Dunn Loring vs. Vienna metro areas rop (apartments, condos)

[Blanca29]

Which one is in a nicer / safer neighborhood? TIA!

[saganista]

Since the two stations are only three miles apart, there isn't all that great a difference between them. When it first opened, the Vienna station was in the middle of a bunch of woods. The north side of the station has been developed into upscale TH's and condo's with lots of trees and lots of greenery and what's actually a drainage pond that looks like a lovely little lake with geese in it and wetlands grasses and everything. The south side of the station has been planned for development also, but that has been slower in coming along. Plenty of just woods still, some of which used to be neighborhoods that have been knocked down and cleared in preparation for what's to come. For now, the north side is nicer.

The Dunn Loring station had Stenwood Elementary School and the large and long-established Dunn Loring Woods SFH neighborhood to its north. Those are both still there. The south side was a strip of woods with a large and nicely landscaped business campus at one end, and a light industrial zone on the other side of it. The latter two are still there, but the woods have been cut down and replaced by a Marriott hotel, two office buildings, and substantial rows of upscale apartments and condos. That's all very nice also, but it does lack the greenery that typifies the north side of Vienna.

Both stations are just minutes from top-notch shopping and dining and all the other very neat stuff that NoVa is known for. Both areas are safe. If it were me though, I'd shoot for something on the north side at Vienna first if I could find it...