Info on hotel in DC

[Christine]

Thank you Caity..I've only seen this area in reviews as a good/very safe area. Thanks also to those of you who explained the underground/metro. For $79 a night (plus tax), it seems we can't go wrong. There isn't a shuttle to the metro (it's right there), so the person who stayed in an iffy hotel, could have been most anywhere.
Thanks all..I'm sure I'll be back with more questions

DMRick,
$79 is a fabulous deal for Crystal City. I used to work right next door to the Hyatt and there regular rates were over $200 per night. But there were certain weeks and times that there were travel lulls (believe it or not, during the Christmas holidays) and the rooms dropped to about $70 per night. I'm betting that the week you are going is one of the times that the hotel experiences low activity and you made out.

 

[DMRick]

I have a question about the metro. We will be taking the train to Union St station, which I believe is the red line. Can we then get on the metro to go to our hotel stop (which I think is yellow), or do we have to take the red to Gallery Pl Chinatown and switch to the yellow line?

Coming from our hotel, would we take the blue line to the Smithsonian station or would it be better to take the shorter yellow, and transfer to the blue line at L'enfent to the Smithsonian?

I can see us now, wandering and wandering LOL!

 

[Christine]

I have a question about the metro. We will be taking the train to Union St station, which I believe is the red line. Can we then get on the metro to go to our hotel stop (which I think is yellow), or do we have to take the red to Gallery Pl Chinatown and switch to the yellow line?

Coming from our hotel, would we take the blue line to the Smithsonian station or would it be better to take the shorter yellow, and transfer to the blue line at L'enfent to the Smithsonian?

I can see us now, wandering and wandering LOL!

According to the map I'm looking at it appears you must take the Red Line to Gallery Place/Chinatown. Then you would transfer to the Yellow Line to Crystal City.

To get to the Smithsonian, taking the yellow and transferring to the blue is probably the quickest travel time IF you get a yellow train first at the station and your transfer time isn't too long. Lots of IFs and maybe some stress. If you're not pressed for time, just get on the blue line and enjoy the ride. Of course, if you are traveling during rush hours, you may be standing. The Blue Line is definitely longer but it's still not that long of a trip. DC is a fairly small city.

 

[jorodopo]

Last week we stayed at the embassy suites in Tyson's Corner, VA. Family of five. Full breakfast was included. Free parking with a shuttle to the metro station which was not walking distance. Metro rides in took about 20 minutes and all went very smoothly. On our last day we parked at the metrostation (there were plenty of spots) for $3.95 (pay a refillable card instead of a pass for the metro and that can be used for parking also). There was a Marriot Courtyard that was right across the street from the metro station that I will be looking into next trip. Have a nice vacation.

 

[DMRick]

On our last day we parked at the metrostation (there were plenty of spots) for $3.95 (pay a refillable card instead of a pass for the metro and that can be used for parking also). .

What does this mean? And are the metrostations that have parking safe enough to leave out luggage locked in the trunk?

We are considering renting a car to get some of us and our luggage to the hotel. ($16 a day parking!). Is the parking easy at the metro stations, and can someone give me reasons why we would or wouldn't want a car (it's $104 total for the 4 days). That last day, I just don't know what else ot do with 10 people's luggage, without a car. Union station is $18 for the day to rent a locker..and we'd need a few of them.

 

[Cindy B]

What does this mean? And are the metrostations that have parking safe enough to leave out luggage locked in the trunk?

We are considering renting a car to get some of us and our luggage to the hotel. ($16 a day parking!). Is the parking easy at the metro stations, and can someone give me reasons why we would or wouldn't want a car (it's $104 total for the 4 days). That last day, I just don't know what else ot do with 10 people's luggage, without a car. Union station is $18 for the day to rent a locker..and we'd need a few of them.

16 is pretty cheap for parking in DC. I've paid $20/$25 per day. My DH talked to the parking guy manager the last time we stayed in DC. We never moved the car and we stayed about a week. DH haggled, the parking guy haggled, and the end result was one day $20 taken off the bill. The parking guy manager (made sure it was a manager/supervisor) gave us his card and he wrote on it. When we paid, they saw the note.

Personally, most Metro park and ride spots are usually taken in the lots that I pass. That may have been a very remote or unpopular lot that other poster is talking about. And personally I would not leave luggage out in a car unless you have a way to hide it. For example our old Explorer had a leather pulldown thing that covered the back seat. We would put our luggage in pull the leather shade and put some of our grungier blankets (clean-but worn) on top. We never had problems driving to Florida using this methond, but those cities we stopped in are way different than DC.

 

[Christine]

What does this mean? And are the metrostations that have parking safe enough to leave out luggage locked in the trunk?

We are considering renting a car to get some of us and our luggage to the hotel. ($16 a day parking!). Is the parking easy at the metro stations, and can someone give me reasons why we would or wouldn't want a car (it's $104 total for the 4 days). That last day, I just don't know what else ot do with 10 people's luggage, without a car. Union station is $18 for the day to rent a locker..and we'd need a few of them.

DMRick,
Most Metrostations' parking lots fill up very early with commuters. Heck, most commuters are complaining that THEY can't even get parking when they go to work. The lots fill up very fast. Some lots have more parking than others, although, I'm not sure which lots those are. Maybe someone that uses the Metro regularly will chime in here. Sometimes you can find satellite lots that are fairly inexpensive for daily parking that are just a short walk from the Metro. I work near the Washington Navy Yard Station (no parking there) but my office building will let anyone park in there for $15 per day. The Crystal City lots used to be a bit cheaper, but that's probably not the case now.

I don't know how you can get out of renting a car either.

 

[jorodopo]

Last week we stayed at the embassy suites in Tyson's Corner, VA. Family of five. Full breakfast was included. Free parking with a shuttle to the metro station which was not walking distance. Metro rides in took about 20 minutes and all went very smoothly. On our last day we parked at the metrostation (there were plenty of spots) for $3.95 (pay a refillable card instead of a pass for the metro and that can be used for parking also). There was a Marriot Courtyard that was right across the street from the metro station that I will be looking into next trip. Have a nice vacation.

The day we saw plenty of parking was Friday Aug. 5 at the Dunn Loring Merrifield station (second to last station on the Orange line). We got there around 9:15 and there were about 30 empty spots. I can't really speak for the neighborhood but we left our minivan with a couple of suitcases in the trunk. We picked up the car around 4:30 and drove to go and see the monuments. When we got to the Washington Monument we learned there is parking allowed along Constitution Ave. after 5:30 on weeknites. hope this helps.

 

[DMRick]

Thanks..with the airport 55 miles from the hotel, I thought maybe that would be the best thing, but I just don't know. Maybe the train and storing at Union station is the better way to go. We also have a white house tour and can't bring a camera, so I guess we'll have the go all the way back to the hotel to get the cameras after the tour.