Washington DC Vacation

[dbogen]

I'm not sure if I should post on this board or the Budget board, but we are thinking of a quick vacation to Washington DC this summer. Does anybody have some budget tips to make it affordable for a family of 4?

Thanks

 

[unfreshdiva1]

I recently came back from week vacation in DC (just the two of us, no kids). The Smithsonian museums are free (did not know this until I went) and you can spend days exploring. We bought the city pass that for one price you got to visit multiple attractions (Madeum Trussuoes wax museum, Spy Museum (which was extremely cool), DC duck tour, Neweum (another very cool place), and evening cruise on the Potomic. I think it was something like $68 a day, but $ went down for multiple days.

 

[JoanGirardi]

That's my favorite thing about Washington, that you don't have to pull your wallet out for each thing that you want to see. The biggest expense other than hotel and food is transportation to get to the various attractions. It doesn't cost anything extra to get into the monuments, Smithsonians, or Arlington, but I highly recommend getting a pass for the busses between them. There's an all-in-one thing where you can get on and off the bus between stops as much as you want in a day, and it will save you a ton of walking. Believe me, your feet will be tired enough. You can spend days in the museums, touring the Capitol, going up in the Washington monument, seeing the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, etc. Our family loves Washington DC! Hope you have fun.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

We just went there a couple of weeks ago and one of the biggest money saving tips I have is to use Priceline to secure your hotel room. We stayed at the Washington Marriott Metro Center for between $50/$60 a night (sorry can't remember the exact amount right this second).

I also recommend using a bus or subway to get around. Actually, if I could do it all over again, I would probably have gotten tickets for the double decker tour buses that are hop on and hop off. We walked way too much during our trip and it was hard on my mother and kids.

 

[JEmaryland]

Don't forget that the National Zoo is also part of the Smithsonian, so it is free! Food can get pretty pricey, but if you are able to bring a small cooler with you, you can buy some subs or something outside and bring them in with you.

 

[Minnie_me]

We just went to DC a couple of months ago, and it was a great place for a family vacation!

My biggest budget saver would be to pack snacks and/or lunch. Since all of the Smithsonians are free (and yes - -that includes the wonderful ZOO!), the food is ridiculously priced. We made that mistake one day, and then learned our lesson. We actually pocketed food - - mostly fruit -- from our complimentary breakfast at the hotel (flame away everybody!), and munched on them during the day while we toured. I'd brought peanut butter crackers as well.

 

[karibritt01]

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Fairfax, Virginia for $68/night. We were about 10 min from a Metro station (free parking on weekends.) We did the unlimited pass for each day, which was I think $32/each. You can try to figure out a basic plan for your trip and see if it is cheaper to pay per ride, but for us it was cheapest to buy the all-day pass. Food is very expensive (IMO more than CS at WDW) in Washington, and we took full advantage of the free breakfast in our hotel - they had waffles, omlets, doughnuts, bagels and muffins, cereal, fruit... very filling breakfast for free.

Couple things I would recommend:
1) Purchase tickets to go up the Washington Monument online before your trip. I did not do this thinking we would get the free tickets while there, but the free tickets were gone almost immediately both days we were there, and we didn't get to go up.

2) Contact your local House Rep and schedule some tours. These are free. We did a tour of the Capitol building that was incredible. Next time we go, we are going to try for the Rotunda tour there as well.

My kids really enjoyed the history and air and space museums. The natural history was good too, but not as good as our local museum. The zoo was also not nearly as good as our local one, and the smell of cat spray knocks you out when going in the front gate. But the pandas are cool, and made it worth the trip out there.

 

[dbogen]

Thank you so much for you replies. I have a few more questions, how long do you think we will need, the kids are teenagers so naps will only be for the adults. Also, what should I ask my local house of rep for? Just tell them when we are comming? I am so clueless on this vacation.

 

[karibritt01]

We did 2 days. I didn't think my kids were quite old enough to do more than that at a stretch without losing interest. Another day would have been nice, though. In 2 days, we saw the history museum (twice... missed something!) the science museum, the air and space museum, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument from the outside only, the Capitol, the White House, several War Meomorials, Arlington Cemetery from the outside... I think that is it. You should look up the Museums and such in the area and see what interests your family as a starting point.

When contacting your Congressman, they should have info on touring Washington on their website. They will have the different tours available listed. I called the Washington office and asked to speak with the person that handled tours, and was connected to the right person. You could ask them to recommend tours. If you are more than 30 days out, and will be there on a weekday, you can request a White House tour. We hope to do this next time around. I would also like to see the Mint next time we are there.

 

[golfgal]

We just spent a week there with teenagers and it wasn't enough time but we got to do most things. Skip the Spy Museum if you are going with teenagers--it is better for the under 12 crowd. We also Pricelined our hotel and got great air fares so that helped. We took the Metro everywhere, didn't need a car at all. Parking in DC is ridiculous. We stayed at the Westin in Alexandria. If you bid in Alexandria bid at the 3.5 level and you will end up in a hotel with a continental breakfast so that helps. There is a Whole Foods Market in Alexandria not far from the Metro station so you could buy food for the hotel room and lunches to bring along.

Keep in mind you can't bring food or water into any of the museums so plan on eating lunch out and dinner in the hotel if you want to save money on food. I didn't find the food prices to be all that outrageous.

 

[Nancy for Disney]

We just got back last week. I too would recommend getting the tickets for Washington Monument in advance. We also got The Holocaust Museum passes in advance. There is a small fee but it is worth it. Approx $2 per person for each attraction.

We didn't do any of the tour buses. My DH was too cheap. LOL. We managed the walking but it sure would have been nice. If you go to Arlington spend the money. That walking was miserable. I think that tour is $7 per person. They have a place to pay in the visitor's center.

We did 4 days in DC. Here is a list of what we did.

Day 1

Natural History Museum
Holocaust Museum
Washington Monument

Day 2

Walk around the National Mall, inluding the Lincoln Memorial (we did this in the morning before it got too hot)
American History Museum
Air and Space Museum (this included an IMAX movie for a cost of approx $9 per person. You get a coupon for half price for another move which we took advantage of the next day).

Day 3

National Archives (I would skip this)
Capitol Tour (I don't think you need to go through your congress person but you probably need to get there early to reserve a time. It wasn't the best tour in the world but it was still interesting)
Library of Congress (beautiful building)
Back to Air and Space for our second movie.

Day 4

Arlington Cemetey

We left after this.

We stayed in Old Town Alexandria. I think it is a little pricey but they have an Embassy Suites which we needed for a family of 5. I would suggest a visit there for dinner. They have a lot of great restaurants. Some are pricey and some are really pricey. One of may favorite places was King Street Blues. It was only slightly more expensive than an Applebees but better food. You can take the metro to King St. Once you get off the Metro there is a free trolly that takes you down King Street. It is an interesting area to tour. If you can spend a day there. If you go to the Alexandria tourism site (just google it) I think you have an option of a tour package to save money on all of their museums and attractions. I wish we had a day that we could have done that. There was a lot we didn't get to do that I wished we would have like walk around Georgetown and Chinatown.

Hope this helps and have a fun trip.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I would use Hotwire instead of Priceline. Priceline only guarantees accomodations for two people, so that might prove problematic.

There is a website that helps you make educated guesses about your Hotwire bids. If you would like details, PM me. I used it twice for two different cities and it was right both times.

 

[dbogen]

Thank you so much for all your replies. I will be surfing the web looking for all the great information you have offered.

 

[dbogen]

Just bumping up to see if there are any more ideas. You guys are the best.

 

[torinsmom]

We went in June and had a great time! We enjoyed the Washington MOnument, Air and Space Museum and the Zoo the best. The zoo is free, but they charge for a map. You can print one out at their website before you go. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/ZooMap/

If parking at your hotel is too much(ours was $30/day), you can park at the Ballston Mall in Arlington for $8/day. There is a metro right at the mall. Here is that website http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/EnvironmentalServices/dot/traffic/parking/EnvironmentalServicesBallston.aspx

You can also go to the metro website and plan your trips. It will tell you the times of the different trains and how much the fare will be. This saves confusion when you get there trying to decide what line to take in what direction. Use the trip planner....
http://www.wmata.com/

We used Priceline for our hotel and had no problem requesting two beds. I have found it's usually not a problem if you call as soon as you make the reservation. We stayed in the Marriott Wardman Park for $95/night.

Have fun!

MArsha

 

[TDC Nala]

Be careful with timing on the Metro. There was a major accident on the Red Line in June and they are not finished investigating it. This leads to their slowing down the trains on the Red Line in the area where the accident was, and sometimes they cut off service to that section completely in order to let the investigators work on the tracks.

On the weekends, they like to do track work, which means they will close off one of the tracks and trains do something called "single tracking," meaning trains going in both directions will share the same track, and trains going in one direction will need to wait until trains going in the other direction clear the track before proceeding.

Check www.wmata.com to find out what is going on with the rail system, especially if you are relying on the Metro to get you somewhere when you have a time-sensitive appointment or reservation on a weekend.