Holidays at the Beach – Featuring The Outer Banks of North Carolina and Virginia Beach, Virginia

Estimated Tour Pricing Inclusions: 4 nights’ accommodation; 3 breakfasts; 3 dinners; 1 lunch;  admissions, entrance, and guide fees as stated in the itinerary, including taxes, and gratuity. Except gratuity for guide fees is not included on adult tours unless otherwise requested.

• Ocean View Hotels
• Outer Banks, North Carolina
• Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Poulos Family Christmas Lights Display
• North Carolina Aquarium
• The Christmas Shop
• Manteo Christmas Tree Lighting
• Christmas Mouse Store
• Holiday Lights on The Boardwalk
• The Hermitage Museum & Gardens
• Winterfest on the Wisconsin Lights
• Spirit Christmas Dinner Cruise
• Distillery Tour & Tasting

• Arrive to Outer Banks! Follow a couple wooded roads to the heart of Kill Devil Hills to take in one of the most spectacular holiday lights displays in coastal North Carolina.
• The annual “Poulos Family Christmas” lights display has become one of the most beloved Christmas traditions for many Outer Banks locals, and everyone is welcome to discover this expansive holiday display in person to see what all the fuss is about.
• Check-in to your hotel with a private balcony on every room to enjoy its own unique view of the ocean.
• Enjoy a welcome holiday dinner included at the hotel in a private banquet space with live performance. (Meals: D)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the North Carolina Aquarium and see live animal encounters, feedings, a 285,000 gallon shark tank, interactive exhibits and more.
• Visit The Christmas Shop, a staple in the Outer Banks community for over 50 years.  The shop is 15,000 square feet, full of unique gifts, décor, locally made candy, jewelry, and more.  It's not just a Christmas Shop... It's an experience!
• Enjoy lunch on own along the Manteo waterfront, where a boardwalk connects the Town boat ramp and marina, waterfront gazebo, playground, and picnic areas with the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, and the George Washington Creef Boathouse.
• See Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, an exterior reconstruction of the square cottage-style screw-pile lighthouse which stood at the southern entrance to Croatan Sound, near Wanchese.  It now houses historical and educational activities in the auspices of North Carolina Maritime Museum.
• Visit Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, which preserves known portions of Roanoke Colony, England’s first New World settlements from 1584 to 1590, including cultural heritage of the Native Americans, European Americans and African Americans who have lived on Roanoke Island.
• Enjoy dinner on own. Manteo’s vibrant downtown scene is on full display during this monthly event that highlights the area’s businesses, restaurants and galleries that makes this central Outer Banks community so unique. The First Friday in Manteo is held every month on the initial Friday of the month and is a street festival that will make any new visitor fall in love with this charming coastal community.
• Depart and head to the heart of quiet downtown Manteo for this annual tradition that illuminates the beginning of the holiday season in the central Outer Banks. The Manteo Christmas Tree Lighting is a favorite holiday event for residents and visitors of all ages, and is a great way to enjoy a dose of holiday spirit in one of the most charming communities along the North Carolina coastline.
• Drive through The Elizabethan Gardens’ Winter Lights celebration which is easily one of the biggest and most highly anticipated events of the holiday season. Featuring hundreds of thousands of lights that are dotted throughout the gardens, the ensuing sight is really something to behold, and will get any visitor into a holiday spirit. (Meals: B)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air-machine.  Wind, sand, and a dream of flight brought Wilbur and Orville Wright to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where, after four years of scientific experimentation, they achieved the first successful airplane flights on December 17, 1903.  With courage and perseverance, these self-taught engineers relied on teamwork and application of the scientific process. What they achieved changed our world forever.
• Stop at Christmas Mouse store. Discover an exquisite selection of Outer Banks themed decorations, accessories, and collectibles. Also specializing in Old World Christmas Egyptian Glass Heart Gifts by TERESA Dept. 56, plus we have a wide variety of College and NFL Ornaments, Possible Dream Santas, and Water Lanterns.
• Enjoy lunch on own at Duck Town Park Boardwalk, a mile-long boardwalk with boat launches on the banks of a sound linking restaurants, marsh & forest.
• Arrive at Virginia Beach and check in to Oceanfront hotel.
• Enjoy welcome dinner included this evening at local’s favorite restaurant overlooking a picturesque inlet. Relax and Enjoy the incredible view of Rudee Inlet in a relaxed beach cottage style.
• Depart and drive through to see Holiday Lights on The Boardwalk. This festive drive-through light show features a twinkling journey into nautical, holiday, and adventure lands – all along the beautiful Virginia Beach Boardwalk, from 8th Street to 22nd Street.  Guests can tune their car radio in to hear holiday music synced with the light show, as they drive through festive fish, jumping dolphins, and frolicking porpoises, as well as Santa and his elves and much more. The Holiday Lights Merry Mile is open nightly 5:30pm-10pm, Sunday through Thursday, and 5:30pm-11pm, Friday-Saturday.
• Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate while we return to the hotel. (Meals: D)

• Enjoy a full breakfast before our touring today.
• Tour Hunter House Victorian Museum for Winter time delights!  Beautifully decorated in Victorian style, the house was built in 1894 as the family home for Mr. James Wilson Hunter and his wife Lizzie Ayer Barnes Hunter and their three children.  
• Tour The Chrysler Museum of Art.  The New York Times described the Chrysler collection as "one any museum in the world would kill for." Comprising over 30,000 objects, the collection spans over 5,000 years of world history. American and European paintings and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the present day form the core of the collection.  The museum is home to the final sculpture of the Baroque master Gianlorenzo Bernini, a marble bust of Jesus Christ, and houses one of the world's greatest collections of glass (including outstanding works by Louis Comfort Tiffany), distinguished holdings in the decorative arts, and a fine and growing collection of photography. The arts of the ancient world, Asia, Africa, and Pre-Columbian America (particularly Maya ceramics) are also well represented.
• Enjoy lunch on your own at Waterside District Market. Featuring multiple curated culinary and beverage experiences; The Market is the living room of Norfolk and the region where everyone comes together. Enjoy offerings from favorite restaurants like Cogan’s Pizza, Guy Fieri's Smokehouse, Pino's Meatballs, Martin's, Al's Wings, and more. There is something for everyone!
• Tour The Hermitage Museum & Gardens, consists of an early 20th century historic house museum with a world-wide art collection and contemporary exhibition galleries, surrounded by twelve acres of formal gardens and natural woodlands; educational wetlands; and a Visual Arts Studio.
• Have a magical time at Winterfest on the Wisconsin! Amazed by running a dazzling light trail with over 250,000 lights. Interior “WinterFest” tour, Santa sightings, lighted sailboat parade, and holiday beverages and delicious bites.
• Arrive to board the Spirit of Norfolk at Otter Berth adjacent to the Waterside on Waterside Drive at Town Point Park, Norfolk. Enjoy a Spirit Christmas dinner cruise! Aboard the Spirit of Norfolk. Dressed in Holiday Fashion, enjoy delicious food and festive music to get in the spirit of the holidays!
• Dock, depart, and return to hotel. (Meals: B, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at leisure this morning prior to checking out.
• Depart for the Historic Cavalier Hotel decked out for the Holidays.  Some say that The Cavalier Hotel may be what put Virginia Beach on the map. Regardless, no one can dispute the rich history found in the halls of this historic landmark. Construction of the luxurious East Coast destination hotel began in 1926.  It was named The Cavalier as a result of a local newspaper contest.  Originally, There were originally 195 guest rooms on 350 acres of land, including a golf course stretching 290 of those acres. A sunken garden graced the south side of the hotel, a naturally stunning backdrop for events, whose groves of flowers were used to adorn rooms, dining rooms and the lobby.  Among other notorieties who visited, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his wife, Zelda, enjoyed long vacations at The Cavalier.  
• Tour and Tasting at The Tarnished Truth Distillery located inside the Cavalier Hotel.
• Depart for home. (Meals:  B, L)

Base rate does not include motor coach transportation, airfare, airport transfers, driver gratuity, guide gratuity, (student groups exempt) or any upgrades or add-ons unlisted from itinerary as stated. Pricing may vary based on day of arrival or other conditions. Personalized itineraries with custom pricing and/or additional transportation can be created and added based on client needs and upon client’s request. MARS will customize quotes or personalize itineraries for FREE.