Quick trip to DC...where to stay?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Montegut–I don’t know your son or his interests but Mount Vernon was our kids’ second favorite thing to do in DC. They all loved it. They were in 11th and 8th grade when we went. It’s more than just looking at George Washington’s house, they still work the farm so it is more like a living history museum. We spent almost all day just walking around the grounds. There was something to be said for walking up the stairs at his house and thinking “George Washington walked up these same stairs”.</p>

<p>The trip to/from was taking the metro to the end of the line and then catching a bus to Mount Vernon–drops you off at the front entrance so very easy.</p>

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<p>Faline’s suggestion of Dupont Circle reminded me of the [Hotel</a> Tabard Inn](<a href=“http://www.tabardinn.com/rooms]Hotel”>http://www.tabardinn.com/rooms), which is near Dupont Circle on a quiet side street. The room rates are a bit more than the OP indicated & don’t include 14.5% DC tax, but the location, breakfast (included) & B&B feel of the place may compensate. Tabard Inn also has a [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.tabardinn.com/restaurant]well-regarded”&gt;http://www.tabardinn.com/restaurant]well-regarded</a> restaurant<a href=“New%20American%20cuisine”>/url</a> & a cozy lounge with a fireplace & overstuffed sofas/chairs - wonderful atmosphere!</p>

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<p>The Holiday Inn I was referring to is the one near the Smithsonian. It is called Holiday Inn Capitol (sorry for the confusion, I added the Hill after that). It is about a block from the Air and Space Museum. I did read that there were really no dining options at night in the area, except for a McDonalds and a Pizza place. So, yes, this could be a big negative if you prefer to have dinner near your hotel. This trip, since we are really only going for the museums, we prefer the convenience and price tag and the food option is less of an issue. The last time we were in D.C, we spent almost the entire days out sightseeing, so we found places to eat wherever we ended the day.</p>

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<p>we have stayed at the Holiday Inn near the Smithsonian with kids and it is fine. You will enjoy the location for spending the day on the blessedly free museum square which will occupy all day and you will be fine.<br>
Their are always tons of families with kids there. The Tabard Inn (thank you) is next door to the Topaz where I get a room with two queen beds when I am in DC…and breakfast at the wonderful Tabard Inn dining room which is a favorite with the locals, not the tourists. Dinner is more expensive but very good at the Tabard. There are plenty of good eats on Dupont Circle including a very reasonably priced and family friendly Chinese restaurant.
The Residence Inn at Pentagon City is another favorite for getting large space, easy access to Pentagon Row dining, and the possibility of getting two rooms or a suite with kitchen for a great price. You can see Arlington National and the Pentagon from the windows and the metro station at the Pentagon is very close in. End of my two cents. Your plan is perfectly fine.</p>

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<p>Went to DC over Thanksgiving 2011, stayed at Embassy Suites on 10th. Subway 2 blocks away; you can even walk downtown if you want. Close to $200/night for 5 people, but includes fabulous breakfast free, night hors doevres were not enough for a meal, but free drinks. Restaurant pricey, but excellent food. Also has microwave and fridge if you want to get food. Flew into Reagan, took a cab to hotel for $20 total, but could do metro. Not sure about Baltimore transportation into hotel.</p>

<p>Stayed at Harrington Hotel 9 years ago. Right in the middle of everything, but somewhat of a dump. All food extra and not that great.</p>

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<p>I looked back at my planning stuff for DC–when we went the flights into BWI were $250, flights to Regan were $275. Getting to and from BWI would have cost each of us $45 round trip, times 5 people. (all numbers rounded to the closest dollar).</p>

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<p>i think the blue suttle discounts each additional person</p>

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<p>Thank you for the Mount Vernon encouragement. I do want to do the water taxi to it, but I don’t think my knees will like the steep hill. So much to do in that area. I’m really hoping son will attend grad school up there so we can take advantage of all that the area has to offer. </p>

<p>Glad to hear that Holiday Inn by the Smithsonian is good, and wow, what a great rate! It was actually a closer walk than the Residence Inn we were staying at. </p>

<p>I was trying to think of where we did dinner on our trip. I know we ate at the museums themselves during the day. I love the food court between the art museums with the waterfall. I do believe we ate at maybe a Five Guys or something similar on the walk back to the hotel. I don’t remember ever going out to a restaurant except when we visited my sister. And I know I didn’t cook in the room, even though we were at a Residence Inn, with a full kitchen. I think we actually ate a couple of times at the Holiday Inn by the mall. I seem to remember there was a restaurant in the hotel. I don’t think it was very good, but we were hungry at the end of the day walking the mall, so we just wanted something in our bed and hit the hay.</p>

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<p>UNION STATION FOR DINNER.</p>

<p>Husband just reminded me. At the end of the day, we would take the metro to Union Station and eat there. There were a couple of restaurants that we ate at, and we also ate at Johnny Rockets a couple of nights.</p>

<p>Can’t believe I forgot about this. One thing I really loved about Union Station, lots of food choices.</p>

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<p>I will never again fly into Reagan unless I absolutely have to. The last SIX times I have done so, my arrival was fine but my return flight was cancelled for no apparent reason (ie. no weather at either end, no announced mechanical problem) and I was delayed by HOURS, once overnight, rerouted through Phoenix to get to Chicago, etc. I always fly to BWI on Southwest. Depending on what my business is in DC, I rent a car or take a shuttle. I have also taken the train from BWI in both directions, once to DC, once to Philly. I go often enough that I know the back routes, have favorite hotels and know cheaper places to park other than the hotel. </p>

<p>For years, I loved to stay at the Barcelo hotel just off Dupont Circle. Loved the hotel, the area, and went so often the staff knew me. But it’s been taken over and turned into a very expensive boutique hotel. Not much else reasonable in that area. If I have a car, I stay in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area.</p>

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<p>Washington is so easy to get around in on the metro or just walking. You can easily take a cab if you have dinner plans and don’t want to take the metro- if you want to head over to Georgetown you would want to take a cab. Actually the Holiday Inn Capital Hill is not a bad location even if not the one op was talking about. I stayed across the street at the Hyatt Regency Capital Hill a few years ago and toured DC with my kids, one aged 12 and one aged 14 and we would walk to Union Station for breakfast easily. I think we might have had breakfast at the Holiday Inn one day. It was August and it was pretty hot and muggy in the afternoon but easy to walk from there to some of the sites we wanted to tour.</p>

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<p>I’m so glad Faline mentioned the Topaz cause we booked it for President’s Day weekend-nice to hear a great recomendation! (Free parking for hybrids-works for us!)</p>

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<p>Comment #53 and the OP hasn’t come back.</p>

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<p>^cbreeze,</p>

<p>OP here. Actually, I have been reading each comment in this discussion, researching based on comments made. Poople have posted some EXCELLENT ideas. Plan to post after we return (note that the trip is in March…) with a review of “What We Did on Our Spring Break Trip to DC.” Believe me, this discussion is fascinating and helpful, but other than to thank members for their opinions and experiences so far (thanks, guys!) I don’t have any valid experiences to add, except that they’ve given freely some fantastic ideas and information. Appreciated…and I will be happy to keep reading, researching, planning and anticipating our trip. Trip report/review of accommodations, transportation, etc…will follow!</p>

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<p>Let me second mommafrog. I am a longtime resident of metro DC (not DC proper) & I have learned a few tips from this thread too. Have a great trip & welcome! I’m looking forward to reading your trip report & reviews in March.</p>

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<p>Me, too! While my son is now a sophomore in college, I love going on CC for travel advice. We did an awesome trip to Seattle/Washington State with the help of my CC friends! Please continue, all, to post. We are all benefitting from these remarks!</p>

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<p>Just saw that Living Social has a Zipcar special for DC. $29 gets you $30 in driving credit, plus the Zipcar annual membership.</p>

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<p>^^^Thanks for the reminder about zipcar! We should use that for the Dulles Air Museum. Thanks for the tip!</p>

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<p>We have stayed at Marriott’s Courtyard D.C./U.S. Capitol (long confusing name) but it is at 1325 2nd Street NE and is connected to the Metro stop for New York Avenue/Florida Avenue. The price was good, and the location was great for us. It is one stop from Union Station and a few times we even walked to the Newseum and the Capitol. A few people complained on TripAdvisor about train noise at the hotel, but I have stayed there at least 3-4 times and never had a problem.</p>

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<p>Hi, mom, I’m hooooommme!! (a.k.a. What We Did on Our Spring Break Trip to DC). </p>

<p>First, thanks to all who posted ideas, experiences, reviews, etc. We did end up choosing the Hotel Harrington and found it fit our needs. Was $179/night, but you could not beat the location. Definitely an older hotel, but had lots of cool character, and our room was very clean and comfy for the little bit of time (sleeping and showering!) we were there. We had a corner room on an upper floor, so had some great views just from the room. Tub deep enough to swim laps in. </p>

<p>We were lucky to have a friend (a CC connection!) meet us at BWI to drive us into the city, but we did a fine job getting back out to the airport on the MARC train – and it was only 6 bucks a person. </p>

<p>The special is ending this week, but we also enjoyed using the Old Town Trolley (hop on/hop off) to get to various attractions – the winter special gave us 3 days’ pass on the trolleys for the price of 1. Used subway to Arlington to see a musical, taxi to Kennedy Center for another performance, and traveled quite a bit by foot, which was fine. We were lucky to have fine weather while there!</p>

<p>We were able to get the highlights on my family’s lists of what they HAD to do while in the city (and we’re making the list for our next trip…). Took a Capital tour (free, reserved ahead of time online), saw both Newseum and Spy Museum (not free, but found discount tickets online), Monuments by Moonlight tour, made it to the top of the old Post Office Tower for great views and photos, hit up some of the Smithsonians and walked the Mall (and a quick ride on the carousel!). </p>

<p>We enjoyed dinner at Union Station one evening, a delicious pre-show Indian feast in VA, had great breakfast at the Lincoln Waffle House across from Ford’s Theatre. </p>

<p>A quick, but good, 3 days. </p>

<p>Our takeaways? It is certainly possible to get around DC w/out a car. (In fact, driving in the District looks like it takes nerves of steel and some measure of creative interpretation of traffic laws…). There is so much to see and do that it’s hard to prioritize, but every choice we made we enjoyed. BWI airport worked well for our needs – the airfares and direct flights we needed were there, and the MARC train was a very affordable way to get to the airport. </p>

<p>Thanks again to those who gave us things to research and helped in the planning of a great, if too short, trip!</p>