<p>My husband has a half day meeting on a Saturday in Baltimore, so he wants us to spend a couple of days in DC. We have not been there in 20 years, so we want to do the normal site seeing; monuments, White House, etc… We will either fly in late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning and then fly home Sunday early afternoon.</p>
<p>Our thought is to stay in a DC hotel and my husband will drive to Baltimore early Saturday morning and then back to DC in the afternoon so that we can continue with our site seeing. What I don’t know is what area of DC we should stay in. I know that we can most likely get around from almost anywhere, but I would like to make the best use of out time as it is limited. </p>
<p>Should we fly into Reagan over Dulles, or does it really matter? Is driving to Baltimore Saturday morning the best for my husband? He has to be there before 8:00am, so I am guessing trying to train/metro would not be time efficient. If that is a possibility, what is the best way to do that? </p>
<p>With only 2-2 1/2 days available, what are the must sees? I feel so stupid that I really don’t know what all there is to do in DC! The last time we were there was for a wedding, so we did not really do any sites, although we did go to the Air and Space Museum. I don’t know if my husband wants to go there again or not. I would like to go to the Holocaust Museum, but other than that I haven’t decided. I am checking out the DC attractions so that I can narrow down what we want to do, but would love suggestions.</p>
<p>Is there a good tour group service that we might look into for seeing the monuments, or would it be better to do them on our own? I was just thinking with limited time, a tour group might have us moving along quicker.</p>
<p>snowball - If you haven’t been to DC in twenty years then you’re in for a few surprises. Security measures have closed some roads that were open before. And the traffic is much, much heavier. Use the Metro to the extent you can. That said …</p>
<p>The Mall is still a wonderful place to spend time. The WWII monument now occupies the north end of the reflecting pool. And I don’t think the Korean War Memorial or Roosevelt Memorials existed twenty years ago. The Holocaust Museum is within walking distance of the Mall. My kids like the National Zoo and Arlington National Cemetery. </p>
<p>There was a CC thread on visiting Washington DC not too long ago. Probably worth a search. Enjoy the trip!</p>
<p>The Newseum is very interesting, and the National Galleries- so nice without kids. We usually stay at the Embassy Suites on 22nd NW, but the GWU Inn is nice, too.</p>
<p>That’s the right approach if they were arriving on Friday. But, for a Wednesday or Thursday arrival it’s probably simplest to just stay in DC the whole time and commute to Balt on Saturday. It’s possible to do this by train, but a rental car would probably be far more convenient. </p>
<p>In DC remember that the White House is closed to visitors. MAYBE your congressman can get you in if you’re VIPs, but otherwise plan on looking at it from outside the fence. </p>
<p>The new Capitol visitor center is supposed to spectacular. Don’t miss the Viet Nam memorial. Have dinner in Georgetown on Saturday then have fun watching the place, umm, come to life as it grows later and later.</p>
<p>The meeting actually has booked rooms at the Marriott Inner Harbor as the meeting is near the University Of Maryland Medical Center. I had thought about staying in DC until Friday night and then head to Baltimore together, but then we are in Baltimore for Saturday and Sunday morning. I think we will need/want that time in DC, so my husband does not mind getting up early Saturday and driving to Baltimore. Of course, by the time he drives both ways and sits through a meeting, he will be ready for a nap and will be useless Saturday afternoon!!</p>
<p>I am hoping we can wait and rent a car on Friday night and return it Saturday to avoid having to pay for parking, unless we stay at a hotel that doesn’t charge much for parking. I will have to compare prices on the car and parking and see what works best.</p>
<p>I second the new Newseum. You could spend several hours there.
There is a very nice Hilton Garden Inn in Arlington at the Court House Metro station.</p>
<p>Actually from my location and dates all three airports are the exact same price! For me, it is just a matter of which time is best.</p>
<p>I checked Amtrak and my husband can take the train to the meeting as there is a train leaving Union Station at 6:20am and arrives at Penn Station at 7:02am. Does anyone know if there would be cabs available at that hour on a Saturday morning? His meeting is only about 2 driving miles away, but I don’t think he will have time to walk and get to the meeting at 7:30, especially when we don’t know if this is a walking area. Of course, there is always the worry of the train running late, but I am hoping that early in the morning it will be running on time.</p>
<p>Thanks owlice, I checked that thread out the other day; unfortunately, we only have 2 1/2 days! How lucky that csleslie51 has over a week to travel. Trying to cram DC into less than 3 days is not ideal, but we will try to do what we can!!</p>
<p>In the past on visits to DC we have stayed at the Bethesda Marriott…wonderful accomodations, free parking, and they had a shuttle to the Bethesda/NIH Metro into DC; then we could just take public transit in and out of DC, and leave our vehicle at the hotel.</p>
<p>If you have a rental car then I suggest that you make a reservation at L’Auberge restaurant. It only has 2 sittings…go into DC for the day and then go there for the 6:30 reservation. L’Auberge has been highlighted on the Visa commercial…they don’t take AMEX.</p>
<p>I would fly in/out of National - especially since you are staying in DC. I don’t think security there is any different. We live outside DC, my husband works in DC and flys out of National all the time. He has never once commented on the security - and he is one of those that leaves the office just in the nick of time to catch a flight. He has yet to miss one!</p>
<p>The US History museum just re-opened in the fall. Its a great place. The National Gallery of Art, The Hirshorn, Holocaust, Newseum, walking the lengh of the National Mall, Jefferson Mem., Lincoln - so many things are “not misses”! Just plan on long, busy days.</p>