Old Town Alexandria was such a beautiful mix of historic buildings and modern conveniences. From amazing restaurants and shopping to historic sites, Old Town Alexandria should be a stop on your next D.C. trip.
Getting to Old Town Alexandria:
If you’re taking the metro in, you will need to take the yellow or blue line to King Street. Once there, just outside of the station, will be a free trolley that will take you up and down King Street. The trolley has multiple stops along King Street which is kind of the main drag in Old Town Alexandria. This street goes all the way down to the waterfront.
We took the metro into Old Town Alexandria once or twice on our trip. The other times we stopped in, we drove our rental car. We found a good deal through Hotels.com (affiliate) on a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia which is where we stayed for our trip. We would drive our to historic sites like Mount Vernon and Arlington (but you could take the metro to either) and then we would metro into Washington D.C. to see some of the Smithsonian Museums, the Newseum, wander the Mall and just hang out.
Driving into Old Town did not take very long and we were able to find free parking not too far away from King Street. If you’re staying in or near Alexandria, your hotel will probably have a brochure and map for Old Town Alexandria. The map we had had a few free parking areas highlighted on it. We just walked down to King Street and then we could take the free trolley up and down.
What You Will See and Do in Old Town Alexandria:
The main thing to do is go down King Street. This is where most of the action is. There are lots of restaurants and shopping along King Street. They have classics like Chipotle, Five Guys, and Subway as well as local, one-of-a-kind restaurants that cover basically any kind of ethnic food you could want. We saw places for Mexican food, French bakeries, Indian food and we ate one night at a Lebanese restaurant, Pita House (which we HIGHLY recommend!!)
Because we were mainly focused on doing things in Washington D.C. we only really came to Old Town Alexandria for dinner or a treat (they have lots of yummy ice cream shops!) Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time here, there are other things we would have liked to see if we had had the time. Old Town Alexandria has a great website that gives you lots of info and ideas of things that you can do in this cute historic area.
Sum Up:
Old Town Alexandria is a cute historic area that has lots of great restaurants and shopping. It is also a beautiful area to just walk around in. There is a free trolley that runs up and down King Street, from the metro station all the way to the waterfront. There is also free parking, if you prefer to drive, just off of King Street. Make sure to check out Old Town Alexandria’s website for specific details of things to do, favorite restaurants, shopping, and parking areas.
