Washington DC- help with itinerary

[ja9r]

Planning trip in October for dh's 40th. Just two of us. Can you advise the itinerary? Hotels? Trip to NYC?

Around the National Mall between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial there are loads of memorials and statues etc worth seeing. Also in the same area are the White House and all the Smithsonian museums which are excellent. From the Lincoln memorial you can walk across the bridge to the Arlington National Cemetery where you can get a tour. Georgetown is nice just to wander around.

NYC is about a 4 hour drive from DC so a bit far for a day trip. A train trip to NYC would take about 3.5 hours so not much better. Philadelphia is less than two hours by train though so too might want to consider a day trip there?

Hotels are expensive in DC. Might be worth looking for a bargain on Hotwire.

Great thanks, will look into these. Xx

How many days are you there? I love walking there - take the time to sit and look at the Vietnam memorial, the Korean war one and so on. The museums are brilliant (and free) - the new african american one is supposed to be very good. Do an open top bus tour the first day to get your bearings

Do not miss the Smithsonian air and space museum out by Dulles as it is amazing

We went to Washington DC in 2014. We stayed at the Embassy Suites. Everything walking distance. Georgetown 10 minutes walk, White House 20minutes, zoo 30 minutes, but there are two metro stations 5 minutes away. Great hotel with pool, fitness room, breakfast and evening drinks (5.30-7.30pm) and snacks included in price.

We did a 2 centre holiday with 6 days in Washington and 5 days in New York. We did NYC first, flying into JFK and then using mega bus to travel between NYC and Washington. This was the bargain of our holiday...$3 each for the 4 hr journey by luxury coach. Glad we did Washington 2nd, it was so relaxing after NYC.

Do get in touch with British embassy in Washington as they can get you tickets to tour White House, they advised us how to tour pentagon and Capitol too. The Smithsonian museums and Washington zoo are brilliant and free. We found the holocaust museum excellent too. We paid a dollar to reserve tickets for the Washington monument online, this saved queuing at 8.30 am for free tickets...well worth the lie-in if you ask me!

Our best find was a company called 'free tours by foot'. They do tours of Washington: the Mall, Arlington cemetery etc. for free, you just pay a tip at the end. The guides are local and brilliant. We took 3 tours with them after deciding not to do the drive past open top bus tour. Google them they have fab reviews.
Enjoy your trip!

Oh yes, if you can do go and see a baseball game. We paid about $10 each, we did not have a clue what was going on, but everyone around us was keen to explain! The atmosphere and entertainment between innings (think rounders on speed) was worth the $10 alone.

The baseball stadium is easy to find. We booked tickets in the UK before we went.

We stayed at the Sofitel Lafayette square which was a fab location. Really recommend it.

Book a tour of the capitol building. Go to the museums on the mall, especially the national air and space, and I also recommend the Newseum.

Walk to the Lincoln memorial and the Jefferson memorial around the tidal basin.

Eat at Old Ebbit Grill.

If you are going to visit NYC take the amtrak train and stay overnight or take a helicopter ride up. Neither option is cheap so book ahead. The helicopter trip takes 90mins and you land downtown.

Unfortunately things have changed re tours of the White House. This is current info from the FCOs Travel website:-

"The White House website states that foreign nationals interested in touring the White House should contact their Embassy to arrange a tour. However, the Embassy has been advised by the US Department of State that, at present, access for foreign nationals to White House tours as part of an Embassy-sponsored public tour group is on hold. We are therefore unable to process any applications at this time.

You may wish to consider tours of the US Capitol Building, where visitors are able to arrive on the day and obtain a timed-entry tour pass. Your passport is required for entry.

To book a Pentagon tour you can now go directly to the Pentagon Tours website and book your own tour. Non-US Nationals will need to submit the British Embassy’s address instead of their home address. Further assistance regarding the online booking process should be directed to the Pentagon Tour Office +1 703 697 1776".

did you fly into dullas or ronald reagan? tranport to hotel?

I use Super Shuttle from Dulles - prebook online and have a search for discount codes as they are often around