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The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City
Arlington, Virginia, United States · Ritz-Carlton · Accessible Luxury
The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City opened in 1990 as Arlington's only luxury hotel, connected by an enclosed corridor to the Fashion Centre mall and the Pentagon City Metro station, fifteen minutes from downtown Washington. Its ground once sat within the ring of Civil War forts that defended Washington in 1861, and the Pentagon, a mile away, was built in sixteen months in 1943 on marshland the Army Corps of Engineers first had to drain.
- 365 rooms
- Opened 1990
- Neighborhood: National Landing
- Rooms from 750 sq ft (70 m²)
About The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City
- The hotel's ground once sat within the ring of Civil War earthwork forts that defended Washington in 1861: Fort Albany stood approximately where Interstate 395 now runs, near the hotel's own address.
- The Pentagon itself, a mile from the hotel, was built in just sixteen months in 1943 on marshland the Army Corps of Engineers first had to drain and fill.
- Entry-level rooms start at 750 sq ft (70 m²).
History
The site that The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City now occupies carries history of a kind rarely associated with luxury hotels. The land on which modern Arlington, Virginia stands was part of the ring of earthwork fortifications thrown up around Washington in 1861, when Union engineers constructed more than sixty forts and connecting trenches to defend the capital against Confederate advance. Fort Albany, one of those earthworks, stood approximately where Interstate 395 now runs — close enough to the hotel's address that the ground beneath the Fashion Centre mall and its attached Ritz-Carlton has, in an earlier life, been a military installation.
The Pentagon itself, a mile to the southwest, was built in 1943 on marshland that the Army Corps of Engineers drained and filled during the extraordinary construction sprint that produced the world's largest office building in just sixteen months. The presence of the Pentagon transformed the Arlington landscape utterly, accelerating the federal and defense-sector development that would make Northern Virginia one of the most strategically important real-estate corridors in the world.
The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City opened in 1989 as an upscale retail complex designed to serve the affluent households of Arlington and Fairfax County as well as the federal employees and contractors concentrated in the nearby corridor. The Ritz-Carlton was integrated into the development from the outset, opening in 1990 as the sole luxury hotel address directly attached to the mall and directly connected by enclosed corridor to the Pentagon City Metro station on the Blue and Yellow lines. That connectivity — fifteen minutes by rail to downtown Washington, a short taxi ride to the Pentagon, and a walking commute to dozens of defense-sector contractors along the Crystal City spine — gave the hotel an institutional function that no other luxury property in the Washington metropolitan area could replicate as precisely.
For more than three decades the property has served as the preferred address for the discrete category of diplomatic, defense, and intelligence travel that gravitates toward proximity to the agencies rather than proximity to monuments. The hotel carries AAA Four Diamond designation and the Mediterranean restaurant Santé, with its position overlooking the Fashion Centre, has fed that institutional clientele in the unhurried style that the neighborhood's particular kind of visitor tends to require.
The setting
1250 South Hayes Street in Arlington, with a dedicated Metro stop on the Blue and Yellow Lines and an enclosed walk into the Fashion Centre. Downtown Washington is about fifteen minutes by rail; the Pentagon is about a mile.
Restaurants and bars
- Santé — Restaurant · Mediterranean
Amenities
- 18th-floor Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge with views of Arlington and DC monuments
- Fitness center with sauna and steam room
- Connected to Pentagon City mall
- 24-hour concierge services
- Fine dining
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Recommended (2026)
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