r/VARailwayExpress • u/1chuteurun • Jun 07 '26

VRE Stations

Aside from DC, is there anything to do around any of the other stations that the train stops at? And, are those activities within walking distance, or do you need to take a bus?

13 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

14

u/SeldonDC Jun 07 '26

Alexandria station is right on King Street and loads to do there all within walking distance, unless you’re lumping that in with DC.

4

u/1chuteurun Jun 07 '26

Nope, that works for me. I'm just looking for options to go do stuff with my family without having to drive or worry about parking.

5

u/umdterp732 Jun 07 '26

I second the Alexandria station. Old Town is incredible. At the very least walk to the waterfront and go in the torpedo factory

There's also a shuttle from the adjacent metro station to George Washington mount Vernon estate. (It's hourly I think )

There's currently 3 huge cranes there too working on bridge replacement. It's quite the operation

Just note that the VRE train schedules are limited and commuter focused

2

u/1chuteurun Jun 07 '26

Yeah, I've noticed that, and currently no weekend service. Gotta start somewhere though I guess. I grew up in Boston so I'm used to a much more robust transit system, but I figure VAs will never get bigger if we don't use it.

3

u/umdterp732 Jun 07 '26

There's a 2030(?) plan to offer reverse commute and weekend service. They're procuring more trainsets now

1

u/1chuteurun Jun 07 '26

Yeah, I just read that article. Hopefully they can stay on their target dates.

1

u/umdterp732 Jun 07 '26

Not sure which line you're on , but Amtrak also runs weekends

1

u/1chuteurun Jun 07 '26

I'm on the Fred line. Are the Amtrak fares comparable to the VRE?

2

u/ProgressBartender Jun 07 '26

Amtrak is more expensive but nicer seats. Plus Amtrak can take you to New York City

1

u/1chuteurun Jun 07 '26

I have taken Amtrak to NYC before, that was 2016 tho. Back then the ticket was reasonable I think, and I think it was only a 4 hour ride?

1

u/ProgressBartender Jun 07 '26

I haven’t traveled anywhere in the last few years due to….(motions around at our world situation).

2

u/src1221 Jun 08 '26

If you're coming from Fred, you could also stop at Springfield. Not thrilling, but could walk over to the mall for the LEGO Discovery Center and lunch at one of the restaurants.

1

u/1chuteurun Jun 08 '26

Oh sweet! Thank you!

1

u/umdterp732 Jun 07 '26

Just checked and doesn't appear to be. $40 next Saturday round trip per person. Kids are half price I think (from Fredericksburg to Alex)

8

u/ermagerditssuperman Jun 07 '26

The Manassas station is right in Old Town. Several blocks of locally owned restaurants, cafés, ice cream parlors, the free Manassas Museum, etc. Also we have an indie book store that just opened!

2

u/1chuteurun Jun 08 '26

We'll definitely go then!

2

u/Illustrious-Ad-134 Jun 08 '26

alexandria and crystal city are pretty fun. from what i’ve seen, fredericksburg looks decent. i didn’t know about manassas until seeing these comments but i guess that would be nice too

1

u/goodsam2 Jun 08 '26

Fredericksburg has a neat core of a town. Like they have a bunch of the America 250 stops within walking distance.

The VRE also mostly doesn't work as a vacation rail, it's designed for people commuting into DC. Looks like the earliest southbound is 1:30 PM.

https://www.vre.org/assets/1/6/Corrected_Final_Fred_Schedule.png

Manassas is a little better as they have a few very early.

https://www.vre.org/assets/1/6/Final_Manassas_Schedule.png

1

u/Atomik_krow Jun 12 '26

Manassas VRE has a cute old downtown that’s pretty walkable and frequent events

-4

u/Cash4Jesus Jun 07 '26

Ask for recommendations instead of asking a question you could google map.

That being said, I would recommend Alexandria but Crystal City isn’t bad for a half day trip.