Norfolk Travel and Things to Do Guide

Welcome to Cvent's meeting and event planning guide to Norfolk, a city guide written with meeting planners in mind. With lovely weather and abundant historical, cultural, and recreational attractions, it's no wonder that Norfolk welcomes more than 2 million visitors each year. A standout among convention destinations with a large number of Norfolk event venues, the invigorated city offers a compact, affordable, and easily managed seaside setting for meeting and convention groups.

Travel to the area is a breeze with two-thirds of the U.S. population within one day's drive. Also convenient, Norfolk International Airport is located only 6 miles away from the newly revitalized downtown area. The Tide, Norfolk's light rail system, offers visitors an easy way to maneuver the area, as well as fast access to some of Norfolk's major attractions.
Norfolk offers a variety of hotels and venues ready to accommodate meetings of every size, with about 4,800 hotel rooms citywide (350 committable) and 500,000 square feet of function space in the city, including a downtown area with 1,700 guest rooms and 270,000 square feet of function space.


Norfolk's distinctive essence can also be experienced at any one of many unique event spaces peppered throughout the city. The Chrysler Museum of Art offers a number of spectacular spaces for functions such as the Tiffany Gallery, which can accommodate groups of up to 100 people and features the museum's exquisite collection of Tiffany glass. The museum also offers the 375-seat George M. and Linda H. Kaufman Theatre, featuring state-of-the-art, audiovisual equipment perfect for corporate meetings and presentations. For larger functions, the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center is an 80,000-square-foot waterfront facility that can accommodate up to 1,500 guests. With five breathtaking spaces overlooking Norfolk's historic waterway, the Celebration Center has been host to such prestigious events as the luncheon for His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Sail Virginia Governor's Ball.

Norfolk serves as the North American headquarters for NATO and the corporate headquarters of a number of companies, including Norfolk Southern, Landmark Communications, Dominion Enterprises, FHC Health Systems, Portfolio Recovery Associates, and BlackHawk Products Group. Norfolk is also home to high-profile colleges and universities, including Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, and Eastern Virginia Medical School.