Norfolk, Virginia

Outrageous-Cup-8905
4mo ago
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It’s neat, small and humble. Much like another poster said, it’s not a pretentious city so you won’t feel like an outsider against a clique of locals. A lot of people in this sub like to criticize Norfolk for being a military town (it’s home to the biggest naval station in the world in case you didn’t know), but it’s pretty easy to live/exist in the area without feeling any overbearing military presence.

It’s rich with historic sites and neighborhoods with plenty of cool little restaurants, coffee shops in the downtown area and generally the western portion of the city (Ghent, Freemason, NEON District, the Railyard). Life in this area of the city, based on the time I’ve spent there, is fairly relaxed and nowhere near the speed of your traditional “big” city, which could be a perk if you’re looking for a more relaxed place to live.

Live music is definitely present in the area, most notably at the Norva (which is admittedly pretty small) and the arena known as the Scope located downtown, which usually attracts celebs with semi-decent to decent stardom. We’ve also attracted big names like Kevin Heart and Jerry Seinfeld so while Norfolk isn’t a big destination for ultra popular entertainers, they can still get their hands on some notable people if that matters to you.

edielux
4mo ago
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I love that it’s less pretentious than many places I’ve lived. There are good restaurants (unless you’re from California and only want to eat Mexican food apparently 😂). I’ve managed to make a cool group of friends. I didn’t expect to come here, my partner is from here and we ended up moving back four years ago. In my opinion most places are what you make them, and I’ve lived in a few different places with varying degrees of happiness. I’m happier here than I was in the Bay Area.

I do agree with the comments about mountains; it’s hella flat but you can get to the mountains easily, but if you want to live in the mountains definitely head west.

I don’t like driving here and the general overall conservatism of Hampton Roads.

albertnormandy
2y ago
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The biggest problem with Hampton Roads in my opinion is the traffic. The area is heavy on urban sprawl, especially VA Beach, Chesapeake, and Suffolk. Combine that with natural bottlenecks at every river crossing and you have a traffic nightmare.

As long as you strategically choose where to live based on where you work the traffic can be somewhat mitigated, though never completely.

Norfolk is the most “urban” of everything south of the James River while the surrounding cities are more suburban. Good school districts are peppered around the area. Being near the water is certainly appealing. Lots of navy people since Norfolk is the biggest Naval Station in the world. Likely to be on the short list of places that get nuked in WWIII. Millions of people live there and seem happy about it.

omaolligain
1y ago
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West Ocean View
When I moved to the area I lived near Waterside. And while my neighborhood (freemason) as absolutely beautiful - I definitely had an amazing dog walk down cobblestone streets, through the oriental garden, past the battleship Wisconsin and then home. That said, I found downtown really underwhelming. I paid a lot to live downtown but ultimately their are only a couple bars IMO that were worth going to, many of the restaurants have unpredictable and absurd hours, and there is no retail outside of the mall. There were some bright spots, of course (Cure coffee, Granby Bistro, Jack Browns, Canvas Cuisine, etc…) but mostly it's lunch spots with short hours and a couple college hangouts. Not for me. But, Waterside does have a lot of little festivals in the park, which are fun. But, you hardly need to live there for it.

Ghent is very cool, much more activity, more retail, better bars and restaurants and it's cheaper. Lucky for you it's a walk from downtown; and an even shorter scooter ride.

Pros and Cons of Living in Norfolk, Virginia