The budget-friendly alternative to staying in Washington DC
It’s a 20-minute cycle from Arlington County to downtown DC, but the decision by Amazon to invest in the capital’s neighbour is turning the county into a destination in its own right. Our writer discovers history, hiking and biking trails and a plethora of restaurants showcasing global cuisine.
It’s 10am and I’m pedalling along the Potomac, dodging squirrels as I weave along the riverside boardwalk. Across the water, the domed Lincoln Memorial juts above the trees. Being so close to Washington DC’s centre – but away from the selfie stick-wielding crowds – is just one of the perks of basing myself in Arlington County.
Staying in this urban county, which covers just 25 square miles, also makes financial sense. Hotels (and restaurants and bars too, for that matter) here are generally cheaper than those in DC, despite its proximity. A quick search on Expedia for four-star hotels in downtown Washington DC, staying for one night in April 2024, suggests finding anything costing under £300 a night will be tricky. A night at Marriott’s four-star Renaissance Washington DC Downtown hotel, for example, would set me back £391.
In Arlington, one night at the four-star Hyatt Centric Arlington comes in at £235. There are just three miles between the two hotels, and it takes me under 20 minutes to cycle from downtown Arlington to downtown Washington DC (pedal power-loving visitors should consider using the brilliant Capitol Bikeshare scheme, which offers a wallet-friendly $8 24-hour pass).
But there are plenty of reasons to spend time exploring Arlington too. My first port of call is Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for more than 400,000 people. And they are not just from the military – there are areas dedicated to park rangers, passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 (downed in 1988 after a bomb in the hold exploded) and former slaves. One of the most eye-catching and best-visited plots is the grave of former president John F Kennedy, lit by an eternal flame. There’s a Welcome Center with exhibits and maps and visitors can sign up for trolley tours of the cemetery, filled with 8,500 trees spanning 30 species.
The Pentagon’s looming presence means it’s impossible to forget the military might based in Arlington, but there’s another behemoth in town: Amazon, which opened its sprawling HQ2 in an area known as National Landing, Arlington’s most developed neighbourhood, in June 2023.
Amazon invested billions in Arlington and it’s not just employees benefitting. Outside HQ2, locals queue for free bananas doled out at an Amazon food truck, metres from Metropolitan Park, an art-filled space with wooded areas and picnic benches. It’s just metres away from Water Park, which opened in October 2023. When I visit, an army of workers – many clutching their free Amazon bananas – are putting finishing touches to Water Park’s music venues, bars and restaurants (some run by James Beard Award nominees), which surround a beautiful water feature and landscaped lawns.
There’s certainly a vibrancy to Arlington which didn’t exist before. Urban business hubs can become ghost towns when workers clock off, but Amazon’s decision to spend $400m bankrolling the construction of new apartments has stopped this from happening.
Arlington is also easily accessible for clients visiting from further afield. At its heart is the Crystal City metro station, which provides easy access to Washington DC, and it’s expected to get its own Amtrak station in the next couple of years, which will mean direct links to destinations such as Boston. And by 2028 a new walkway will allow visitors to walk from the heart of National Landing to Arlington’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which offers flights to destinations across the US, making Arlington one of the few places where passengers can walk directly from an urban centre to an airport.
The Mount Vernon trail, a hiking and cycling path which weaves its way to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s former home, skirts the National Landing neighbourhood and passes through nearby Alexandria. This is a small city with seven Historic Districts listed on the National Register and an old town filled with listed buildings, such as Fairfax Street’s former eighteenth-century apothecary, now the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum and Carlyle House Historic Park, a Georgian manor house built by Scottish trader-turned American patriot John Carlyle.
There is another reason to visit Arlington – following your taste buds. It’s always been a popular base for foreign embassy staff working across the water in DC. The huge range of nationalities living here is the reason the county has one of America’s most diverse food scenes.
On my final night, I head to Ambar, a Balkan restaurant famous for its delicious ćevapi (beef sausages) and sherry vinaigrette-drizzled salads. The $49.99 Ambar experience allows diners to sample everything on the menu.
I stick to a small plate of ćevapi, simply because my dining companion suggests we head to Buena Vida Gastrolounge, a Mexican restaurant on the other side of the street, for dessert – more specifically its famous baked cheese cake, served with passion fruit and pineapple compote. All in the name of research, obviously.
Book it: North America Travel Service offers five-nights room-only at Arlington’s Marriott Crystal City from £1,497pp, based on two adults travelling in January 2024 and including return flights from Heathrow to Washington Dulles; northamericatravelservice.co.uk
Resources: Water Park nlwaterpark.com; Arlington National Cemetery arlingtoncemetery.mil/Visit; Ambar ambarrestaurant.com; Buena Vida buenavidagastrolounge.com
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