5 days in DC October 22-26 Where is best to stay?

[MoItaly]

Than k you very much, great information

[MoItaly]

OKay, it's getting clearer. And yes, Google maps is big help, as is the Washington.org site.
I will be staying for 5 night at the Westin on M St, downtown. I hit it big with Priceline (was $ 526/night, they offered a buy now at $ 354/night, but I ended up getting this 4 star hotel at $ 165/night).

I reduced the list of things to do and I know it will be cut in 1/4 again, because like I said, we take our time, we don;t like to run an hour in a museum just to say we were there.

Here's the plan, or at least an idea

NATIONAL MALL
Jefferson Memorial
MLK Memorial
National WW2 Memorial
Washington Monument
Lincoln memorial
National Gallery of Art
Natl Museum of Afr-Amer history SMT
American Indian Museum SMT
Natl. Museum of Natl. History SMT


DOWNTOWN
White House
City Center DC

CAPITOL HILL
Library Of Congress
US Capitol
Supreme Court
Eastern Market

NEIGHBORHOODS OUTSIDE DOWNTOWN- CAPITOL HILL

Adams Morgan
Dupont Circle
Logan Circle
Georgetown

I am creating a list of restaurants I want to try and jazz bars/places. I look forward to this trip. And to get the hell out of this heat!

Thank you all for helping!

[ersatz]

MoItaly

So many posters ask questions but so few follow up. In contrast to the "one post ever" people, you are a regular CD poster. Please let us know - how did our advice work out for you?

[MoItaly]

Originally Posted by ersatz

MoItaly

So many posters ask questions but so few follow up. In contrast to the "one post ever" people, you are a regular CD poster. Please let us know - how did our advice work out for you?

Better late than never, haven't been around in a while.

The trip was better than expected, for some inexplicable reason I always thought of Dc as a grayish government center capital.

I was wrong. My wife and I had a blast, we enjoyed so much that after our trip at end of October (5 nights) we took another, same length at the beginning of December 2018.

We walked like crazy, we miss doing that living in Florida. We also got a refill on culture, city life, and public transportation.

One thing that surprised us both is how green Dc is, and especially how close you are to parks that makes you feel you are so far from the city.

We managed to visit

NATIONAL MALL
Jefferson Memorial
MLK Memorial
Washington Monument
Lincoln memorial
National Gallery of Art
Natl Museum of Afr-Amer history
Natl. Museum of Amer. History
National XmasTree

DOWNTOWN
White House
City Center DC
Downtown Holiday market - 8th and F st. NW
City Center Xmas lights displays stores

CAPITOL HILL
US Capitol
Supreme Court
Eastern Market

The National Gallery of Art took us 2 visits, and so did the American History.
The Holiday market in December was beautiful to stroll around, get some fresh air (mild winter) and enjoy walking among people; I know, it seems silly, but we miss that.

Moving around was as easy as it gets. Our hotels both times were around Logan Square. We landed at the airport, got the metro card at the station, then took the blue line to McPherson, then stroll to the hotel. Same to leave, no need for cabs, Uber, nothing, just easy.

Using the Metro was also easy, we did that extensively, although we really walked like crazy, aro8nd 8-10 miles almost daily (except for a couple of days of break at Fado in Chinatown watching European soccer).

The feeling was great, the sightseeing, and the climate, both times. The first time, end of October, we walked more than the second one and really explored DC. We walked the whole area Logan Square, Dupont, Adams Morgan, Kalorama, City Center, Downtown, often changing streets and routes.

We enjoyed a long walk in Georgetown both in October and December, not just on Wisconsin but in the streets around it. In the December trip we had fun doing the Glow in G’town and my wife went Ice skating, while I was sipping wine inside the bar by the rink.

We of course had to go to Virginia and Maryland, even if barely. To Virginia it was a night trip with the metro, we just walked around a couple of hours. To Maryland we took the metro to Friendship Height and went to supermarkets, stores, walked about 2-3 hours around it.

We particularly enjoyed on another cool and sunny day taking the bus going north to Military. Then we got off and walked east, crossing Rock Creek, really a beautiful walk that makes you forget you are in a big city. Loved it, especially in October with the fall colors. We exited on the other side coming down south until we hit Columbia Heights and then from there kept going until we got back to Logan Square, to the hotel. That day we hit a record 13 miles walk. Needless to say we were barely walking in the evening, but still had enough energy to hit Barcellona for dinner.

Of course, we had to go to U Street and get a dog at Ben’s!

FOOD

Well, that was a feast, different places, all pretty good, just one or two were meh, the rest were good or better and reasonably prices.

Some places we enjoyed:

Italian: Giovanni Trattu and Tortino were the best; great service as well, will go back without hesitation. I liked the cozy feeling at Etto, while Sette was okay, but a bit so-so in the pasta dishes.
Lupo Verde had great service, great servers, but food was okay.

We liked Compass, a place that can end up being expensive, but it was fun to try dishes from different places and pretty creative.

Around Logan Square, we enjoyed Barcellona and Estadio, although they were tough to get in, long lines. One day we had enough of trying and went to Barcellona early, around 5, in order to get a spot at the bar. And never left until 11 pm. We pretty much stopped to almost all of those places around Logan Square on 14th St.

We had Spanish, middle eastern, African, Italian, French, Vietnamese, pretty much everything. Two more places to mention but I am sure I am forgetting many: Himalayan Heritage, we had a very good dinner. It was a chilly night (December), and we had the dumplings, pretty much the only dumplings I ever liked, not mushy, but robust and filled and not overcooked and then a great soup (Thukpa, I think is the name), spicy, herby, flavor rich, just what you need after having walked hours in a cold temperature.
The other places I loved, although it can get expensive quickly was Jack Rose’s Saloon, same night as the Himalayan place: paradise was whisky lovers.

In the end, we loved it. The city lifestyle, but without the mess you can have in NY, super easy and convenient public transportation and it’s a pleasure to walk, there’s always something artistic or a monument or a park, something to see and enjoy.

We are going back this year, again in December, because my wife loved the Holiday atmosphere there (and I know she wants to go back to the Ice Rink in Georgetown ), of course if Covid-19 gets away.

So much still to see, good to try, walks to enjoy. I could easily leave outside DC, especially on the north side, in Maryland along the red line, toward Bethesda-Rockville.

Last thing: very nice people. Every time we stopped with our cell in hands (Google Maps), somebody would ask us if we needed something or got lost.

Thank you all that provided us with inside tips and advice: they were great and made thinks easier to discover.

[RLCMA]

Originally Posted by MoItaly

I know this sounds as as "duh" question, because I read everywhere that pretty much everything one wants to visit (first time in DC) is Downtown.

However, I see that a lot of stuff is also in Capitol Hill, Dupont and Logan, so I was wondering: is downtown the best place to stay?

My wife and I lan to do a lot of walking and public transport, we are Italians and try to take every opportunity to enjoy a city feeling. After NY and several trips to Chicago, we decided to finally visit DC, and get our fix of art, culture, museums etc..We live in Palm Beach Cty, South Florida, so there ain't much of that down here.

Any tip is appreciated.

We want to visit the main political and cultural attractions, but also plan to walk outside of downtown, Dupont and Logan seems interesting, and would like to make it to Adams Morgan and Georgetown, but it could be too much (we take our time...).

Thanks

I would say downtown is definitely the best place to stay if you want to be near most of the tourist attractions (within walking distance). Capitol Hill, Dupont, Georgetown are fine but I wouldn't opt to stay in any of them for my first time in DC. Also, if you like to walk, DC is very walkable. I used to live in Navy Yard and would sometimes walk all the way to Dupont for work. My neighbor and I once walked about 9 miles around the city. It's an amazing walking city for sure

[paytonc]

Terrific trip summary, and glad you got out into the neighborhoods!

I also think DC in December is underrated, and it's become one of my parents' favorite times to visit. The politicians are gone (cheap hotel rooms, restaurant seats and theater tickets are widely available), school groups are similarly gone, lights and decorations are everywhere, shopping is pretty good (bigger selection than most places, but without NYC's crowds) -- and it can be chilly, but rarely *cold*.

[ersatz]

Originally Posted by MoItaly

Better late than never, haven't been around in a while.

The trip was better than expected, for some inexplicable reason I always thought of Dc as a grayish government center capital.

I was wrong. My wife and I had a blast, we enjoyed so much that after our trip at end of October (5 nights) we took another, same length at the beginning of December 2018.

{snip}

We are going back this year, again in December, because my wife loved the Holiday atmosphere there (and I know she wants to go back to the Ice Rink in Georgetown ), of course if Covid-19 gets away.

Thanks for letting us know how it worked out for you. It's likely that things will be quite different this December than last but the parks and neighborhood walks will still be there. You might think about postponing your December trip for a year to let things shake out.

I suggest when you return also consider the Virginia side if you will be on Metro. There's a nice river walk along the Potomac that stretches for miles from Alexandria to Rosslyn. There's the Christmas market in Old Town Alexandria, if they have it again soon. Mount Vernon has a wonderful Christmas display. In previous years various Embassies hosted public Christmas events so that's worth investigating too.

[MoItaly]

Thanks Ersatz, sound like good options. And yes, we will be using metro and feet to move around, a couple of times Uber. I definitely want to go back, there's so much to explore and see.

[RLCMA]

This post is 11 years old. HA!

[MoItaly]

Originally Posted by RLCMA

This post is 11 years old. HA!

11???? Check again