The Holiday Lights at Virginia Beach were a fun and festive activity, especially for the season. The drive-through experience was nice and long, with plenty of lights to enjoy right along the boardwalk--it definitely put us in the holiday spirit. Before entering, they offer hot chocolate, popcorn, and cookies for purchase. While it was convenient, I wasn't expecting the food prices to be so high, especially since the drive-through tickets were already in the $30-$50 range. That part was a little surprising. One cool touch was the dedicated radio station you can tune into while driving through, which synced music with the lights and made the experience more enjoyable overall. Despite the added cost, it was still a fun holiday outing and something different to do if you're looking to enjoy seasonal lights in the area. read more

Holiday Lights at the Beach - Festivals Near Me - Virginia Beach, Virginia

It's kinda a VB tradition for many families, but ours prefers Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It's pricey, but kids like that you can drive on the boardwalk and see lights. It took our family over an hour one night and around 45 another arriving at dusk. Honestly I don't recommend if you gone before. It's always the same. However we had guest in town and it's something to do. 2.5 and I guess rounding up. read more

Holiday Lights at the Beach - Festivals Near Me - Virginia Beach, Virginia

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A very fun experience. Tickets: Tickets were 25 dollars for our vehicle and after taxes, etc it ended up being $32.05. You can only purchase them online through ticket master. No cash, and you can't pay there. You will have to scan your tickets once you get on the boardwalk. Experience: We were the second car in line there so it took about 25 minutes to drive through. They offer treats for sale at the beginning and they provide you with the radio station that you can tune in to listen to the Christmas music as you drive. The lights were very cool and I loved the variety. My kids loved this experience. I will come back next year. read more

Over priced compared to Newports News Celebration in lights and when you add Ticket Master charge the price is ridiculous. Same old stuff. Nothing changes except the price. Virginia Beach lights are not worth the time or gas. read more

Christmas with a nautical theme While I thought this was a nice way to get into the Christmas mood, I'm not sure if the $25 (Sunday to Thursday) + ~$7 service fees price tag is worth it. It's a bit annoying because there is no option to pay cash so you are bound to Ticketmaster's unnecessary (IMO) fees - not really cool to charge close to 15% in processing fees. Let correct myself, I think $25 would have been fine if there were more and brighter lights. The tour of the lights takes about 30-45 minutes depending on how fast the queue moves. The organizers have a nice variety of light arrangements, and I loved the multiple nautical motifs. I will say that there were several dark patches along the route, which I wasn't expecting. To be perfectly honest, I've seen neighborhood houses with more extravagant lighting displays. While there were signs to listen to holiday music on 103.5, there was way too much static and interference. This was minor issue bc I'd imagine that most folks could listen to holiday music on Spotify, another streaming platform, or a different radio station. Some ideas for important if possible -Add more lights -Try to stagger vehicles a bit more. It seemed like a few cars ahead of me were trying to rush though the lights. -Add the option to pay cash on site. read more

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2/10 do not recommen, the lights was not not all that and they lied and said it was music playing at the end and there was no music if I was you I would not spent my money on this crap. read more

Not worth the money. Same old lights from years ago and many lights are broken. Not worth the wait as traffic backs up.

You had to purchase tickets ahead of time online. I had issues with the tickets being sent to my email. It wouldn't let me just open the ticket. I had to create an eventbrite account... then I had one.... you all know that results in resetting the password and the lovely hassles of that. The lights were cute but not worth the drive in my opinion. We drove about 55 minutes to see them. We have some closer to us. The girls enjoyed them. The shark was our favorite. read more

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We loaded up on snacks and hot chocolates and took our whole family to the drive through nautical-themed Christmas lights display in Virginia Beach. This was our first time seeing Holiday Lights at the Beach, and we all enjoyed it! The only thing that was disappointing was the holiday music that we played on the radio. It was supposed to go with the lights, but it was really staticky and we ended up turning it off. Overall, a fun night. read more

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Staying at a hotel on the boardwalk and took my grandkids for a walk down the sidewalk and a police car drove down the side walk and told us we could not walk through??? The hotel is on a beach for a reason!! You should be able to prove you are supporting a business and staying for a week and be able to walk it. Talk about greed ..... And police on a Monday night when there were hardly any cars driving through it anyway. I understand not on the line of cars but the sidewalk ???? I see they were able to relocate the homeless for this but not during the rest of the year. Police should be arresting the drug dealers and criminals and leaving families alone. And stay off the sidewalk with your white police car which startled my wife and grandkids. Hmmm public safety???? I am a supporter of the thin blue line and always will be but this needs to be addressed. read more

False advertisement!!! We paid 35.00 and was lied to by your staff. We questioned staff after passing street after street, realizing it didn't start till about 12th street. Staff also lied in front of children stating the show was actually longer this year? FYI, if you have a seizure condition, do not attend! I do not appreciate that my kids were lied to. Train your staff better. Tell people the truth, this show doesn't start till about 12th and be honest. read more

Wow! Much need break from work so we took an overnight trip to the Oceanfront to check out the Holiday Lights. No kids, just us What a treat! We stayed on 30th at the Hilton because we knew we wanted to dine at our favorite spot, Catch 31. (I have a review on that too!) By staying north of the event, we were assured a quiet boardwalk, which we wanted. We chose the 5:30 time slot when we bought our tickets. Keep in mind that you have a 90min window to attend. Since we selected 5:30pm we had up until 7 to go to the event. We arrive around 6pm. It was dark and not too busy for a Friday night. I think before dinner is the golden time to go! Traffic is managed very well - people are on site and designated lanes on Atlantic Ave to take you to the entrance. You'll enter around Rudee Inlet. Once you are "in" tune radio to 103.5 for Christmas tunes. Turn your headlights off & cruise through nice and slow. Photo tips: if you have the capability, set your camera settings on your iPhone to "live" photos. Once you frame up the scene you want to capture, tap the center of the screen. This darkens the photo and enhances the colorful lights. Then take the pic! With it being a Live Photo, you'll also get the video effect - so so cool! If you're ever curious about the real estate market in the Charlottesville area, let's connect! Link in bio read more

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The Holiday Lights At The Beach has been a staple of the Virginia Beach Oceanfront during the holiday season for many years now. This event is generally open after Thanksgiving and through the first weekend of the new year. I have been here several times over the years. There's always things changing, which is expected. My most recent visit to this event was on December 29, 2020. Like many other events this year given the current situation with Covid-19, tickets had to be obtained ahead of time. Tickets are per vehicle and were $17 this year for a regular car. You were not able to get tickets as you came in. I was able to get tickets through my employer this year. The entrance to the event is at First Street, however, you have to enter Atlantic Avenue from 21st Street (this is the road you're on after I-264 East ends). Once on Atlantic Avenue, you will stay in the left lane all the way through. The right lane is for everything else except this event. When you get up to the booth, you'll show them your event QR code for them to scan you into the event. At that time, you will be asked to turn off your lights and stick with parking lights and they will give you the radio station that you can listen to holiday music throughout the event. As an aside, you do need to keep the line moving. Getting out of your car to take pictures and such is not allowed. The event is a smaller than it has when it originally started. However, the displays were great. There were many nautical themes throughout the path, which was totally expected given where it is. You can even see the waves in the ocean to the right while traveling down the boardwalk (only time you can legally do this). Themes along the way include Santa, Pirates, Sharks, Jellyfish, and numerous aquatic type of creatures along the route. Many of the displays were sponsored by various local businesses in the area too. Overall, it was nice to get out and see the lights from the comfort of a car. You could get to see lights with those in your car and not have to worry about social distancing, etc. If you happen to be in the area during the holiday season, you should consider seeing this event. read more

Holiday Lights at the Beach - This is the entrance to the Holiday Lights At The Beach. Photo taken December 29, 2020. - Festivals Near Me - Virginia Beach, Virginia

If you enjoy looking at Christmas lights, this is a great way to experience them if you or someone has limited mobility or just can't stand the cold or brave terrible weather. These by any means were not the most fantastic lights but it was special because We were spending time with my dad. He has never experienced paid drive thru holiday lights in the car. Although he at times may not have realized what he was looking at (he's in his mid 80's) The price is $10 per regular car. So it's quite affordable/reasonable. The entrance starts on first street at The oceanfront. They have signs directing you. The line ends up on Atlantic Avenue. The theme is nautical of course and is sponsored by Bayport. I remember when it used to be sponsored by chic-fila. I haven't been to these lights in years so the projections of the animated snowmen and skiers on the buildings on the left were new to me. I quite enjoyed them! As you cruise slowly down the boardwalk you see animated fishes, a shark, elves and a water skiing Santa to honoring our military and a cool light tunnel. It's a great way to spend time with family or friends while experiencing the lights tuned into the recommended station. read more

Holiday Lights at the Beach - Festivals Near Me - Virginia Beach, Virginia

I don't know what the rest of the new reviews are talking about. Went at 9pm, line was short. Tons of lights. Felt it was a good 20 minute drive down the board walk. I personally felt like it might even be too long. Family loved it. Will be coming back next year! read more

This is the 1st time I've posted a negative review about this light show. I've a senior citizen, and a very active one. I've never missed a single year, starting with my son,next my grandson, and currently my great grandson. I can't put my finger on it , I was just so bored. But most of all so was my great grandson and his friends. They just wanted to leave to go somewhere where where it was fun. My question is are they putting up more lights? Did I just happen to go too early before they displayed the light show in its entirety? I absolutely LOVE,LOVE,LOVE, the previous shows. VA BEACH,I'm so disappointed. Anyway Merry Christmas read more

$35 during the week and they stretched it out to appear bigger than it is. So totally not worth it at all. They charge over $4 for "Hot" chocolate and over $5 for 2 cookies cash only. Then they say tune into certain radio channel for the music and mostly static...so very disappointing. read more

What a joke! Took almost two hours from getting in line and riding down the boardwalk. I have a better light display in my front yard. Don't waste your time or money. $100 down the drain. Almost $50 for the very poor light display and another $50 for two bags of popcorn and 2 cups of hot cocoa. read more

This year it's a joke. They put up probably just 30% of the lights they should have. The City Management should be fired without a doubt. Not fulfilling their jobs for the City of Virginia Beach. read more

Did the light drive through last night while in town . The cost was $10 and cash only. We arrived early thank goodness because the line end up being backed up all the way onto 17TH street soon after that for a few hours. The lights was ok I just wish they gave an option to walk the bike path to see the lights as well because I did see people out there. It was a move at your own pace thing as well while driving on the boarding . read more

Holiday Lights at the Beach - Festivals Near Me - Virginia Beach, Virginia

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Is it possible for a collection of X-Mas lights to have the power to make you actually begin to despise the holiday season even more than you already do? Yep, and this is the spot to make that happen. Supposedly 30,000 families visit this attraction annually and apparently they all decided to come five days after X-Mas which turned this placed into a veritable parking lot. Chad T. has the pertinent details wrapped up with a few exceptions that I found out about later. *No one should be paying full price as a $2 off coupon readily exists. *Don't go on Monday's as that is Military Monday which equates to a 50% discount for them and a traffic disaster for everyone. *Yes, plenty of people were walking along the bike path next to the boardwalk getting to take in the lights for free and no one cared one bit. The idea of this taking an hour is laughable. It took us over half an hour of queuing just to get to the booth to pay and after that it was another 90 minutes or so to snake our way along the boardwalk at a pace that glaciers were laughing at. The lovely wife and children are almost Griswoldian in their love/usage of X-Mas lights but somewhere around 18th street they all said that they had enough because while the displays were nice, the pace was excruciatingly slow and we had heard all of the songs on their radio channel three plus times. I see how this could be a family tradition but personally I couldn't imagine coming back. I mean the price is right (I've been to bigger displays much closer to home but they charge almost double) but caveat emptor that if you come on a Monday have your schedule cleared because you'll be here a loooooooong time. read more

This year Covid really killed every holiday, but I love being a Virginia Beach resident because we still make the best of it. The drive through Holiday Lights at the Beach by Bayport Credit Union is one of those spectacular holiday activity. This is a very safe and fun way to get in the holiday spirit. You can bring your own drinks and snacks and enjoy the holiday lights from inside your own car. Purchasing tickets was easy. Quickly purchased our ticket online while waiting in line. Then they just scanned our ticket from our cellphone. Tickets are super affordable so this is a really good, fun and cheap local activity to do for the holidays. It was very well organized and not a terrible wait to get in to enjoy the lights. As we passed by restaurants and hotels many people yelled Merry Christmas or waved and my kids absolutely loved that. There are a lot of lights to look at, take pictures of and enjoy. Overall it was amazing, very organized, very beautiful and the kids loved it. read more

Traffic on the boardwalk was backed up so that we had brake lights in our face from the truck and other vehicles ahead of us. Had cars been supervised to enter the boardwalk at evenly spaced intervals, this could have been less annoying. The posted sign instructed drivers to have their vehicle head lights turned off. The cars behind us did not, so we had headlights glaring behind us too. Had there been supervision from the ticket takers to turn them off, this would have been helpful. So you are at the mercy or lack thereof of drivers who follow too closely and/or don't follow instructions. These annoyances made the boardwalk light show seem way to slow when all you wanted was for it to end. Recommend entering the display at the latter of your time slot so most vehicles will have already entered and moved on. read more

Well this was a fun Friday night to come here and see the lights along the Virginia Beach oceanfront. While this is my third time coming to visit the lights I can't say much has changed over time. I remember the same format... ride down Atlantic all the way to 1st Street and make your payment and drive perhaps maybe 2 MPH down the boardwalk to see the lights. Tickets are $15 for a single vehicle which is a lot when you first think about it, but then I guess you have to think about...revenue for the city and take into consideration the amount of time that it took to put up the display. So it's kind of worth it. For a single-car, you can fit about five people in there so pretty much paying $15 per car and if everybody chips in, it's Not That that bad of a deal. But different vehicle's have different prices. It's a fun family tradition that I do suggest that you all try least one time especially if you have small kids. If you don't want to ride through definitely park on the street somewhere at one of the meters and save a few dollars and take a walk instead of driving to see the lights. Overall, it's a fun tradition so if you have the time I suggest you go. Have fun | enjoy read more

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Left the house at 830 for our 9pm spot, waited over an hour, once we got in it was bumper to number, there was a snack tent but you had to order before hand online, little girl was very rude to me. Didn't get home until 11pm...I live 15 min away. It was terrible, my first time at the ocean front lights, never again almost three hours it was ridiculous to say the least. They just want your money obviously don't care about your experience. read more

Scam took nearly an hour to get to the entrance and its been 30 min for the video this has been the show. mainly blackout spots doesnt give christmas at all. Would not pay almost 40 dollars for this. go somewhere else if you want to see christmas lights. read more

Don't waste your hard earned money. I have gone to the holiday lights for years, and this year was so disappointing. They didn't scan your email until a quarter of the way in. Before you could pay right when you walked in, now have to pay online, and it is $37.50. That's a lot for very little lights. Half the beach was not lit up. The music was very staticky and had to turn off. The psychedelic tunnel was uncalled for, had nothing to do with Christmas, and all the kids closed their eyes. Was very disappointing since I had out of state guests!! read more

I felt for the amount of money to see these lights, there were way to many dark spot. Flood lights from the hotels didn't help the experience either. I went to the Botanical Gardens Christmas light car tour a while back. That was worth the cost but the waiting line was a little hairy when people where trying to jump in. After about 50 minutes to an hour, we got our ahh. Definitely needs improvement and all the fees add in was way beyond what it should of been. Wont take cash but will charge you to charge it.... read more

This was my first trip to a beach during "off season." Every other time I had visited Virginia Beach, we had made our way down to the beach, sandals and sunblock in hand. I was visiting toward the beginning of December and the "Holiday Lights at the Beach" had just begun for the season. I convinced the boy that we should meander down to the beach to drive through the festive decorations. So .... on we went! Once we arrived and paid for our tickets, we were given a CD filled with Christmas classics to listen to as we drove past the lights. It was perfect. We spent the entire time guessing from afar what each light "structure" was going to be and sang along the way. I felt like I was 10 and loved every minute of it. I can see how it can quickly be turned into a family tradition each year. It took us about an hour to drive down the boardwalk. Highly recommended if you're in the VB area around Christmastime. :-) read more

Holiday Lights at the Beach - Lovely! - Festivals Near Me - Virginia Beach, Virginia

A super fun colorful cool event. Bring some delicious goodies with you. Just crack the windows to get a little breeze. Pop in that CD and enjoy the drive along the boardwalk. Just make sure you go on a slow night as the event isn't as crowded, you can drive as slow as you want to really enjoy the experience, and have complete peace. read more

Seriously I've seen people's houses decorated better than that don't waste your money its boring as helk

Pretty dern fun for my boy and girly liked it too! We went tonight, on a Wednesday, so it was almost a ghost town! Suuuper spooky driving with the headlights off on the boardwalk! I can imagine it taking a long time to drive the whole boardwalk if it were a busy night like Friday or Saturday. Definitely worth $4 bones on a weekday for my kid to be so jazzed by it. read more

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Nice lights. The entrance is a mess. Waze and other maps send you in at second, then the traffic cops send you to the back of the line at 25th, side streets not blocked , cars running lights trying to get in line. Chaos and not a lot of holiday cheer. read more

MEH. My family and I had received a free ticket to check this out so obviously we went. It sucked. Traffic was a disaster. It was short and COMPLETELY underwhelming. I don't think we will do this again because, in 3 letters.. WTF. Also, what is an illuminated pelican doing in a holiday display? Nothing about a giant bird that shits all over my backyard screams Christmas. The end. read more

This is a MUST DO event! One of my favorite Holiday traditions is to drive on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk to see the Christmas lights! Your personal automobile is fully surrounded by holiday lights as you drive through and elf tosses a present over your car! There are many nautical themed lights also since you are driving right on the boardwalk and can see the ocean. Nothing like seeing Santa surfing! They add new displays from year to year so it is always a little different, but yet all the favorites are still there. There are over 30 blocks of lights to see. The line can sometimes be a little long waiting to drive in depending when you go, but it is worth it. Just plan ahead and bring a snack in the car and cash to pay! Enjoy! read more

We really enjoyed the show for what it was-- a bunch of flashing Christmassy and some slightly non-Christmassy light displays (lol dinosaurs?) It was $15 but someone on 25th street sells them for $13, if you feel the need to save $2. One of us is from New England and has never seen a Christmas light show before, the other has been seeing it since childhood. But it was special to tune in to the radio station filled with Christmas music and enjoy it together. We went super slow, took a million pictures-- we went on a week day and less than five cars were on the entire strip. It was special to share together, and if you can have a fun, light hearted time (and not take a light show too seriously like some other commenters,) you will enjoy it :) read more

Holy good gracious Agnes, this.was.fabulous!!! If you are near Va Beach during the holidays, you have got to experience this!!! You get to drive out onto the boardwalk to a fabulous show of lights all around you, above you, behind and in front... wow! I love lights and this was so incredibly overwhelming (in a good way). Gotta go back so I can see it again. read more

So in case your still looking for a way to get into the boardwalk lights in your car you can't untill 7:30. No one will tell you, not even the people working the pay booth. Really? I mean not even a notice on the website? All the website says is 5:30- 10. Disappointing, after wearing it would be another hour before getting in we left. Won't be returning anymore. Not to mention the lights are just as equally disappointing, not worth wasting gas over. read more

I enjoyed the beautiful display! Paid 5 bucks. Listened to special station to Christmas music while driving through.

So disappointing! Wow! We have gone every year and this year... don't bother! So sad! No 12 days of Christmas. No CD playing. No hot chocolate and lane decorations! Come on VB! What's up with this? ‍ read more