Alexandria (Virginia) Travel Guide
From Wikitravel
Alexandria is a city in Virginia, located just outside of Washington (D.C.), in the United States of America.
Contents |
Get in
By Air: Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) is located right on the edge of Alexandria. You can catch the Metro at the airport (National Airport stop), or take a taxi into town.
From Dulles International Airport (IAD), take the Washington Flyer connector bus to West Falls Church Metro Station (Orange Line). Connect at Rosslyn Metro Station (Blue Line) to Braddock Road or King St. Metro Station.
From the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) take the MARC train (morning and evening only) to Union Station (Red Line). Take the Red Line towards Shady Grove, transfer at Gallery Place/ China Town onto the Yellow Line towards Huntington. If you arrive at Union Station in the morning or evening you can take the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) directly to King St.
Get around
The historic center of Alexandria is known as Old Town. This is where you find the most notable restaurants, shopping and tourists destinations. Alexandria provides a free bus service know as the DASH which runs the length of King Street.
A good plan of action (if you are not staying in Old Town) would be to take the Metro to King Street, catch the DASH to the waterfront then walk from there.
If you drive there is ample free 2 hour parking a few blocks away from King Street; it is NOT necessary to pay a meter. Tires are frequently marked and if you exceed 2 hours you WILL get a ticket. If you plan on leaving your car for more than a couple hours it would be wise to use one of the parking garages, which are numerous.
A water taxi runs from the waterfront (at the end of King Street) to Georgetown (another nice area to walk around, shop and drink at. If you're in the area for a while - also check out Adam's Morgan in DC.)
You can also rent bikes in old town at Big Wheel Bikes located near the waterfront. The Mount Vernon Trail runs through Alexandria (although the Old Town part is streets) and goes all of the way to Mount Vernon, as well as connecting with the greater DC area.
All this being said there's a lot to Alexandria beyond Old Town as well, but those areas take a little more exploring and aren't as convenient to simply walk around and explore.
- The Metro. It serves Northern VA, DC and Southern Maryland. It's mostly for commuting and getting into DC more than for getting around VA or MD but it's safe, clean and runs until late (well, 1ish on weekend, midnight on weekdays) and there's an extensive and inexpensive bus system that compliments it (often if you ask for a bus transfer at the metro you don't have to pay to use the bus system.)
Also Cabs are available everywhere and anywhere for door to door service, just call to be picked up and you can expect one with in 10-15 minutes anywhere. Expect to pay on average about a dollar a minute for travel by cab though.
See
- George Washington Masonic Memorial
- Mount Vernon (although note that Mount Vernon is in neighboring Fairfax County)
Do
- Historic Ghost Tour of Old Town Alexandria
- Comedy Sports - Cszdc.com, and below in the "Get Out" section.
Buy
You will find the best shopping on King St., the majority of it being away from the King St. Metro Stop and towards the waterfront.
Nearby malls include: Landmark (average, but often has a fair in the parking lot during the summer), Springfield (Pretty extensive with a good combination of food, clothes, movies, and alternative shops (Anime Movie Rental is quite nice if you like that, it has a shoulder massage service for tired shoppers, etc)), or Tysons I & II (Fancy, expensive, an "upper class" mall if you will. Great food though.)
Eat
- Hard Times Cafe: On King St. near metro. Cheap food, Western Ambiance.
- Gadsbys Tavern: a classic, though the food is only so-so.
- Bilbo Baggins: Light / fancy - no dress code. 208 Queen St. in old town. While it's advertised as a wine bar (which I haven't tried) Recommended is their homemade bread and the Bilbo's salad (greens, with apple slices, mandarin orange slices, caramelized walnuts, crumbled Feta cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette - it's delicious, almost a dessert - yet healthy and light =)) I will say the dining area is a little cramped - but the look and feel of the place has it's own draw, exposed timbers in the ceiling, old stone work and the like. Still - we often just get the salad to go! =)
- Paradiso - 6124 Franconia Rd, on the edge of Alexandria towards Springfield, Excellent Italian. You can't really go wrong in here ordering anything, and they have a very respectable atmosphere of a high class establishment - but they accept casual dress and are completely welcoming of all - in fact they have a children's play room with Disney videos and toys for families, Sunday morning's they have a Brunch with some delicious selections (I could just eat their bruschetta for hours...) and if they're still doing it I believe they have karaoke Thursday nights on the bar / patio side (kindly away from the main dining side so you can still have a quiet evening if you want =))
- House of Dynasty - 7550 Telegraph Rd, The finest Chinese in Virginia, if not North America. The food is amazing, you can't order anything bad. We've gone for 14 years and tried just about everything on the menu (Which is large and varied) and have never found anything we didn't like. I never knew I could like eggplant till I tried their sesame eggplant. They have a ginger soy sauce for their steamed meat dumplings which you'll want to drink straight. Their house mustard and duck sauce are worth the trip to try themselves - for as my friend says "the mustard makes my head tingle!" - it delivers a heck of kick and then immediately goes away so there's no pain - just a shot of "Wow" when you get it just right =) Their chicken and corn soup is unique and amazing. Some of our favorite meals - Kung pao anything - it's so addictive you can't stop eating it (nothing in the whole restaurant is overly spicy unless you ask for it to be, by default everything is pretty mild), sesame chicken (sweet and delicious), crispy prawns and walnuts (you can get the walnuts as an appetizer if you like), Schezuan string beans (oh so good! and I'm not a string bean fan!) and their "Banana Delight" for dessert. After appetizers they bring out a small serving of lemon sorbet "to cleanse the pallet" and let you come fresh to the main courses. After dinner they bring out steamed wash cloths to clean up with. The place serves large generous servings at very reasonable prices. You can get out for surprisingly cheap, especially during lunch hours, but I recommend bringing a lot of friends for dinner and going overboard - get a bunch of orders and share with each other and take home leftovers to enjoy for days ;)
- Hee Been - Korean BBq - if you've never tried this before, try Hee Been - the qaulity of food is excellent, you can prepare yourself at the table on the provided grills or you can ask the cooks to prepare it for you (good for a first try and they don't mind!) and you will be amazed at how much you enjoy it. Standard recommendations are "Kal bi" - thick slices of meat in a tangy-sweet sauce (not like american bbq, but a similar idea), or "Bul go ki" - thinner slices almost like the way a philly cheese steak is prepared - but with a sweeter seasoning. Their salmon is excellent and the "Bim bim bop" or korean friend rice is delicious. (For a treat ask for "Dol Sot bim bim bop" - which is the same dish in a hot stone pot but unmixed, you get to mix it together with as much (or as little) spicy seasoning paste as you want and it's much fun =)
Whatever you get expect a wide range of side dishes provided free with the main dish - in korean typical dinner style, as well as large leaves of lettuce that you can wrap your main dish up in with some of the side dishes (I like to request some white rice as well to mix in personally =)) - Take a piece of lettuce in one hand and fill it with a slice or two of delicious meat, a selection of the side dishes for flavor and variety and some rice to fill it out, wrap it up and bite in - Amazingly good =) Try different sides for your next bite =) Have fun!
Drink
- Union Street Public House
- Murphy's Grand Irish Pub
Coffee Houses:
- Misha's Coffee Roaster Coffeehouse
- Starbucks Coffee Company (several)
- Old Town Coffee Tea and Spice
- Cosi
Sleep
Get out
- Comedy Sports - Technically this is in Arlington, but it's a short drive (5-25 minutes from anywhere in Alexandria) to the Ballston Common mall (4238 Wilson Blvd.) - parking is 1 dollar in the evenings at the parking garage or you can take the Orange line to the Ballston stop which is just two blocks from the mall. Once you're there "The Comedy Spot" is on the third floor in a theater like presentation area and the show is "competitive improv" - two teams doing improv games with audience suggestions to help direct them. The early shows are Family Friendly and the late shows are adult only. As well the location doubles as where stand up acts and local variety shows will perform from time to time. (Check their website www.cszdc.com for schedules.) <P> I recommend the early shows over the late even for adults, as they generally have more people competing and that lets the performers rotate a bit and be fresh and ready to go when it's their turn. The one draw back is from time to time you get a kids birthday party in there and every suggestion is "boogers" or "power rangers" which detracts from the show. The late show is adults only, has cursing and naughtier subjects - but is usually a smaller selection of performers and sometimes it shows as they get worn out for the night.
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