Simply throughout the Potomac River from Washington, DC, Arlington is known for being the house of Arlington Nationwide Cemetery and the Pentagon. However this densely populated county – oddly, it’s not formally thought-about a metropolis – has many extra sights to see.
Come right here to dine, admire artwork, play ice hockey, discover the drug realm (legally), see a play in an award-winning venue and even stroll in nature with among the most iconic views round. Arlington is way more than you assume. Listed here are 15 wonderful methods to expertise it.
Be awed by the Iwo Jima Memorial
Pulitzer Prize–successful photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the second six Marines put in the US flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima throughout one of the hard-fought battles in World Struggle II. His soul-stirring picture turned the inspiration for the Iwo Jima Memorial – the nickname for the US Marine Corps Memorial – rising atop a knoll overlooking the Nationwide Mall.
It’s highly effective and poignant, its flag proudly flying 24/7 by govt decree. On summer season evenings, the Marine Corps sunset parade, a musical extravaganza of marching and drums and bugles, takes place. Close by, the Netherlands Carillon, a present of the Dutch, gives reside summer season concert events, and automatic concert events at different occasions. The grassy grounds provide an awe-inspiring perspective over the Nationwide Mall, a well-liked fireworks-watching spot on the Fourth of July.
Spot planes at Gravelly Level Park
At Gravelly Level Park, close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, airplanes are available for a touchdown simply over your head, so shut you possibly can really feel the roar of the engines reverberate all through your physique as you examine their underbellies. You’re proper on the flight path of touchdown and departing planes.
Locals swarm to this small, wide-open park for the casual aviation present, bringing picnics, children and canines. It’s a circus of exercise, with runners and bikers zipping previous on the 18-mile Mount Vernon Path, whereas the sweeping views to the east absorb DC’s monuments rising throughout the Potomac River. You’ll be able to solely attain the park from the northbound facet of George Washington Memorial Parkway.
See a play and have dinner in Shirlington
You don’t should go to the Kennedy Heart to see star-filled reveals within the DC space. The Tony Award–successful Signature Theatre in Arlington is an under-the-radar regional theater seating solely 300 individuals tops. However it’s a theatrical powerhouse that not solely produces Broadway-caliber reveals, it is hosted 59 world-premiere works since its founding in 1989.
You’ll discover classics and new productions, established stars and rising skills. It’s the cultural anchor of the city village of Shirlington, a full of life neighborhood of largely eating places, a handful of outlets and a movie show.
Go to hallowed floor at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery
Practically 400,000 stark-white tombstones undulate alongside the rolling inexperienced hills of 639-acre Arlington Nationwide Cemetery. Solely probably the most esteemed troopers, representing each battle because the Revolutionary Struggle, are buried on this most somber of locations – the {qualifications} are stringent.
The welcome middle has reveals, and that is the place you possibly can choose up the shuttle that accesses particular websites, or you possibly can stroll. (Warning: it’s hilly!) Don’t miss the altering of the guard on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and John F Kennedy’s gravesite, marked by an everlasting flame.
The land, initially belonging to Robert E Lee, was confiscated by the Union after he fled to hitch the Confederacy. Sitting atop a knoll, his plantation house, Arlington Home, has been reinterpreted to inform the fuller story of all who lived right here earlier than the cemetery was established through the Civil Struggle, the Lee household and enslaved staff alike.
Go on a hike at Potomac Overlook Regional Park
The namesake view of the Potomac River at this city, tree-shaded oasis within the coronary heart of Arlington is seasonal – and never a lot to write down house about, truthfully. The explanation to go to the rollicking, 67-acre park is to hike on simple trails, taking in a typical Virginia woodland of oaks, maples, cedars and magnolias. You’ll be able to hear birds flitting about, squirrels rustling within the brush and the quietude of nature.
The character middle has interactive reveals on native wildlife. An out of doors live performance collection takes place in summer season.
Have a good time girls’s achievements on the Navy Girls’s Memorial
Simply exterior the doorway to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, you’ll spy what seems like an enormous neoclassical wall. It’s not only a wall, however a memorial honoring servicewomen from all wars and occupations. Step inside and also you’ll uncover a contemporary schooling middle, theater and computerized registry of army girls. Plus, there are reveals with every kind of fascinating info; for instance, you’ll be taught there have been girls spies through the Revolutionary Struggle, whereas others fought dressed as males.
One other spotlight is the 360-degree rooftop view. Behind you, rows of Arlington’s bright-white tombstones march over the hillside, whereas in entrance, the star-studded panorama of the Memorial Bridge and Lincoln Monument unfurls earlier than your eyes. Inspiring quotes are etched into glass panels.
Keep in mind 9/11 on the Pentagon and 9/11 Pentagon Memorial
A sprawling complicated rising within the coronary heart of Arlington, the Pentagon is house to the US Division of Protection, and one of many world’s largest workplace buildings, with 6,500,000 sq ft of working area for greater than 23,000 army and civilian workers.
5 sides comprise this huge construction, with 5 above-ground flooring and two basement ranges, its corridors measuring a complete of 17.5 miles. But because of the spoke-and-ring design, it takes solely seven minutes to stroll between the 2 farthest factors. The constructing can’t be toured at the moment; verify here for updates.
On September 11, 2001, a hijacked jet struck the Pentagon’s west facet, killing 184 individuals. The out of doors 9/11 Pentagon Memorial honors these killed, with 184 illuminated benches inscribed with every sufferer’s title, age and site on the time of assault. The memorial is open 24/7, and a 24-minute audio tour is offered by calling 202-741-1004.
Frolic in springtime magnificence at Woman Chook Johnson Park
Claudia Alta “Woman Chook” Johnson was at all times identified for her love of flowers, and whereas her husband, thirty sixth president Lyndon Johnson, was in workplace, she strove to make Washington, DC – in addition to the nation’s interstate highways – as stunning as potential.
Renamed in her honor in 1968, Woman Chook Johnson Park – an island within the Potomac linked to the mainland by bridges – places on a unprecedented floral present all through the seasons. One million blooming daffodils adopted by 11,000 pink tulips announce spring, whereas prim hardwoods flip into fiery reds and oranges in fall. There are weeping willows, dogwoods, crab apples and extra. Finishing the picturesque scene, the views throughout the Potomac absorb Washington’s marble monuments.
You’ll discover two monuments inside the park: the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac, and the 1922 Navy and Service provider Marine Memorial. The 18-mile Mount Vernon Path meanders by way of, ultimate for bikers, runners and walkers. Drivers can solely entry the park from the southbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Hang around at Ballston Quarter
Arlington’s once-fading Ballston Mall has been resuscitated. Ballston Quarter, because it’s now known as, has undergone a facelift to create a glowing indoor-outdoor area with leisure venues, actions and, in fact, buying. There are sit-down eating places that includes among the space’s favourite cooks, in addition to a buzzy meals corridor providing every little thing from avenue tacos to gourmand doughnuts to native craft brews. You’ll be able to come right here for a cooking class, a trivia sport, a Caps or Nats watch social gathering on two large screens and even participate in a live-action journey at 5 Wits Arlington.
And right here’s one thing else. On the highest flooring, you’ll discover the MedStar Capitals Iceplex, which not solely gives a public ice-skating rink, it’s the place Alex Ovechkin and different Stanley Cup–successful Washington Capitals follow. Verify their schedule here.
Bike the beautiful Mount Vernon Path
Edging the Potomac River for 18 miles from Theodore Roosevelt Island to Mount Vernon, the floral-bedecked Mount Vernon Trail is a primo escape for bikers, walkers, runners and rollerbladers. Solely about 4.5 miles are in Arlington, however what a 4.5 miles they’re. For a lot of that size, you could have iconic views throughout the river, taking within the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, US Capitol, Memorial Bridge and extra.
Springtime flowers bloom gloriously, whereas autumn ignites in blazing maples, dogwoods and redbuds. Highlights embrace Theodore Roosevelt Island, Gravelly Level Park (the favored plane-spotting perch) and Woman Chook Johnson Park. It runs parallel to the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which gives the identical views by automotive.
Stretch your legs on Theodore Roosevelt Island
A pedestrian bridge sweeps you throughout a placid channel to this 88-acre island in the midst of the Potomac River, the place 2.5 miles of climbing trails wander by way of swampland, marsh and upland forest. As soon as an overgrown farm that was reworked right into a pure oasis within the Nineteen Thirties, it’s now the area of squirrels, raccoons, deer and the occasional pink fox. The point of interest is the 17ft bronze of the twenty sixth US president rising within the middle, honoring the person who adored the wilderness.
The island is accessible by automotive solely from the northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, or on foot or by bike alongside the Mount Vernon Path.
Make dinner reservations in stylish Clarendon
Vietnamese refugees flocked to the Clarendon neighborhood within the Nineteen Sixties and ‘70s, and whereas few of Little Saigon’s eating places stay, a pair do, together with Nam Viet, with a photograph wall stuffed with well-known diners. Right now although, the neighborhood vibe has transitioned to hip and classy, with a bevy of terrace eating places and bars catering to the going-out crowd. You’ll discover every little thing from Italian to Japanese to Irish to Baltic. Ambar, Green Pig Bistro and Circa are perennial favorites.
There’s buying too, together with the out of doors Crossing Clarendon buying middle, with big-name shops like Pottery Barn and Barnes & Noble. Amongst a number of annual occasions that happen right here, Clarendon Day is a enjoyable avenue pageant with bar crawls, an arts pageant and the thrilling Clarendon Cup, an expert bike race.
Look to the skies on the US Air Power Memorial
Ascending excessive into the blue sky above Arlington, three curved, shimmering, chrome steel spires honor the women and men of the US Air Power. Extra particularly, the spires characterize the contrails of Air Power Thunderbirds as they disperse in a “bomb burst” maneuver.
Devoted in 2006, the US Air Power Memorial is the final army service monument to be put in within the DC space. It is surrounded by granite partitions with inscriptions celebrating the valor and heritage of aviation pioneers and contains an 8ft-tall bronze Honor Guard statue and a glass contemplation wall paying tribute to fallen airmen and girls. You’ll discover it close to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, overlooking the Pentagon.
Delve into the world of medicine on the DEA Museum
Tucked away in an workplace constructing in a nondescript a part of Arlington, the very last thing you’d anticipate finding is an exhilarating museum devoted to medicine. However there it’s on Military Navy Drive, an entire museum spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Company (DEA) that explores the nefarious world of drug exercise and enforcement over the previous 150 years.
Reveals delve into the science and historical past of opium, marijuana and cocaine, whereas a rotating show highlights such noteworthy moments as “taking down El Chapo.” However it’s the artifacts which might be most riveting. Among the many DEA’s assortment of greater than 5000 objects and 40,000 images are inexperienced platform sneakers worn by a DEA particular agent whereas investigating a Nineteen Seventies cocaine ring; a non secular icon discovered amongst members of the Gulf, Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels; and a spiked bamboo booby entice that protected drug traffickers’ crops in Thailand.
Admire public artwork in Rosslyn
Arlington could not look like a creative vacation spot, however greater than 70 everlasting public-art installations sprinkle the county – and counting.
You’ll discover a lot of them within the neighborhood of Rosslyn, together with one of many earliest: accomplished in 1984, Darkish Star Park options spherical concrete sculptures resembling, in accordance with artist Nancy Holt, “extinguished stars.” Anna and David, by Miriam Schapiro, is a colourful, three-story sculpture of a dancing couple, and Luminous Our bodies, marking 4 corners of the bridge over I-66, is a set of 26-foot-high illuminated sculptures that change colours at evening. Take a self-guided walking or driving tour to identify all of them.
