I am trying to plan a trip to DC in Mid May. 6 Adults to either stay at a hotel occupying 3

[Filibuster Harry]

rooms or possibly renting a house or houseboat. Anyone have any suggestions, tips, etc. as far as quality, location, and costs and restaurants ?? Greatly appreciated. (No specific dates yet but lets say for this thread checking in on saturday May 18th and leaving on thursday May 23rd)

[LeftofObama]

1. I'll kick this thread

because I'm going in mid May and I want to see the responses.

[elleng]

2. Kicking.

Lived in DC 20+ years, now in suburbs. Will think about it.
How much time would you want to spend? And interested in doing what? Museums, theaters, historical sites? And favorite foods?

[Filibuster Harry]

3. Okay. We will be coming from CT. Original thought would be to take a train down on say May 18th.

The train takes about 7 hours. We could also drive a car. Lets say spending 5 days (4 full days besides saturday) in DC. I haven't been there since the mid 90s when Clinton was president. So I have both a map of DC and a metro pocket map (although some metro stops may have been updated or added). So lets say museums and historical sites along with the zoo. I have not seen the MLK memorial or any other memorials since 1994. Also, we had planned to visit the white house but that was cancelled due to a Clinton cabinet member resigning; so a white house tour would be great. As far as food: just american but you can give us a choice of variety: french, italian, mexican.
Like I said anything is appreciated. Going on line it appears the least expensive hotel (3 rooms for 5 nights costs $ 2,600; house rentals are tough -- not sure what neighborhoods if any are unsafe??

[elleng]

4. Find a h/motel in a suburb, perhaps, with METRO rail access;

gets you everywhere. Metro has EXPANDED.
More later.

[spooky3]

5. There are lots of hotels near the Crystal City metro stop.

Last edited Mon Jan 28, 2013, 12:20 AM - Edit history (1)

They generally are not cheap, though. CC is in Arlington, VA, right across the river from all the stuff downtown and the memorials that you are interested in. It's safe, and close to restaurants and a grocery store plus a large mall and many smaller stores.

However, you could look into the Residence Inn (on edit--I'm referring to the RI in Pentagon City, which is very near CC), which I think has some 2 bedroom suites, including a kitchenette with a microwave, refrig., and dishwasher and all the cooking and serving dishes you need. We stayed there when the power went out at our house for several days--we chose it because they accepted pets, for an additional fee and it had good ratings. The service was great and the view is nice from a higher floor. TripAdvisor has useful reviews on all the hotels. If two sets of you share one suite rather than rent two rooms, you could save a little money. And by cooking in the room you could save a lot on restaurants.

[MADem]

6. There is one of those business Hiltons within walking distance of the Springfield station and

there's a (more affordable) Comfort Inn right across the street from the Van Dorn station. This hotel is also right off the beltway, so something on those lines might be good.

Go to the metro rail website http://www.wmata.com/index.cfm navigate to the list of stations, and click on the "what's nearby/hotels" links. That should be helpful to you, at least get you started.

If you drive you don't want to be paying for parking at the hotel. I think the suburbs is a better bet, myself, at least in terms of affordability, and the metro is very fast/convenient.

[Filibuster Harry]

7. thanks for the info.

[MADem]

8. Have a good time! I lived there for years, and ironically, I did most of my "sightseeing"

before and after I lived there! No time while I was working!

There's lots to see and do--and much of it is free, too, which is nice!