Tell me about Washington, DC

In My Humble Opinion
1

My wife and I will be visiting our Nation’s Capitol for the week of March 16-20. We want to see the sights and have some fun. We will be traveling on a budget. The last time I was there, I was around 10 years old. My wife has never been. We will be flying into DCA.

I have questions.

[ol]
[li]We need to stay in a place a bit under $100 per night. The hotel does not need to be luxurious, but shouldn’t be creepy. The hotel is not the point of our visit. Any suggestions on where to stay? What part of town?[/li][li]I want to see the Air & Space Museum. I would like to see the Udvar-Hazy Center, but it’s not on the Mall. Is it an expensive ride out there? I don’t know that I can sell my wife on the idea of looking at a bunch of airplanes. How can I hook her?[/li][li]One thing my wife really wants to see: She heard that the Smithsonian has Archie Bunker’s chair and Fonzie’s jacket. I think these are at the American History Museum, but I don’t know if they are still on display. Any idea where to find them, if they are available?[/li][li]How long should I plan for each museum on the Mall. Each of them seems to be open 10-5:30. Can I get two museums in one day, or should I plan for only one each day? Time is not unlimited.[/li][li]What is public transit like? Is it easy for visitors to navigate? Public transit is not very robust here, so we are not experienced users. What do we need to know? I would prefer not to rent a car since parking might be an issue.[/li][li]I figure we will spend time with monuments and memorials on the Mall as well as the museums there. What are some things we simply must see? I think we would like the Newseum. Is it worth seeing? My wife likes pop culture things (like the aforementioned Archie and Fonzie). What are some good things to see in that vein?[/li][li]Our flight leaves late in the day on Friday. Any ideas where we could stow our luggage while we tour about?[/li][li]What else should we know?[/li][/ol]
Thanks, y’all.

2

I haven’t been there in almost 15 years. I’m interested in what people say too.

3

Drum God, for the love of Cybele, do not miss the Malcolm X Park Sunday Afternoon Drum Circle on 16th Street NW. There are many drum circles regularly grooving in the DC area, but Malcolm X Park Sunday is the biggie and the oldest.

4

There’s nowhere in DC you’d want to stay for under a hundred. I’m not sure about the Virginia suburbs. It’s probably doable in Maryland; I think the Days Inn near our house in Silver Spring may be under $100 per night. Udvar-Hazy is out near Dulles Airport. I’m not sure what public transit goes out there, but it may be a hard sell for someone with no interest in planes.

Where to keep luggage? Since I live here, it’s not something I have to deal with. I work near Union Station; slip me a couple of sawbucks and maybe I’ll lock it in my car until I go home at 3:30.

5

I have added answers in Bold within the quote. I had to add these sentences to get the board to understand I wrote anything at all…

6

There are lots of “I’m visiting DC threads,” so look those up for general advice.

Under $100 is going to be a stretch, no matter where you stay. Let us know where you are looking and we can give advice. Maybe consider looking at Air B’n’B options. And since you are on a budget, plan for basically everything to be expensive. It’s not unusual, for example, for even something as simple as a to-go sandwich to cost $9.00.

Public transport is great. Go on the DC metro website and read about how to buy and use a SmartTrip card. You’ll want to buy one, load it with $20 or so, and just keep loading it up as needed. Don’t mess with paper cards and don’t try to do exact fares. Use Google Maps for public transport routes- it’s easy and accurate.

Taxis an Ubers are also pretty affordable and make sense for some trips, especially with multiple people.

Prepare for lots of waking. In my daily routine with no special effort, I cover 5-6 miles. And that is just work and errands-- you may log even more if you are in museums and trying to go to monuments. If you aren’t a big walker, start building up stamina now- and get yourself a good pair of shoes.

7

  1. For a hotel around $100, you probably won’t have a lot of luck in town. The best thing to do would be to pick a hotel near a metro stop in either Virginia or Maryland. The area around the Crystal City metro (conveniently near DCA) is very nice and there are many hotels. Farther out, there are hotels in Springfield, VA reasonably close to the metro. You will also have luck near the Silver Spring, MD metro. Some of the Maryland areas are dicier in terms of safety so be a little more judicious.

  2. The Udvar-Hazy hangar is really really neat. It also takes around an hour and a half by public transit to get there from downtown. It is probably a pretty expensive uber/taxi ride out there as well. It is definitely worth seeing but the whole trip out there might eat up most of a day. If you find a hotel in Reston near the Wiehle-Reston metro stop, you could probably have a MUCH cheap taxi to the museum and still have access to downtown via the metro on the other days.

  3. Everything on the Mall is free. You can wander into something and out just as quickly if it bores you. It’s a place made to be consumed on whatever schedule you want to follow. If you want to see one specific thing, like Archie Bunker’s chair or the Hope Diamond, it’s easy to pop in and out. Make your own schedule as you go.

  4. Do not attempt to drive. It will be a pain. Public transit (metro specifically) is very easy to navigate. The fare system is based on how far you travel, so you need to swipe your SmarTrip card when entering and leaving the system. You can buy a day pass for 14.50, so if you plan to take more than ~4 trips in a day, it will save you money.

  5. If you stay near DCA in Crystal City, this solves itself by leaving your luggage at the hotel. Otherwise, Union Station has luggage storage.

8

Nm

9

This is awesome. Please keep the answers coming. We decided to do a different return flight. We’re going to go ahead and stay Friday night and fly out of DCA early Saturday morning. So, no touring around on Saturday, but no worrying about stashing luggage somewhere.

I’m going to research hotels on priceline, expedia, etc. Anyone have luck with their hidden hotels, like where you name an area and a quality and/or price range and they book you into a place sight unseen? I’ve only done it once and got a pretty good hotel at a very good price. Got a Doubletree in downtown Austin on a weekend for only $77. Are those pretty good for DC? I’m worried about locking into something like that for five nights. One night in Austin was survivable, even if the place was a dump (and it wasn’t).

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You might take a look at the Inn of Rosslyn (formerly Motel 50 years ago). Renovated rooms, not many frills, advertised at $70/night. Rosslyn, VA is just across the river from DC and this motel is very close to the metro. Accommodations in Rosslyn are generally kept up, as they get a lot of transient business from State Department employees, etc., who are just in town for a short stay on their way to somewhere else.

11

I would be leery of not knowing exactly where I was staying. There was a famous case of a hotel in Northeast DC that would advertise for tourists at a ‘good rate’ only to discover it really was a crack den and prostitute haven when people arrived. I was actually sent ‘undercover’ there once to videotape the inside of a random room for a report. My descriptions of what I found while I taped were used on air, my favorite “Brown stain on wall, fecal in nature” was used in promos for days…

It has since been cleaned up but I am sure there are other similar situations still out there.

The suggestions regarding Alexandria and Arlington hotels are spot on.

12

Here’s the thread from last month asking just about the same things. It had much valuable info.

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[quote=“Drum_God, post:1, topic:713739”]

[li]I figure we will spend time with monuments and memorials on the Mall as well as the museums there. What are some things we simply must see? I think we would like the Newseum. Is it worth seeing? My wife likes pop culture things (like the aforementioned Archie and Fonzie). What are some good things to see in that vein?[/li][/QUOTE]
Everything I would say has been said except one: IMO, all the memorials are at least as good if not better when seen after dark. Not nearly as many people, and they become quite solemn.

14

There have been a lot of threads on visiting DC, you can find them with a little searching. All the Smithsonian museums on the Mall are free, as well as the Smithsonian’s National Zoo (not on the Mall).

Fonzie’s jacket and the All in the Family chairs are on exhibit, in fact they have their own line jsut for those items (as well as Dorothy’s slippers).

The Udvay Center is way out in Virginia. I think there is some kind of bus/metro/bus combo that will get you out there, but it might eat up a day of your visit. If you’re really into planes, you might consider going out there on your own while your wife does something else.

15
  1. We need to stay in a place a bit under $100 per night. The hotel does not need to be luxurious, but shouldn’t be creepy. The hotel is not the point of our visit. Any suggestions on where to stay? What part of town?
  • Sorry. Can’t help you with this one (I stay with a friend when I visit). My only recommendation is to get something close to a Metro station, or with easy access to a Metro station. The Metro is definitely the way to get in/out of the mall area.
  1. I want to see the Air & Space Museum. I would like to see the Udvar-Hazy Center, but it’s not on the Mall. Is it an expensive ride out there? I don’t know that I can sell my wife on the idea of looking at a bunch of airplanes. How can I hook her?
  • The Air and Space is a MUST, IMO. Plus you can actually get through it fairly quickly - the deal with really big things is that they take up a lot of space (no pun intended). Udvar-Hazy is also awesome, but logistically more of a problem. There used to be a free shuttle between Udvar-Hazy and the Air and Space. I would check the internet - there probably is a shuttle, but it may cost something (still better than taking a cab). Udvar-Hazy is more “plane” oriented, whereas Air and Space is more rocket/space oriented. Given your time constraints, I would pick one for this trip, and save the other for the next visit.
  1. One thing my wife really wants to see: She heard that the Smithsonian has Archie Bunker’s chair and Fonzie’s jacket. I think these are at the American History Museum, but I don’t know if they are still on display. Any idea where to find them, if they are available?
  • Not sure about Archie’s chair and Fonzie’s jacket. I would check with the museum. But the American History museum is well worth a full day (this gets to your next question). Some museums are in the 2- 4 hour range, depending on how much you get into the exhibits. But the American History museum is just packed full of a TON of stuff. I would allocate a full day for that one.
  1. How long should I plan for each museum on the Mall. Each of them seems to be open 10-5:30. Can I get two museums in one day, or should I plan for only one each day? Time is not unlimited.
    What is public transit like? Is it easy for visitors to navigate? Public transit is not very robust here, so we are not experienced users. What do we need to know? I would prefer not to rent a car since parking might be an issue.
  • As a rule of thumb, 2 museums a day is reasonable. You’ll want to allocate time for some lunch and shopping at the museum shops. Again, some museums are so loaded, you may only get the one museum in that day or you’ll be selling yourself short.
    The Metro is definitely the way to go. And once you’re on the mall, you can walk to many museums and places of interest. Just walking around the mall itself is worth it.
  1. I figure we will spend time with monuments and memorials on the Mall as well as the museums there. What are some things we simply must see? I think we would like the Newseum. Is it worth seeing? My wife likes pop culture things (like the aforementioned Archie and Fonzie). What are some good things to see in that vein?
  • The Newseum is well worth it. And should appeal to your wife’s pop culture interests as well.
    I also liked the International Spy Museum (a couple blocks away). I would plan for a good 3-4 hours there, though.
    The Holocaust museum is very sobering, but also very powerful and educational.

For monuments, the Lincoln memorial is a must. I think you can enjoy the Washington Monument without going up it (and waiting in line to do so).
I really enjoyed the new Martin Luther King memorial. Very powerful and relevant quotes.
One thing not many people seem to visit is the National garden (not sure if that is the official name). It is located across from the (new) Native American museum, kind of on the corner of the Capital grounds.

I’m kind of drawing a blank on pop culture things. DC seems more about history, to me. (Speaking of which, the Natural History museum is great, too).

16

I tell this to everyone but I think only one in 20 ever takes my advice. Priceline.com!!!

D.C. has a million hotel rooms and unless something big is happening like a major demonstration or the Inauguration, about half of them sit empty. Go to the website, pull up D.C., pick Dupont Circle, and bid $85. Most of the time you’ll get the Omni Shoreham. It is a big 4* hotel overlooking Rock Creek Park with a Metro stop literally across the street and three blocks from the National Zoo.

Look here - $80. Washington DC Area - BiddingForTravel.com It works. Just trust it.

Dupont Circle is a lively place full of every kind of restaurant imaginable and a couple of stops from the Smithsonian ( have to change from the red to the blue line at Metro Center but that is a simple thing.) Really.

Don’t pay $100 for a noisy 3* hotel in Virginia when you can get a 4* for $80 in the heart of DC. Seriously. Trust me.

Omni Shoreham

Oh, and join their loyalty program (free) and get express checkin and free wifi if you’re staying more than one night.

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Here are some relevant threads (but not all):
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=745036&highlight=Washington
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=718034&highlight=Washington
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=664601&highlight=Washington
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=645313&highlight=Washington
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=622315&highlight=Washington
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=611919&highlight=Washington
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=586183&highlight=Washington

18

This is very solid advice.

19

I was driving across country last year and staying in no frills motels along the way. I stayed one night in the vicinity of Washington and I found a semi-decent place in Fredericksburg, Virginia that was around forty dollars for a night. (Sorry, I can’t remember which one it was.)

Granted my standards when I’m traveling are pretty low. All I want is a bed, a toilet, and a shower that are clean enough that I’m not afraid to touch them. But this place was okay.

The other issue is what you consider in the vicinity of Washington DC. Fredericksburg is about forty miles outside of Washington and I imagine the traffic is horrible during commuter hours.

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That’s just before the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which is the most crowded time of the whole year to visit DC. Also it can be the prettiest. But it certainly would not be the cheapest.

Also worth visiting: Congressional Cemetery (lots of famous dead people), National Cathedral, Museum of Crime and Punishment, Rock Creek Park (if you like large urban parks and want to feel like you are in a remote location 3 miles from the White House), and The National Gallery of Art.