Why you should visit Arlington rather than DC

Tamara Hinson discovers the fantastic diversity of Arlington County, which will soon see an influx of 25,000 Amazon workers

Over the bridge from DC is Arlington (Getty/iStock)

Wolfing down my second portion of dolma – ground beef, wrapped in vine leaves – I justify overindulging by vowing to use Arlington’s bike-share scheme later, although the arrival of a plate of vareniki (fried dumplings) leaves me wondering if my saddle can cope with the extra weight.

My waiter at RusUz, a Russian-Uzbekistani restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, is Tashkent-born Ismoil Rakhmatullaev, whose father opened the restaurant in 2012. Ismoil explains there’s a sizeable Uzbekistani community here, as well as in DC. His father lives near the Uzbekistani embassy, and a job at the embassy was the reason he came here. There’s no denying that DC, just across the river (the Lincoln Memorial is clearly visible from Arlington’s centre) can take some credit for the diversity of Arlington, a popular base for government employees who come from all corners of the globe to work in DC, but prefer to live on the quieter, greener side of the Potomac river.

Commonly referred to as a city, Arlington is actually an urban county, albeit one that feels like a cosmopolitan town. It will soon become even more diverse, thanks to Amazon’s decision to base its second headquarters, HQ2, in the Crystal City neighbourhood. Between 25,000 and 37,000 people will work in brand new buildings which will replace the older, uglier ones being quietly torn down. It’s certainly the prettiest building site I’ve seen. Hoardings surrounding Amazon’s recently purchased plots double as public art, daubed with uplifting mantras and silhouettes of bicycles picked out with artificial flowers.