Help with Washington, DC

[Hmom]

I am glad that you had a great trip up here. If you can think of anything that would help me, PLEASE let me know. I need things like where to eat lunch, help with using the Metro and anything that you can think of.

Can't help with food too much. We ate in the cafeteria at the Capitol Visitor's Center one day - food was ok. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival was happening while we were there, so we ate at some of the food booths. The Smithsonian Castle had a little cafe inside (pretty gardens in the back/sides). Check out the Smithsonian online. I think you can see all of the restaurants/snackbars for the museums. Take water with you if you can. It was $3 a bottle from the street vendors.

The Udvar-Huzy Air & Space Museum was super! Not sure if I've spelled that correctly. It is a Smithsonian Museum, but out near Dulles Airport. Again, try Smithsonian online, look for Air & Space Musuem & you should see both the one on the Mall & the one near Dulles. You can actually see & hear the planes taking off & landing at Dulles. Full-size Space Shuttle, Enola Gay, fighter jets, and a huge variety of other aircraft.

Metro's website was very helpful. We ended up with SmartCards. They do have day passes, but you could only travel at certain times which didn't work for us. Their site will also tell you which stations have parking & cost of the fares. You can enter your beginning & ending locations & it will spit out times & transfers. The Metro was very easy to use & the attendants at the stations were helpful. I printed a metro map to take with us from the website.

 

[minniebeth]

Hmom, thanks for the report on the Air&Space Museum by Dulles, it is one of the places we have on our listto see, tentatively on our upcoming trip. My DS would love this and did a huge research paper revolving around the Enola Gay.

Ok, everyone, I asked a friend who lives close to/works in DC for some restaurant recommendations and this is what she sent me. I've not been to any of these, so I have no idea what they are like, prices/menus, locations, etc. (Except we've been to Clyde's in Chinatown, different location but wonderful).

Comet Ping Pong (featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) not located in downtown DC, up Connecticut Avenue past the zoo

District Chop House

Cava, Capitol Hill area

on the Virginia side of the river, Ray's the Steaks

Ray's Hell Burger (frequented by President Obama)

And in Georgetown: J Paul's and Clydes

Not sure if any of these would work for anyone, but it's a point in the restaurant direction!

We too are still looking for reasonable lunch options close by the Mall.

 

[Hootch]

the tourist attractions have cafeterias in them. They're usually a bit more expensive but really convenient. When you consider some of the Smithsonian museum are only open 10:00 - 5:30 leaving the museum for lunch costs a lot of time. One place I did leave the sites was on the Hill. Spike Mendelsohn, once a competitor on Top Chef, has a burger place on the 300 block of Pennsylvania Ave SE. The Tune Inn, one of my old hangouts, is further down the block. Be forewarned that the Tune Inn can be described as a dive but I spent some time there in my wayward youth. It also made the top 100 burgers in Hamburger America.

Pre ordered tickets:

Washington Monument:

http://www.recreation.gov/tourParkDetail.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=77811

Ford's Theater:

http://www.fordstheatre.org/

Mt Vernon - Use this are for timed entries for the mansion. They can save you some waiting in line. When we went the wait time was 25 minutes when we got there and 50 when we left.

https://secure4.gatewayticketing.co...oryGroupExternalID=TKTS&CategoryExternalID=GA

National Archives - very limited and may be hard to get this late. These will get you into the room with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of rights with no wait.

http://www.recreation.gov/tourSearchResult.do?parkId=79052&contractCode=NRSO

Holocaust Museum - The link is posted earlier in the thread.

Here is a metro map link:

http://www.wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm

The stops we used -

Natural History, American History, Washington Monument and Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam and Korean War memorials - Federal Triangle (b/o)

Jefferson and FDR Memorials - Smithsonian (b/0)

Capitol, Library of Congress and Supreme Court - Capitol South (b/o)

Air and Space Museum - L'Enfant (b/o/y/g)

National Archives - Archives (y/g)

Ford's Theater - Gallery Pl Chinatown (y/g)

Arlington Cemetery - Arlington Cemetery (b)

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Thank you all!! This is so very helpful.

 

[whamma]

I am bookmarking this thread! Thank you to everyone for the tips. We are hoping to visit Washington, DC next summer.

Any tips for family friendly hotels that won't break the budget too much? I know that it can be expensive but $400-600 per night is out of the question for us! Is it reasonable to think we can find a decent hotel in the $150-200 range? I did some searching online but it's hard to know exactly what I'm looking for. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Hmom]

I've used hotwire for our last few trips, DC (twice) & Chicago. All were nice hotels in what was their 3 star range - Sheraton & Wyndham Gardens. I am cheap. Won't spend much more than $50/night for the three of us. I think I pretty much kept to that budget on all of the trips with hotwire.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I was looking at buying tickets ahead of time, but I am worried that we will miss our time to be there if we either get lost, or held up in another place. Are these tickets really needed? We just thought that you could walk in, maybe with a small wait.

Also, while on the Metro, do they tell you what stop thay are at? How will I know when to get off of the bus? How do I know what bus to get on? Is there something to look for?

Also, what is The Shops at Washington Place? I saw some people lined up to go in and I wondered what it was. I just googled a map & it is showing up on the map.

 

[sbeaulieu]

I saw someone above mention Cava for a place to eat. I'm from DC and this is hands down our favorite place to go to dinner. Not too expensive and the food is wonderful...it's all small dishes, so 4 people can share 6-8 things.

Also, my brother just went on a Segway tour of DC and can't stop raving about it. If everyone in your group is old enough, that would be a great thing to try.

 

[sbeaulieu]

Also, while on the Metro, do they tell you what stop thay are at? How will I know when to get off of the bus? How do I know what bus to get on? Is there something to look for?

I would stick to the Metro rail if you are worried about this. There are enough stops close to the monuments and museums that you shouldn't have to take a bus.

 

[benolathe]

Also, my brother just went on a Segway tour of DC and can't stop raving about it. If everyone in your group is old enough, that would be a great thing to try.

Just got home last night from a week in DC. Last Monday evening, we did a 3-hour tour with City Segway. It was VERY FUN, informative, and we covered a lot of ground/monuments in our time. We traveled about 8 miles in 2 1/2 hours (first 1/2 hour is training) and were able to see quite a few sites, including the Newseum, Capitol, Native American, Washington Monument, WW II Memorial, Lincoln, Vietnam War, White House - and sites in between those. Our tour guide was Phil and he was AWESOME. He just had the most wonderful personality. You could tell that he was genuinely interested in what he was talking to us about. We would pause at each of the major sites to take pictures, and only actually got off of the Segway at 2 or 3 places along the route.

The Segway was extremely easy to learn and manuever. We had a wide range of people (shapes, sizes, ages) in our group and everyone got the hang of it in about 10 minutes. BTW, the minimum age is 16 and the cost is $70. Each tour group is only 8 people. We were also minor 'celebrities' while we were riding. Other tourists were taking our picture and talking about how fun it looked. Doing a Segway tour is definitely something I will consider when visiting other cities. It works especially well in DC with so many monuments that are relatively close to each other, but still takes quite a bit of walking to get from one to the other.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I would stick to the Metro rail if you are worried about this. There are enough stops close to the monuments and museums that you shouldn't have to take a bus.

OK, I will look into this more.

 

[minniebeth]

I saw someone above mention Cava for a place to eat. I'm from DC and this is hands down our favorite place to go to dinner. Not too expensive and the food is wonderful...it's all small dishes, so 4 people can share 6-8 things.

Glad to hear you like Cava~ a friend recommended this restaurant and I looked at their website, and it looks so nice and their food looks really great! We have a whole list of tentative restaurants to try, but unfortunately my kids shot this one down.
There are times we get an opportunity to do an adult only meal or go for drinks and Cava will definately be on my list if we get the chance to do it!
Thanks!

 

[plutotek]

FWIW, I don't normally recommend this, but Hotwire gave us a great deal on a hotel when staying in DC. It was a Wyndham property that was less than $100 a night during the week. DC is the opposite of the rest of the world, in that the hotels are usually cheaper on the weekends than during the weekdays. Our hotel was near Georgetown and was just a short walk to the WH or the Metro.

 

[Hootch]

I am bookmarking this thread! Thank you to everyone for the tips. We are hoping to visit Washington, DC next summer.

Any tips for family friendly hotels that won't break the budget too much? I know that it can be expensive but $400-600 per night is out of the question for us! Is it reasonable to think we can find a decent hotel in the $150-200 range? I did some searching online but it's hard to know exactly what I'm looking for. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

hotel we stayed at cost about $250 per night with taxes. That was an Embassy Suites in Alexandria so there was a free breakfast each morning. (And the two rooms provided a break from the kids at times.) There was a Hampton Inn around the corner that cost maybe $25 less a night. Both are near a metro stop and have access to King Street which has kid friendly restaurants at night. The hotels I stay in in NW DC often don't have many things available at night.

If you're stay is more oriented to the weekend Crystal City has some nice hotels that have good rates on the weekend but weekdays are much more expensive. There is one street that has a wide variety of restaurants including an Eritrean one and Jaleo which is one of the best tapas restaurants I've been to.

 

[MickeyReeds]

We are heading to the DC area in August and was wondering what advice the experts would give us about getting a metro pass. I know there are 2 kinds--one that is unlimited at any time and one that you can use during specifice times. We are staying in Bethesda and on a Friday, we will have to be at the White house at 7:30 am , so we'll be travelling during the commuting times. I'm leaning towards the unlimited pass, even though it's more expensive, but seems a lot easier. Any thoughts??

I really appreciate all of the advice and tips I've copied and pasted them into a word document so I can print it out and take it along!

 

[Hootch]

We are heading to the DC area in August and was wondering what advice the experts would give us about getting a metro pass. I know there are 2 kinds--one that is unlimited at any time and one that you can use during specifice times. We are staying in Bethesda and on a Friday, we will have to be at the White house at 7:30 am , so we'll be travelling during the commuting times. I'm leaning towards the unlimited pass, even though it's more expensive, but seems a lot easier. Any thoughts??

I really appreciate all of the advice and tips I've copied and pasted them into a word document so I can print it out and take it along!

we spent between $40-$45 on metro fares for the eight days we were there. I wouldn't get the limited pass because there are a lot of times when you will need to ride during the normal fare time. It runs until 9:30 AM and from 3-7 PM weekdays. We were riding almost every day during those times.

What we did was load up the fare card with $20 when we got there and added more in bulk increments when necessary.

 

[MickeyReeds]

we spent between $40-$45 on metro fares for the eight days we were there. I wouldn't get the limited pass because there are a lot of times when you will need to ride during the normal fare time. It runs until 9:30 AM and from 3-7 PM weekdays. We were riding almost every day during those times.

What we did was load up the fare card with $20 when we got there and added more in bulk increments when necessary.

Just wondering--was that per person or for a group? The unlimited week long passes are around $45 for each person.

Can you use one fare card for multiple riders or does everyone need their own?

thanks

 

[chartle]

Can you use one fare card for multiple riders or does everyone need their own?

thanks

Just like Disney everyone needs their own card because it calculates the fare based on what station you entered and what station you exit.

If when you exit, you don't have enough on your card you have to go to a machine and add value.

 

[Hootch]

person. The rates depend on which stations you're moving through. In general the rates during the peak times were $2.50-$3.00 and non peak about a dollar less for each direction.

Each rider has to have a card. You will use to enter and exit the stations. Kids under a certain age, I think four, ride for free.

 

[Hmom]

Also, if you are parking at a metro station (like we did), you either need a smart card, with appropriate funds on it or credit card to exit the parking lot or garage. We stayed in Gaithersburg.

Going through the entrances was very much like WDW. Everyone went thru & then I grabbed their cards so they wouldn't lose them