I’m planning on taking a couple days (Friday and part of Saturday) after a business trip to go down to DC and visit some sights there. I’m staying in Silver Springs MD, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on getting to and around DC?
I have a car, but is it feasible or even desirable to drive down? Is there parking? I see there is a Red line from Silver Spring station, so that looks like it would be a better option, but what about getting around to the various sights? Uber/Taxi? I don’t mind walking much but time might be a factor.
I’d like to see the Air and Space museum, National Mall, Holocaust Memorial Museum, the memorials, and perhaps the Smithsonian. Other recommendations welcome.
From Silver Spring I’d just take the Metro train into the Mall area, where most of what you want to see is gathered. Don’t take a car: traffic is bad, and parking difficult. Once you get to the Mall, most things are within easy walking distance.
I concur with the above; I’ll be in DC 20-24 April and do not plan to get a rental car, but use the Metro. All the things you want to see are within walking distance (albeit they are a fair hike so wear your most comfortable walking shoes), and there is other transportation available for other sites (Marine Corps monument, Air and Space at Dulles). But there is more than enough to see in downtown DC to keep your interest for a day and a half, IMHO.
And just to give my reasons for that — you’ll lose a lot of time navigating traffic and looking for parking and then find out you will just have to leave your car in one place and walk anyway. It won’t make sense to try to drive from one destination to another. You won’t find closer parking anyway.
And on the Holocaust Museum, be sure to check on the ticket situation in advance. Tickets are free but they control how many people can enter at any particular time of day. On heavy tourist days, they will run out of tickets for the full day by 9 or 10 in the morning.
Metro, definitely. Parking is always a nightmare, and traffic is usually a nightmare. Just about everything you’d like to see is Metro-accessible. Bring a book to read while you sit on the train!
Source – I live in the metro area, and come to work in DC every day.
You might consider using the bike sharing program, assuming you ride, to get between sites that are farther apart than you’d like to walk but not so far that it makes sense to wait for the train or the bus (esp if you’d have to transfer). I’ve done this in DC and a couple of other cities and it works out well. Cheap too, and fun.
You should realize that you can’t see everything you want in the short amount of time you’ve allotted yourself. It takes two weeks to see everything in the Smithsonian, for instance. You’ll be able to see a lot of things in two days, but you won’t have time to see everything.
Also, sweepkick and The Stainless Steel Rat, if you want us to put together a Dopefest for some evening at a restaurant so you can meet some other Straight Dopers, let us know.
And for the most part, conveniently concentrated together in a single (fairly large) area. Venturing out into the city is unnecessary (although much, much safer than it used to be). If you’re capable of walking a few miles, all you have to do is get yourself downtown.
Yep, my family and I toured DC a couple of years ago and exclusively used the Metro, walking and bike share. Very easy (although we walked ALOT), efficient and exactly where the stuff is.
This is an odd thing I’ve encountered personally and my wife encounters daily (she works at the Botanic Garden); many tourists, most of them Americans, don’t seem to realize “The Smithsonian” is ALL of those gigantic buildings lining The Mall.
On an unrelated note, she’s been asked on more than one occasion for directions to the Capitol :smack: (for those of you unfamiliar with the US Botanic Garden, the main conservatory is right next to the Capitol reflecting pool, grounds, and the Capitol itself, which is difficult, if not impossible to miss from there).
And if you’re standing, please take OFF your backpack, rather than hitting people with it every time you turn your body.
Also, yes, the Red Line is your simplest bet from Silver Spring. Assuming Metro is actually running decently that day, it’s not remotely a close call between that and driving.
Not quite: the National Gallery of Art (two gigantic buildings, one for older art and one for modern art) is not part of the Smithsonian. But there are about a dozen components of the Smithsonian on the Mall.