O/T Anyone visited Washington D.C.?

[timber63401]

The wife and her Dad are going to D.C. next month and was wanting any suggestions on what airport to come in on and a good hotel to stay at. And a good site like Expedia to book them? All the sites I get on is trying to fly them from St. Louis in to Baltimore. Any info or suggestions would be great. Thanks.

[cfc1909]

not sure about the hotels but Dulles Airport will be closer than BWI Airport. BWI still is not to far from DC.

[Danny Smith]

reagan national is in dc and most convenient - but most expensive to fly into. dulles and bwi are both about equal distance from downtown - 45 mins to 1 hour - but the low cost carriers fly in to each. southwest is going to be your best bet since it flies out of st. louis. i prefer bwi because it is a bit more modern - and a better track record for on time flights - but dulles is fine. definitely would need to rent a car if flying into dulles or bwi. they could cab / metro around if going to reagan.

most of the starwood properties are in dc and decent - sheraton, westin, w, and st regis. they could stay outside of dc in alexandria, arlington, bethesda, etc and save a few bucks.

[RichardSimon]

Foggy Bottom is a very nice area to stay in, residential and near George Washington Univ. I forgot the name of the hotel I stayed at in that area, sorry.
Be sure to tell them to visit the Lincoln Memorial at night. It is breathtaking, especially looking out over the reflecting pool.
--

[martin neal]

Last time I stayed at the George Washington University Inn. Relatively inexpensive and within a short walk to everything.

[toppcat]

I believe you can take the Metro from BWI. I would check that but it is my recollection that option exists.

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by toppcat

I believe you can take the Metro from BWI. I would check that but it is my recollection that option exists.

You definitely CAN'T take the metro from BWI. There might be train service on weekdays if you time it right, but for a tourist that's not really something I would mess around with.

Fly into DCA unless it's too expensive (more than $50 higher than Dulles). You can stay in Crystal City right near National Airport. BTW, National Airport is in Virginia across the river, not in DC as somebody else said... but it's as close as you can get.

[Jewish-collector]

Reagan Airport is actually more convenient to actual Washington, DC but Dulles (Northern Virginia) & BWI (Outside of Baltimore) are less expensive. As far as hotels, it depends on how nice they want. They can get a lower end motel in the suburbs or a very fancy hotel in DC and everything in between. Of course, it also depends on how close they want to be to where they're visiting.

[Bill Stone]

My favorite hotel in DC is the Omni Shoreham Hotel located within an easy walk to great places to eat and the zoo. If you are a AAA member you should check with them on reduced rates --it is normally very expensive but I have usually had good luck booking at very reasonable rate.

[Clark7781]

Are they planning on visiting during the week, or on the weekend? I ask because many hotel room's are cheaper on weekends than weekdays due to the high number of business travelers they have.

If they are planning on staying downtown, I would recommend finding a hotel that is close to a metro stop. You can fly into DCA, grab metro to your hotel, and use public transportation to visit the sites. If they want to visit places outside of downtown, they should fly into Dulles, grab a hotel somewhere along the Dulles Toll Road, and have a rental car.

If you have more specifics of their itinerary/interests, we can give you better recommendations.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by CardTarget

You definitely CAN'T take the metro from BWI. There might be train service on weekdays if you time it right, but for a tourist that's not really something I would mess around with.

Fly into DCA unless it's too expensive (more than $50 higher than Dulles). You can stay in Crystal City right near National Airport. BTW, National Airport is in Virginia across the river, not in DC as somebody else said... but it's as close as you can get.

Yup, that's why I said check-must have been thinking of Amtrak-Sorry

[timber63401]

They are going ot go to the:
Marine Corp. Museum
National Archives
Nation Air and Space Museum
Vietnam Vet Mem. and the Smithsonian if that helps any. Thanks for the info so far.

[19cbb]

Last time in DC I stayed at the Georgetown Suites hotel and it was pretty good.
Very nicely located.

http://www.georgetownsuites.com/

[paulcarek]

Stayed at the St. Gregory when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon a couple years ago. Short walk to Georgetown, easy Metro access, etc. Nice place.

http://www.capitalhotelswdc.com/StGregoryHotelWDC_com/

[BCauley]

What type of hotel are they looking into? Something high class or just something decent to crash the night at? There are a boat load of decent hotels in Crystal City and they can take the metro to the National Mall area easily from the Crystal City stop with the ride being only about 10 minutes from there, if that.

[Clark7781]

Timber:

Ok, three of their four things are down town, the Marine Corps Museum is at Quantico (south on I-95 about 30 miles from DC). I live in Lorton (exit 163 on I-95 south) and the Marine Corps museum is about ten miles south of me.

If they do only the museums/Archives down-town, they can get around without a rental car. If they head to Quantico, they will need a rental.

If I were they, I would do this:

Fly into Dulles, get a rental car, and find a hotel in Fairfax County. There is a Days Inn (or comfort Inn) in Lorton, VA that should have decent rates. Lorton is about four miles to the closest metro station (Springfield - blue line) and they can park there and take metro down town and spend the day (or drive). Lorton is just off I-95 (exit 163) and gives them a direct shot north on I-95 (merge onto I-395) to down town, and a direct shot south on I-95 to the Marine Corps Museum.

Rooms should be cheaper and food is close by in Lorton.

Just an idea. The closer you get to DC, the more expensive they cost.

[Clark7781]

Timber:

Also, the Air and Space museum on the National Mall is cool, but if they want to REALLY see an air and space museum, they should go to the Udvar-Hazy air and space museum near IAD. It is part of the Smithsonian complex, only there are A LOT more coller things to see.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy/

[BCauley]

Originally Posted by Clark7781

Timber:

Also, the Air and Space museum on the National Mall is cool, but if they want to REALLY see an air and space museum, they should go to the Udvar-Hazy air and space museum near IAD. It is part of the Smithsonian complex, only there are A LOT more coller things to see.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy/

I'll second the motion on this recommendation. They are both great to see but the one linked above is just amazing. The company I work for had their Holiday Party set up there and I loved every aspect of it.