streets, brick sidewalks, and wrought-iron fences.
As we walked through the neighborhood, we admired the red-brick historic homes, which showcase a mix of Federal, Greek Revival, and Victorian architecture.
At the edge of the neighborhood, the Pagoda & Oriental Garden offers a quiet spot to rest along the waterfront. The two-story Pagoda was a 1989 gift from the Taiwan Provincial Government to Virginia and Norfolk, symbolizing their trade ties. It overlooks a lush garden anchored by a large koi pond.
The waterfront promenade here is part of the Elizabeth River Trail, a more than 10-mile path that connects 28 Norfolk neighborhoods. Following the trail north from Freemason leads to historic Fort Norfolk, commissioned in 1794 by George Washington and Jeff Robertson Park, home to The Glowline, the East Coast’s first glow-in-the-dark trail.
Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art is a distinguished institution housing a vast collection spanning 5,000 years of art history. Its holdings cover a wide range of artistic styles and eras, from ancient artifacts and European masterworks to contemporary glass art.
Originally opened in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, the museum expanded significantly in 1971 when automotive heir Walter P. Chrysler Jr. donated the majority of his massive collection to the museum. Highlights include Gianlorenzo Bernini’s final sculpture, a marble bust of Jesus Christ, alongside luminous lamps by Louis Comfort Tiffany and one of the largest glass collections in America.
Admission is always free. We spent about an hour touring the main galleries, but art lovers will easily want to budget more time here.
Perry Glass Studio
Located right next door to the main museum, don’t miss the Perry Glass Studio, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the glassmaking arts. A major expansion completed in early 2025 tripled the studio’s size to over 33,000 square feet.
The facility functions as an active workshop for glassblowing, casting, and flameworking rather than a static gallery. Free public glassblowing demonstrations are held in its performance theater daily at noon, Wednesday through Sunday. The studio also offers themed glassmaking workshops for various ages and skill levels.
The Chrysler Museum sits on the western edge of the Neon District (short for New Energy of Norfolk), the city’s first official arts district. The neighborhood boasts more than 100 public artworks, including large-scale murals, sculptures, and glowing light installations. Just a quarter-mile east of the museum, Magazine Lane showcases an ever-changing display of outdoor street art and graffiti, evoking the atmosphere of Miami’s Wynwood Walls.
Norfolk Botanical Garden
The Norfolk Botanical Garden spans 175 acres and is Virginia’s largest botanical garden. Surrounded by water on three sides, it features more than 60 distinct themed areas connected by miles of paved walking trails. It began in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project that provided crucial employment for more than 200 African American women and 20 men who cleared the swampland by hand and planted the first azaleas.
Because we visited on a press trip, we had about two hours to explore so we focused on the areas near the main entrance. We strolled past the colorful beds of the Bicentennial Rose Garden and walked up to the NATO Tower Overlook. This central elevated viewpoint, named in honor of Norfolk’s role as home to NATO’s Allied Command Transformation headquarters, offers sweeping views across the surrounding canopy and waterways. If you have a full morning or afternoon, taking the narrated tram tour or seasonal boat tour is a great way to see the outer reaches of the grounds without getting worn out.
Butterfly House
Within the 2.5-acre Bristow Butterfly Garden, the Summer Butterfly House is one of the garden’s standout seasonal attractions. Originally built as a temporary exhibit in 2009, it proved so popular that it became a permanent installation, later being voted USA Today’s Best Butterfly House.
The 3,000-square-foot screened structure features roughly 30 species of native butterflies alongside nectar plants and caterpillar host plants. Peak butterfly activity in Norfolk usually hits in July and August as temperatures warm up and more broods emerge. It’s an educational setup where you can learn about the four stages of metamorphosis and check out the custom chrysalis display case to watch butterflies emerge from their chrysalises.
Garden of Tomorrow
During our press visit, we were given a preview of the Garden of Tomorrow, a $50 million expansion slated to open to the public in late 2026. Designed as a model for sustainable horticulture, the project includes a new entry pavilion, parking gardens, and a bistro.
The centerpiece of the expansion is the 26,000-square-foot Perry Conservatory, a massive glasshouse housing four distinct climate biomes: tropical rainforest, arid desert, Mediterranean, and subtropical environments. The conservatory is designed to showcase some of the planet’s most threatened plant species, with colorful hand-blown glass art installations integrated throughout the botanical displays.
Just above the glasshouse sits the Batten Sky Meadow, a rooftop garden cultivated with herbs and produce for the bistro. An accessible 22-foot elevated skywalk connects the meadow to the main pavilion, offering an incredible vantage point over the lush grounds below. It’s a stunning place.
Norfolk Harborfest
As America’s largest and longest-running free maritime festival, Norfolk Harborfest takes over the Downtown Waterfront at Town Point Park each June. Celebrating the region’s rich nautical heritage since 1976, this annual festival packs the waterfront with maritime history, live entertainment, and harbor traditions.
We were lucky enough to be in town during the festival, which kicks off with the spectacular Parade of Sail. It was an incredible sight watching vessels of all shapes and sizes, from local paddleboarders to majestic tall ships, glide up the Elizabeth River. Our vantage point at the water’s edge near the Pagoda was perfect.
Throughout the park, there are street performers, interactive games, family-friendly activities, and dozens of local food vendors. Best of all, many visiting tall ships open their decks for public tours, giving you a chance to step aboard, meet the crew, and learn about life aboard these remarkable vessels.
In the evenings, the waterfront comes alive with live music, special entertainment, and one of the East Coast’s largest fireworks displays over the river. If you’re planning a trip to Norfolk in June, try to align your dates with Harborfest. You won’t regret it!
Norfolk Restaurants
Norfolk’s dining scene is a mix of Chesapeake Bay seafood, Southern comfort food, and international flavors. Expect local specialties like she-crab soup, Lynnhaven oysters, and Virginia peanut soup, served everywhere from historic buildings to buzzing waterfront halls. Here are a few spots worth seeking out.
| Name | Known for |
|---|---|
| Omar’s Carriage House | 1840s carriage house in Freemason District serving American-Mediterranean fare; Known for its Sunday brunch and home-made donuts |
| The Stockpot Norfolk | Healthy comfort food, scratch-made soups and bone broths in Selden Market |
| Codex | Farm-to-table dining mixing upscale food with a casual vibe |
| Orapax Restaurant and Bar | Family-owned Greek, Italian, and American plates; famous Greek pizza and flaming Saganaki |
| Waterside District | Waterfront food hall, live music, and nightlife on the Elizabeth River |
| Town Point Club | Private waterfront social club in the World Trade Center building |
| Cure Coffeehouse | Craft coffee, house lattes, and all-day fare in the Freemason district |
Norfolk Accommodations
We based ourselves right in the heart of downtown at the Glass Light Hotel & Gallery and the location was hard to beat. Sitting on the corner of Granby Street and City Hall Avenue, we were within easy walking distance of Nauticus, the waterfront, the Historic Freemason District, and plenty of good restaurants. With the in-house art gallery, the history, and the unbeatable downtown location, it made a memorable base for exploring the city.
The rooms were lovely and the service was excellent. We enjoyed their breakfast selection as well, ranging from light continental to full American-style breakfasts.
Find more Norfolk hotels on Booking.com >>
Thanks to Visit Norfolk for hosting our stay.
Interested in more Itineraries? Sign up here.
