Planning and Tips for Travel to Washington DC

When my family and I took our trip to Washington DC planning the trip was so much easier than planning other vacations we have taken.  I attribute this to the fact that most of the activities in DC are free so there was no need to purchase tours or passes.

Finding A Great Price For Your Travel to DC

I did spend some time comparing flights, trains, and the price to drive to decide the best method of transportation from Florida to DC.  I used many comparison sites such as Trivago, Kayak, Google flights, and Amtrack.  After several days of comparing prices, the best pricing was actually for all of us to drive but considering we only had 4 days we did not want to spend the time we had driving in a car.  So we decided that the next best alternative price wise would be to travel by train.

The train allowed us the ability to sleep during the ride so we would all be rested upon arrival.  The price was less than a plane ticket. Plus we could get on the train right after work and school and then arrive first thing the next morning.  This was a perfect option for us.  However, hindsight tells me that the train was not the best idea for traveling with the family.  I would not recommend taking the train unless you are booking a sleeper car because you have no privacy and you encounter all different kinds of activity while on a train and not all are pleasant.  If you are purchasing a sleeper car the experience is nice you get to see more of the countryside but you actually end up paying more than you would with a plane.  Keep in mind this is just the east coast train from Florida to DC.  Other trains may be perfectly fine for travel as our return trip was much more pleasant.

Getting An Amazing Room

Next, you will need to find a hotel or somewhere to stay.  I searched on Trivago, Airbnb, Hotels.com, kayak, and other sites to find the best deal.  I learned that staying in the city was quite expensive. So I searched the metro maps of DC to see how far the metro lines extended outside the city.  I found that they extended all the way into Maryland so I searched for hotels in that area close enough to the metro stop to walk or with a shuttle service to take us to the metro stop at no extra cost.  After about a week of searching, I found a great hotel at the last metro stop in Maryland through Hotels.com.  This hotel provided an excellent breakfast, the rooms were very clean, the staff was extremely friendly, and the rooms were around $80 a night.  We booked 2 rooms for the time we stayed and we were very happy with our stay.  There were plenty of restaurants around our area including a Starbucks and there was a school group staying in our hotel as well.  When searching for your hotel make sure you read the reviews and know what your expectations are for your budget.  Even though we paid a low price per night we had a great room and great service.  Don't be discouraged if you don't find what you're looking for right away take some time and do your research you will find a hotel at a great price.  

Things to do in DC

Next, we researched all the different things we wanted to do. The National Zoo with the Pandas!!!! That was the best part of the whole trip, well for me at least.  They have some other pretty amazing animals too and it's all free. You can access the zoo from the metro as long as you don't mind walking a little ways from the nearest metro stop.  Touring the Capital building is free you just need to contact your senator in advance to ask for tickets.  All the museums are free just look at the hours of operations almost everything in DC closes at sundown so plan your itinerary accordingly.  The Washington Monument is free but you have to stand in line for tickets they are first to come first serve and the tickets go fast people line up before the sun comes up.  We also opted to purchase the Big Red Bus tickets while we were there.  It was wonderful because it saved us from walking everywhere and we were able to see all the monuments.

Some words of advise if you have never been to DC

After dark nearly all the tourist locations shut down. You will find yourself in the mall area with no one around and all the doors locked.  There is no food nearby either as everyone has packed up for the night.  So I would recommend getting an early start each day and planning your dinner after dark.  you can catch the metro to one of the nearby areas with more food options such as China town.  Yes, DC has a china town, it is not nearly as large as New York but it is still pretty impressive as far as the food options go.  

You don't need to rent a car in DC. The metro is very robust and the metro stops are fairly close together. We did more walking in New York City than we did in DC.  In fact, if you rent a car you will have a hard time finding a parking space and parking becomes very expensive in the city.  If you do need a car to see something that is outside the city just call a taxi or uber for that specific trip.  

If you are worried about getting lost navigating the metro station don't. You can go to the city's website and download the metro app.  The app will tell you a map of the metro as well as when the trains run and you can even figure out how much it will cost you for each ride you take.  We purchased preloaded cards at the main metro stop in Maryland when we arrived.  This saved us from having to purchase rides and wait in line to add money to our cards. Plan out where you are going and estimate the amount of money you need on your card and add that amount when you arrive.  Also, don't worry about safety in the DC Metro.  There was security at every stop we made and many of the trains we rode in had security as well.  It was very clean and safe.  

Check the weather before you pack and leave for DC. We took our trip in March. DC doesn't get a lot of snow or even harsh winters. It was supposed to be cherry blossom season but there were not cherry blossoms when we arrived.  It was extremely cold, windy, and we even had snow during our stay.  Unfortunately, we didn't plan for the snow and we did not have gloves, hats, or heavy jackets. We were a little on the cold side during our trip.  We did buy some warmer clothes and gloves from street vendors which my daughter still has her hoodie all these years later so the quality was great for a street vendor purchase.  

Have fun and don't expect to see everything.  These museums can take weeks to see everything in them so don't plan to see everything in one visit.  Just take your time, plan what you want to see in each location and plan to make a return visit to see the other items at another time.