Best Trails near Arlington County, Virginia

Giving this a 4 stars because I love the Potomac River. The trail itself is not bad but nothing spectacular. It is a good trail for beginner hikers that want to be close to a residential neighborhood, highway or city while still getting a bit of nature. Still, if you love the Potomac River and enjoy seeing people in their own world fishing or kayaking as you hike on by then the Potomac Heritage Trail is worth the hike.

The first 8 miles of the trail is garbage. Construction, detours, terrible.

Nice urban trail but the first part has a lot of stream crossings so be aware. I also found it hard to figure out where the trail was at the beginning because of all the stream crossings. It’s not a very peaceful place because you’re near houses and roads and the planes fly right over on their way to the airport. But if you’re in the area and want to get outside and don’t have much time, this is a nice option.

Weekends and rush hour this is a heavily trafficked paved trail. There is a horse trail beside it that is nicer for hiking. Trail is used by bike commuters, cycling groups, runners, all training for various races. It has lots of amenities and is beautiful.

Great trail for running or exploring with the fam. Ran my dog, which was awesome and then went back later with the kids to explore the river beds and streams. Great family outdoor adventure.

Finished hiking the complete length of this trail today-have done it in pieces over the last week or so. While it does have some nice bits and pieces, it has some really unfortunate sections, including multiple stretches that require walking on the curbside of the GW Parkway, and some views of the DMV’s finest underage drinking spots. Watch out for copperheads when you are down by the riverside! If you don’t want to leave the area, your time is better spent in Rock Creek Park.

Seems to be more of a commuter trail than a scenic Trail. Parallels a lot of highways.

We hiked this trail from key bridge to chain bridge road. It's not very scenic, you're next to GW Parkway for a good bit, it's not very well maintained and the last quarter mile or so before chain bridge is unmarked. There are some scenic spots, and some nice water falls, but for the most part this was underwhelming. The best part of this trail is that for a trail connected to a city it was not heavily trafficked. So if you ignore the car noise, it is peaceful. We're probably not going to do this trail again.

Flooding pretty negatively affected a lot of the trail by the river and it has not been dealt with as of October 2019.

I visited this trail in late spring. I parked at Roosevelt Island and walked to Chain Bridge. I do not recommend walking this trail between Spring and Summer as their is an infestation of Copperhead Snakes. While walking this trail the snakes were hatching from their eggs and I may have seen up to 50 snakes on my short walk. It was an obstacle course just trying to avoid stepping on them. Aside from the snakes the trail is not that scenic. It basically hugs the Potomac River and is filled with foliage. After I arrived at Chain Bridge I crossed the bridge and walked back to Georgetown via the C&O Canal path. I then crossed the Georgetown bridge and walked back to my car.