I visited every DC Metro station. Here are my favorites:
When you have an unlimited free pass to the DC Metro (courtesy of American University), what else would you do besides visit all 91 Metro stations within WMATA’s system? Below are the official Red Jacket Travels ranking of every Metrorail station in DC, Virginia, and Maryland. This will be updated after the Silver Line extension to Dulles opens in Summer 2020. Next up (not really): all 11,129 Metrobus stops!
Note: These are my personal opinions of each station, based upon what I think is interesting or cool around there. If you feel differently or think a certain station should be higher or lower, that is perfectly fine and I mean no disrespect to you or your station.
Key: R-Red Line, B-Blue Line, O-Orange Line, G-Green Line, Y-Yellow Line, S-Silver Line
- Farragut West (B/O/S) – Clean, Spacious, Well-Lit, Fun Stuff around here
- Metro Center (R/B/O/S) – All roads lead to Metro Center
- Farragut North (R) – Same as Farragut West, but a dirtier station
- Archives (G/Y) – The art in the station area is fantastic, plus the plaza and museum
- Waterfront (G) – What can I say, I love the Potomac and The Wharf?
- Smithsonian (B/O/S) – Touristy, yes, but there’s nothing like them monuments
- Gallery Place (R/G/Y) – The area is quirky, but Chinatown and Capital One are cool
- Union Station (R) – Trains AND capital access! What could be better!
- DuPont Circle (R) – Kramerbooks! Beefsteak! Krispy Kreme! That one Starbucks!
- Eastern Market (B/O/S) – Farmers Market! (expensive, but super nice)
- Navy Yard/Ballpark (G) – WOOO Go Nats!
- King Street/Old Town (B/Y) – Old Town Alexandria is super underrated area
- Tysons Corner (S) – Gorgeous station coupled with huge mall. What’s not to love?
- L’Enfant Plaza (B/O/S/G/Y) – Lots of connections, plus the Spy Museum
- U Street (G/Y) – Murals and Ben’s Chili Bowl
- Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan (R) – Pandas! (Bei Bei left :(, unfortunately). Also Adams Morgan is super cool and has a ton of culture
- Capitol South (B/O/S) – The Capitol Building, but beware of hillterns
- Foggy Bottom/GWU (B/O/S) – Nice area, lots of restaurants, GW is there, I guess
- Ballston (O/S) – Ballston Quarter is super nice, but super gentrified
- McPherson Square (B/O/S) – It’s the same as Farragut, so is basically a useless station
- Rosslyn (B/O/S) – Interesting Double Decker Design in the Station
- Friendship Heights (R) – Upscale shopping and movies!
- Columbia Heights (G/Y) – BIG mall here (including Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Target)
- Federal Triangle (B/O/S) – Nice part of DC, but Trump Hotel is across the street
- Bethesda (R) – Neat little area around here, lots of restaurants
- Tenleytown/AU (R) – It smells here, but home is home
- Dunn Loring (O) – Avenir Place is cool, nice little shops and such
- NoMa/Gallaudet U (R) – Union Market (that’s all there is to see around here)
- Pentagon City (B/Y) – Another Mall!
- Arlington Cemetery (B) – Hard to get to, but man is it a glorious sight to see that train
- Ronald Reagan National Airport (B/Y) – It’s the airport!
- Silver Spring (R) – Another shopping center, but with Dave and Busters
- Judiciary Square (R) – Meh, just government offices, really
- Federal Center SW (B/O/S) – More Government Offices, nothing to see here
- Mount Vernon Square (G/Y) – Conventiongoers galore
- Cleveland Park (R) – Target! And another stop for the zoo!
- Crystal City (B/Y) – You can bike to a neat picnic spot from here (Gravelly Point)
- Virginia Square (O/S) – A bit redundant from Ballston, but still cool
- Takoma (R) – Really cute residential area
- Clarendon (O/S) – Restaurants and a nice area to walk around
- Court House (O/S) – More of the same from Clarendon
- Greensboro (S) – Tysons Corner Mall -lite
- Spring Hill (S) – I walked here from Greensboro faster than the train could get here.
- Van Ness/UDC (R) – All the embassies are really cool
- Prince George’s Plaza (G/Y) – It has green infrastructure! I like that…
- Wheaton (R) – LONGEST ESCALATOR IN NORTH AMERICA!
- Rockville (R) – Rockville is cool, I guess
- Georgia Ave/Petworth (G/Y) – I do enjoy a bagel place around here (Call your Mother)
- Shaw/Howard U (G/Y) – Shaaaaaaaaaaw!
- Wiehle/Reston East (S) – It’s kinda close to Dulles and that’s about it
- Pentagon (B/Y) – You always feel like you’re not allowed to get off at this station
- Anacostia (G) – Up and coming area, but The Big Chair!
- Braddock Road (B/Y) – It’s in Alexandria, but not really
- Stadium/Armory (B/O/S) – RFK Stadium is near here, but that’s deserted now
- Rhode Island Ave (R) – Watch Gentrification in process!
- Huntington (Y) – Dude, the diagonal elevator alone makes this a cool station
- Potomac Ave (B/O/S) – The Congressional Cemetery is around here
- McLean (S) – This station is the poster shot for Metro. Bet you didn’t know that, eh?
- Fort Totten (R/G/Y) – Half inside, Half out on the lower level, pretty cool eh?
- Brookland/CUA (R) – Weird area, but the Arboretum is (kinda) near here (kinda as in bikeable)
- College Park/U of Md (G/Y) – Another school!
- Forest Glen (R) – The only station without an escalator to the street level
- Glenmont (R) – Surprisingly clean station, but nothing around here
- Largo Town Center (B/S) – Modern, clean station (Golden Corral)
- New Carrollton (O) – End of the Orange Line!
- Vienna (O) – (Other) end of the Orange Line!
- Franconia/Springfield (B) – End of the Blue Line!
- Greenbelt (G/Y) – End of the Green and Yellow Line!
- West Hyattsville (G/Y) – It’s a parking lot and that’s about it, but nice ride over here
- Suitland (G) – Government officials work here; understand the “Suitland” name now
- Southern Ave (G) – It has a bus to National Harbor and cool art
- Capitol Heights (B/S) – A community garden is across the street
- Van Dorn St (B) – Can’t think of anything bad at this station
- East Falls Church (O/S) – Last transfer point for Orange and Silver Line
- West Falls Church (O) – It’s like East Falls Church but with one less line…
- Grosvenor/Strathmore (R) – We’ve crossed the beltway!
- Medical Center (R) – BIG Hospital
- Branch Ave (G) – Good view out the window here
- Naylor Road (G) – Nice Architecture in the station
- Shady Grove (R) – It’s shady, and there’s a grove of trees
- Morgan Blvd (B/S) – Another nice looking modern station
- Eisenhower Ave (Y) – Named after a president, so it has that
- White Flint (R) – There’s a couple restaurants around here and a strip mall or two
- Landover (O) – Parking lot 1
- Cheverly (O) – Parking lot 2
- Addison Road (B/S) – Parking lot 3
- Twinbrook (R) – Parking lot 4
- Benning Road (B/S) – Not much around here
- Congress Heights (G) – A fairly chaotic and stressful area
- Deanwood (O) – Not much around here 3
- Minnesota Ave (O) – Not much around here 4
