On a railroad handcar pumped by a team of beautiful, naked women.
If you can arrange it.
I’ve done the trip by airplane, car, train, and bus. By plane it’s less than an hour, but you have the hassle of getting to and from the airports ()although both are accessible by the subways) and of going through the security check-in. The train is a lot more comfortable. I’d probably drive, though, given my druthers.
The wife and I took Amtrak from DC to NYC two years ago. It was perfect. About three hours as I recall, ends in Grand Central. I recommend that.
Depends very much on where in NYC you are staying/going. If you are spending the entire time in Manhattan, you’d be crazy to have a car. I live in Queens and wouldn’t drive into most of Manhattan under normal circumstances - it’s usually not faster than the train, and parking is either expensive or impossible to find. If you want to travel around to Queens, Long Island and Westchester you’ll need a car , but in that case my advice would be to stay in a hotel outside of Manhattan (which are cheaper and often have free parking) and take the train in when you want to see Manhattan attractions.
I’ll drive into Manhattan late at night or to pick someone up ( eliminating the need for parking) or to a neighborhood like Washington Heights but few tourists go there.
Back to the OP- I haven’t taken Amtrak to Washington, but I have taken the train to Albany. Amtrak is much more comfortable than a bus or a car- taking the train to Albany takes me longer than driving usually does, and I still usually take the train.
Ah, yes, Ma’amtrak. Not sure I can get that one by the wife and daughters.
Amtrak’s NYC station is at Penn Station, a dank and confusing warren under Madison Sq. Garden. Grand Central hasn’t been an Amtrak stop since the early 90s. Not sure what you’re recalling, but there’s no way you took amtrak to GCT (and no way GCT and Penn can be confused).
And for the record, I’ve lived in Nyc most of my life and have never driven a car in Manhattan, and plan to keep it that way.
Nobody drives in Manhattan. There’s too much traffic.
D’oh!:smack: You’re right. That was Penn Station we took Amtrak to from Washington. (We used both Grand Central and Penn Station at various times, and I forgot which one we ended up at there at the end of our trip.)
But the fact remains, train from DC to NYC is the best way to go.
I live in NYC for five years, and owned a car for much of that, and I personally didn’t find driving in Manhattan to be that horrible. I had a Queens->NJ commute, I drove through it fairly regularly, and for a while was parking by NYU to take night classes (no time to drive home first and drop off the car). It wasn’t that bad, honestly my worst memories of those years were of Jersey traffic, not NYC.
That said, I’d never suggest driving for a tourist. For one you have to deal with where to keep the car overnight, garages are expensive and street parking restrictions are complicated and fiercely enforced. Also I knew at the time loosely where to find parking and what the one-ways are, and if I had a limited number of days in NYC (and already paying dearly for it via hotels) I would not want to spend that time becoming familiar with NYC street traffic.
Anyhow, I also agree the train will be the most pleasant but the bus will be fine too if you want to save a little cash. You should not be put off by the crowd unless you are really adverse to urban areas and being around strangers … in which case NYC might not be your cup of tea.
There have been some changes in the DC-2-NYC buses over the years. A lot of the low cost (and suspect quality/maintenance) ones have gone out of business, some by governement decree. The two main ones are Megabus and Bolt (I think parent companies are CoachUSA and Greyhound). They are clean, comforatble, have WiFi generally (although it can get overloaded). Like anything else driving between those cities there are potential traffic delays.
Both of those main carriers leave from DC’s Union Station parking garage and drop off close to Penn Station.
Yogi, is that you? 
I just took Amtrak from Newark to DC last week. Easiest trip ever. Take the train. Cheap, easy and fast.
Is “Megabus” those double deckers? I think I’d like to ride in one of those if I could get a seat on the upper deck.
Some are double but not all of them.
Probably won’t fit the OP’s needs, but thought I’d post this for posterity:
Interesting, **madmonk[\b], but since there will be 6 of us (all on my dime) I think I’m still persuaded to take Amtrak.
Looks like the best bet is an open-jaw flight (in to DC, out of NYC) and Amtrak to connect the dots. Thanks all!
Yeah, I think the train works best for your needs, but I wanted to add this option for the next time someone’s looking. Enjoy your trip.