Getting around DC

[sam_gordon]

There is a good chance my new employer will be sending me to DC next week. It would be fly in Sunday, work M-F, fly out Friday night (or Sat morn). I'm assuming (I'm "shadowing"/training) work will be 9-5 or 8-5.

Questions:
1) Work will pay for a rental car, but is that the best idea? Sure, I can keep my bags in it until I check into the hotel, but should I be concerned about getting around and parking? Looks like there's a Metro stop at the airport. I will be "working" a couple of blocks north of the WH, and probably staying in the same area. It looks like the temperature is going to drop, so walking 3-4 blocks may not be the best idea (or maybe it won't be that bad).
2) Is it worth sightseeing after 5p? I mean maybe one night to get some pics with my phone?
3) If I fly in early Sunday, I have that day to sightsee, but what I'd *REALLY* love to spend time on (Air & Space Museum) is booked up until 3p entry. There are SO many other options so I might still go to sightsee, but the high temp is only 48 and partly cloudy with a decent wind (14mph)

 

[R&RsMom]

I did this some years ago, before Uber/Lyft. I took a cab from the airport, and then cabbed around town. It was mostly hotel to work site and back. So, Uber and Lyft today. i don’t think I would try to drive daily. i walked to restaurants. one night I did an evening bus tour of DC. I got to see and stop at a number of the key monuments, etc. As a woman travelling alone, I felt this was safe.

 

[Capt_BJ]

DC can be a real PITA wrt driving ... and parking is always a pain and $$. If U can live with using the trains (METRO) that's what I'd do augmented with UBER/LYFT.

I lived/worked in DC area for 6 years and avoided driving into the city as much as possible using METRO . . . on weekends we'd go into the city for adventures like the zoo and the monuments and museums on the mall and METRO was VERY convenient station wise for this .... even with a stroller or kid in a back carrier or BOTH.

 

[greeneyedchick]

I used to live in near DC and avoided driving there. We usually took the metro. I would second what the person above me said. Take the metro and if it isn't going where you need, take an Uber or Lyft. Renting a car and paying for parking are going to be costly. It would also be safer to be dropped off in front of your destination rather than walking to a parked car which could be blocks away.

 

[sam_gordon]

I used to live in near DC and avoided driving there. We usually took the metro. I would second what the person above me said. Take the metro and if it isn't going where you need, take an Uber or Lyft. Renting a car and paying for parking are going to be costly. It would also be safer to be dropped off in front of your destination rather than walking to a parked car which could be blocks away.

I'd have company credit card. And a quick look is showing ~$40-50/day (for the car).

 

[FCDub]

Definitely do not rent a car. DC is an extremely walkable city — and awful to drive in.

 

[sipnride]

There is a good chance my new employer will be sending me to DC next week. It would be fly in Sunday, work M-F, fly out Friday night (or Sat morn). I'm assuming (I'm "shadowing"/training) work will be 9-5 or 8-5.

Questions:
1) Work will pay for a rental car, but is that the best idea? Sure, I can keep my bags in it until I check into the hotel, but should I be concerned about getting around and parking? Looks like there's a Metro stop at the airport. I will be "working" a couple of blocks north of the WH, and probably staying in the same area. It looks like the temperature is going to drop, so walking 3-4 blocks may not be the best idea (or maybe it won't be that bad).
2) Is it worth sightseeing after 5p? I mean maybe one night to get some pics with my phone?
3) If I fly in early Sunday, I have that day to sightsee, but what I'd *REALLY* love to spend time on (Air & Space Museum) is booked up until 3p entry. There are SO many other options so I might still go to sightsee, but the high temp is only 48 and partly cloudy with a decent wind (14mph)

I've lived in the DC Metro area for 16 years. Some suggestions:

A. If you were to go in early on Sunday and if you were to rent a car, there's a bigger' much more spectacular Smithsonian Air & Space Museum near the Dulles Airport about 30 minutes from DCA. It's so enormous and lightly attended that anyone can walk right in between the hours of 10a and 5:30p.

B. I love viewing the monuments at night. The Lincoln, Korean, and Jefferson memorials are particularly beautiful, if a bit haunting. Obviously bring a decent coat. But if you really want to see the Vietnam, MLK or FDR memorials better to see them in daylight imo.

C. As others have suggested while working in DC better to use Metro and rideshare. I've gotten so many tickets it's obscene.

D. The Smithsonian Fleischman and Portrait galleries, as well as the American Museum of Art, stay open later.

E. Special events and non-smithsonian museums (may have entrance fees) at night:
-National Gallery of Art has NGA Nights
-National Geographic Museum stays open late in the third Thursday for Nat Geo Night
-Spy Museum stays open until 7p
-

 

[nolatravelgirl]

If the hotel is only 3 or 4 blocks it would be pretty ridiculous to drive that distance. Parking is a pain and once you got out of the garage at your hotel and then parked in the garage at your office would take longer than just walking 4 blocks. There aren't many parking surface lots so you would be parking and walking for pretty much anything you want to do. Even when on the company dime, if I am staying in DC proper, I just rely on Uber/Lyft. Your employer would pay for that as well and it is infinitely easier as they drop you off and get door to door service. In my younger days I lived near 14th and U Street and I could go 7 or more days and never got in my car. Parking is always a pain and if you don't know where you are going leave the driving to someone else. The metro is easy and efficient.