Distances from Virginia Beach, VA to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Virginia Beach, VA to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Virginia Beach, VA sits in Virginia, on New York time, at 36.85° north and 75.98° west. The nearest place of any size is Chesapeake, VA, about 20 miles away — roughly 32 min of driving. 8 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 51 are within three hours' driving of Virginia Beach, VA and 389 within six — which is a better measure of how connected a town is than its position on a map. The nearest city of real size is Washington, DC, about 178 miles out.
The two lists below answer different questions. The first is what is physically close, which is what you want for an errand or a day out. The second is the major cities people actually drive to from here, which is usually a longer trip and a different kind of plan. Every figure is an estimated road distance rather than a routed one, and every drive time assumes free-flowing traffic with no allowance for a stop — how the estimate works. For a pair that is not listed here, the calculator will work out any two US cities.
Which way the driving goes from Virginia Beach, VA
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Virginia Beach, VA. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 27 of 51 — lies to the northwest, with 9 to the north. Only 1 sit to the south. That asymmetry is usually geography rather than road building: coastline, a state line, mountains or simply empty country in one direction and settlement in another.
31 of those places are in Virginia and 20 are across a state line, which matters more than the mileage does. Speed limits, phone rules and what you may do at a red light are all set state by state, so a drive of the same length can be governed by two sets of rules or by one. The state-by-state differences are set out separately.
The major-city list below spans a wide range: Richmond, VA is about 110 miles out, roughly 2 hr 12 min of driving, while Orlando, FL is around 759 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. 9 of the 10 routes below have a page of their own, with the towns along the way and how flying compares.
One thing none of these figures account for: the distance is the same in both directions but the drive often is not. A route that climbs on the way out descends on the way back, rush hour is in one direction in the morning and the other in the evening, and a mountain pass can be open one way and closed the other in winter. The estimate here is symmetrical because the road is; the day is not. For a long haul out of Virginia Beach, VA, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Virginia Beach, VA
- Chesapeake, VA 20 mi · 32 min
- Norfolk, VA 21 mi · 33 min
- Portsmouth, VA 22 mi · 34 min
- Portsmouth Heights, VA 27 mi · 42 min
- East Hampton, VA 28 mi · 45 min
- Hampton, VA 29 mi · 46 min
- Newport News, VA 38 mi · 1 hr 1 min
- Suffolk, VA 42 mi · 51 min
- South Suffolk, VA 43 mi · 51 min
- Hopewell, VA 91 mi · 1 hr 49 min
Major cities from Virginia Beach, VA
- Richmond, VA 110 mi · 2 hr 12 min
- Arlington, VA 177 mi · 2 hr 57 min
- Washington, DC 178 mi · 2 hr 58 min
- Raleigh, NC 192 mi · 3 hr 12 min
- Baltimore, MD 202 mi · 3 hr 22 min
- Greensboro, NC 254 mi · 4 hr 14 min
- New York City, NY 333 mi · 5 hr 33 min
- Columbus, OH 506 mi · 8 hr 2 min
- Atlanta, GA 603 mi · 9 hr 35 min
- Orlando, FL 759 mi · 12 hr 3 min