Tourist advice for Washington DC sought

[Hemi57]

My wife & I are planning a visit to Washington DC in early October and I am hoping some members can give me a little advice.

Firstly, I am thinking that hotels in the centre of Washington either don't have car parking or charge for it, so I would not want to pick up my rental car for touring beyond the capital until I really need it. What is the best & most economical way of getting from the airport (Dulles) to the city and how much would that cost?

Second, as we intend to spend about 3 days just getting around the Museums and significant locations, what is the public transport like? We are both quite active and can walk for miles if necessary, but I figure that places like the Arlington cemetery is way too far to walk to.

Hope you can help.

[Gears]

Hi, Most of the things you would want to see are in Mall area. Thats a strip of land that starts at the capitol bldg. and ends at the Lincoln Memorial. The sides of the Mall have several Simthonium,sic, museums. Space, Art, Native American, Natural History,ect.
The other Monuments, Washington and Jefferson are also in walking distance, very close.

The bus service around D.C. is just ok. But there is the Metro, a subway system that is extensive and goes just about everywhere. It is also mostly clean and safe.
You can also take a train, the station is close to the capitol building, to Baltimore. Its a quick 30 mile trip. The train drops you off at the Inner Harbor which is Baltimore's big tourist area.

The D.C. / Baltimore area is like my second home so let me know if you need any special info.

[Aurora40]

I believe there is a bus that runs from Dulles airport downtown. I don't ride the bus and I don't go downtown, so I don't have a lot of specifics. That or renting a car is the best way. Be advised that Dulles is about 30 minutes or so from downtown, probably 25 miles or so away. Parking can be a pain in DC, especially during the touristy season.

Once in DC, the metro is pretty easy to use, and it is clean and safe as said.

Also, FYI, but there is an annex to the National Air & Space Museum that is right next to Dulles airport. They have more space, and thus some neater stuff like an SR-71 blackbird, the Enola Gay, down to more mundane stuff like the Space Shuttle Enterprise that won't fit in the museum downtown. Another not-so-well-known museum is in Fairfax. The NRA has an excellent firearms museum in their headquarters if you are interested in that sort of thing. It is beautifully done and not at all political.

Arlington would be pretty far to walk from the Mall area. You'd want to drive or take a bus or something. I'd suggest seeing the Marine Corps War Memorial while you are at Arlington.

Some links to get you started:

Dulles airport (ground transportation link might have some good info): http://www.metwashairports.com/Dulles/
Metro rail system: http://www.wmata.com/

NASM at Dulles: http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/
National Firearms Museum: http://www.nationalfirearmsmuseum.org/

[az57chevy]

Metro also offers an all day pass (starts after morning rush hour) which is a good deal. If this is the first time see if your local Congressmen's office will give you a tour. Their pages usually do it all the time and you see things that others can't.

For a first time visitor you can do some things at night if the weather is still good.

White House, Mint, Washington Monument have free tickets
Lincoln is neat to see at dusk, plus Korean, WWII and Vietnam wall

The Holocaust display is moving an dyou could spend a whole day just doing the museums by the Smithsonian.

Best of all it is all free

[Scottwax]

My boys and I stayed at the Savoy Suites in Georgetown

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll...=&itty=&from=f

Reasonable, nice clean rooms, free shuttle to the metro and guest only accessible underground parking. We drove there, parked and took the metro all over DC. The metro rocks. Clean, fast and cheap. Plus there are a lot of restaurants in walking distance, and the National Catherdral is nearby.

Plan on spending at least 3 days on the mall. The Air and Space Museum will probably require 2/3rds of a day by itself. All the museums are first class and the National Archives is great too. How many countries can you go to and see that nation's actual founding documents? In fact, when I was there in 1997, they also had on display one of 7 copies of the Magna Carta, the basis for English Common Law. The Vietnam Wall, the Marine Memorial and Arlington National Cemetary are all spectacular and touching at once. We stayed a total of 3 days and didn't even see everything we wanted. However, in that time, we went to all the major museums and memorials (including the Washington Memorial), looked at the White House through the fence in front of it, the Capital Building, Union Station, etc.

I am hoping we can go back again, maybe next summer.

BTW, considering taking the drive down to Williamsburg and tour Colonial Williamsburg. It is like going back to 1775.

My boys out in front of the Capital building.

[Prometheus]

My family and I were actually just in washington DC the 3rd week in July. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Rhode Island and 15th street, reasonable rates, I think it was like 130 ish a night with 25 dollar a night parking in the garage below. Two subway stations close, red line metro in Dupont Circle (was like 5-6 blocks) and McPherson Square (bout 4-5) which is blue and orange line. The Blue line takes you pretty much everywhere you'll want to go, Smithsonian, Capitol, Arlington, etc. The only thing we used the red line for was the national zoo.

We spent an entire afternoon walking the end of the mall with the reflecting pool and all the monuments (WWII, vietnam, korean, lincoln, etc). Another day was between the American History and Natural History Museums, and a third was done at Air and Space and I think we did the capitol building that morning.

Printing and Engraving was awesome, I would highly recommend that one, and the Holocaust museum is right next door and is also good (plus it has no admission). It really was a lot of fun, if you want I can post up some pics of the stuff we saw to give you an idea if you like. There's just so much stuff, it is unbelieveable.

[GoodnClean]

The metro is actually a whole lot more useful for tourists than it is for commuters and is designed to be so. It stops basically everywhere in Washington you would want to go, including right at Arlington Cemetery. The bus system is okay and there are an abundance of cabs.

You might want to look into getting a Zip Car from a metro stop instead of renting a car. What kind of things outside the city were you planning on seeing? Driving in DC is very difficult even for us locals, lots of confusing one way streets and odd signage, traffic, and traffic circles. I'd skip a car if you can.

There are some really cool things you may want to check out, there are tons of great bus, bike, and boat tours. There is also a Segway (you know, the little two wheeled ridey things) tour here now that I've wanted to check out. Sounds like fun. Tons of great restaurants. If you want a really special dinner on a Friday or Saturday night (only nights they're open, and they're open Sunday for a champagne brunch thats okay) you should eat at JW's View at the Key Bridge Mariott. People in DC will know it as "The top of the Mariott" its in VA just cross the Potomac river from the Kennedy Center. The restaurant is on the top floor and the view of ALL of Washington at night is spectacular. Washington monument, Kennedy Center, Capitol, Lincoln, Jefferson, all the roads, Georgetown, the National Cathedral. You can see it all. Foods not that expensive either, and pretty good but the reason to go is for the view. We've had many wine drenched romantic dinners there. Actually its a pretty nice place to stay too, pricey.

I'd suggest you pick up a tour guidebook, Birnbaums or something like that. Well worth the money.

If you have some time and don't mind actually paying for a museum in DC, the International Spy Museum is pretty cool.

As for places to stay, the place Scott stayed is pretty nice as is the Georgetown Suites and the Washington Suites in Georgetown. If you want cheaper you can also stay in Maryland out the red line some and still have all the benefits of the metro.

You'll have fun, DC's a great town.

[Hemi57]

Many thanks to all you Autopians who have provided so much useful information. Much appreciated and keep it coming if possible.

I bought the LAX - IAD (Dulles) return flights today which are non-refundable and have a $100 penalty for any flight changes so we are "locked and loaded". Arriving on a Monday so will not be able to partake in the Champagne Brunch (Lucky as my wife would drink the Champagne dry ).

After Washington we are planning to head through Baltimore to Atlantic City, then NY, Niagra Falls, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburg and back to Washington (one way Rental drop off fees are to be avoided hence the round trip).

[Prometheus]

Detroit will be .. ahhh... interestering if you are going to drive around for a bit. If you're just passing through Metro Airport, it'll be not big deal, but downtown is kind of a trip. Downtown Detroit is like... well there aren't really apt words to describe it. There really is nothing like it. During the day, it isn't bad, but I wouldn't wanna stick around after about 8pm downtown. The city just kind of sprawls, as it is the motor city, there is no real public transportation (there are some busses and the "People mover", yes that's really what it is called, but some people call it the "soul train"), so you drive everywhere, and at least the roads are decently easy to navigate. It's pretty cool though, if you're planning to stick around Detroit for a day or so, let me know and I'll tell you some stuff you can hit up (Henry Ford Museum is a must if you're in Detroit for a while).

[loco]

Be sure you do the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh. Gives you a terrific view of the city from the top of Mt. Washington. There are some pretty good restaurants along the street when you get off at the top of the incline, too.

[BillyBarou]

The Imax at the Air & Space museum was really terrific. World War 2 Memorial is superb. The Native American museum was not open when we were there but it looked cool. Stop by Legal Sea Foods for a fine meal.

[splattj]

If you are on a budget, I would recommend the TourMobile. http://www.tourmobile.com/
It's $20/adult and $10/child. It's an all-day shuttle service that runs from Arlington Cemetary throughout DC. You can hop on at the Smitsonian, Arlington, and Union Station Metro stops. Go early. It gets crowded.
You can get shuttle van service to the DC hotels. To/From all downtown Washington, DC Hotels $ 22 - 1st person & $ 10 each additional http://www.supershuttle.com/htm/cities/dca.htm
The Washington Post has a nice guide for DC that is kept up-to-date:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...sHistSite.html