When your group meets in Fairfax County, you get the best of all worlds—exceptional regional access, great pricing at hotels and restaurants, nearby attractions, a location minutes from Washington, DC, and an entire team to ensure you have your best event ever.
To make things easy for you, we’ve assembled this handy guide to the top six areas for meetings and events in Fairfax County and what you can plan to do nearby for your next memorable event.
Meetings in the Dulles Corridor
Located in and around Dulles International Airport (IAD), the Dulles Corridor is home to corporate headquarters and a large concentration of high-tech firms. With over 100 restaurants scattered across just this area, your guests will not go hungry! The Dulles Corridor is served by the Silver Line Metro, ready and waiting to whisk you from your Herndon or Chantilly meeting hotel to Washington, DC’s monuments and museums. Here’s what you’ll find along the corridor:
Conference Centers
The Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles Hotel features 40,000 sq. ft. of event space with state-of-the-art technology capabilities. It is a AAA three-diamond hotel located less than eight miles from Dulles Airport.
Unique Meeting Spaces
The Dulles Corridor features a number of interesting spaces to hold meetings. Honor Brewing Company is dedicated to those who serve and offers a private event space for your team to enjoy. Frying Pan Farm Park recreates rural America from a century ago and offers seating for up to 150 guests. And if you really want a meeting or event that soars, the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center offers multiple meeting and event spaces guaranteed to create lasting memories.
Teambuilding
From Monster Mini Golf to Escape Room Herndon and Hashtag Gaming Arena, there are plenty of fun and interesting teambuilding spots nearby.
Attractions
The National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center is a must-see attraction in the Herndon and Chantilly areas of Fairfax County. It’s also one of the biggest attractions in the entire DC region, featuring everything from the Space Shuttle Discovery to an IMAX Theater and simulators. Unforgettable! In addition, Herndon and Chantilly both have a variety of breweries, parks and historic attractions for excursions.
Meetings in Reston
Reston is one of the nation’s first and most successful planned communities and is home to a number of corporate HQs. This town is popular for its leisure time activities, its scenic lakes, and its trendy restaurants. The Reston area is served by the Silver Line Metro and, while closest to Dulles International Airport, is also easy to reach from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). In addition, Reston is home to several cosmopolitan meeting hotels.
Conference Centers
Reston features two conference centers. The Bechtel Conference Center offers 8 meeting spaces for groups from 2 to 200 people. And the Reston Association Conference Center accommodates up to 170 guests.
Unique Meeting Spaces
Reston features a number of unique event spaces, with several standouts. The Pavilion at Reston Town Center combines the excitement of this unique shopping and dining location with fresh air appeal. The Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art is both artsy and uniquely Reston. The Lake House features meeting space with jaw-dropping views of Lake Newport. Nearby, don’t miss the magical and historic facilities at The Barns at Wolf Trap on the grounds of the nation’s only National Park for the Performing Arts.
Teambuilding
Teambuilding in the Reston area is largely a social endeavor, from unwinding at Lake Anne Brew House with its beautiful water views to dining at Reston Town Center. The Reston National Golf Course offers a great outing for golfers.
Attractions
Reston is filled with scenic trails like the Lake Anne Walking Trail and the W&OD Trail. The Reston Museum offers insight into the planning of the nation’s first planned communities and the man behind the mission. Nearby Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is a beautiful venue for concerts in season. And a tour of Reston’s public art makes a fine contender for the town’s best attraction. And you can shop, dine, and play right in the center of town at the buzzing Reston Town Center.
Meetings in Tysons
Tysons is a major East Coast business center with shiny high rises and impressive meeting hotels. Like Reston and the Dulles Corridor, it is served by the Silver Line Metro, offering direct access to Washington, DC. Both DCA and IAD offer convenient access to Tysons. As you’ll come to learn, there’s plenty of excitement to be had when you meet or stay here.
Unique Meeting Spaces
Tysons offers a number of sophisticated and interesting meeting venues. Capital One Hall can host corporate meetings and large gatherings. Eleven stories up, you’ll find The Perch, an outdoor park “in the sky” with food trucks, arts, 18-holes of mini golf, and stunning sunset views. Back on street level, check out the private space at Starr Hill Brewpub. Another Tysons staple? The Tower Club offers sweeping views and an upscale, architecturally interesting space to impress guests.
Teambuilding
Vertical Rock Tysons is a great place to challenge teams to connect over bouldering and rock climbing, while Tysons nightlife offers wind-down activities at restaurants and The Perch. Within Tysons Corner Center, groups will LOVE the unique and competitive fun offered by Level99, a social gaming playground for grown-ups.
Attractions
Tysons is THE premier shopping destination in the Mid-Atlantic, with Tysons Corner Center, Tysons Galleria, and The Shops at Fairfax Square offering over 400 stores, from Bath & Body Works to Tiffany, in neighboring, back-to-back-to-back malls. Dining and nightlife are big here, with restaurants ranging from fast casual to swanky steakhouses like The Palm. Live performances can be seen at Capital One Hall, nearby Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and under the big top when Cirque du Soleil brings one of its magnificent touring productions to Tysons. A few miles away, you’ll find one of the region’s must-see attractions: the majestic and stunning Great Falls Park, owned and operated by the National Park Service.
Meetings in Potomac Banks
Courtesy Mount Vernon Ladies Association
The Potomac Banks region of Fairfax County is not only ideally located, but it’s the perfect place to plan an unforgettable “meeting with benefits.” Less than 15 minutes from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and served by both the Blue and Yellow lines of the Metro, this area provides some of the fastest access to Washington, DC and the entire region (not to mention the rest of the world!). With ample meeting hotels and abundant restaurants, your guests will be well taken care of. And as for those benefits? Fascinating tales from the entire breadth of American history have happened here along the shores of the Potomac River.
Unique Meeting Spaces
Looking for meeting and event spaces your attendees will never forget? How about at the home of our nation’s first president, at George Washington’s Mount Vernon? Or perhaps an intimate gathering at George’s historic Distillery and Gristmill? Or maybe a private meeting at a Frank Lloyd Wright home? From a founding father’s home at Gunston Hall to the historic Woodlawn estate, River Farm, and the National Museum of the US Army, this corridor is overflowing with interesting places to meet and gather. There’s even a prison-turned-artists-colony at the Workhouse Arts Center and The River View at Occoquan, a stunning new venue overlooking the Occoquan River in the southernmost part of the county.
Attractions
You’d think having a corridor with attractions like George Washington’s Mount Vernon, George Mason’s Gunston Hall, Woodlawn, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House, the Workhouse Arts Center, and the National Museum of the US Army would be more than enough things to do for one destination, but you’d be wrong. This part of Fairfax County also contains the ruins of a secret World War II prisoner camp, a microbrewery, fascinating stories related to Black history, and a church older than our nation. Outdoor attractions include a very special bird sanctuary at Huntley Meadows and a large population of bald eagles (along with canoeing and hiking) at Mason Neck State Park and Wildlife Refuge.
Meetings in Fairfax
Fairfax itself is centrally located within Fairfax County and offers regional access, historic exploration, and the facilities of George Mason University. With several meeting hotels and lots of restaurants, your guests will be well accommodated.
Unique Meeting Spaces
If your guest list ranges from 2,000 to 10,000 people, the George Mason University Office of Events Management has you covered. If your meeting is more intimate, look to the historic Old Town Hall Fairfax or Wakefield Chapel. Other unique venues to investigate include the Country Club of Fairfax, CrystalView, and Green Acres Center.
Teambuilding
Treat your team to the largest escape room venue on the East Coast for unforgettable strategic collaboration at Bond’s Escape Room. The Ultrazone Laser Tag and Amusement Center is a fun way to work out conflict. And a class at Fran’s Cake and Candy Supplies will leave guests with a sweet taste in their mouths.
Attractions
History is the main attraction in Fairfax, with the Historic Fairfax Courthouse topping the list. Ox Hill Battlefield Park is the site of a skirmish that killed two Union generals in the Civil War. And chances are good your guests have never seen Civil War graffiti. Historic Blenheim has one of the country’s most prolific graffiti sites.
Meetings in Springfield
Springfield sits at the corner of I-495 and I-95, offering a hugely accessible, central location for seeing the entire Fairfax County and Washington, DC region. There are several meeting hotels, and the nearest airport is Reagan Washington National Airport, just 15 minutes away. Lake Accotink and Hidden Pond Nature Center offer escapes for canoeing and hiking adventures. But the big story in Springfield is its abundance of teambuilding opportunities.
Teambuilding & Attractions
The St. James is a massive, 450,000 sq. ft. sports megaplex with everything from rock climbing to an indoor waterpark. Go Ape Zipline & Adventure Park offers outdoor ziplines and adventures in the treetops. Flight Adventure Park is an indoor trampoline park to bounce stress away. And Lucky Duck Miniature Golf Course and Dave & Busters are perfect for good-hearted fun.
As you plan your Fairfax County meeting, keep in mind that, even with all the amazing attractions and excursions listed above, our nation’s capital is just a few miles away! Fairfax County makes your Washington, DC meeting affordable, accessible, inspired, and utterly unique with brag-worthy attractions your guests will never forget. Submit your RFP and put the power of our seasoned meeting planners to work for your next event!
