Things to do in the Northern Virginia suburbs

The Fairfax-Tysons-Leesburg corridor is not a sightseeing destination — Arlington Cemetery, Old Town Alexandria and Mount Vernon each have their own page, and this one covers the rest: shopping malls, corporate office parks, and a scattering of vineyards around Leesburg.

Most visitors end up here to sleep, eat or shop on the edge of a DC trip, not to tour a monument. A car helps once you are out here, unlike downtown Washington where parking runs scarce and expensive; the Silver Line Metro reaches Tysons and on to Dulles and Loudoun County, but plenty of Fairfax and Leesburg addresses sit a genuine drive from any station.

Reckon on roughly 20-40 minutes from central DC depending on traffic and exact destination.