Any advice on staying a night in Washington DC?

[Crazy4mandms]

Hi, everyone....I hope I'm posting in the right spot...I am driving to FL from upstate NY and back again. Unfortunately, I am doing this w/o DH this year . What I was thinking of doing is stopping in Washington DC for a day on my way back to NY, but w/o hubby and with 3 kids (15, 11, 8) I am a little nervous about being safe. Does anyone have any experience in the DC area with hotels? I hesitate to take the subways..r they safe for us? I want a good neighborhood that is close to the Smithsonian and the popular memorials. Is there such a thing as this? I really would like them to experience the city, but obviously want to be safe as possible. Thanks for any input!

 

[caitycaity]

the touristy part of the city is pretty safe. i mean, i wouldn't be walking down the steet with fists full of money or walk alone late at night or something like that, but i think that is common sense. the metro is clean and definately safe.

there are a lot of nice hotels in foggy bottom which is a safe and nice area close to the monuments and the smithsonian. there's an embassy suites on 22nd st that is very nice, and my personal favorite right near the foggy bottom metro is the river inn.

http://www.theriverinn.com

foggy bottom is a pretty residential neighborhood, and george washington university and many important government buildings are around that area so there is a lot of police patrolling. i felt safe when i lived there.

 

[Beauty]

I have spent a lot of time in D.C. growing up with a political father and I would definatly say GO FOR IT! In all the times, and there are many, that I have toured Washington I have never felt unsafe, but like Caity said I wasn't out touring after night much. I did however take the Metro to Pentagon City (MALL) after night by myself and felt fine! The Metro runs right into the mall. We weren't staying far away at all either, we were in a hotel (Westin or Sheraton??) right by the Crystal City Metro Stop.

I LOVE LOVE D.C. and would actually love to live there. To see everything quickly you could also do one of the trolley tours. My son really enjoyed that.

 

[Jeafl]

We are going this summer and are staying at Loews L'Enfant Plaza. We got a great rate just by calling their toll-free number. It is walking distance to the Smithsonian, Holocaust museum, and lots of other things. It also has a metro station in the basement of the hotel too which makes it very convenient.

 

[TxJasmine]

I were in DC a week ago with DH, and 2 kids - 7 and 8. We stayed at the Best Western Key Bridge which is half a block from the Rosslyn metro. It's a decent hotel with a nice continental breakfast - and it was very cheap (for DC standards). The location was excellent. Only about 3 or 4 metro stops to the monuments. We rode the metro everywhere and felt completely safe. We also walked around the Rosslyn area in the evening and never felt unsafe.

DC really is a great place to visit with outstanding public transportation and museums. There is so much more to see than we even expected. Your kids might enjoy a DC Ducks tour. Ours loved it, especially when they got to drive the "boat"!

 

[Crazy4mandms]

foggy bottom...is that walking distance close or metro close? I just checked avail at the loew hotel and there is none .

 

[caitycaity]

foggy bottom is what i would consider walking distance close to some things (but i don't have kids). it's probably ~6 blocks to the lincoln memorial/vietnam wall, and about 7 blocks to the white house. i walk it all the time, but then again, i don't have kids, so i don't know. the kennedy center is in foggy bottom, so that is really close.

the smithsonian is a little more of a hike; i would probably take the metro if i was going there, but if you walk to the white house, it's really not much further to the smithsonian.

the metro is really easy though and from the foggy bottom metro station, the smithsonian is probably a 10 minute ride away.

i'm sure it is a nice hotel, but the area by l'enfant plaza is not as nice as foggy bottom, imho. it's the kind of area where everyone leaves at 5 because it's all federal government buildings down there. lots of things close and it feels like a ghost town. foggy bottom is close to georgetown and there is the kennedy center and lots of restaurants so there are people around even after people leave work.

check out this map:
http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/tour.html

 

[Crazy4mandms]

caitycaity..thanks so much! Foggy bottom sounds more appealing to me now cuz it seems close enough using the metro but then i don't have to deal with all the traffic (which i am assuming is heavy in the tourist district). So my plan would be to get a hotel there and then take the metro into the city center...we'll only be there a day and we'd like to see the memorials..whitehouse and smithsonian (i know its huge so whatever we can get to in there) and the holocaust museum....am I nuts? This is probably way too much to do in one day but i think we'll just take it easy and what we see, we see!! I'm going to check out hotels in foggy bottom right now and I'll probably ask your advice before i book one....if that's ok! Thanks for all the help!

 

[floridafam]

One night in DC?

I believe I have found the answer to your question:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../ts_alt_afp/us_asia_hotel_travel_040324075724

 

[Crazy4mandms]

Can u imagine!!! I guess if i had lots of mula to throw around i'd give it a go!! But I'm figuring I'll be pretty broke by the time we hit DC after disney...so a moderately cheap hotel..if there is such a thing....and lots of free stuff to do is my way to go!!!

 

[Sleepy]

Originally posted by Jeafl
We are going this summer and are staying at Loews L'Enfant Plaza. We got a great rate just by calling their toll-free number. It is walking distance to the Smithsonian, Holocaust museum, and lots of other things. It also has a metro station in the basement of the hotel too which makes it very convenient.

Have you ever been to this hotel before? I was planning to make a reservation there a few weeks ago for weekend business, but after doing some online opinion research, I realized it really is not in the best part of town and the hotel itself is in the top few floors of an office building. people said the rooms are not the best kept and the elevator ride at night is creepy since all the businesses on the lower floors are closed for the night. Based on the majority of opinions and the fact that I was going to stay there without my husband, I decided against it and stayed somewhere else. Just wondering what your opinion of this place is. I was expecting better reviews since this was a Loews hotel. The ones at Universal are wondeful.

 

[Crazy4mandms]

Well, after all my researching and questions, I have decided not to stay in DC that weekend....availabilty is very, very slim and I found out it is due to a huge pro-choice rally that Sunday, which I could not stand to be anywhere near. But thank you all for the advice!! I will try to find another exciting place to spend a day along the way!

 

[DISshopkeeper]

That's too bad. Put it on your "in the future" list. DC is my 2nd favorite spot to visit!

 

[Jeafl]

sleepy, no we've never stayed there. I've seen quite a few recent reviews that were very positive, and some from last summer/fall that were not so positive. I posted awhile back here on the DIS if anyone had stayed there, and the people that responded were positive. I do think I will check into it a little more, we can always cancel if I find something better.

 

[pjlla]

While I am not the OP, but appreciate all this information. We are thinking about spending a few days in DC duringour kids April vacation. The hotels we are currently looking at are....
Comfort Inn Alexandria, Travelodge DC Gateway, Comfort Inn Convention Center/Downtown, and the Harrington Hotel. I found them all on Expedia.

Here is what we are looking for.... we are driving down from NH. We only have a few days to spend and the budget is tight. We would like to be able to stay where we could either ride the subway or walk to the Smithsonian and other attractions. We really only plan on visiting the Smithsonian and doing a walk by of most of the other major attractions (Lincoln Mem, White House, Washington Mon., etc). Our kids are 8 1/2 and 6. We can handle walking. We certainly did plenty of it at WDW in January!

I would appreciate any input on our hotel selections, or any other helpful information..........THanks...............P

 

[Crazy4mandms]

You guys must think I"m nuts..but I'm just soooo torn!! I sooo what to stop in DC.....I guess I could get past the idea of the rally, since it will be on Sunday AFTER we're gone...however, i'm sure crowds will be HUGE in the city..with almost every available hotel room booked....does the area absorb crowds like this well? I'm just not sure we'd enjoy ourselves so much if we had to be elbow to elbow at the Smithsonian or fight mobs of people on the subways....someone have any info on how this will be?

 

[caitycaity]

is this the march for women's lives? well, the city does a decent job of absorbing large crowds, but the metro and touristy stuff will no doubt be pretty crowded (and yes, it may be elbow to elbow at the smithsonian metro station). if you could get a hotel room, i would probably come anyways if i were you because i love D.C. and if you aren't going to be around on the actual day of the rally, you wouldn't have to deal with hearing stuff you didn't believe in.

btw, i'm happy to answer any more questions you might have.

another thought is stopping somewhere other than dc - even staying in the virginia suburbs of dc and going to mount vernon, arlington cemetary, or something outside of the city instead. (or even williamsburg or gettysburg).

 

[Crazy4mandms]

boy, caitycaity...u sure are convincing! So convincing that I ended up booking what I believe to be the LAST available hotel room in the DC area!! It is the Holiday Inn Capitol 550 C St SW.....it says it is only one block from the National Air and Space Museum and the L'Enfant metro station. I figure I have to spend a night somewhere along the way back from FL to NY so why not!! What I figure we'll do is see the monuments and other 'open air' things that will absorb the crowds better and then try our luck at the Smithsonian if it is not too crowded. Could you tell me if this hotel is close to the Smithsonian, close enough to walk to avoid subway crowds? If worse comes to worse then at least they have the swimming pool on top of the 9 story hotel that we can hang out at and see the view and we'll plan on being gone before the rally begins. Thanks so much for your input! You've helped convince me that i'm making the right decision!!

 

[TxJasmine]

You do realize that the Smithsonian consists of many different museums, don't you?

www.si.edu

This tells you about all the different museums.

Each museum has long security lines to get in, so be sure to consider this when trying to decide what to see.

I strongly recommend prereserving tickets to the Washington Monument and the Holocaust Museum. There is a fee associated with this - but you will be able to get in the museum at the time you want. We were in DC over a week ago, which wasn't the most crowded time, but the whole day's tickets to the Washington Monument were distributed by 10:30 am.

 

[Crazy4mandms]

Txjasmine, thanks...unfortunately, after looking at the website, it looks like I am going to have to skip the Holocaust museum's perm exhibit as I will have my 8 yr old DS with me and the website recommends it for ages 11+.. a total bummer to me cuz I am a History grad student and have previously studied the Holocaust and I think it would have been a great benefit to my DS 12 and Dniece 15. It doesn't say anything about the tix for the children's exhibits, tho. I do realize the Smith has diff museums..we are most interested in the American History museum (my kids are also history lovers!!)...i think if that was the only one we got to see then we'd be pretty happy. Keep the info coming!! Thanks ever so much!!