Hampton is a great place to drop anchor, gather with friends, go to a festival, shop, dine and stay a while. Hampton’s downtown waterfront district encompasses the site of the orginal 17th century seaport that served as a port of entry for commercial vessels from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean., It is now dotted with restaurants, pubs, art galleries, shops, marinas and a waterfront park. Attractions such as the Virginia Air & Space Center, the restored 1920’s Hampton Carousel, the American headquarters of the world renowned Cousteau Society, harbor tour vessels, historic churches, the Hampton University Museum and the new Hampton History Museum lure visitors invitingly.

Visitors to Downtown Hampton can enjoy a day of shopping and sightseeing, incorporating lunch or dinner in one of the district’s many eateries. They offer a wide variety of cuisine, ranging from enticing Creole, Italian, Thai and Japanese to gourmet sandwiches, Chesapeake Bay seafood and Southern tea rooms.

Home to festivals such as the annual Hampton Bay Days and the Blackbeard Festival, Downtown Hampton is a vibrant community with beautiful waterfront vistas, a working fishing fleet, private yachts and people-friendly streets. And the Hampton Free Public Wi-Fi is accessible nearly everywhere.

Here in Downtown Hampton a visitor can start their exploration of a historic city with one foot planted firmly in the past and another poised to leap into the future.