national zoo in dc question

[buzz2400]

We will be driving to florida from ct. I was thinking of stopping at the national zoo in dc on the way down. How far is off the highway. So far the game plan is to leave on saturday to drive straight through to arrive in orlando on sunday but if we did this we would get to orlando around 5 in the morning so I was thinking of stopping for about 3 hours at the zoo.

 

[pr surfer]

Parking in Washington is something I recommend no one EVER do. I recommend you park at the Greenbelt Metro station in Greenbelt, MD (close to I-95 and plenty of parking) and take the metro to the Zoo.

Take the green line to Ft. Totten, where you change to the Red Line and get off at the Woodley Park-Zoo station. You'll be about 3 blocks away from the Zoo.

 

[bookwormde]

IF you go around the west side of the beltway, it is a few miles towards the city (10 minutes). IF you get there early, the parking is ok, later in the day it can be tough.

bookwormde

 

[Brit_Jude]

I am a volunteer at the National Zoo. It is not far of the highway. There are parking lots but if you are going on the weekend you would need to get there early - 9.30am to 10.00am. During the week it will not be as bad but again early is better, and you will see more animals that way. The fees for parking are quite high but entrance to the zoo is free.

If you do drive in I would recomend parking at the lot at the bottom by the Kids Farm - parking lot D. Then walk up the hill as its much better when you want to leave to walk back down the hill to you car Parking lot D doesn''t fill up as quickly either.

There is quite a lot of construction at the zoo at the moment as a new Elephant Walk is being built and other improvements.

Here is a link to the map of the zoo
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/ZooMap/

Here is a link to the travel information
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/GettingToZoo/default.cfm

PM me if you have any other questions!

 

[twinklebug]

Awesome post! I was just about to open a thread asking for places to stop and see on the trip from New England down to FL (or on the return)

I was hoping to take the kids to see some caves in PA I saw as a kid, but those look like they'll be too far out of the way.

The National Zoo sounds perfect.

 

[buzz2400]

Thanks for the info.

 

[uva185]

Parking in Washington is something I recommend no one EVER do. I recommend you park at the Greenbelt Metro station in Greenbelt, MD (close to I-95 and plenty of parking) and take the metro to the Zoo.

Take the green line to Ft. Totten, where you change to the Red Line and get off at the Woodley Park-Zoo station. You'll be about 3 blocks away from the Zoo.

If you choose the Metro option you are much better off taking 495 West toward Virginia and exit at MD-355. Dive up a mile and there is a Metro station on your right (Grosvenor-Strathmore) that has parking. This is a 'Red Line' station so you will not have to change trains and the Woodley Park-Zoo station is 7 stops away.

 

[GranddadTom]

I’m piecing together when you’ll be where. I live just north of Washington and for us the straight through drive to WDW is just about 13 hours. If you would get to WDW at 5:00 am on Sunday that means you will go by my house at 4:00 pm on Saturday? It sounds like you want to get to WDW around 8:00 am on Sunday? That would mean leaving Washington around 7:00 pm on Saturday. Traffic-wise this is a very good time to be on the Washington Beltway and I-95 south of Washington. I agree with the previous poster. When you get onto the Washington Beltway (coming from Baltimore), go west toward Silver Spring. Then go north on Rt. 355 about a mile to the Metro station. From there it’s an easy trip to the zoo. Time-wise it’ll take you the better part of an hour from the time you leave the Beltway until you enter the zoo (which is free!)

 

[thumbalyna]

also if you park at the metro station there is no charge to park on the weekends - we parked at the greenbelt one in august and took the metro to the zoo