Traveling to Maryland & D.C. Tips & Advice?

I've done D.C. a few times in high school and college, but SWMBO has never been. We have a friend getting married in Springfield Maryland, so we decided to take advantage of the situation and do a sight seeing vacation.

Hotels are booked, we've got a room in Springfield for the night of the wedding, and we've got a room in D.C. near the National Mall.

Question now is where do I fly to? We need to be back home day after the wedding, so flying out of Baltimore would be the quickest option.

Should I fly into Baltimore too? Train from Baltimore to D.C., there's a Metro station a block from our hotel in D.C., spend a few days in D.C., train back to Baltimore, rent car at airport drive to Springfield for wedding, then back to airport to catch our flight home the next day?

Any suggestions on things to do and places to eat? All the usual suspects i.e. monuments, Arlington, Smithsonians, Capitol, Library, etc. are on our to-do-list. Every time I've been before have been on larger group tours with everything planed for you, haven't done much freestyle touring, and for sure haven't tried many restaurants.

I love this place near the White House: Elephant and Castle

The Metro currently really sucks, so you may want to think about alternate transportation options while you're in DC. That said, the Smithsonian and one end of the Mall is pretty close to the train station, so if you have to walk it's not a long walk. Flying into Reagan National might make sense, but probably not worth a significant price premium over just flying into and out of BWI, especially with how much Metro sucks right now.

I work in DC

He isnt kidding about metro sucking right now http://www.wmata.com/rail/safetrack.cfm

(things got bad enough that they are doing rolling shutdowns for maintenance)

Honestly, if you are going to be doing stuff in DC/VA, fly into Dulles ( Bus to metro from Dulles ).

DCA/Reagan is another option, is small, but has direct metro access in southern DC.

That being said, you can get to all of them, but watch out for the metro troubles.

As far as places to eat, I havent ventured too much, but would recommend Momofuku if you are into ramen and modern asian stuff, they are right near the mall and while a hair on the pricey side, are just plain that good. It is a bit food-adventure-y though.

We just got back from a couple of days in Baltimore. We went down for an Orioles game. If you like baseball, I can't recommend Oriole Park at Camden yards enough. Well worth it, and it was a lot less expensive than a trip in Fenway Park. Also we enjoyed the aquarium.

I'd use Capital Bikeshare to get around inside the District as long as the weather is good. The SWMBO and I did something similar in Boston one year and it worked out great. DC is pretty bike friendly as cities go, lots of trails and protected bike lanes.

IMO Dulles is just so inconvenient to get into the District from that I wouldn't use it unless you're planning to go to the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Museum once you get here. Udvar-Hazy is super awesome though, so if you do end up flying into Dulles don't miss it on your way into town. They have a Concorde, an SR-71, and a Space Shuttle all under one roof (along with a ton of other planes stretching all the way through the history of aviation), and actually have an observation deck where you can watch the Smithsonian preservationists work on planes getting ready to go into the exhibits.

I would stay out of Ellicott at the moment..

Bwi is much closer to the wedding than Dulles, do I'd Flynn and out of there. I'd use Uber before metro, and look into zipcar. You can't even get close to Ellicott City at the moment, so no worries there.

Camden is cool, the aquarium is super cool. Get crab cakes. All of them.

The Ellicott City pictures are pretty scary -- I lived there for most of the 80s.

We recently visited my wife's sister in VA and took the kids to the Smithsonian. Definitely make time for the Air & Space Museum, both the main facility on the Mall and the one near Dulles. Bring a camera with a wide-angle lens. :)

If you had the time and a rental car harpers ferry is about an hour west of dc. Some cool civil war history.

And from there you are about an hour east of summit point. I mean that is an important landmark in my book.

there is a lot of history all over that area. Annapolis is a must see as it is more or less living history. Right across the Bay is Kent Island. The third oldest English settlement in north america

codrus wrote: The Ellicott City pictures are pretty scary -- I lived there for most of the 80s.

What part? I lived on Westchester ave, same time period.

The Bay is full of bull sharks right now. So if you want some fun catching one or an adventurous swim, there's that.

MDJeepGuy wrote:

codrus wrote: The Ellicott City pictures are pretty scary -- I lived there for most of the 80s.

What part? I lived on Westchester ave, same time period.

I lived in a subdivision down 29, heading towards Columbia. Dower Drive.

I just got back from spending last week there on vacation. I found myself having to complete a police report, so I'll say, more so than most major cities, keep your valuables safe and out of sight.

Seconding Harper's Ferry - go to River and Trail Outfitters for a whitewater rafting trip. My wedding ring is now living somewhere under the Shenandoah, so either bring your metal detector, or leave your jewelry in the car.

Smithsonian Air and Space is really fun.

Holocaust Museum isn't fun, exactly, but it's really well done, and will add a wrinkle to your brain. Go visit the mall at dusk, and take in the outside of the Washington Monument, the WWII monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. All are great, but WWII is exceptional at night.

Check out Founding Farmers for dinner. Their "chicken" and waffles are a high water mark for me. I had mine with a neat Laphroaig. Don't worry about them being vegan, they're just making good damn food.

I rode the Metro every day I was there and didn't have any significant problems, save for a sketchy guy circling us on the platform while another gave us a sob story and asked for money.

My big gripe about DC is paranoia - it seems like every single attraction runs you through a metal detector and bag check. At the Holocaust Museum, they had a metal detector and bag check, but their cafeteria is disconnected and outside the main security parameter, so I had my toughest security check of the whole trip, TSA included, just trying to get into their second-rate cafeteria.

Got a smart phone? Let Yelp guide you on places to eat near where you are. In this area, Yelp works well.

As for airport, shop the price. It can vary by several hundred dollars.

Metro in DC is a mess, but it's still better than driving and parking.

There are good Android phone apps for being a DC tourist. None that I know of for Baltimore that are worth a darn.

DC Museums and such, all of them, are simply darn good and can take you a week easily. Especially if you're including the monuments and such. Just chill and take your time.

Good walking shoes, of course.

Do understand that rush hour will happen and will be a zoo, especially for getting to Springfield and Baltimore. Anticipate hours of driving and stopping.

Without you saying what sort of things you (as in both) are interested in, can't give to much help regarding this place or that place. Sure the National Gallery of Art is great, but not if you can't stand looking at paintings and sculptures. So, what sorts of things are you two interested in and thinking you might like to see?

I would not fly into Dulles. Its ok for NOVA access, but just sucks for getting to the city. It will be even worse getting to Dulles from the wedding venue. BWI & rent a car is probably the best option as the metro is semi-berkeleyed. But just to be clear, all of the options are going to require some E36 M3ty unpredictable travel once you are in the area. As said earlier, if you need to drive anywhere during rush hour (basically anytime before 11am or after 1pm), prepare yourself and add a buffer if you are going to go in the same direction as traffic. Also if you are parking downtown, prepare your wallet. Day rates are $pricey and you can't get your car out after hours. Hopefully your hotel has a nice garage.

Once you are downtown, walk everywhere you can. Plenty to do and see around the mall, but you can get pretty far within the city on foot. Lots of museums, great places to eat, etc.

Mike wrote: Seconding Harper's Ferry - go to River and Trail Outfitters for a whitewater rafting trip.

Woah. Dialing up the way-back machine... I used to work there as a raft guide ~13 years ago. Please, if you do go, tip your guide. They get paid E36 M3.

Its not at all "near" DC in my opinion, but lots to do in that area as well. The town itself is a great way to spend a few hours. There is some cliff diving at a quarry nearby as well.

Thanks for the advice so far everyone!

We're in DC for 6 nights, and Springfield 1 night. SWMBO had a scheduling snafu with work, and will have to do some web conferencing on a few of the afternoons we're there, that will cut into some of our fun time, since we need to be able to get her back to the hotel and internet in plenty of time for her to get set up and online. That will likely keep us from getting too far out of DC on those days.

This will be my 4th trip to DC, I've been with 4-H groups twice, and once just a college friend and I. I've done all the monuments (WWII was still under construction last time I was there), Smithsonians, but SWMBO has never been, so I'm her tour guide. She's expressed interest in the usual fare, monuments and museums, I will be taking her to Arlington National Cemetery for sure, maybe Mt. Vernon as well. We would both thoroughly enjoy the National Gallery, so I'll be sure to add it to the list, thanks.

I'd like to do the White House tour again, but you've got to book 21 days in advance via a congress member, we're within 21 days already. I did the tour once shortly before 9-11, but was too preoccupied with a young lady on the tour with me to pay much attention to anything else. Looks like a Capitol and Library of Congress tour will still be easy to do.

Amtrak goes from Baltimore, BWI to Union Station DC for $26, seems like that'd be our best bet, right? Fly into and out of BWI, public transportation and/or rental car to get to our final destinations.

If you arrive during the week, the MARC commuter train fare from BWI to DC is only $7 a ticket. MARC train info

Other than that, yeah, I think flying into and out of BWI is your best bet.

If you go to Arlington on Tuesday afternoon, there is a "parade" at the Iwo Jima memorial. They'll bus you out from, and back to the visitor's center, and that's just a really short walk from the Arlington Cemetery Metro stop. A friend found the information on the event, and I can't find any supporting information on the Arlington Cemetery website. Still, it's fascinating and impressive.

So days or afternoons she's got to do conference calls and work stuff, that's when you go to the likes of the air and space museum.

Taking a metro ride every day into the mall of DC will keep you guys going solidly for 6 days. There is so much there. Use the apps and the maps, go to all of it. Even the likes of the Post Office museum is astonishingly interesting and beautiful.

White house and Capital tour, almost work skipping in favor of the art and monuments and museums and such.

Do understand the distances are deceptive and you will be tired by the end of the day, and exhausted after 6 days of walking. There are bicycle hacks on the mall, consider them some times.

There are some interesting and peculiar things a bit out from the mall, but still within metro rail distance and a bit of walking. The Navy Yard, National Arboretum, National Building Museum, Folger Theatre, etc.

There are a few things perhaps worth skipping. The old Smithsonian castle building is all but empty. The native american museum is very much a look only and revere. The WWII monument tends to have people splashing in the pool. If that will upset you, consider skipping it.

Equally, don't under estimate the emotional power of the likes of Arlington Cemetery or the Vietnam Memorial or the Holocaust Museum. They can hit hard.

Eating around the Mall, especially as you go westward, consists of food trucks and carts. Expensive, nothing special, but perfectly fine. Though at the east end, especially in and around Union Station, there's numerous good places for lunch. Might even be worth a little planning of the days walking.

Renting a car vs hiring a taxi. I love to drive. I think I'd rent taxi's for when I need them. Or the mass transits or shuttles. A car in DC is generally a nightmare.

If you've got a car, then the likes of Mount Vernon, Great Falls, the Dullas Air & Space Museum and such become easily possible.

Are you foodies at all?

In reply to szeis4cookie:

We fly in and out on a Sunday.

In reply to foxtrapper:

I did the Post Office tour on one of my 4-H visits, interesting even for a teenager. Changing of the Guard, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is an experience I'll never forget, and look forward to sharing that experience with SWMBO.

In reply to bluej:

While I'm not fond of the term "foodie," I've been called worse, and have been called a foodie too. I really enjoy good food, and we are both adventurous eaters, at least I'll try most things. While I appreciate a good meal, as well as both the art and science involved in its preparation and presentation, I do not condone the practice of charging an arm and a leg for a tiny morsel consumed in a couple bites, regardless of how amazing it tastes. I typically want a meal.

When we go to Vegas, we don't gamble much, none at all on the last trip, we're just there for the food and shows.

Having lived in the area for 22 years, Udvar-Hazy out close to Dulles is as impressive as anything you will see on the mall if you like aircraft. It's about 45 min from the mall (with no traffic whenever that is...okay maybe the middle of the day). Rush hour here is generally 6:30-9 in the morning and 3-7 in the evening. Yes, it sucks. (I am new here, sorry if "sucks" is not allowed).

There they have the Shuttle, SR71, Concord, Enola Gay, the little Red Bull deal the guy jumped out of from space to parachute back to Earth and much more. Remember all the Smithsonian Museums are free (that is if you do not pay taxes in the U.S).

The Fall is a great time to be here. Crowds are generally down (fewer school groups and tour buses).

Look up Hill Country BBQ if you are staying on the Mall. I know there is better BBQ in this Country, but it is pretty solid and just a few blocks off the Mall.

Contact your U.S. Rep if you want a White House tour now. Those are limited and not that great. The best thing about the tour is to call home and tell your friends you did it and not telling them the tour wasn't that great.

For the wife, check out Eastern Market on Capitol Hill on the weekend. Yes its meats and veggies on the weekend but also lots of arts and crafts.

The Capitol is going through renovations now so I am not sure how much of it will be open when you get here. I can give you more info, but I am new here so I still do not have approval on how to send private messages. If you can fill me in on that I am happy to provide more info.

Finally, there are a lot of cool pocket neighborhoods with unique foods, places to shop etc...in and around DC. For instance Old Towne Alexandria off of the King Street Metro stop just to name one. I hope this helps and happy to provide more.

ProDarwin wrote:

Mike wrote: Seconding Harper's Ferry - go to River and Trail Outfitters for a whitewater rafting trip.

Woah. Dialing up the way-back machine... I used to work there as a raft guide ~13 years ago. Please, if you do go, tip your guide. They get paid E36 M3.

Man, small world. I'm glad we tipped then - I wouldn't have otherwise guessed. Our guy was awesome. We were in the back of the pack on "safety boat" duty. The guy knew all kinds of stuff about the history of the area. We were watching the kids in the other boats get "managed" by their guide while they focused on splashing each other. The ride in the back was far better - there's something to be said for being a grown-up.

I don't envy them packing the boats up the hill and out.