Hampton Roads is both a body of water and the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metropolitan area in southeastern Virginia with just above 1.7 million inhabitants. It comprises the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Mathews, and York, plus the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg. The US federal government also includes Currituck County, North Carolina in its definition of the metropolitan area.

Cities

Virginia law sharply distinguishes between cities and towns. Municipalities incorporated as "cities" are completely separate from counties; "towns" are located within counties. All of the locations listed below are in fact cities except for the towns of Carrollton, Gloucester Courthouse and Smithfield.

• 1 Carrollton (Virginia) — a bedroom community for Norfolk
• 2 Chesapeake
• 3 Gloucester Courthouse
• 4 Hampton
• 5 Newport News
• 6 Norfolk
• 7 Portsmouth
• 8 Smithfield, known for Smithfield Ham
• 9 Suffolk
• 10 Virginia Beach, the largest city of Virginia and Hampton Roads, known for its beaches
• 11 Williamsburg, the home of Colonial Williamsburg (a living history museum), one of America's oldest colleges, and a Busch Gardens

Other destinations

• 1 Virginia Peninsula. is the region between the York and James rivers.  
• 2 Yorktown. Famous as the site of the siege and subsequent surrender of General Charles Cornwallis, which ended the American Revolutionary War on October 19, 1781.  

Understand

Hampton Roads has an important role in the early history of the United States, from the first English settlements in the New World in the 17th century, to the battlegrounds of the American War of Independence, and the American Civil War. See From Plymouth to Hampton Roads and From St. Augustine to Hampton Roads for a historical approach to the region.

Get in

By plane

Hampton Roads is served by Norfolk International Airport (ORF ^IATA) in Norfolk and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport (PHF ^IATA) in Newport News.

By train

Amtrak has stations in Williamsburg, Norfolk, and Newport News.

By bus

Greyhound stops in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Hampton, Suffolk, and Williamsburg. Megabus stops in Hampton.

See

Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum in the historic district of the town of Williamsburg that recreates Virginia's 18th-century capital as it appeared preceding and during the American Revolution

The Jamestown Settlement is another living history museum in the Williamsburg area.

Do

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is among the most beautiful amusement parks in the country.