1st trip to Washington, DC-Help???

[shopnfun2me2]

This will be our first family trip to Washington, DC. We are going the end of May and have reservations at the Wyndham National Harbor location. We have been looking online at bus tours, etc. thinking that would be a great way to get acclimated to the area. The choices of bus tours is a bit overwhelming. Does anyone have any personal thoughts on a particular tour? Is this a good idea or should we just try to tour by ourselves? Please share any ideas to make our trip great. My family consist of me, hubby and 13 yr. daughter.
Thanks in advance!!!

 

[North of Mouse]

This will be our first family trip to Washington, DC. We are going the end of May and have reservations at the Wyndham National Harbor location. We have been looking online at bus tours, etc. thinking that would be a great way to get acclimated to the area. The choices of bus tours is a bit overwhelming. Does anyone have any personal thoughts on a particular tour? Is this a good idea or should we just try to tour by ourselves? Please share any ideas to make our trip great. My family consist of me, hubby and 13 yr. daughter.
Thanks in advance!!!

Everyone has their idea on the value of tours. In our families situation, we preferred touring on our own. The metro will get you where you want to be. Most of the museums are in walkable distances, also the monuments. We took the metro from the *mall* area to Arlington Cemetery, then walked around there.

If you just want an overall picture, the tour guides just talk as they drive around the different places, but if you want to spend time, and go at your own pace, it is definitely doable on foot.

You will get all kinds of advice. There are those that think the tours are the way to go, but we are a *hands on* family and it's not hard at all to navigate yourself around. There's plenty of places to ask questions/directions also at each museum. There are maps also.

Have a great trip!

 

[ntink]

I highly recommend Old Town Trolley Tours. http://www.trolleytours.com/washington-dc/
The regular trolley tour is a hop-on; hop-off which provides a lot of flexibility but the best tour IMHO is the Monuments by Moonlight tour, also operated by the same company. It is so beautiful to see the monuments at night. I would skip the Ducks tour, we found it quite boring.

 

[Maddies Mama]

We did 3 tours with DC by Foot, including their night time monument bus tour. Their bus tour was great. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it was pouring buckets of rain so hard that it was difficult for us to see a couple of the monuments from the bus. Before it started raining, we were able to get out at each monument and spend several minutes exploring it. Their tour guides are great, a real wealth of knowledge. Friendly, courteous, will whip out their smartphone to help find an answer to a question they may not know the answer to.

DC by Foot walking tours are free, you only tip your guide at the end whatever you think is an appropriate amount (we did $10/person). The bus tour will need to be reserved with a small fee (I believe $15/person last year, not sure on current prices) since there is a bus rental/bus driver involved that they have to pay. You then tip your tour guide the same at the end. We did go on another tour with another tour company while we were there and agreed that DC by Foot had better guides and provided an overall much better value.

We loved DC. Enjoy your first trip. It's a wonderful place with much to offer.

ETA: I might also recommend Stray Boots. Go to their website strayboots.com and their walking/text tours are so much fun! Your daughter might like the scavenger hunt aspect of it. We saw so many things we would have never otherwise seen, noticed or learned. They offer Groupons periodically, which will help cut the cost down.

 

[Uncle Remus]

We used this one: http://www.onboarddctours.com/dc-the-lights-tour/

Itinerary for the Washington DC night tour:

Step off the shuttle with your tour guide at all of the following attractions:

(Click each attraction for more information)

"START AT: Old Post Office
"US Capitol Building
"World War II Memorial
"Vietnam Memorial
"Lincoln Memorial
"Korean War Memorial
"Iwo Jima Memorial
"Martin Luther King Memorial
"White House
"END AT: Old Post Office

Washington DC night tour info

The DC The Lights! Washington DC night tour costs $59.99 for adults and $49.99 for children under 12. The tour departs from the Old Post Office Pavilion at 7:30pm every night.
Theres no substitute for having your tour guide hop off with you at each attraction to tell you about its history and significance during your Washington DC night tour.

Our guide was super interesting in her own right as well as knowledgeable about all the stops and everything in between, great tour.

One word of advice, make sure you start reserving your tickets for any points of interest you want to see. My wife and I were married in DC and if we wanted to see the Holocaust Museum, we had to go on the same day we were married as no other times were available the 5 days we were there.

 

[PlutoPony]

National Harbor is a location that not all like for touring DC. It's not particularly convenient to get to a Metro station, and driving into DC / finding parking can be a real PIA and not something I would recommend for the casual tourist. There are hotels in that price range that are within walking distance to a metro stop, some even fairly close to the Mall.

We hear good things about the hotels itself but very mixed reviews of the location.

 

[MapleGirl]

We're going to DC for the first time in May/April too. Can anyone recommend some good hotels in the $100 range. We're driving so we'll also need parking. Ideally we would find a nice hotel near the Smithsonian or Metro stop with free parking and breakfast.

Thanks!

 

[blueiis99]

We're going to DC for the first time in May/April too. Can anyone recommend some good hotels in the $100 range. We're driving so we'll also need parking. Ideally we would find a nice hotel near the Smithsonian or Metro stop with free parking and breakfast.

Thanks!

Try the holiday inn Washington - Capitol that is about a block or 2 from the mall and the l'fant metro is a block over. I stayed there years ago. With the kids. We walked it all.


However, I did find that when I had business trips. I preferred the Marriott and I would stay in Alexandria and metro downtown. Very nice area and the price of the hotel was normal. I used the residence inns

Have a wonderful time

 

[PlutoPony]

Most of the year prices will be cheaper on the weekend. Avoid major holidays and Cherry Blossom Festival time (usually late March-April).

 

[it's kelly]

We did DC last year for the cherry blossom festival. We got the Marriott Residence Inn for about $90/night on Priceline. I don't know how much the parking was since we took the train from NYC.

 

[ALMinVA]

National Harbor is a location that not all like for touring DC. It's not particularly convenient to get to a Metro station, and driving into DC / finding parking can be a real PIA and not something I would recommend for the casual tourist. There are hotels in that price range that are within walking distance to a metro stop, some even fairly close to the Mall.

We hear good things about the hotels itself but very mixed reviews of the location.

I agree with this - if you aren't from around here, it might seem that National Harbor is very close to all the DC attractions but without a car, it can be a hassle. It is not near a metro station at all.
I can recommend staying in or near Crystal City - there are some Marriotts and other reasonably priced hotels and close to metro stations.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I also agree that you might want to rethink your hotel selection. If you can find something near a metro stop, that will make your trip much easier.

 

[shopnfun2me2]

OP here! Thanks for the ideas that have been posted. We are staying at Wyndham National Harbor because it is free with our timeshare points and we could not get into the Old Town Alexandria timeshare. Accordingly to the timeshare, they have shuttles that run to metro stations and also are a pickup location for some tours. We also will have a car but really hope not to have to drive. We are quite sure that the traffic will be a little different than here in Alabama. Please share any other ideas about our trip!
Thanks a million for helping us have a great first trip to DC!!!!

 

[brymolmom]

PP who was looking for a hotel in the $100 range...That is tough to do, IMO, if you want parking included. Most places charge $20 - $30 per night for parking. When I went 2 years ago I was able to find a last minute deal after MUCH looking on travelzoo for the Marriott Wardman Park for $109 per night and that included parking. Great location right next to Metro and walking distance to zoo.

We're going again in APril and thinking about the Homewood Suites Silver Springs. It is not as close to a metro but there is a great breakfast. For non-refundable it is about $110. With parking being an additional $16 per night.

 

[jwwi]

We stayed in Crystal City on our weekend trip a few years ago. The hotel was just around the corner from the Metro stop. We stayed at the Hyatt, and felt that it was a great location for us. Most of the touring could be done doing the Metro and walking. We did take a Monument at night tour and felt is was worth the $$. I reserved the Washington Monument tickets prior to traveling to DC, but I'm not sure you can still go to the top of the Monument any more? The Capital tour we signed up for the morning of our tour, but I think you can contact your congressman to prearrange a tour.
I would suggest using a cab or limo service for the airport. We used the Metro to get to the hotel, it was not fun to haul our luggage through all those escalators, and walkways. Limo back to the airport was a breeze, and well worth the extra charge.
I used the Unofficial Guide to Washington DC to determine which museums we would visit. I

 

[Disneyhayes]

is it true that the museums are free? I know the monuments are


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[ktrask]

Every Smithsonian is free. Some museums in DC charge, but none of the Smithsonian ones do.

 

[got2sammies]

Yes the zoo and the smithsoian(sp) are free BUT there is metered parking on the national mall and its very hard to get a spot! Parking at the zoo is like $20! The metro stop that is "by" the zoo is about 1mile up/down hill depending on direction! I would take the bus line to the zoo cuz it's stops out front. Check the metro maps for stops and which lines go where

 

[antmaril]

is it true that the museums are free? I know the monuments are


Posted from DISboards.com App for Android

My son and I were in Washington, D.C. In October. We went to The American History Museum, Natural History Museum, Art museum, Air and Space Museum, Ford's Theater and The National Archives. Also, toured the Capitol (arranged this tour on-line). All of those were free. Monuments and Memorials, of course, are also free. D.C. is a fantastic place to visit. So much to see and do. We enjoyed it very much. We mastered the Metro pretty quickly and we were on our way. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, as there is a lot of walking involved.

 

[pintamino]

Yes the zoo and the smithsoian(sp) are free BUT there is metered parking on the national mall and its very hard to get a spot! Parking at the zoo is like $20! The metro stop that is "by" the zoo is about 1mile up/down hill depending on direction! I would take the bus line to the zoo cuz it's stops out front. Check the metro maps for stops and which lines go where

It's .8 miles from the Woodley Park metro to the Cleveland Park metro - the two closest stops to the zoo, which is about halfway in between. The furthest the zoo could possibly be from a metro is .4 miles (which is about what it is). I don't think being less than half a mile from major public transport is too bad in a large city. I wouldn't take the bus when metro is so close. If you're strategic and lazy, you can walk downhill both to and from the zoo.