Planning a trip to the Washington DC need advice

[darkamulets]

I recently heard about the Smithsonian museums up in DC and was interested in visiting. I have a free trip through airline miles.

I wanted some advice on what to visit while I'm up there (can you do all 19 in a week?), hotel recommendations are appreciated! Do I need to rent a car or is public transportation good & readily available? Advice on where to eat (not scared to try anything exotic). Information on areas I should avoid due to traffic or other problems would be cool to.

 

[chalmers]

I visited there last October. Traffic is god fucking awful. Take the subway system, and even then that's a nightmare. You'll do a lot of walking. I stayed at Fort Belvoir so I have no hotel recommendations.

 

[chalmers]

If you're a history buff I recommend visiting Mount Vernon.

 

[Tiamat]

1 week is pretty tight unless you are at museums constantly.

Plenty of good eats within Washington D.C. Google search and check Opentable and Yelp reviews. Anything with 4 stars are better will be good. Watch out for dress code, some of the restaurants need suit and tie, while others are "smart casual".

As for hotel, find one close to the metro. I would not rent a car for the most part. Museum of Natural History is generally the most popular. There are plenty of monuments that are worth walking to and checking out.

If you are interested in Air and Space, rent a car for a day and take it out west on Route 66 to Dulles Airport. Smithsonian's "real" Air and Space museum is there. They have real models of the more significant air and space vehicles/technology.

Do not stay in areas Southwest of DC as they are sketch (Oxen Hill, MD; Anacostia, etc.)

If you like outdoors, rent a bike in Old Town Alexandria and ride it ~10 miles to mount vernon down the mount vernon trail. Beautiful area, watch out for the people running with their dogs and children running rampant, takes about 1.5 hrs bike ride if you ride slowly or get tired and walk around.

Check out dupont Circle for bars. Bistrot Du Coin is pretty decent french/belgian food for not too much money. Pretty good mussels if you like mussels.

Bistro Bis by union station is another french/belgian place, somewhat expensive, very good onion soup.

A lot of people recommend ben's chili bowl, but i felt it was overrated. Dairy Godmother in Del-ray Alexandria has great frozen custard (quality semi-soft ice cream).

 

[chalmers]

Also I visited a place called Georgetown Cupcakes off the DC Cupcakes show. They're nothing short of spectacular. A line forms outside the bakery up to an hour before it opens every day.

 

[darkamulets]

I'd definitely like to see all the air & space stuff I can but the little lady has a love for art, so it has to be a compromise. I might just sit down with the list of museums and pick out a handful. Then all the national monuments, are they all in the same area or really spread out?

 

[zerocool84]

I went there last 4th of July week (the fireworks were awesome) for 5 days and the monuments were awesome and the museums are awesome but the food sucked (only had two good meals out of the five days I was there) and it was f'n hot as hell but that's to be expected. What I didn't expect was for it to still be almost 90 degrees at like 9:30 at night. The Portrait Gallery is great if your lady loves art. I'm not an artsy guy one bit but there's some real spectacular stuff there. I took an open top tour bus that drove you around and showed you a bunch of stuff. Interesting if you're into that. Also see if you can visit the Spy Museum. It's fairly new but it's pretty cool. It's mostly for younger kids though but I still enjoyed it. It depends on how far you're willing to walk for the monuments because most of them are not too far from each other save for some of the bigs ones and it all depends on where you're staying at. You can take a taxi pretty much everywhere you need to go but be prepared to pay a lot for it. Plus during the summer time it'll be busy. Also if you want to see the Declaration of Independence be prepared to wait for it all day but I thought it was worth it.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

For me it's always a toss up between the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress. The Smithsonian always makes me feel like Indiana Jones.

 

[sjwaste]

I would suggest taking the metro. Stay at a hotel near Metro Center (the subway stop) if you can, because that will allow you easy access to the Red and Orange lines, which get you just about anywhere.

As far as food goes, it really depends on what you want and your budget. DC is a top tier dining city. Check the Washington Post's reviews, the Spring Dining Guide just came out. Any Tom Sietsema review is a good one. I'd avoid the Washingtonian magazine "Top 50/100" lists since they tend to either provide outdated recommendations or be totally off.

If you want more upscale, I'd really try to hit Central (French-American), Rasika (Indian, according to some, the best in the US), Obelisk (Italian), CityZen (American). If you really want to spend some money and are ok to drive about an hour, the Inn At Little Washington is one of the best destinations in the country. If you want a similar fine dining, tasting menu experience in the city, Citronelle is also great. For reservations to most places, use OpenTable, and book well in advance (like now).

As someone else said, stay away from most sections labeled NE, SE, and most of SW. The only exceptions are in the capitol/monuments area. The way the directions work, the city is centered at the Capitol, so you'll find some museums and such in the immediate streets SE/NE. As a general rule, don't go past 10th St NE/SE, and no further south than Independence Ave (with some exceptions).

The museums will be tough to hit all in that timespan. They are all great, so pick ones that suit your interests. For me, the Natural History, American History and Air and Space are the 3 I'd start with. Others like the art galleries. The National Archives are really underrated, so you might see less of a crowd there. If you're really into Air and Space, rent a car, drive out to Dulles (30-45 mins) and go to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. It's a hangar near the airport and some really cool stuff is there, like the Enterprise space shuttle.

On the metro, we stand on the right of the escalator, walk on the left. Don't be that guy that stands on the left. The rest of us do have to get to/from work If it's crowded, the front car is the best place to try and board.

If you actually have time to leave DC, I'd recommend trying to see the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (mentioned above) and Mount Vernon. Neither one is metro accessible though.

Oh, and if you're flying, try and fly into DCA. It is on a metro line. BWI and IAD are far - $90 and $50 cab rides, respectively, into where you're going.

 

[darkamulets]

Looking at the maps I take it Metro Center is just NW of ford theatre? Trying to piece together a picture with google earth & the metro map isn't easy!

DCA is ronald reagan, get on the yellow line then jump off at l'enfant plaza and get off around metro center you would say?

Trying to scare up some hotel information, guess I'm looking at capitol hill then? Anything further up NW along the red line that would be cheaper?

 

[sjwaste]

Metro Center is at 12th and G St NW. You can actually get in at other points, but that's what you'll find on a map.

DCA is Reagan, which is blue and yellow line. You can take the blue line (toward Largo) to Metro Center without transferring.

For Metro planning, use www.wmata.com.

I'm not sure what your hotel budget is, but I used to work in the same building (1001 G St NW) as the Grand Hyatt there at Metro Center. You can actually enter the metro through an escalator in the attached office building. Good when it rains, but I hope it doesn't rain on your trip.

 

[highland145]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2107884&highlight=washington

Nationals got their a** handed to them. And at $8/beer, I was sober.

Natural history. Excellent.
Air/space. Not for me.
Kid loved spy and crime/punishment museums.
War memorials, at night...........sobering......especially considering fucking politicians, in general.


Metro and walking. like mentioned. Lots of walking.

Contact your Congressman about getting better access to the capitol buildings.

Edit: Holocaust museum. Sobering, too. Worth it.

Get the audios everywhere you go.

Edit2:Udvar-Hazy version of the air and space museum. Heard that from several peeps.

 

[sjwaste]

Oh, a Pentagon tour would be very cool too. You need to register in advance for those.

http://pentagon.afis.osd.mil/tour-selection.html

 

[shortylickens]

Theres literally hundreds of important things to see, and a thousand more cool things that are non-essential.
I recommend focusing on one or two cool sites near the mall each day of your visit.
You could spend two whole days at the National Gallery of Art alone.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Theres literally hundreds of important things to see, and a thousand more cool things that are non-essential.
I recommend focusing on one or two cool sites near the mall each day of your visit.
You could spend two whole days at the National Gallery of Art alone.

True dat. You could spend a month from open to close at the Smithsonian and never see it all.

 

[darkamulets]

Metro Center is at 12th and G St NW. You can actually get in at other points, but that's what you'll find on a map.

DCA is Reagan, which is blue and yellow line. You can take the blue line (toward Largo) to Metro Center without transferring.

For Metro planning, use www.wmata.com.

I'm not sure what your hotel budget is, but I used to work in the same building (1001 G St NW) as the Grand Hyatt there at Metro Center. You can actually enter the metro through an escalator in the attached office building. Good when it rains, but I hope it doesn't rain on your trip.

Aiming for 150-220 /night for both of us, just a mess to find something in a specific area with travel sites.

 

[OCGuy]

Walk around at night with your iPad out.

 

[darkamulets]

Walk around at night with your iPad out.

If you buy me one sure!

Looking at the Omni shoreham up by woodley park, everything I kept finding put me deep SW of Arlington.

 

[stinkynathan]

I'll keep this brief since I'm on my phone.

Stay near the metro. You can get almost anywhere if you don't mind some walking.
You CAN get to the udvar hazy center by public transit. I think I took the bus from crystal city to Dulles, then another to the hangar. $6 round trip iirc.
I'd recommend monuments in morning and museums later if heat is a concern. Crowds will suck though.
First trip to DC = capital (through your Rep if possible. Better tour), natural history, American history, mart galleries, archives, air and space, and Pentagon. MUST go to the Holocaust at some point. Monuments are mostly walkable in a giant circle, but it is a LONG walk

 

[Manuwell]

I'd highly recommend a walk in the Arlington National Cemetery. Early morning is better in the summer, the heat can ruin your day. The National Mall and its surrounding monuments are a must too. Get into museums at around noon, when it's getting hotter outside.

Enjoy your trip !

 

[sjwaste]

If you buy me one sure!

Looking at the Omni shoreham up by woodley park, everything I kept finding put me deep SW of Arlington.

That will be slightly inconvenient, especially on weekends, since that's on the red line. You will have to transfer to get to many destinations.

Here is a Google Maps link to hotels near metro center:

http://*******/maps/Bq9v

The Courtyard right by Ford Theatre is under $200 a night.

F. You can't even use ******* here?

Go to Google Maps and search "hotels near metro center dc"

 

[darkamulets]

That will be slightly inconvenient, especially on weekends, since that's on the red line. You will have to transfer to get to many destinations.

Here is a Google Maps link to hotels near metro center:

http://*******/maps/Bq9v

The Courtyard right by Ford Theatre is under $200 a night.

F. You can't even use ******* here?

Go to Google Maps and search "hotels near metro center dc"

Thanks for taking a look but I'm looking at 7-13 till 7-18/19 which seems to be tourist season or something. Prices hit 330~ a night. I appreciate the info, we narrowed it down to 5-6 museums and now I gotta convince her to do udvar hazy center.

 

[Ns1]

I'm going to be coming into WAS - UNION STATION from NYC - PENN STATION.


What AREA is Union Station in, i.e. what area of Washington should I look for hotels since I wont' be having a car?

the Georgetown area has a few cheap hotels ($100/night, holiday inn) and seems to be close to the "good stuff", 2.5mi or so.

thoughts?

I need to take UNION STATION -> BWI @ 430am the next morning.

 

[purbeast0]

if you want to go a tad cheaper on hotels you could stay in crystal city, clarendon, ballson, or rosslyn virginia and take the metro over to DC.

if you stay in DC i'd recommend NW DC as it's the nicest part of dc and has plenty of nightlife/restaurants to just go out and find.

 

[purbeast0]

I'm going to be coming into WAS - UNION STATION from NYC - PENN STATION.


What AREA is Union Station in, i.e. what area of Washington should I look for hotels since I wont' be having a car?

the Georgetown area has a few cheap hotels ($100/night, holiday inn) and seems to be close to the "good stuff", 2.5mi or so.

thoughts?

I need to take UNION STATION -> BWI @ 430am the next morning.

only problem with georgetown is there isn't really a metro station right near it. union station is literally on a metro station on the red line. i'd recommend if you dont stay there to stay somewhere that is along the red line west of there.

there is a bunch of "good stuff" right off the red line between woodly park zoo stop and gallery place station. anywhere in that area will have a ton of food/nightlife to do.

georgetown is a very nice area though.