It’s no surprise that, for the sixth straight year, Alexandria’s in the top five best small cities list in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards: but this year, Alexandria beat out Aspen and reclaimed its third place ranking.
Alexandria is third place behind Santa Fe, New Mexico and Charleston, South Carolina, which has become a tradition of the annual rankings.
Alexandria is pretty indisputably the champion of Halloween in the region, and every year, the city’s museums get in on the action.
Two museums around Alexandria are offering special tours in October exploring poisons and death in the City of Alexandria.
Most historic tours around Alexandria take visitors to historic buildings, but a unique set of tours next month offers insight into the buildings that aren’t there.
The Lost Buildings of Alexandria tour examines the historic buildings that, for one reason or another, have been lost to time.
Curtains will be closing this Friday on a temporary tour of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum inspired by the musical “Hamilton” but an encore may already be in the works.
Tickets for the specialty tour, dubbed “Hamilton’s BFFs and Frenemies,” have already sold out for the summer run, which is ending this week, a city spokeswoman said. The city’s Office of Historic Alexandria is making plans to offer the same tour this fall at the museum, located at 134 N. Royal Street, though dates have not yet been set, she said.
Old Town’s Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum (105-107 S. Fairfax Street) is a fascinating place, and the Office of Historic Alexandria is looking for volunteers to help show it to visitors.
The museum contains a collection of medicinal herbs, shop furnishings, apothecary pottles and more that are largely original to the 141-year-old family business. The museum tells the story of medicine and business as they evolved in Alexandria. The museum has a collection of journals, letters, diaries and more — including a note from Martha Washington.
Travel + Leisure readers ranked Alexandria as one of the top ten cities in America for the second year in a row — though Nashville, Tennessee bumped Alexandria down from the eighth spot to the ninth spot.
The cities are ranked on a variety of factors, from shopping and food to culture and landmarks. As with last year, Charleston, South Carolina came in at number one.
It’s a beautiful spring morning in Alexandria!
Today’s weather: Mostly sunny with a high of 72 degrees during the day, and cloudy with a low of 56 degrees tonight.
A magical apothecary tour will materialize in Old Town next week, just in time for the holidays.
The Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum (105-107 S. Fairfax Street) is hosting the annual event on Friday, Dec. 16, and fans of J.K. Rowling’s books can learn about her inspirations in the muggle field of botanical science. Visitors will learn about fumigating pastiles, sweet marjoram and cuttle fish bone, among others.
There are a number of ways to volunteer in Alexandria this fall.
Sports enthusiasts can become volunteer sport coaches, and history lovers can become volunteer tour guides.
Pandemic? Alexandria just broke the all-time record for consumption-based tax revenue with $76 million for fiscal year 2022, according to the city’s tourism bureau.
At its annual meeting this week, Visit Alexandria reported that its expanded marketing efforts — with support from the Alexandria’s American Rescue Plan funding — allowed the city to capitalize on pent-up travel demand.
For the fifth straight year, Alexandria was named in the top five best small cities in the country in the 2022 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
Alexandria took home the fourth spot this year after placing third the last two years in a row.
