Personal Ot: Anyone Know of a Good Place to Stay in Dc?

[chefheidi2003]

I think my fiance and I have finally figured out somewhere that we can agree on to go on our honeymoon. I think we are going to go to Washington DC. Money is tight but I want to definately go away for a few days. We are only about 2 hours away. And there is a ton of free stuff to do there. But now I need to figure out where we are going to stay. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have only ever stayed there 1 time and I don't remember the name of the place because my mom took care of all of that.

 

[lt1jane]

I'd suggest "Hotel Heidi" which is where I stay, but my sister doesn't know you LOL

 

[chefheidi2003]

I'd suggest "Hotel Heidi" which is where I stay, but my sister doesn't know you LOL

HAHA..Funny. Sounds like something that my family would say.

 

[lt1jane]

the best part though is I really do have a sister named Heidi who lives in the DC area.

What can I say, my family is a bunch of smart-alecks.

 

[chefheidi2003]

the best part though is I really do have a sister named Heidi who lives in the DC area.

What can I say, my family is a bunch of smart-alecks.

Well..my mom has a cousin who lives in Tampa, FL. Until about a year ago she lived in Columbus, OH. And just used her house in Tampa as a vacation home. If that were still the case I would have asked her if we could use her Tampa house for a week and that is where we would be honeymooning. But we will go with DC now.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Part of my previous job involved booking hotel rooms in DC. We had about 4-5 hotels that we worked with on a regular basis. Unfortunately I haven't worked in DC for 9 years so the hotel scene has changed since then. Do you know where you want to stay in the city? Do you even want to stay in the city or would you be OK in a VA suburb accessible by Metro? Do you know what sites you want to see while in the city? That can help determine where to stay. Also, what kind of foods do you like, ie. do you want to be near lots of diverse restaurants or are you chain restaurant kinds of people. Are you driving to DC so want free parking? Will you be OK with taking the Metro (subway) around the city? The classic DC sites are on the Mall but there are some other good neighborhoods and attractions beyond the Mall. How long will you be there?Answer me these questions and I can narrow down some locations for you and give a quick look on Hotels.com to see what's available and whether it's a pit or a palace.

 

[chefheidi2003]

Part of my previous job involved booking hotel rooms in DC. We had about 4-5 hotels that we worked with on a regular basis. Unfortunately I haven't worked in DC for 9 years so the hotel scene has changed since then. Do you know where you want to stay in the city? Do you even want to stay in the city or would you be OK in a VA suburb accessible by Metro? Do you know what sites you want to see while in the city? That can help determine where to stay. Also, what kind of foods do you like, ie. do you want to be near lots of diverse restaurants or are you chain restaurant kinds of people. Are you driving to DC so want free parking? Will you be OK with taking the Metro (subway) around the city? The classic DC sites are on the Mall but there are some other good neighborhoods and attractions beyond the Mall. How long will you be there?Answer me these questions and I can narrow down some locations for you and give a quick look on Hotels.com to see what's available and whether it's a pit or a palace.

Do you know where you want to stay in the city? I don't know.* I just looked when I went with my mom and Sister a few years ago we stayed at the Washington Plaza.* I liked that area.* But I don't want to spend that much just on my hotel.* Do you even want to stay in the city or would you be OK in a VA suburb accessible by Metro?* I would be ok in a VA suburb with a semishort drive into the cityDo you know what sites you want to see while in the city? Holocaust museum the main monuments a few of the other museums.* And I know that I want to go over to Arlington as well. Also, what kind of foods do you like, ie. do you want to be near lots of diverse restaurants or are you chain restaurant kinds of people.* When at home we like chain type restaurants.* I would like to try more diverse while awayAre you driving to DC so want free parking? We will be driving down there.* I would like to keep our car parked most of the time that we are there.* Walk most places and take public transportationWill you be OK with taking the Metro (subway) around the city? Yes The classic DC sites are on the Mall but there are some other good neighborhoods and attractions beyond the Mall. How long will you be there? Probably get there sometime Sunday and leave sometime Thursday. So Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday is when we will do our main site seeing..but I am thinking that Thursday would be a good day to do Arlington before heading either home or to Baltimore for the night to do inner harbor on Friday.

 

[Gina M]

We went there in 2009 with my family. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites - Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Great location - within walking distance to many restaurants and a few blocks from the Metro which is a great way to get around DC. We flew into Reagan Natl Airport - hotel has free airport shuttle - picked up within minutes of calling. Never needed to rent a car - DC is very accessible by Metro. Great place to stay and probably a lot cheaper than right in
DC. DC has a ton of free places to see - wonderful vacation! Highly recommend - you will walk a ton! Have a blast

 

[chefheidi2003]

We went there in 2009 with my family. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites - Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Great location - within walking distance to many restaurants and a few blocks from the Metro which is a great way to get around DC. We flew into Reagan Natl Airport - hotel has free airport shuttle - picked up within minutes of calling. Never needed to rent a car - DC is very accessible by Metro. Great place to stay and probably a lot cheaper than right in
DC. DC has a ton of free places to see - wonderful vacation! Highly recommend - you will walk a ton! Have a blast

maybe we should go before the wedding so we can lose a few pounds before the wedding..LOL.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Ok, we've got something to work with!

One option - stay outside DC in Alexandria or Arlington, VA. Go to Google Maps when you have a hotel in mind so you can see how far it really is to walk to the closest Metro station. Look for a hotel with free parking. You do NOT want to drive in DC if you can help it. Parking is expensive, lots of congestion and one-way streets.

Another option - stay in the Dupont Circle area. I always liked the Doubletree b/c they gave our office tons of their awesome cookies and I got upgraded to a suite the one time I had to stay there with clients. Lots of restaurants in the area. Not sure about parking availability at hotels in this area and it is not likely to be free.

Yet another option - stay in Maryland, Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. This is my least favorite option.

It probably comes down to trading off cost v. how quickly you want to get to places and have access to more diverse dining choices.

If you stay in the burbs, plan to eat dinner in the city most of the time. There are food trucks lining the mall with hot dogs, etc. if you want a quick and cheap lunch.

Check out Metro - Home page for the Metro system map. Go to the station info. I think there's a map to the local area for each station. There are a couple of stations near the Mall and Holocaust Museum (reserve tickets in advance for this and the Washington Monument). Bring your walking shoes! Also, check out the Smithsonian's website so you have a basic sense of each of the main museums and their more famous attractions. You can spend half a day or more in each of them.

One place I want to visit is the Spy Museum. It's relatively new and sounds really cool. Not free. The Newseum is cool if you're interested news reporting through the decades and around the world.

Feel free to come back for more advice.

 

[chefheidi2003]

Becca..you are awesome. Thank you so much. I will let you know if I have any more questions. I was looking yesterday. The Holocause museum is free..but you can reserve tickets in advance online for $1 each. That is definately worth it if you ask me. I was also happy that they said that Sept - Feb is the least congested time of the year..since we will be there first week in October. Thank you for the advice about the Washington Monument though too. I have never been to it but have always wanted to. Thank you.

 

[minirottie]

When I used to work there (but lived in Atlanta), I'd stay in Crystal City at the Embassy Suites, and it's nice because there is a free daily happy hour and free hot breakfast. Easy access to Metro, etc. and places to walk to for eating, etc..

 

[yankfan24]

Heidi...Another suggestion if you'd like a more intimate feel for your stay is trying the DC Guest House. It's a B&B on Tenth. They have a great website and you can check out the rooms, availability and rates. It's within a few blocks of the metro that can take you to all the places you've mentioned and there is also the $1 bus line that goes all over. If you like seafood and want to get the best bang for your buck...go to Phillip's Seafood on the waterfront. It's a buffet that's out of this world. Be sure to go hungry!!!

 

[chefheidi2003]

Heidi...Another suggestion if you'd like a more intimate feel for your stay is trying the DC Guest House. It's a B&B on Tenth. They have a great website and you can check out the rooms, availability and rates. It's within a few blocks of the metro that can take you to all the places you've mentioned and there is also the $1 bus line that goes all over. If you like seafood and want to get the best bang for your buck...go to Phillip's Seafood on the waterfront. It's a buffet that's out of this world. Be sure to go hungry!!!

Great..I didn't know that there was a Phillip's there. My sister and her husband love Phillip's

 

[chefheidi2003]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions on this. Maybe we will use them if we go down for just a weekend sometime. But we have decided on something completely different for our honeymoon..LOL. We are going on a cruise.

 

[NooraK]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions on this. Maybe we will use them if we go down for just a weekend sometime. But we have decided on something completely different for our honeymoon..LOL. We are going on a cruise.

The cruise we took in 2008 was my favorite vacation ever. It's so great to be able to unpack once, but see lots of different places.

 

[chefa]

Cruising is definitely fun; wait for Feb. 2012 to go on our 3rd one; can't wait. DH likes it because he can pretty much eat from the time he gets up until his head hit the pillow at night! I think he has hollow legs LOL!!

 

[chefheidi2003]

Yeah..this is the 4th one for both of us. This will be our 2nd one together. I have done 3 Eastern Caribbean..this will be my first Western Caribbean. Funny thing is. We are going on the Carnival Valor..this will be my 2nd time one this ship. That was the 1st ship I was ever on.