We spent a weekend in Virginia Beach to see an air show. On this trip, we learned some tips for having an enjoyable air show experience, stayed at a campground with a terrific dog-friendly site type, and experienced a new twist to an old restaurant.
Table of Contents
Where We Stayed
Virginia Beach KOA
The Campground
Virginia Beach KOA is impressive. It’s a large campground with plenty of choices for how you stay. They have more than 50 cabins, about 45 tent sites, and almost 250 RV sites.
There are two heated pools, a heated lazy river, and a splash pad.
The camp store is pretty decent. In addition to the usual RV/camping accessories, they have a lot of toys and gifts to browse.
There’s even a trolley stop inside the campground to make it easy to get to the beach and other local destinations. (You can learn more about the trolley route on this website.)
They have a playground, jumping pillow, and dog park.
| Campground Name | Virginia Beach KOA |
| Location | Virginia Beach, VA |
| Dates | September 19-21, 2025 |
| Site Number | 134 |
| Site Surface | paved parking area and lots of grass |
| Hook-ups | Full hookups |
| Cost | $102.15 per night (including taxes and fees) |
| Verizon Speed Test | 292 Mbps down; 14 Mbps up |
| T-Mobile Speed Test | 351 Mbps down; 8 Mbps up |
Our Campsite
Our site was what they call a back-in patio with KOA Paw Pen. The parking spot was paved, and the rest was grass. The best part was that we had a fenced area for the dogs.
Over the years, we’ve been to a few KOAs with Paw Pen sites. We’ve learned that not all are created equal. For example, the Paw Pen sites at Fancy Gap/Blue Ridge Parkway KOA were pretty spacious, but there wasn’t anywhere for the humans to sit. The ones at the KOA in Clarksboro, NJ left a lot to be desired. The fenced area was maybe the size of a full-size mattress. (See this blog post for photos of Fancy Gap/Blue Ridge Parkway KOA and this post for details about the Clarksboro KOA.)
I think Virginia Beach KOA has the best Paw Pen sites we’ve seen. A few key features made them so successful.
- Size: The fenced area is maybe 25 x 20 (totally guessing!). It was big enough for the dogs to play together and for us to play fetch with Aiken. Granted, we couldn’t throw aa toy as far as we would at home, but for a private dog park, it was great.
- Human seating: Within the fenced area was a paved area just big enough for a table and chairs and a bench. This made it easy for us to spend time in the fenced area with the dogs.
- Layout: The Paw Pen sites are all on the same street, but they’re not perfectly in line. Aiken could see the dogs at the sites on either side of us, but one was a little in front of his “yard” and the other was a little behind. The size of the overall site helped too. We weren’t right on top of our neighbors.
Because he could see the dogs at the campsites on either side of us, Aiken got lots of practice seeing other dogs and not losing his mind. (He wasn’t successful 100% of the time, but he was a good boy.)
See the cabin in the photo above? It’s right behind the family at the next site. Jesse’s parents met us in Virginia Beach for the weekend and stayed in that cabin. So in addition to getting practice watching from his private dog park, Aiken sat on a dog bed on the cabin patio and watched people (and dogs) pass.
What We Did
Naval Air Station Oceana Air Show
Saturday morning, we went to Naval Air Station Oceana for the air show. The entrance to the base is only 2 miles from the campground. (That means the campground is incredibly convenient if you stay there for the air show and incredibly loud if you don’t.)
This was my first air show, so I learned a lot. Here are my tips for a positive air show experience.
- Get there early. Traffic increases, parking lots fill up, and good seats are taken, all earlier than you think.
- Read the fine print! Be sure to read through all of the information provided about whatever air show you’ll be attending. Check their website; read the fine print when you purchase tickets; read it all. Pay special attention to what you can and cannot bring with you.
- Bring earplugs or headphones. Seriously. Even if you think you won’t need them, pack them anyway. You can thank me later.
- Bring sunscreen.
- Get lunch early. There were plenty of options for food, but by the time we got up to get some, the lines were really long.
- Don’t make plans for the evening. Getting out took a while. You just have to accept that it’ll be slow going. Don’t assume getting in was the slow part. If you have kids, have car toys and snacks, since they may have more trouble sitting around in the car. Maybe stay for the Blue Angels (the finale of the air show) and then get food while everyone else packs up and leaves. We didn’t try this, but I think it’s worth a try if the food vendors stay open long enough.
The air show was loud, but it was cool to watch. I don’t know that I’d recommend bringing really little kids, as there’s a lot of waiting. But it was interesting to see the aerobatics as well as the different planes.
Where We Ate
Fuddruckers
We didn’t want to go far for dinner after the air show. At just 1.6 miles from the campground, Fuddruckers seemed like a good choice.
The Fuddruckers I remember is a sit-down restaurant. They seem to have reimagined the chain since the last time I went to one. Or maybe it’s just this one that’s different; I don’t know.
At this Fuddruckers, you order at the counter and receive a buzzer. Then you choose your own seat and pick up your order at the front when your buzzer goes off.
Despite the unexpected structure, the food was good.
Wildlife
I think I was the only one at the air show to be interested in the hawk flying around.
Happy travels!
Have questions? Visit our FAQ page. Still have questions? Ask us on Instagram!