Old Town Alexandria

When I saw there was a “Good Night Moon Room” on display at @torpedofactory art center – I knew we had to visit ASAP. This led us to spending all day in Old Town Alexandria (my first time there!) and we loved it! Definitely recommend this for a fun day trip with kiddos.

Here’s what we did:

🅿️ Parked at 220 N Union Street Garage – $2.50/hr, $10 max for the day. Super easy in/out for pedestrians if you need to run back to your car for anything. Just steps from Torpedo Factory entrance. 

⭐️ Torpedo Factory – FREE no tickets needed, open 10-5 Wed-Sun. Good Night Moon Room is on Display through March 13th. Most of the room is just for display but the very front section is interactive – there is a small reading corner for kids and kids can play with the phone on the night stand. The art center includes 3 stories on working artist studios (but we didn’t explore further since it was so nice out!) Clean bathrooms and nice water fountains inside. There is a huge chalkboard wall near the bathrooms that the kids loved! Museum is stroller/wheelchair friendly (even with my big double bob) Enter on the waterfront side for stroller access.

⭐️ Founder’s Park – After the art center, we walked along the water to Founders Park – a huge open green space with beautiful water views. The kids ran around while watching ducks, boats and tons of planes pass by.

⭐️Crepes from Cafe Du Soleil – From Founders Park, we walked down Union street to Cafe Du Soleil (3 minute walk) TIP – order online ahead of time so its ready when you get there. FYI the cafe is not stroller friendly (steps at the entrance and tight corners) – I was with a friend and her kiddos so we took turns sitting with the kids outside while we ran in to get our food.

⭐️Windmill Hill Park – From the Cafe we continued walking down Union street to Windmill Hill Park (<5 minutes walking) – a fully fenced playground with water views, great for all ages. Playground has 2 levels with a cool rubber climber built into the hill. There is a sandbox, toddler and big kid swings, a large play structure, separate slide and a seesaw. We ate lunch here and played for over an hour. Next to the playground is Wilkes Street tunnel – a historic pedestrian tunnel (built in 1851!) My kids are weirdly fascinated by tunnels so they loved walking through it a few times 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️ Waterfront Walk – From the playground we walked along the water (all paved, stroller friendly and BEAUTIFUL!) back to our car. We could have spent all day strolling along here!

⭐️ Waterfront Park – This beautiful park includes Potomac River views, green space, a small turf area, bench swings. Great place to let the kids run around or have a picnic!

We had the best day here – I can’t say enough good things about Old Town Alexandria as a day trip with (or without) kids! We had some extra time at the end of the day so since we were close – we stopped by Lee District Park/Chessie’s Big Back Yard playground before heading home. You can read about our our first visit to this park by clicking here.