D.C. Hotel Advice
 

The wife and I are planning to see some sights in Washington D.C. this week. Any suggestions on reasonably priced hotels in the city would be appreciated.
We would like to be as close to the major attractions as we can, or some advice on mass transit in the city would be helpful.

What would you consider reasonably priced?


A couple places that are convenient to the sights are Embassy Suites on 10th and NY and The Renaissance on 9th and K. Either are a 6 block walk to the Whitehouse, National Mall, and memorials. Make sure you check out any of the museums along the Mall.

Whatever you do, stay on the West side of town, NW or SW. Do not stay in NE or SE unless you want a room by the hour.

Edit: Both places are three blocks from Metro Center, which as the name implies is the center of our transit system. For $9 a day you can ride anywhere you want as many times as you want. Metro will take you to any of the sights you want to see within minutes. Just stay the hell out of my way ;)

staying at a place you wont feel afraid to walk around IN the city is expensive.

I suggest going to betterbidding .com and hotwire .com and match up amenities in hotwire to the star ratings list for each neighborhood.

Hotwire Hotel List - Washington DC - Priceline and Hotwire Forum
Hotwire.com: Discount airfare, hotel reservations, car rentals, vacation packages and cruises

If you want DC nightlife, look at Dupont Circle - Embassy Row.

You can also try White House - Capitol Hill if you want. More touristy and mellow, but still in the city.

You can also try Kennedy Center - GW University

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR! Find a hotel less than half a mile from a metro station.
Metro - Rail - Maps - Rail/Google Map (click on the "google map" button in the upper right). Stations are shown on the regular google maps if you're looking at the hotel locations.

With the exception of Capitol Hill, you probably want to avoid any addresses with SE or NE in them just for the more interesting / less scary parts of the city. Don't be fooled by cheap hotels--they may be 45 minutes from the center of town in a shady area with no mass transit.

With caveats of sticking near Metro, you can also try Arlington, Alexandria - Old Town, and Crystal City - DCA.

Georgetown is a fun place to visit but getting there can be dicey. There is no close Metro, but there IS the Circulator bus which is pretty cheap and fast.
DC Circulator

Metro Metro Metro.

If you pick a rough area, I can also give you some good food suggestions.

Thanks for the great info

oh and how old are you / what is your budget?

$150/night hotel + $50 each for dinners?

$50/night hotel + $10 each dinners?

$150/night hotel + $50 for dinner

47 Years Young


Finding some awesome deals at some of the hotels which were suggested.

check betterbidding.com. People post the hotels and prices they paid on priceline and hotwire. I use it whenever I booka hotel. Also check the sheraton in Crystal City. I believe they are running some special $79 a night and includes breakfast. They deal was through the sheraton website.

Damn y8s, you beat me to the betterbidding.com

oh, and parking can be $20 a night. I believe the sheraton deal included parking.

nice.

These are some of our favorite restaurants around the city:

Cafe Saint Ex (near U St NW --14th & S NW)
Birch and Barley / Churchkey (14th NW, may be hard to get a reservation)
Blue Ridge (glover park)
Notti Bianchi (foggy bottom/kennedy ctr)
Sonoma (cap hill)
Bistro Bis (capitol hill, pricey)
Dr. Granville Moores (north of capitol hill, not near metro, belgian pub w/great food/beer, crowded later in the evening)
Obelisk (dupont circle, pricey)
Hank's Oyster Bar (dupont, awesome for oysters + side dishes + drinks)
Zaytinya (gallery place)
Clydes (gallery place, georgetown, other locs, solid menu)
Dino (Cleveland Park)
Pasta Mia (adams morgan, limited seatings, good cheap italian)

Most are probably $$-$$$ pricing-- 15-25 dollar entrees. some are fancy, some are casual. They should all have websites or yelp reviews if you google them.

I can break them down further if you want. generally speaking, you can get into any of them in dark jeans and non-tennis shoes, but some of the higher end ones may give you funny looks. Hanks, Saint Ex, and Blue Ridge are probably the most casual.

Y8's Great info!
We are still undecided what area to stay in. I would like to be in an area with shops, eats, nightlife. And as suggested very close to a Metro. Originally we thought we would stay as close to the Capitol as possible, but I am not sure that is the best choice for the shops,etc. What we really would like is to be in an area that is not "dead" in the evening, and has access to the Metro close by. We plan on staying from Wed. 12/30 till Fri 1/1.
Thanks again for all of your help.

Probably the best options are near Gallery Place/Penn Quarter and Dupont Circle then.

There ARE areas like you want near the Capitol (Eastern Market--check it out during the day on the weekend--great outdoor market/crafts/neat stuff, restaurants, bars), but there are ZERO hotels near it. Orange line metro stop there.

update: Just added another restaurant to the top of the favorites list!

Cashion's Eat Place in Adams Morgan (near Pasta Mia)

had a bison ribeye that was melt in your mouth tender and just the right amount of charred on the outside. also had some pumpkin mushroom risotto with truffle oil that was reall tasty as well.

Just returned from our trip to D.C..Stayed in Crystal City with a killer deal on a hotel through Priceline. First time using it. Went through the betterbidding website which was a great resource. Also had a good meal at Clydes and a great meal at our mandatory Ruth's Chris stop.Awesome view of the city at night from the 11th floor where Ruth's Chris was located. Went to Old Town Alexandria and made numerous other sightseeng stops including Arlington Cemetery which was an experience I will not forget. The Metro rocks!, used it for all of our trips to the different areas. Will stay in the Dupont Circle area next time, although Crystal City was cool as well. The underground shops and walkway to the Metro were great.
Not used to the large GAY population, as we do not get to the cities much.
I personally have a big problem with homosexual males, and much less the females.
Thanks Y8s and pschmidt for all of your help!!

"Oh, no, I know of this much nicer hotel that's very new. It's very modern. I'll have my people set you up and take care of it for you."

Anybody? :giggle: It's what came to mind as soon as I saw the thread. Just don't stay at the Hotel Airbot...

If you have a problem with homosexual males I would highly recommend that you do not stay in Dupont Circle next time.

That's the saddest thing I've heard all year.

You're welcome... but as you may not know, DC city council just approved gay marriage in the District and if Congress' review of it goes through, it will be legal, in DC, for two men (or women) to marry.

Many neighborhoods in DC (naturally the ones with the best restaurants) have significant homosexual populations--just like in ANY big city.

I hope when you come back you will be able to visit those awesome restaurants and check any problem you have with gays at the state line.

Sorry you feel that way.

We do plan to come back and try some of the other places you have suggested.


Not going to happen.
Although my feelings are very strong about this, I do not harass anyone in public for being a Fag.

They're good restaurants. I guess you dont have to accept it as long as you dont provoke anyone, eh?

lol at gays.

Exactly

lol at jews, blacks, muslims, etc.?