Alexandria

Alexandria pairs an urban waterfront with real wilderness. The Mount Vernon Trail passes right through Old Town on its way from Roosevelt Island down to George Washington's Mount Vernon, so riverfront rides start at your doorstep. And just south of the city, Huntley Meadows Park — the largest park in the Fairfax County system at about 1,450 acres — has a half-mile boardwalk through a huge wetland with an observation tower, where 200-plus bird species have been recorded. Beavers, herons and deer, fifteen minutes from a historic downtown.

Old Town is Alexandria's beating heart: brick-lined King Street runs from the Metro down to the Potomac waterfront, and every Saturday morning Market Square hosts the Old Town Farmers' Market — widely cited as the oldest continuously running farmers' market in the country, dating to the days when George Washington sent produce from Mount Vernon to be sold here. Between the 18th-century architecture, the waterfront parks and the year-round street life, it's the most walkable historic district in Virginia.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center is Alexandria's signature family stop — a real WWII naval torpedo factory on the waterfront, converted in 1974 into one of the country's largest collections of publicly accessible working artist studios, where kids can watch art being made. Pair it with the waterfront parks, a Mount Vernon Trail bike ride, or the wildlife boardwalk at Huntley Meadows, and Alexandria fills a weekend easily.

Kingstowne — technically in southeastern Fairfax County with an Alexandria address — is the area's big master-planned community, known for its pools, miles of walking trails, recreation centers with fitness rooms and sports courts, and the shops, dining and movie theater at Kingstowne Towne Center. Association assessments generally cover those shared amenities and common areas, but dues, rules and inclusions change — read the current resale packet (Virginia gives a statutory review window), and Raoul pulls the HOA docs for any address you're considering.