I’m thinking about planning a trip to DC on the cheap in the upcoming months. We’ll be going from Chicago to DC and haven’t decided if we want to drive or fly. We haven’t decided where the best place to find a hotel is and what the best bang for your buck is. We might do a Sun-Thurs trip or a Tues-Sun trip or pretty much any arrangement of 5 days since our schedules are pretty flexible.
I figure for a starting point I’d open up a thread for you all to offer opinions on.
What are the best things to see? We’re interested in all the traditional DC things. Museums, parks, monuments, historical stuff and governmental sites. Also, we’ll be looking to find good bars at night and I might want to see a sporting event too. Chances are the Nationals season will be over so I’m guessing a Redskins game would be the only option and that probably falls outside of our “on a budget” concept.
Where should we look for a Hotel? We’d rather not spend $300 a night on a hotel and we’re comfortable with using public transportation but we’d prefer to not spend half our trip in transit from the booneys. If we drive I’m assuming that we’d still be using a lot of public transit but perhaps having a car might still open our options on good places to stay.
What weeks in the upcoming few months would be ideal? What days of the week are to be avoided/targeted as far as seeing the sights.
If we fly what airports are the best? I understand that there’s a Metro into Reagan but not Dulles. Correct?
Consider staying at a motel in Arlington or Alexandria near to a Metro station: they tend to be better value than those in DC proper.
Reagan National Airport is the best to fly into, since you just walk across a short bridge to the Metro station. And from Chicago I’d suggest flying rathr than driving, unless there are places in between that you want to visit.
Go to www.betterbidding.com and familiarize yourself with Priceline bidding strategies. Follow the directions for Dupont Circle - Woodley Park area. You can often get rooms at the Omni Shoreham for about $80. The Omni is a huge hotel, very nice, one block from a Metro Stop. You’re walking distance to the National Zoo, one stop from Dupont Circle (tons of nightlife and just a cool neighborhood) and about 20 minutes from the Smithsonian stop. The DC Metro is remarkably easy to navigate, even after a night of drinking. D.C. cabs are cheap, too.
If you can get this, it is tons better than staying in Arlington or Crystal City, which are sterile and soulless.
We stayed at the Phoenix Park for about $100 a night. It is within walking distance to the capital and is a nice small hotel with an Irish pub downstairs. The rooms are small but it is worth it to stay so close. The metro is close, too, if you want to go somewhere other than the mall.
Stubhub the Redskins - it depends on your Budget. The Wizards (tho without Arenas for the first $%^&* month) will be playing from late October on, are accessible by Metro and are in a pretty lively part of town bar-wise on game nights. From Early November on Georgetown Big East Basketball is Metro accessible. If you drive Maryland Terp (ACC) basketball and football are definitely close to the City and easily doable. “Lesser” NCAA basketball Conferences are around too but I am not naming names to prevent bad feelings.
Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle are also more lively scenes for the out and about town folks
Where should we look for a Hotel?
I don’t stay in Hotels here but Captain obvious says
If you have no car you need Metro access. If you do it is less important.
I would look at the Hotels once you decide the car vs. fly debate, THAT is when I would start narrowing the choices
What weeks in the upcoming few months would be ideal? What days of the week are to be avoided/targeted as far as seeing the sights.
I would avoid the Inauguration in January if the crowds geek you out. There are oddly alot of “Christmas in Washington” types, but also Treelightings and special events etc. bringing alot of tourists and suburbanites who normally wouldn’t bother into the city.
The Omni Shoreham is nice - paying more to get closer in is worth it.
Use Reagan International - the trains directly link you to DC. Getting in from the other airport is a PITA.
The Metro rocks as mass transit goes.
For sushi try Tono’s on Connecticut.
Also, if the weather holds, jog the Mall at night - a long loop terminates at the Washington Memorial (Tall Pointy Thing). Just watch your footing, as the course is a bit choppy.
1) What are the best things to see?
For sporting events, you could go to a college football game. (This is not my area of expertise!) Perhaps a Maryland game? That’s accessible from Metro. Or the Wizards and Capitals both start playing home games in mid-October.
Otherwise, the stuff on the Mall is all good. I’m especially fond of the Roosevelt Memorial. Mt. Vernon is worth visiting, and stop in Alexandria for dinner on your way back to DC. Great Falls is beautiful, although it might be hard to get there without a car. Make sure you go for a walk through Georgetown, and a stop at Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle is a must. Maybe you could go see something at the Kennedy Center?
2) Where should we look for a Hotel?
I love the Omni Shoreham suggestion - that would be a great location.
*3) What weeks in the upcoming few months would be ideal? What days of the week are to be avoided/targeted as far as seeing the sights. *
I’m not sure it’ll make much difference.
*4) If we fly what airports are the best? I understand that there’s a Metro into Reagan but not Dulles. Correct? *
We still like to call it National. It’s definitely more convenient that Dulles. BWI is also a possibility, although it’s really inconvenient without a car.
Reagan is by far the best if you aren’t planning on getting a car. BWI is a good 45 minutes out of the city, minimum, if you are doing public transportation.
I am a huge fan of the DuPont circle and Georgetown areas; Georgetown isn’t conveniently served by the Metro but it’s not really that hard to get to if 15 minutes of walking won’t kill you, either.
I always enjoyed a good excuse to hit the MCI center (Is it still called that now?). The sports or concerts I generally enjoy (A Wizards-C’s game and a NIN concert there were personal favorites), a good area to go out afterwards, and easy Metro transportation to wherever I was passing out, all made a good combination.
Stay away from Inauguration if you can avoid it, but there are no other real bad times - there are always going to be tourists in the touristy areas, and there are always going to be plenty of places to enjoy. We are talking about the High School Field Trip Capital of the East Coast, after all.
(from one who went to college in B’More and spent numerous weekends wandering around the much more bar-hopping-friendly D.C.)
**1) What are the best things to see? **
Not-to-miss are the WWII monument, and go to Georgetown and see the Exorcist steps. Here’s washingtonpost.com’s guide to three days in D.C. Also, here is the Going Out Guru’s Intern Guide, the saavy student’s bible to enjoying D.C. on a limited budget. The 9:30 is the place to go to see indie and rock acts, and Club Five is the ritzy upscale place for dancing and bling-flashing of the pretty people.
**2) Where should we look for a Hotel? **
Any parking in the city is going to cost you. Southwest offers the cheapest flights. Ye Olde Hotel Harrington is a shabby old dame of a place that has seen better days, but is pretty much right on the mall and comfortably priced.
**3) What weeks in the upcoming few months would be ideal? What days of the week are to be avoided/targeted as far as seeing the sights. **
Avoid Saturdays and Sundays, obviously. Best Tues-Thursday for the least crowds. Clubs are best Thu-Sat. Avoid late March-early April, which is the Cherry Blossom Festival. Traffic is crap. I recommend going the week prior to July 4th because really, it’s the Folklife Festival and then fireworks on the mall… Also of note:traffic in DC is just a shadow better than L.A. or NY. Leave your car at the hotel, or better yet, at home.
**4) If we fly what airports are the best? I understand that there’s a Metro into Reagan but not Dulles. Correct? **
Cheapest and furthest is BWI. Still cheap is Dulles but you’re not really convenient to the city. If you want to pick it as a compromise airport, take a Supershuttle (about $20 one-way). Most expensive and convenient is National (which you call Reagan). You can catch the metro right outside straight to the Mall, walking distance from the Harrington. If you need to plan any trip on the metro from anyplace, plug your addresses into WMATA’s trip planner and it’ll estimate time, walking directions, price, etc. It rocks.
I’m not a native but I like in Norfolk/Virginia Beach and have visited a few times. Almost always stayed at HI Hostel on K and 11th (right by Chinatown) so unless you and your SO are into bunks can’t give you much help on recommendations.
Can give some on food. Chinatown is yummy. Oh so yummy. And the shopping’s not bad, if you like random stuff from small stores.
If you can make it work with your budget (depending on how gas prices work out), fly. If you’re smart you won’t use your car in the city so skip having to worry about it. Or find a hotel where you can park it at and leave it. Don’t bother trying to drive in that city. And don’t EVER be on the road 6-11AM or 2-8PM. Take the Metro. It’s nice.
This is true. Big bright-colored lines going in simple directions with bight, bold font explaining things for you.
Lamar Mundane also mentioned the Zoo, which I want to second. It’s a 5 minute walk from the subway station (uphill) but the walk takes you through a pretty part of town so it’s nice. Opens at 6AM, but they don’t mention that’s also when the zoo keepers start showing up themselves. And some of the animals are still kind of sleepy then. Still, it’s OK. One time I had been up all night and decided to wander over there about dawn. Not a lot going on, none of the shops or information booths were open yet, but for a couple hours I had the Pandas all to myself.
Dupont Circle is kind of cool. I tend to spend a lot of my time in Chinatown for some reason or another, so if you’re into that sort of thing I think the Red line stops there.
Do you know your Rep? Call up his or her office and say you want to be given a tour of the Capitol. Chances are your Rep himself won’t meet with you, but one of his interns will give you a grand tour for free. Walked around the working offices, took the underground tunnels, the Rotunda, Washington’s crypt, in and out and around the place, with a sitting in of the Senate floor. It’s a good deal for being free.
March-April and October are the most popular, weather-wise. It’s very pretty (dig them Cherry Blossoms), but therefore very crowded. August is balls hot, but there’s a lot less people around and I hear that’s when they do Restaurant Week and discount the shit out of high class food.
August is on the opposite side of Right Now obviously, so if you’re from Chicago you can probably handle the worst of DC winter. It’s less busy than the summer tourist season (when and Kiros mentioned all the school field trips in those months). First part of the weekdays are less crowds, but more commuter traffic. Less commuter traffic on the weekends, but more crowds at the sites. But really, you can handle the crowds if you get off the Mall and visit places like Dupont Circle, Adams-Morgan, and Georgetown as so many savvy Dopers have already told you to do :).
Had to look this up to remember, but they have another Restaurant Week in January. And DC has a lot of mighty fine and diverse restaurants. Chinese New Year is usually around February. I missed it this year but I’m sure it was pretty cool.
One drag: There is not a single goddam all-nite diner in that whole city. Or all-nite anything, almost, once the bars let out. Signs of life start up around 5 or 5:30, 6-6:30 mostly. Found that out one night; buddy was tired but I was hungry so I went in search of food. Nothing. No Waffle House in the place; not even on the outskirts. I don’t know how those people survive.
Not a local, but we stayed in Arlington at the Westin. This is within (6 blocks?) walking distance of the Metro, and there are hotels even closer that this one. They do have a free shuttle to and from the Metro, too.
The rooms prices were bundle packed in a package deal I scored. I think the hotel was 150-175 a night. We also paid $50.00 extra for a ‘concierce floor’ and got breakfast and an upscale but light dinner every night (if we got in at 6:30- they stop serving dinner at 7), plus free water, teas, sodas, cookies, Clif Bars, etc., for our day trips or night time snacks. Since there were 4 of us, that came to about 6 bucks a meal- a good value. The rooms were very nice and we enjoyed the heck out of the meals.
I stayed at the hotel directly across form the Arlington Metro once, also, but cannot remember the name of the hotel.
We got a tour of the Capitol building through our congressman, and spent three days walking up and down the National Mall. Almost all the museums are free and open late and on weekends. Ford’s Theater was closed for renovations. We did not have troulbe walking up to the ticket booth at the Spy museum.
We also bought tour bus ticket at Arlington Cemetary that took us around Arlington and back to and around the mall one day. We ate lunch at Union Station (many places to eat and shop!) and also at the old Post Office Building (take the elevator to the top- free!)- lots of eateries to choose from and an interesting building witha greatview and bells for bell ringers.
The zoo was small, but fun. Take the Metro to the top of the hill on the way there and pick up the metro from the bottom of the hill on the way back to save your feer and legs. The National Catherdral is in the zoo area. Look for the unusual gargoyles- Darth Vader,etc.
My kids are 10 and 12, but the are very good travelers and are used to lots of walking.
Wetin Alexandria, not Arlington. Same fo the name of the hotle I forgot.
Alexandria has a Farmes Market on the first Saturday of themonth. Big and very good for picking up lunch for a trip to Mount Vernon. Theres a boat from Old Town Alexandria to Mt Vernon, too- 30.00 round trip, I think.
For going out, I prefer Adams Morgan for a more raucous bar crawl and U Street for a more civilized dinner and drinks. I also like H Street NE for drinks as well but that will be bit difficult for you to get to since it isn’t all that Metro accessible.
Chinatown is alright but don’t expect anything like New York’s. At this point in time, there aren’t a whole lot of Chinese Restaurants left.
If you’re interested, there’s a private museum in DC which has three Tuckers, plus a lot of Tucker memorabilia, and has the largest collection of Tucker Corporation documents (including blueprints). Let me know, and I can put you in touch with the guy who owns the place.
I haven’t been in DC for over a year now but for an evening of good beer and conversation with random strangers I cannot recommend The Saloon at 1207 U Street NW too highly. If you look to the left of the bar as you’re facing it, on the wall there is a name with the initials JS painted on it. Dunno what it’ll net you, but tell Commy (the owner) I sent you.
Check out the price of a plane ticket to all three local airports - National, Dulles, and BWI. Although it doesn’t cost the same to get into D.C. by public transportation or taxi from the three airports, occasionally the price of a ticket to one of them will be so much cheaper that it will be worth it to fly there regardless of the cost of local transportation.
Buy a guidebook to Washington. There must be more tourist guidebooks to D.C. than to any other city in the world with the possible exception of New York and London. You should be able to find a good one at your nearest big bookstore. You may be able to get a few interesting suggestions in a thread like this, but having read “I’m visiting Washington, so what should I do?” threads many times now, I know that the advice given in this thread will be rather hit-and-miss. A guidebook will fill in the gaps in this advice.
Would you like us to do a Dopefest some evening so you can meet local Dopers?
It’s definitely more convenient that Dulles. BWI is also a possibility, although it’s really inconvenient without a car.
but I’m sure it was pretty cool.