Washington DC trip report

[golfgal]

My DH has been working up here for a few months and this is what everyone has told him. We had to drive in last Saturday because our tour wast at 7:30 and the metro didn't open until 7am. If not for the GPS, we would have never found our way out of there.



I printed a map off of the internet that shows the different colored routes, but I don't see the different sight seeing things on it, so I am not sure how all of this works. Will someone explain? I am so scared we are going to get lost.

I'll tell you one more thing, this has made Disney look like a breeze!

You are better off using a map from a tourist book. They will have the tourist sites and the map from the metro on there. We used the map from our book all the time.

 

[golfgal]

Thanks for the trip report, MidgeD79! We are going soon. We are still searching for some inexpensive lunch ideas other than the museum cafeterias. Can I ask you what you did for meals during the day? Any other suggestions?
Thanks!

To be honest, there just isn't inexpensive food in DC. Even getting a burger and fries is going to run $10. The least expensive place we found to eat was at 5 Guys out in Georgetown, the next would be the cafeteria in the library of congress building but even that was about $45 for the 5 of us. Plan on spending about $50/meal. The restaurant at Mount Vernon was really reasonable though.

 

[NotUrsula]

When I'm in DC in summer I usually use a one-week short-trip pass + a $10 fare card for those mornings when I need to ride in early. In summer many of the museums are open until 7 anyway, so it is no big sacrifice to stay in the District until 7 pm in summer. (I don't stay in the far burbs; Alexandria is about my limit, and I always stay w/i walking distance of a Metro stop.)

If you are naturally a walker, or a photographer, plan carefully before buying the single-day passes for Metro for every day of your trip. Depending upon where you're staying and what you're doing, you might not actually use $9 worth on a given day. For days when you plan a lot of walking a fare card might be a better choice. (There isn't a Metro stop really near the monuments, so that might be a good time to splurge on a cab to take you from one of the larger Metro stations to the monuments area and another one to take you back. It's a pretty long walk just from the Lincoln Mem. down to the FDR Mem.)

I tried taking the Monuments by Night tour with young kids in summertime; it didn't work out for us and was a huge waste of money. We couldn't take one more minute cooped in that overheated "trolley" bus by the time we got to the Lincoln Memorial, so we just bailed and walked the rest of them. If I had it to do over I think I'd do it with a series of cab rides and start just a little bit earlier -- the Vietnam Memorial is not best seen when it is completely dark out. (Disclaimer: in general my family is not the guided tour type; we prefer to just wander around at our own pace most of the time.)

The Nat'l Park Service Map shows most of the major tourist attractions AND the metro stops in the touristed areas. It is quite useful. http://www.aaas.org/dcwest.pdf

 

[LiberalPrincess]

I don't get paying $66 for bus and train. None of the parking garages near the mall cost more than 20 dollars a day. Wouldn't that have made more sense and also taken a LOT less travel time?

 

[tchrrx]

We just returned from Philly/DC/Jamestown/Williamsburg. If you ever have the opportunity to do this, go with Adventures by Disney. It was amazing!

 

[Shelton123]

D.C. is cheap yet expensive, if you know what I mean.

Did you eat at Queen Makeda? I cannot stress that restaurant enough to the visitors of D.C.

 

[LiberalPrincess]

D.C. is cheap yet expensive, if you know what I mean.

Did you eat at Queen Makeda? I cannot stress that restaurant enough to the visitors of D.C.

If I wanted Ethiopian food, I would go to Dukem on U Street. I think the food is better, and the service definitely is.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

We were there last year and stayed at L'Enfant Plaza hotel. It was right on top of a metro station, which was very convenient, as the restaurants were all on the other side of the mall. It was convenient to the museums though. The metro was easy to use, but we also walked a LOT! It all looked a lot closer than it was in that heat, lol. There was a roof top pool that was nothing special but the kids liked it. They had a buffet breakfast that wasn't cheap but it was pretty good. Mostly we filled up on that and skipped lunch. We did have lunch at the Mus. of Nat. History once and it was good but too much food. We went to the Hard Rock and ESPNZone for dinner. They are tourist traps, but, that's what we were, lol! We did the Tourmobile, which was good except that we got on it too late in the day to do everything. If you get on first thing you can do all the sites by 5:00. Arlington was good - we got to see the Tomb of the Unknown and the ceremony, but didn't have time to go to JFK's grave. The museum we liked best was the Air & Space museum hangar near Dulles - it is about a 45 minute drive from the center of town, but it is HUGE and has so much stuff! We went there on our way into town so that we wouldn't have to make a separate trip out there. We managed to see all the monuments but did not have enough time for the museums. We will probably go back at some point.

 

[bluesaturn]

Well, after looking at this, my best bet will be to do one day passes, wouldn't you think? There will be 6 of us and we may not need more than three days down there.

This is what I was thinking. We will be coming in from Baltimore. I was going to drive to a Metro station and ride in. So with the one day pass, I will need to be there at 9:30 to ride in, right? This one day pass will be good all day, but does it also include the Metro buses?

If you are driving down from Baltimore, the first metro station you hit on 95 is Greenbelt. That's the green line, so you'll need to transfer to get on blue or orange for the Smithsonian and Federal Triangle stops. That's where the museums and most monuments are. However, if you drive a little further down 95 (3 exits), you can go to the New Carrollton station. This is the end of the blue line, so you wouldn't have to transfer. Both of these stations are right off the highway.

I'm pretty sure the one day pass won't include buses. But I don't think you would need to use the bus once in the city, the metro should be able to take you to any touristy place you'd like to go.

You don't need to be there right at 9:30 to use the one day pass, you just can't use it before then. But before you buy it, look at the fares and find out if you even need it. If you're only going to go from Greenbelt to the Smithsonian and back (during reduced fare times), it should cost less than $9.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

If you are driving down from Baltimore, the first metro station you hit on 95 is Greenbelt. That's the green line, so you'll need to transfer to get on blue or orange for the Smithsonian and Federal Triangle stops. That's where the museums and most monuments are. However, if you drive a little further down 95 (3 exits), you can go to the New Carrollton station. This is the end of the blue line, so you wouldn't have to transfer. Both of these stations are right off the highway.

I'm pretty sure the one day pass won't include buses. But I don't think you would need to use the bus once in the city, the metro should be able to take you to any touristy place you'd like to go.

You don't need to be there right at 9:30 to use the one day pass, you just can't use it before then. But before you buy it, look at the fares and find out if you even need it. If you're only going to go from Greenbelt to the Smithsonian and back (during reduced fare times), it should cost less than $9.

Ok, this is the kind of information that I need. Thank you so much.

 

[bluesaturn]

Ok, this is the kind of information that I need. Thank you so much.

I'm glad to help! Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

 

[MidgeD79]

To get the reduced fare do you have to be off the Metro by 3pm or do they charge you at the time you get on?

 

[Shelton123]

If I wanted Ethiopian food, I would go to Dukem on U Street. I think the food is better, and the service definitely is.

Queen Makeda is cheaper, and I think the food is a tamer at Dukem. When I got Kifto at Dukem, they cooked it for some reason, or at least it tasted like they did. And we've never had bad service at Queen Makeda for some reason.

 

[LiberalPrincess]

Queen Makeda is cheaper, and I think the food is a tamer at Dukem. When I got Kifto at Dukem, they cooked it for some reason, or at least it tasted like they did. And we've never had bad service at Queen Makeda for some reason.

That's a good thing! It is funny that we had opposite experiences. I thought the doro wat at Queen was a bit watered down and not spicy enough and we have had horrid service there. Ah well, that's why both places can stay in business -- something for everyone!

 

[Iott Family]

We went back in October and stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown off of 22nd street NW. We are a family of 6. Plenty of room for all of us, free buffet breakfast and close to the Metro. Parking was expensive and the indoor pool was small but we tended to go in off times. We found great pizza delivery and a decent chinese delivery that brought food right to our suite. We ate at the museums, zoo, etc and that was pricey but after feeding 6 of us at Disney I cant say the prices were any worse

We used the metro and walked our legs off! Next trip we are taking the sight seeing trolley. It makes continuous stops and drops and picks up at all the major tourist venues. It will cost $ but save us on fatigue and cranky kids

We also plan to do the dcbyfoot.com thing next trip. We didnt find the space to do it this last trip but its definitely on our to do list!

We did amke the time and stay an extra couple days in VA and do the air/space museum there and spent another day at Mt Vernon! Both places were worth the extra hotel stay. I think it was a Fairfield INN and Suites but I would have to go dig thru the vacation folder top verify!