City of Falls Church is probably your best bet to combine a reasonable size lot with walkability

definitely city of falls church

That’s certainly correct considering the neighborhoods mentioned in this thread are not diverse at all. Owen and Maddie’s mom will call the cops on you even if you live on their street.

Every neighborhood in
the South is walkable.
Jogging or Running gets you shot.

We moved to SW Vienna from a North Arlington. We are walkable to the metro and a long-ish walk/easy bike ride to Church Street in downtown Vienna. We wanted to stay in Arlington, but we couldn't find a house with enough space and a decent yard in our price range.

We absolutely love living here--really friendly neighbors, my kids are outside almost every day, TONS of families and activities for kids. The caveat is that I work from home 98% of the time and DH works in Foggy Bottom, so it's a straight shoot on the metro. There is no way we could live here if we both had a long commute.

Anonymous wrote:Kings park west in Fairfax. Reasonably priced, walkable, large backyards, swimming pools in the nieghbourhoods, no HOA, a lark and tons of trails.

This is not what OP is looking for based on her description. I love Kings park west. We have family there and i think it is a great place to raise kids and embrace the benefits of suburb life at a reasonable price. But it is NOT walkable to shops, errands etc like the OP described wanting as someone who "loves city life." Really lovely, but not walkable like the OP described.

I live in Vienna and walk a lot of places

PP, what area do you recommend?

Anonymous wrote:Check out Old Town Fairfax.

Used to live there and loved it.

Anonymous wrote:Kings park west in Fairfax. Reasonably priced, walkable, large backyards, swimming pools in the nieghbourhoods, no HOA, a lark and tons of trails.

Far from DC and walkable to what besides a strip mall on Braddock Road?

Kings park west in Fairfax. Reasonably priced, walkable, large backyards, swimming pools in the nieghbourhoods, no HOA, a lark and tons of trails.

Anonymous wrote:I live in Vienna and walk a lot of places. I used to live in Falls Church (near WFC starion) and I think it has more walkable destinations, especially now. However, it also has more residential streets without sidewalks. Lot size varies but in general is smaller than in Vienna. I lived there without a car, but also without kids.

Pretty much the only neighborhood I like better than mine in Vienna is the area near Cherry Hill Park in FC.

You have bad taste.

I live in Old Town and I love it. The houses more south of me (Gibbon St, S. St Asaph) have bigger back yards. Walking King St. has kept me sane during the pandemic.

We live in Del Ray and chose it for the same reasons that you're prioritizing. We walk everywhere and we love it here, even in these crazy times. And our kids are in the local elementary (well, they were in it before March) and we've been happy with it. It's a Spanish dual-language program, which was a draw for us but if you don't want that you can request a transfer to a different city school.

Agreed with other posters, Westover, Del Ray, Vienna (though farther from the city), Fall Church City is also great, and then depending on your scene most areas near the orange line in arlington that people have mentioned are walkable.

I live in Vienna and walk a lot of places. I used to live in Falls Church (near WFC starion) and I think it has more walkable destinations, especially now. However, it also has more residential streets without sidewalks. Lot size varies but in general is smaller than in Vienna. I lived there without a car, but also without kids.

Pretty much the only neighborhood I like better than mine in Vienna is the area near Cherry Hill Park in FC.