Motels in the Middle! (hotels, taxi, live)

[jessmessica]

My husband and I are looking to make a trip out to DC this summer but as I'm planning on travel sites I'm realizing I have no idea which areas to stay in. Threads I've read have to do with safety, etc but that really isn't a huge concern for me. I'm more concerned with a good central location. I know we will want to spend a majority of our time at Smithsonian museums, the Holocaust museum, etc, so something close to these would be ideal, but something also close to city transportation....
What section of the city should I be booking a hotel in?
Sections I'm seeing are:
Capitol Hill
Dupoint Circle
Downtown
Georgetown

I can narrow it down pricewise once I figure out which section of town would be best for us. Thanks!

[lackadaisi]

Any of these would be fine, but I would focus on Downtown and DuPont, Georgetown can be a pain to get to, so you may end up cabbing more than you expected. Capitol Hill is great, but many hotels stretch the name to include undesirable areas that are not traditionally called Capitol Hill.

[paytonc]

For sightseeing, and especially in the summer heat, the best bet is around Downtown -- as close to Pennsylvania as possible. Even Dupont and Capitol Hill (most of those hotels are really around Union Station rather than on the hill east of the Capitol) are considerably further. You might also look at some hotels around L'Enfant Plaza; these are probably the shortest total walk to the Mall, USHMM, etc. (There are fewer dining options in the evening, but by then it's also cooler so you can just walk downtown.)

If you want to take the Metro and save some cash on the room, try Crystal City.

[Samoi137]

Consider Hotwire and Priceline. www.betterbidding.com is a good site for seeing what hotels others have gotten, both in DC and surrounding areas (you can also ask questions). Will you have a car? You'll likely have to pay for parkingin most areas in or adjacent to DC, though maybe more in DC itself. On our last coupleof visits, we stayed in the Rosslyn area of Arlington, immedaitely across the Potomac River from DC, and took the Metro rail into DC.

Note that terms like "Capitol Hill" are used by some hotels even when they're not actually in the Capitol Hill area (which I don't believe has legally-defined borders, anyway). Some parts of Capitol Hill you wouldn't want to stay in, anyway. I lived in the area for a few years and would actually consider Dupont Circle partof downtown, but hotels may not. I'd look up reviews of the hotels you're considering, and maybe add Arlington to the mix. L'Enfant Plaza is a bit of a walk to downtown restaurants, and probbly not something you'd do late at night, but you can get there by taxi or Metro. It would help if you gave an idea of your budget. If budget is no object, I'd consider one of the hitoric grand dames, such as the Willard (hosted Civil War conferences), Hay-Adams, etc. Smithsonian museums cover a fairly wide area, but the very cloest hotel to the Air & Space Museum (the origiinal, not the annex out by Dulles Airort) and Holocaust Museum (not Smithosnian, of course) is probably the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. As noted, there aren't as many restaurants, etc. there as there are downtown, or Crystal City or Rosslyn.