That's just a couple miles from my house in our new 'Town Center'. To me it's a 'WDW' downtown. Just a wanna be NYC BUT that said, it is a very nice area and the Westin is gorgeous and yes, no place near the beach. It's about 10 miles to the bay (Chesapeake) or oceanfront as the crow flies. If you plan on seeing any other sites in the area (downtown Norfolk, Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, etc) it's a nice taking off point. Cindy