National Harbor ???'s

[ErinC]

I'm aware that the DVC planned for National Harbor will probably never happen, but I have some questions about the area. I know a lot of DVC'ers own other timeshares too, so that's why I'm posting these questions here.

I'm curious. If you plan to go to sightsee in DC, is National Harbor a good place to stay? It seems like it's a little far away. We are a family of 5, so looking at the prices of hotels that are closer to the museums and other points of interest is a little daunting. Most places that I've seen are around $300 a night and that probably doesn't include parking. I'm not sure if the money saved by staying at National Harbor would be worth it in the long run after the metro fees and car rental costs. I'd love opinions on the matter and anyone with first hand experience. It looks like Wyndam vacation club has a nice property there that can be had for a decent price in places like craiglist or vrbo (both of which are a little scary and require some measure of trust). Is there enough to do in the area without feeling like you have to get in the car and drive everywhere? Any Wyndam owners with experience with this place that could offer advice, I'd love to hear it.

Also, do we as DVC members have any option for trading out to anywhere in the DC area? I looked at RCI and I didn't see anything. Thanks for your help!

 

[vicki_c]

Disney's project at National Harbor has been officially cancelled as of last month. They are going to sell the property.

And I would not choose to stay @ National Harbor for a DC vacation base, unless I was getting a good time share deal or something. You would have to go out in your car to do much at all. You're better off to stay somewhere like Alexandria, for example. The closer you are to downtown, the more expensive it will be, but you should pick a place with convenient Metro access and then it will be no problem at all.

The one place I know of in DC for DVC stays is the Mandarin Oriental -but that's VERY pricey.

 

[vakamalua]

We've lived in the DC area for many years. I would NOT recommend the National Harbor area if you want to be accessible to all that downtown DC has to offer in sightseeing, museums, restaurants and shopping. It is a fair distance outside DC with no convenient public transportation.

We always recommend the Holiday Inn near the National Mall.

http://www.hicapitoldc.com/

It is walking distance to all the Smithsonian museums, Capitol Hill, the national Galleries and many other sights. There is a Metro stop a block away--the DC metro is safe, convenient and goes everywhere a tourist would want to go. If you are flying in, I would not recommend renting a car, you won't need it (driving in DC is kinda nuts, even if you know where you're going).

DC is a great city for families. ENJOY!

 

[Dean]

I'm aware that the DVC planned for National Harbor will probably never happen, but I have some questions about the area. I know a lot of DVC'ers own other timeshares too, so that's why I'm posting these questions here.

I'm curious. If you plan to go to sightsee in DC, is National Harbor a good place to stay? It seems like it's a little far away. We are a family of 5, so looking at the prices of hotels that are closer to the museums and other points of interest is a little daunting. Most places that I've seen are around $300 a night and that probably doesn't include parking. I'm not sure if the money saved by staying at National Harbor would be worth it in the long run after the metro fees and car rental costs. I'd love opinions on the matter and anyone with first hand experience. It looks like Wyndam vacation club has a nice property there that can be had for a decent price in places like craiglist or vrbo (both of which are a little scary and require some measure of trust). Is there enough to do in the area without feeling like you have to get in the car and drive everywhere? Any Wyndam owners with experience with this place that could offer advice, I'd love to hear it.

Also, do we as DVC members have any option for trading out to anywhere in the DC area? I looked at RCI and I didn't see anything. Thanks for your help!

IMO NH is too far to go back and forth to see the usual sites but it is workable with a rental car. Wyndham has a resort in Alexandria and one in NH but I don't see either on DVC's exchange list. You're likely better off renting your points and using cash for what ever options you chose. Keep an eye on the RCI DVC list as it might change in the future, esp now that they've cancelled the DVC NH project. The regional block could have been a factor in the reasons those 2 resorts are not listed. It might even be worth a call to see if they've added those resorts but not updated the list yet.

 

[DMKEDM]

Another Washington, DC area (northern VA, about 7 miles from the White House) resident here in full agreement that National Harbor would not be the most convenient place to stay if you're wanting to do the DC area touristy things...

It's a big, pretty place, right on the river (Potomac), but it's primarily convention-oriented...it's not convenient to the Metro (altho I'm told there are shuttles to the Metro from at least some of the hotels there)...there's a water taxi in to Old Town Alexandria, which I'm told is almost a touristy thing to do itself--and there's lots of interesting tourism in Old Town...but Old Town is not particularly convenient to DC itself either...if you want to do the Smithsonian museums, or the Capitol and White House, etc. it'll be a challenge to do so from either National Harbor or Old Town Alexandria.

A challenge, but certainly doable. Parking around the tourist attractions in DC is either awful or expensive or both, and traffic/signage/ease of getting around (even for drivers who are familiar with the area) are worse (when I first moved here, in 1978, I drove the same circle, VERY carefully following the signs, trying to get onto the bridge to VA from just west of the White House ... finally, after 45 minutes, I pulled over to the side of the road, crying...a very nice policeman "found" me and led me across the bridge...while I am admittedly "geographically challenged," the signage really does stink!)...

So, now that we've well and thoroughly trashed the idea of staying at National Harbor when coming to DC as a tourist, what are your less-than-$300-night alternatives?

Look in the suburbs (Silver Spring, MD, Rockville, MD; Arlington & Alexandria, VA, for example--look for hotels that are within a few blocks of the Metro)...there's a Doubletree near National Airport (I think it's an Alexandria address) that is only about 2 blocks from the Metro, where I think the room rates are under $200 (I was at a client meeting there a couple of months ago and people were talking about how it was very much less expensive than other, similar and similarly situated hotels)...

Also, be a bit careful about relying on Metro--it can be great--as someone pointed out, it is safe, quick, clean and lots cheaper (for one person) than cabs or driving/parking--altho it's getting a bit expensive itself--and can be confusing...fares change based on the time of day (the closer to normal rush hour, the more expensive the fare)...for example, if you stay "far away" (out in Rockville, MD, for example, where the hotels may be less expensive), a Metro fare before 10 a.m. and then again from 3 to 7 could cost as much as $5/person. So, relying on Metro could get costly--especially for a family of five!

Good luck...it's hard for us residents to have a good feel for whether we're a good "vacation spot"--it's too workaday world for us to judge...but I remember being awed by it when I first came out to visit the law school I attended (which is how I wound up here)...and it's undeniably "educational" while still being fun...

Hope you have a great time!

 

[DonnaL]

Actually we stayed at the Wyndham National Harbor late June, 2010 only a few months after the resort opened. We found the Wyndham to be very nice.....nice pool/ BBQ area on the second floor rooftop, very nice amenities. We had Giant Peapod deliver groceries to us at the resort.....worked well. And, we did use the National Harbor as our "home base" for touring D.C. Yes, it is a little further out, but, we had our own car with us and drove to Union Station and took the Metro from there. We found that to be most economical since there were five of us. The few days we planned to be in the city we would wait to leave the Wyndham until about 9:30 a.m. to make the drive to Union Station ....avoiding most of the rush hour traffic. One day we also used one of the double decker tour buses in front of Union Station, which worked well since you can get on/off at multiple stops throughout the city. Also, we intended to spend another day or two trekking into the city, but, did not....because the five days we were there the temps were 98 and 99 with heat index of about 105 in downtown D.C. and the city was simply too hot to spend the day amongst all that concrete.....so we just spent one day hanging out at National Harbor and around the pool at the Wyndham.

 

[amym2]

I'm not familiar with the National Harbor area, but this was going to be my suggestion as well... if you stay outside of the city, drive to Union Station and Metro from there. We lived in Manassas for a few years and would typically Metro in from Vienna, but a few times we drove to Union Station and went from there. They always have parking and they also have a decent food court on the bottom level (or at least they did when we lived there).

If you want to be in DC, I'd look for hotels like Hampton Inn or similar. As long as you are a couple of blocks from the Metro, you'll be fine.

 

[amym2]

Just remembered that we had some friends highly recommend a Hilton Garden Inn Downtown- think it was near the Capitol. They did a bike tour of DC (with kids) and loved it.

 

[Greyhound22]

A few years back my family stayed at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, VA. It was great, with awesome views of the city (White House, Capital, Arlington Cemetery, etc.). I'd highly recommend it.

http://www.sheratonnational.com/

 

[ErinC]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I've checked several of the websites that were suggested. The best one hotel wise that I have found is through the cherry blossom festival website. There was a really nice discount offered through that website on some hotels. I'm leaning toward possibly splitting up the stay and staying a few nights down in the thick of it, and then possibly moving further out to do the things we would drive to anyway (mt. vernon, arlington). We are probably flying, so dragging the aero bed is not something I really want to do, and many of the hotels only offer two beds (doubles at that). I guess that's why the timeshares look so appealling for the extra space. Looking around on craigslist and vrbo, I could possibly get the wyndam timeshares (even the 2 beds) for $139 a night. That just sounds so much better than $300 for two doubles. But I realize that we would be looking at a drive along with that stay. I'll have to weigh all that out. I could not find the Mandarin Oriental on DVC's website. If someone could point that out to me, I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much...

 

[ErinC]

IMO NH is too far to go back and forth to see the usual sites but it is workable with a rental car. Wyndham has a resort in Alexandria and one in NH but I don't see either on DVC's exchange list. You're likely better off renting your points and using cash for what ever options you chose. Keep an eye on the RCI DVC list as it might change in the future, esp now that they've cancelled the DVC NH project. The regional block could have been a factor in the reasons those 2 resorts are not listed. It might even be worth a call to see if they've added those resorts but not updated the list yet.

Thanks Dean. I never thought about them being blocked out, I may call just to see what they may have.