D.C. questions ADDED A COUPLE

[luvmyfam444]

If we fly into Baltimore (BWI), what's the most economic way to get to Alexandria?

That's the only question for the moment - I'll be back with more I'm sure!

 

[lovemygoofy]

From BWI you can either take a MARC train to Union Station and then the metro to your hotel or take a super shuttle from the airport.

The MARC train will probably be the least inexpensive but not the easiest with luggage and children.

This website lists available transportation from BWI. The tour guide books are really good about spelling out transportation issues as well as step by step tours around the city.

http://www.visitingdc.com/airport/bwi-airport-transportation.htm

 

[luvmyfam444]

Thanks - I of course didn't buy a tour guide that has much info in it (at least not that I've found yet - LOL)

 

[lovemygoofy]

Thanks - I of course didn't buy a tour guide that has much info in it (at least not that I've found yet - LOL)

The Dummy Guide for DC and the Unofficial Guide both have really good information. When it was time to move here, I read both and still carry my dummy guide. The UG breaks things down according to children's age and interest and best places to eat with children and prices of restaurant.

The Dummy guide doesn't go an indepth as the unofficial guide but I think it's pretty helpful and the maps are easier to read. Both books talk about what metro stops you need for sights around the town.

 

[PlutoPony]

MARC is a commuter system and runs only M-F. Depending on when you're traveling, Super Shuttle may be your option. DCA is much much closer to Alexandria so you might check prices into there instead of BWI, there are occasionally good deals to be had.

 

[TDC Nala]

Most economical does not equal easiest -

There is a Metrobus run from BWI to the Greenbelt Metro station. From there you can take Metro anywhere on the system. Going to Alexandria you would have to switch lines at least once. This takes a lot of time (waiting for the bus, waiting for the trains, waiting even longer if you are there on a weekend and track work is planned on the Metro). Use www.wmata.com for planning.

I use the bus/Metro route once in a while, but it's just me - I wouldn't do it with a bunch of kids. It is about a half hour ride on the bus, which sometimes fills up so the whole ride needs to be made while standing.

 

[golfgal]

Spend the extra and fly into National--smaller airport (I don't know if it is smaller than Baltimore just that it is small), hop on the metro right there, 3 stops or so and you are at your hotel--take your luggage right on the metro with you. We looked into flying into Baltimore and with the cost of taking transportation to Alexandria it saved us money to spend a little extra on the plane tickets.

 

[clgwli]

I would personally look into hiring a car. The drive from BWI to Alexandria is approximately one hour in decent traffic. I was in a wedding in Baltimore one year and was going to use public transportation to get there from Alexandria. I decided against it after seeing how many hours it would take to get there. I wound up driving since it would be faster.

I know DCA is significantly closer airport, but I do know for us it can cost 3-4 times the amount to fly in/out of. But check it just in case to see if it would be worth it.

 

[luvmyfam444]

so far what I've seen it'll run about $140 more to fly into the other airports + luggage fees (have to use a different airline that charges for baggage) & this one is a nonstop flight - this airling evidently doesn't go into any other airport in WAS area

Still checking it out though....

 

[luvmyfam444]

Is there a perferable time to go up in the monument? I was thinking it would be neat at sunset -

 

[PlutoPony]

so far what I've seen it'll run about $140 more to fly into the other airports + luggage fees (have to use a different airline that charges for baggage) & this one is a nonstop flight - this airling evidently doesn't go into any other airport in WAS area

Still checking it out though....

If you're talking $140 + baggage TOTAL, not per person, then it will likely be cheaper or a wash to fly into DCA. RT to Alexandria from BWI won't be cheap for a family.

 

[luvmyfam444]

it looks like the cheapest into national is $187 more - before baggage & Dulles looks about the same . This is will be 1 way - not roundtrip.

 

[Floridagal23]

I'm pretty sure you can also take Amtrak. I used to regularly take it between DC (union station) and NYC and it definitely had a stop at BWI.

You can get a discount with triple A membership sometimes.

 

[librarygal]

If you have kids look into a one way care rental from BWI to National Airport.

 

[luvmyfam444]

BOOKED! whoo hoo! no turnin back now! into BWI

 

[luvmyfam444]

Have any of you bought any of the kids books? I see there are several (on Amazon) that have the kids looking for things while in the museums - if so which one do you suggest?

 

[momrek06]

BOOKED! whoo hoo! no turnin back now! into BWI

In 2008 my DBro was graduating from the National War College. He booked us all rooms in Alexandria. We researched airfare and the best deal was to fly into BWI. We then decided to book a shuttle service for the drive to Alexandria. We did not want to be lugging all our luggage on the Metro and my elderly parents were with us as well. They would not have been good on the Metro. It was June and the humidity was a KILLER. We were so glad we went with the shuttle service. The driver was very friendly and very knowledge as far as even giving us tour guide info on the drive. It did take close to an hour to get from BWI to Alexandria.

 

[Desiree]

I haven't bought any of the kids books (mine is almost 16) but I did pick up Frommer's travel guilde to DC and so far I like it!

 

[madcam]

We also flew into BWI because it was significantly cheaper......I think it would've been close to $500 more to fly into one of the Washington airports. That said, we booked a Super Shuttle to drive us to our hotel in Old Town Alexandria. (on the backside of our trip we went to Williamsburg so we rented a car for 3 days and used that to get us back to BWI). The Super Shuttle took about an hour, maybe a little more. Not because of distance but because the traffic in DC is the WORST traffic I have EVER seen!!! I want to say it cost a little over $100 for the four of us and our luggage (this is for one way) and we didn't have to worry about switching buses or trains. However I did have to listen to the most abnoxious reggae music ever recorded for every one of those 60+ minutes!! We also had to wait around at the airport for awhile until "our" shuttle was available. I have to say the shuttle was kind of yucky and I don't know if there was airconditioning because the driver kept the front windows down the whole way. Since it was early March, I wasn't overly uncomfortable. And since there were only 4 in my family we had to share it with 3 other people who all got dropped off first (you can rent the Super Shuttle privately but it costs more). It was a bit awkward to sit in relative silence for that long. The driver didn't engage with us....but he had limited English so that was probably why. We are properly Southern so we talk to EVERYONE (especially DH) but after a few trys, no one seemed very interested in talking and my kids got restless after awhile. So we just sat quietly......for over an hour. It probably would've been cheaper and it would've definately been more comfortable to rent a car for the day. This is what I would probably do next time, now that I sort of know where things are. Like someone on here mentioned, one of the airports (Reagan I think) is on the Metro so in theory you could use the car to get you to the hotel, unpack, drive over to Reagan, drop off the car and then get on the Metro to get wherever. Just beware of the TRAFFIC!!!

 

[luvmyfam444]

Can y'all tell me about any of the "new" museums - not sure actually how many years they've been there - but they are new since I was there last (over 15yrs ago! LOL)

I see there's now a Postal Museum, a Nat'l Geographic one, a Spy, and something else on the line of the Spy museum - there's now a dental/health museum & a textile museum - those are the few I've run across lately that I've never heard of.

There used to be the big loom & info on textiles (I think in the AMerican Hist museum) & there used to also be medical instruments & stuff like that in there too - I'm hoping all that didn't get moved out & into those other museums...