I’m going to be driving from DE to Charlottesville, VA next Monday (the 13th) to start my vacation. I’d like to stop off in DC for a short sightseeing visit in the middle of the day. In the past when I’ve visited DC, I’ve parked at the Greenbelt station and taken the Metro in. I plan on doing the same thing this time, but I’m concerned about finding parking on a weekday. I should be arriving in the DC area between 10-11AM. Since I’ll be continuing on southward, I’d like to use a station more on the south side of DC, but really any station on the south-east side would do. Any suggestions for where I’m most likely to find an open parking spot at that time of day? I notice that on the Metro website, they suggest that the Landover and Prince George’s Plaza stations might have open spots during the day. Does that ring true?
If you’re only going to be here part of the day, I would suggest driving in to the city and parking at Union Station or something like that. It just seems to me that you’re going to spend a fair amount of time going to and fro whichever suburban metro station you choose. It will cost more, but if you only have a short time to spend looking around, it seems like a waste to spend an hour getting to and from where you actually want to go. Five hours of parking at Union Station costs $15, and 12 hours costs $17.
You should keep in mind that parking at most Metro stations can now only be paid for with a SmarTrip smart card, except at a few stations listed in the link below. The cards cost $5 if you don’t have one, on top of whatever parking fees.
I would park at Pentagon City Mall and go from there. Parking rates will be low and you will be right next to the city. Indeed many attractions will be closer to that station than Union Station.
Pentagon City mall can be pricey if you stay more than a few hours - precisely to discourage people from parking there and going off to work etc. For shorter periods it is as noted fairly affordable: http://www.simon.com/MALL/travel_and_tourism.aspx?ID=157 (hmmm… reading that more carefully, it doesn’t become as punitive as quickly as I had remembered).
Franconia-Springfield is right near 95 south of the Beltway which would seem to meet your other criteria. I would expect you could find parking there mid-day what with some commuters possibly leaving by then (I don’t know what time it usually fills up). Also if you get stuck without parking, it’s catty-corner from Springfield Mall, and the Macy’s parking garage there offers overflow parking for the Metro (6th floor of the garage only!!). Map.
However as Ravenman noted, you’d waste a fair bit of your tourism time riding Metro in from the outlying spots. Not sure I’d agree with Union Station, as it can be pretty hard to navigate to if you don’t know the roads (hell, I’ve lived here for 20 years and have trouble finding it sometimes). The location is certainly acceptable (a couple of stops on the Red line and you’re at Metro Center and can get anywhere).
More thoughts: If you do want to try to park at a suburban station, You could also check out the Huntington metro stop. If you’re coming around the eastern side of the beltway, that’s not far off the Route 1 / Telegraph Road exits (beware - major construction going on there, I don’t know what the exits are like these days). There are parking garages at both ends of the station. If there’s no space there, you could proceed on to the Springfield metro, which is actually easier to get to if you stay on surface roads from Huntington.
Ravenman, it’s a good point about the amount of time riding on the train from outlying stations. I usually go to DC for a long day, so the ride in isn’t such a big deal. Mr. Moto, I really like the idea of the Pentagon City Mall. It doesn’t look to hard to find, is close to the attractions and is on the south side of DC. Hopefully the traffic won’t be bad late morning.
Traffic after rush hour should be OK, especially coming in from the north.
Leaving there, you will either need to take I-95 south and dogleg over or wait until HOV restrictions lift at 6 PM and take I-66 W->US 17 S->US 29 S to Charlottesville.
It should indeed be fine, after 9:30 or so. I’d recommend following the Beltway south into Virginia, then taking 395 north at Springfield, vs. going through DC - it may be shorter going through DC but there’s no simple way to do it. As you go north on 395, you’ll get to exit 9 (I think) and you’ll see the mall off to the right - Macy’s is quite visible from the highway. The road signs will say “Pentagon City” among other things.
Agreed on leaving. 395 South will be tolerable by 6 PM. Crowded, but usually tolerable. I don’t know what 66 west is like during evening rush (bad, I expect), but it’s carpool only until 6:30 (inside the Beltway anyhow); as I assume you’re travelling alone, that won’t work unless you plan on not hitting the road until then. It’s a tad tricky to get onto 66W from around Pentagon City as the roads in that area look like a plate of bad spaghetti and aren’t always as well-signed as one might wish (sigh).
I disagree with this route. I would go through DC to get from Pentagon City.From 495, you can take exit 22 which is the BW Parkway into DC, stay on the left hand side, and it merges with 50 into New York Avenue, which has an on ramp for 395 South around 3rd St. NW. At that hour, there shouldn’t be much traffic. It will be a lot faster than circling the belt way and going north on 395. From 395, cross the bridge into Virginia and exit on Route 1 which will be on your left. On Route 1, exit at the on ramp for Pentagon City.
I would agree that going through DC wouldn’t be the way to go, but the alternative isn’t necessarily just going all the way to Springfield. Personally I’d get off the Beltway right after crossing the American Legion Bridge and take the George Washington Parkway into Arlington.
Exiting at the Pentagon might be too much to handle for a newbie - so unless you’re GPS equipped I’d get off at Reagan National and follow the signs to Crystal City. Drive through, Crystal Drive becomes 12th Street, right at Army-Navy and you’re there.
That would be better - I generally come in from the south or west, so leaned toward the Parkway. But coming in from Delaware the BW-New York Avenue route is better.
In any case, these are relatively simple and you don’t have to go all the way to Springfield.
That would be more direct but there are some drawbacks. I’ve done that route northbound - mid-afternoon, and the traffic along New York Ave / Route 50 can be horrible (plus there were, as I recall, a ton of lights). That last stretch of NY Ave before you turn onto the 395-S ramp can be a bit slow, in particular (I’ve done that a few times).
Midmorning however should be different.
Do watch the ramps and signs carefully as you go south on 395. It’s easy to get stuck in the wrong lane - there’s one point in one of the tunnels (in DC) where you don’t know you need to be in a specific lane until it’s very nearly too late (then you get dumped onto 295S). Similar confusion at a couple of other spots on that route.
That sort of confusion was why I was thinking Beltway to 395N - while it is longer, it is actually better signed.
66 could work - just take the GW Parkway toward McLean and then get onto 495 South. Exit a few miles later at 66 West, and you’ve dodged the HOV restrictions.
Parking at the Springfield Metro wouldn’t be bad arriving at that time (but you’d have to factor in the time to ride back into the city) and you’d be that much further out to start your next leg of the trip.
The neat little trick there is to actually be able to read the fine print. There are reserved spaces that never fill up. Those are only reserved until 10 a.m. and then they are open to anyone.
Similarly, the HOV restrictions are only in effect during the rush hours, if you are leaving after six from the metro station you can get in those lanes south and there is an entrance from the Franconia-Springfield Parkway just west of the metro station.