Moving to VA Beach- Neighborhoods for young couple (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: oceanfront, safe neighborhood)

[christinap53]

Hello, my husband and I will be moving to VA Beach this spring. We are from SoCal and have never visited. We are looking for 1. First choice - fun, safe neighborhood with nightlife where you it is safe enough to walk at night. Or 2. Second choice - just a really safe neighborhood but not too Far East (still 20ish min from Norfolk. Again, be able to walk our dog at night. We don't want anything too suburban or far away because we are young without kids but will be OK with that if we are choosing safety first. We hear kempsville is great. What are the boundaries street wise for kempsville? Can anyone elabrate on what they like about kempsville and give more ideas or neighborhoods and what is special about each one. Thank you!

[Poquoson7]

We moved from SoCal ten years ago and love it here (in the metro, not right in VA Beach) BUT we visited several times prior. You really should do at least one drive by.

Kempsville is nice but uber suburban, kinda Valley/Orange Countyish. Check out the Old Beach/Vibe district at the Oceanfront. You want to be 20 minutes to Norfolk, why not IN Norfolk, someplace like Ghent or Freemason.
Also check out Town Center at the beach.
Frankly anything in VA Beach between the Oceanfront and the Norfolk border is going to be pretty suburban.

Good luck!

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by christinap53

Hello, my husband and I will be moving to VA Beach this spring. We are from SoCal and have never visited. We are looking for 1. First choice - fun, safe neighborhood with nightlife where you it is safe enough to walk at night. Or 2. Second choice - just a really safe neighborhood but not too Far East (still 20ish min from Norfolk. Again, be able to walk our dog at night. We don't want anything too suburban or far away because we are young without kids but will be OK with that if we are choosing safety first. We hear kempsville is great. What are the boundaries street wise for kempsville? Can anyone elabrate on what they like about kempsville and give more ideas or neighborhoods and what is special about each one. Thank you!

Virginia Beach is safe and suburban. If you don't want suburban, then stay in the Northern part of the city. Ditto for Chesapeake. If you want urban, try Town Center, Oceanfront, etc. City Data has maps for this. You might be interested in this resource.

Population Density in Virginia Beach, VA by Zip Code

You highest density is Pembroke, Pocahontas Village, Arrowhead, and Brenneman Farm. 23462 is as city as it gets in Virginia Beach. You also have Norfolk, which is next door. Denser city, but not as safe as Virginia Beach. But perfectly safe to enjoy whatever nightlife they have there, and you just drive back into Virginia Beach. To be honest the densest parts of Virginia Beach will be indistinguishable to the densest parts of Norfolk for the average person. Virginia Beach is newer, and cleaner, than Norfolk.

Kempsville is in that 23462 zip code I mentioned earlier. According to this Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed, you're looking at maybe 11 square miles.

Also keep in mind that what you consider to be urban in Southern California is probably 5 to 10 times as dense as what we have here in Hampton Roads. Los Angeles has areas with 20,000 people per square mile, we don't have anything remotely close to that here.

[jillybean720]

If you don't have kids, then I'd say you could check out some parts of Norfolk; some families tend to opt for VB over Norfolk because VB schools are generally better, but I see that's not a concern for you guys right now. I'm not super familiar with Norfolk, but Ghent is always the area I see recommended for younger people, especially without kids.

In VB, Kempsville is nice, but it's really a family-oriented suburban area, not really what you're looking for, I don't think. I'd say maybe check as close as you can get to VB Town Center. That'll put you pretty close to Norfolk and near lots of shopping, restaurants, a movie theater, and some walkability.