DC area mamas-hotel and metro help?

[brittone2]

I have a family member traveling to DC in about 2 months for business. They are flying into Dulles and arrive in the evening, like 8:30pm or so.

They have business at the Naval Research LAB (near Agnostia metro station?) the next morning. (edited to fix...it is the NRL, not the Naval Research Office...sorry! Thanks for pointing that out TwinFoxes so I don't confuse everyone else. So yeah, near the Anacostia station. I'm LOL at my Agnostia station ;) . Anyway, I did say office originally but meant lab :) )

Where would you recommend staying for a hotel? (eta: attempting to stay under say $200ish a night if possible).

Is the metro safe at night?

Any travel suggestions? Just trying to figure out where the best/most convenient place to stay is and how to get around in the easiest way. Not super familiar w/ DC.

[TwinFoxes]

Dulles isn't the most metro accessible airport. You have to take a bus to the metro station, and the metro station is at the end of the line, so it will be a very long ride into the District, and s/he will have to transfer trains somewhere downtown to get to where they're going. Metro is very safe though.

I'm thinking you might mean the Anacostia Station? But I just Googled Naval Research Office and comes up as Alexandria. I'm going to go with the assumption it's Anacostia though, there are Naval facilities there. Anacostia does not have many, if any hotels. It's a bit of a depressed area, although it has lots of history and hard working families. Distance wise, the closest place to stay to Anacostia would be Capitol Hill. There are many, many hotels on the Hill. But if your relative will be taking Metro instead of cabs, they might want to stay near L'enfant Plaza. L'enfant Plaza is on the Green metro line, which is the same line Anacostia is on. Capitol Hill is on the Blue, Orange, or Red lines, so s/he would have to transfer every day (not a big deal really, but sometimes the Metro can be confusing, when I moved here the first time I had to transfer, and got on the wrong train and ended up in Virginia...since Virginia's 10 minutes away, it was more annoying than anything.) L'enfant plaza is near the National Mall (not shopping mall, the grassy area between the Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial) so s/he can visit the museums etc. if they have down time. It's not the most exciting area at night though. Capitol Hill would definitely have more to do at night. At L'enfant plaza there's a Holiday Inn that's very nice, I don't typically stay at Holiday Inn's but this one's quite nice. On the Hill, there are Hilton's, boutique hotels, etc, so it depends on what type of place they like.

I hope this helps.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm not really familiar with DC (I only know a few parts of it) so my suggestion may be way too far away. But, we really like the Hilton Garden Inn in Arlington. It's in Courthouse Plaza. So, between the hotel and the Metro station is police headquarters. Super brightly lit and active- I feel quite safe there. There are also restaurants, bars and a movie theater within walking distance. I have been able to get a rate of $120/ night but it's been a while since I have been and I go off peak. Parking is self park w/ unlimited entry, which is much easier than the valet situations at some of the large hotels downtown.
http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/hotels/hotelpromo.jhtml?ctyhocn=DCAARGI&promo=DCAARGI_Attraction_monuments

Beth

[MamaKath]

I have a family member traveling to DC in about 2 months for business. They are flying into Dulles and arrive in the evening, like 8:30pm or so.

They have business at the Naval Research Office (near Agnostia metro station?) the next morning.

Where would you recommend staying for a hotel? (eta: attempting to stay under say $200ish a night if possible).

Is the metro safe at night?

Any travel suggestions? Just trying to figure out where the best/most convenient place to stay is and how to get around in the easiest way. Not super familiar w/ DC.
Anacostia is rough, especially at night, I would not recommend taking the metro in the area of the NRO at night. Hotels in DC, Holiday Inn at New Jersey Ave or Hyatt are what dh can think of. He said there are no decent hotels right near the NRO though. The other place would be to look at the new National Harbor complex. There is a Gaylord Hotel, not sure of what others are in there.

[TwinFoxes]

The other place would be to look at the new National Harbor complex. There is a Gaylord Hotel, not sure of what others are in there.

This is a very nice new complex, with restaurants, bars, shopping etc, but nowhere near a metro.

[MamaKath]

This is a very nice new complex, with restaurants, bars, shopping etc, but nowhere near a metro.
Ahh, forgot about that! Oops!

[lowrioh]

Is there a reason why they want to take public transportation? If it were me I would rent a car at Dulles and then stay at the National Harbor center. NRL is pretty out of the way and I wouldn't take the subway there in the evening (ie later than 8 or so) especially if I didn't know where I was going. Since they are getting in at 8:30 at Dulles they will have at least an hour to hour and a half journey into the city if they take bus/subway because at that time the trains don't run as often. A cab from Dulles to that part of Prince Georges county runs $60-75.
Alternatively, could they fly into National?

[brittone2]

Flight is booked and running through Dulles. There were limited flights from the local airport on the other end without having to fly into BWI, or have some insane layovers or stops that were really out of the way. Budget was a concern for flights too because of reimbursement issues. I think they were hoping to skip renting a car. Cab is a consideration, but adds to the cost (reimbursement for trip can only go so high). Maybe the cab is the best bet to save some headaches though.

Thanks for the tips. I really, really appreciate them. If anyone else has input that would be great. The tips have really been helpful.

[dcmom2b3]

OK, my big long post just got eaten. boo.

Along with others' expressed concerns about walking around that neighborhood at night, I'd have them double check with their contacts at NRL that it's actually a walkable distance from the Anacostia Metro station. I could be wrong, but I don't think it is. And safety concerns aside, it's not the most pedestrian friendly part of town. Depending on how long/how often they'll need to go to the NRL, they could rely on cabs (but can you even call a cab to pick you up on a Naval Base????), or rent a car.

Hotels close to the NRL include the Marriott Courtyard at the Navy Yard and the Skyline Hotel (used to be sketchy, but looks like it's been nicely re-done). Hotels on Capitol Hill that haven't been mentioned include the Phoenix Park (N. Capitol Street) and the Washington Court Hotel (New Jersey Ave.)

ETA: From this map (http://<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Anacostia+Station,+Washington,+District+of+ Columbia,+20020&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;cd=1&amp;geocode=FSX9UAI dBSVp-w&amp;split=0&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=23.875,57.630033&amp;ll=38.881679,-76.986866&amp;spn=0.038782,0.068493&amp;z=13&amp;iwloc=A&amp;outpu t=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Anacostia+Station,+Washington,+District+of+ Columbia,+20020&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;cd=1&amp;geocode=FSX9UAI dBSVp-w&amp;split=0&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=23.875,57.630033&amp;ll=38.881679,-76.986866&amp;spn=0.038782,0.068493&amp;z=13&amp;iwloc=A&amp;sourc e=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>), station to NRL is not walkable.

[TwinFoxes]

For future reference, flying into BWI is actually a lot easier than flying into Dulles if you're trying to get into the District via public transportation. There's a shuttle that takes you from BWI to a nearby commuter train station (MARC), and you take the train right into Union Station. The station is also serviced by Amtrak, but the Amtrak trains are more expensive.

I assumed that when your relative flies in, they'll go straight to the hotel, not to the office. I still think taking the metro (once you manage to get there from Dulles) to a hotel is fine. I agree, I wouldn't take it to Anacostia that late at night.

[brittone2]

Yeah, they'd be taking the bus from the Anacostia metro station into the NRL. That was the instruction/suggestion provided by NRL.

Thanks for those hotel suggestions as well.

You are all so helpful!

The Holiday Inn at L'enfant is a possibility I think.

[brittone2]

For future reference, flying into BWI is actually a lot easier than flying into Dulles if you're trying to get into the District via public transportation. There's a shuttle that takes you from BWI to a nearby commuter train station (MARC), and you take the train right into Union Station. The station is also serviced by Amtrak, but the Amtrak trains are more expensive.

I assumed that when your relative flies in, they'll go straight to the hotel, not to the office. I still think taking the metro (once you manage to get there from Dulles) to a hotel is fine. I agree, I wouldn't take it to Anacostia that late at night.

Yes, the realization is hitting now that BWI would have been easier LOL. Originally that seemed like not such a great idea, but Dulles is not that easy w/ public transportation as you are all pointing out! I guess it would be possible to see what it would cost to change the flight to fly into BWI.

They will be going straight to the hotel upon arrival, not to the office. So they should be able to skip going to Anacostia at night. I think.

[brittone2]

Well, a flight from planned city of departure to BWI is $600. The flight from the same city to Dulles is like $225-250. So the family member is sticking w/ BWI.

We had some success in finding hotels near L'Enfant Plaza...not booked yet but that looks doable.

Thanks again so much for the assistance. The BBB rocks :grouphug:

[mommylamb]

I know you said renting a car was not something they would want to do, but considering they're coming in from Dulles and the NRL isn't walking distance to the metro, they might want to reconsider the no car idea. A taxi from dulles is a lot of $. They could also do the blue van if they wanted to, but that can be time consuming depending on how many stops it's making.

Do they have any ideas about the area/neighborhood where they would want to stay, or just near where their business is?