Washington DC trip~any tips or suggestions?

[mocha poka]

We are finally looking into taking a family trip to DC! I have a few questions for anyone "in the know".

1. What is the best time of year to go?
2. What part of town is closest to the good stuff (monuments, mall, etc) and/or safest?
3. Is the Metro really the easiest form of transportation?
4. How far is New York City? We are thinking of taking a day trip to see a few sites.
5. Where should I look to get the best discounts on food, places, etc?
6. What all is really free and what places charge an entrance fee?

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll have more questions later. lol.

[uttu]

I live in the suburbs about 1 hour from DC. I can try and answer a few things as I know.
I think that the best time of the year is the Cherry Blossom festival in early spring. It is beautiful. It is super crowded over the 4th of July weekend and not worth it imo. The fireworks are so so. Pick a normal weekend would be my suggestion.
If you find a hotel near metro stop anywhere between Vienna (last stop on Orange line) and DC, it should be good. I do think Metro is the way to go for the main things in DC. Alexandria and Arlington and more closer to DC.

New York City is over 5 hr drive. I do not think it is a day trip.

Entertainment book would be a good way to get discounts. They have a ton of coupons for Arlington/Alexandria area and also for a lot of touristy stuff. the best one is a BOGO for the Tourmobile Sightseeing bus in DC which takes you around to all the main places incl Arlington Cemetry. You hop in an hop out as you want. It costs around $20 for the day.

Pretty much everything is free in DC. All museums, Washington monument and other monuments. You can order tickets for Washington monument online in advance and they charge nominal fee for processing. They do run out of tickets very fast if you go for them the same day.

Have fun!

Originally Posted by mocha poka We are finally looking into taking a family trip to DC! I have a few questions for anyone "in the know". 1. What is the best time of year to go? 2. What part of town is closest to the good stuff (monuments, mall, etc) and/or safest? 3. Is the Metro really the easiest form of transportation? 4. How far is New York City? We are thinking of taking a day trip to see a few sites. 5. Where should I look to get the best discounts on food, places, etc? 6. What all is really free and what places charge an entrance fee? That's it for now! I'm sure I'll have more questions later. lol.

[Lori63]

We stay at the Embassy Suites in Tysons Corner and take the Metro in. Free breakfast, free snacks/drinks in the evening.
Ditto-the monument tickets ahead of time.
Spring time is best, make sure you have lots of water-sidewalk vendors of drinks are outrageous.
I live 2.5 hours from DC-it's one of my favorite 'long-weekend' places to go.

[jkelstaten]

I live in the northern suburbs about 5 minutes outside of DC (red line metro stops). We often get hotel rooms for people who are visiting our church (like visiting minister's etc.) using Priceline. The one we usually get a good price on is the Hilton in Rockville, MD. It's about 2 minutes away from a metro stop.

I would visit during the week. I don't think summer is the best time to go because of all the tourists, but if you plan extra time for seeing things it probably wouldn't be an issue.

The National Zoo is great. It is free and you can take your own snacks/water/etc. You can take the metro and a short walk to get there.

The Air and Space Museums are great too. They have a schedule of events online that you can look at. Many Saturdays they have special events going on.

There are TONS of museums, memorials and the botanical gardens located in between the Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial. Wear really good walking shoes and plan more than one day to do it all. I've heard the Treasury is a great place to go. Apparently you can watch them make the money. We haven''t made the time to go there yet.

If you want to stay IN D.C. I recommend finding something in NW D.C. It is by far the safest area (even though it has bad spots too.), please stay away from SE it's just not safe. (No offense to anyone who may live there).

If you plan on flying into Reagan National Airport they have access to the metro system, so you don't even need to get a cab or anything.

If you stay on the north side of D.C. then New York is only about 3 1/2 hours away. They have bus trips that you can take. You can leave early in the morning and get back about 11pm. My husband and a friend from Russia did it last year and while they didn't have time to see everything our friend wanted to, it gave him a taste of it.

Also, Baltimore is accessible by Amtrak.

There's so much to do around here it's hard to pick the best. If you have any other questions please let me know. I'd be happy to help!

[hopeky94]

Check out the below thread where I asked for tips for my first-ever DC trip last year. Some of the stuff in that thread has already been mentioned here, but there's quite a bit more (most of it from locals, too)!

HTH-- have fun (I sure did)!!


Washington DC- tips

[mocha poka]

Thanks for all the great tips! I think we will get the Entertainment book for the DC area. We will probably go in August or September (best time for DH to take off of work).

I've been to DC, but it was years ago. My middle school took a trip and I remember how much I loved it! DH & DD have never been. They both love history and we have just been waiting for DD to be old enough to learn something from a visit.

I like that you can order tickets to the Washington Monument, that is a must see! I will be contacting my congressman for tickets to everything that they are allowed to give us. That is awesome that they do that! We are driving up, but will leave the car in the hotel parking area and take the Metro. We will most likely bring cereal and other snack/easy to make foods to keep our cost down. Hopefully we can find some good deals in the Entertainment Book for food.

I was looking on Priceline at their map of the DC area and it looks like the White House and Capitol Hill areas are closest to the fun stops. Are these pretty safe areas? We won't be out late at night and we'll pretty much be sticking with the monuments and museums, but definitely want to stop at the zoo.

I'm so excited! This has been a trip we've been talking about for years, but DD was (in our opinion) to young to really enjoy it. It is going to be so much fun!