DC trip on short notice - tag on 30 hours in NYC? Lots of questions!

[MommyAllison]

We found out last week that DD1 and her friends won a competition that involves an event honoring the winners in DC! They were supposed to be notified a month ago but were not, so now I am diving headfirst into planning a DC trip in mid-April. Neither DH or myself, or any of our kids, have been to DC before. Our entire family will go, as well as DD's friends and their families and their mentor. The event will be on a weekday, but we are planning our trip to be longer so that we can spend time at the museums and monuments. We live in a rural flyover state (way too far to drive) and have very little choice in our flights, so it looks like we will get into DCA at midnight on a Friday night. Our best option seems to be staying at an AirBnB - some locations that I'm looking at are in Capitol Heights area and Bloomingdale. I think we'll probably rent a car (feels like the best option for such a late night arrival, right?) but then use the Metro most of the time. If we book a place near Capitol heights that is very close to the Metro, will that be doable to get into the city on the Metro? On Tuesday, we need to be in the Capitol building by 8:45am. The other days we can be more flexible time-wise as we will be doing tourist-y things in the mornings.

I've read all of the threads I could find about DC going back the last 10 years, but most were pre-Covid. I'm not sure how much has changed since then, esp with the Metro (lots of old threads talked about the Metro being unreliable due to construction). Those threads have been super helpful in making a list of what we want to see while there, and are helping me be realistic about how much we can do in the time that we have.

One thing I was hoping we could do is take DD2 to a ballet while we are there, but I don't see any performances in DC during our dates. Her dream is to attend the School of American Ballet in NYC when she is older, so I looked and the NYC Ballet is performing while we will be out there. Would it be crazy to take the last 30ish hours of our trip and drive up to NYC for a night, and fly home from there? We've never been to NYC (other than to fly through the airports) and with such a short time, I know it would be the tiniest taste of it. Since we'll have just finished seeing museums in DC, I was thinking if we drove up midday on Wednesday, we could go to the ballet that evening, and then spend Thursday eating good food, visiting Central Park and Times Square, and walking around seeing the city a bit, before flying out that evening. We can't add any extra days to our trip because DD1 is a Running Start student and cannot miss her Friday morning class. Any suggestions on where to stay (ballet is at the Lincoln Center) that isn't break the bank expensive are appreciated!

Is this realistic? Esp making the drive from DC to NYC, is it worse than I'm imagining it? Google makes it look pretty straightforward at 4 hours drive time, but I assume getting into NYC will be hairy.

We know we won't make it back to DC as a family again, and with our kids ages (11, 14, 17) they do well with packing our days full for trips like this. I hope at least DD2 and I will be back to NYC, but the other two kids aren't interested in big city life so a taste is likely all they'll want anyway. We all love traveling and seeing new places and are so excited for this trip!

[SnuggleBuggles]

No to Bloomingdale and Capitol Heights. Also, you have to make sure the airbnb has a license # listed- it is required in DC.

Use an Uber or Lyft from the airport. Put the $ you would spend on a rental car into your accomodations.

Price our Arlington- just make sure you are walking distance to a Metro stop. Maybe the Hyatt House (Place?) in Arlington/Courthouse has a room that works?

Also, consider Embassy Suites near the Convention Center in DC or other hotels in that area (Residence Inn and other suite hotels).

The Metro works fine.

Why drive to NYC? Just take the train. A rental car really is $ you don't need to spend on this trip. Otherwise, I am pro NYC as an add on. Stay on the Upper West Side. Price our Hotel Beacon. Don't stay in Times Square- it's crowded and unpleasantly overwhelming for many. My kids are good in big cities but wanted to leave TS the second we arrived. Staying in that area means you are stuck traversing the crowds and being in that vibe. TS is not an accurate representation of Manhattan so I like staying in/seeing other parts. The UWS is handy for your ballet and Central Park. Easy subway ride to TS or you can walk.

See if you can schedule a tour at the Capitol- it's really well done and doesn't take long. Air and Space requires timed entry but is a good museum. I also recommend the American History Museum. The best part of the Smithsonians is that you can just pop in since they are free. Your kids are a good age for the Spy Museum but it isn't free. I hear Planet World is really cool but I haven't been yet.

Sounds like a fun trip! If you have a budget and dates, i like looking up airbnbs and hotels.

Eta- the Yellow Metro line is undergoing work now so make sure where you stay isn’t limited to Yellow service.

[nfceagles]

I don’t know DC well enough to advise on neighborhoods. Depending on where you stay, perhaps a taxi from the airport to the AirBnB will be cheaper than renting and parking a car you won’t use much.

Getting to NYC, you could take Amtrak from DC to NYC (Penn Station), but tickets for 5 people might add up to more than a rental car. I don’t mind the drive, but I’d allow plenty of time for hitting traffic. It’s one city after another so you can easily hit rush hour somewhere if you leave mid day. Can you leave DC in the morning and have a little extra time in NYC?

Are you comfortable driving in NYC? Will you drive in and pay to park the car? You might want to return the car somewhere in NJ and then take the train in from there. I’ve had good luck at the Residence Inn Central Park. You’re probably going to need two rooms wherever you go unless someone else knows a good place for a family of 5.


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[mom2binsd]

Is a trip to NYC with just you and DD later on something you could do, maybe a college visit too. I would just stick with all of you staying in DC and doing all that you can in your only trip there.

If you do go to NYC, don't bother with Times Square, it's awful.

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[SnuggleBuggles]

Some people do love TS so I’d see it. We just went with a group of kids to nyc and several of them loved it so much. You just never know. I think it’s dirty and gross though. And make sure you never accept anything handed to you nor take pics of the costumes characters.


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[DualvansMommy]

I’ve lived in DC and NYC, granted that was my single days. I would not rent a car in the capital and attempt to drive up to NYC. Having a car in both cities is worth more trouble than it’s worth for just few days between the rental costs, tolls, parking costs in both cities.

Getting Uber to your Airbnb rental from airport is easiest. Amtrak speed train from capital to NYC is also your best option.

Look into H street. There’s a new metro stop there that was build few years ago and pick rental nearby there. Arlington is another location that’s east metro ride.

[lizzywednesday]

...
Is this realistic? Esp making the drive from DC to NYC, is it worse than I'm imagining it? Google makes it look pretty straightforward at 4 hours drive time, but I assume getting into NYC will be hairy. ...

It's not a terrible drive as it's all highway driving, but I'd want to pad more time so I could avoid rush hour crunches near major cities, allow for potential construction (there are infamous construction delays on I-95, for example, and on several of the interstates in northern VA) delays, and, yes, account for accidents and/or getting lost.

My other concern would be your route into NYC - are you planning to take one of the tunnels or the GWB?

Traffic backs up there - the volume of vehicles heading into each crossing outpaces the infrastructure!

The PPs suggesting Amtrak are on the money - take the Amtrak. (The high-speed route is the Acela.)

[candaceb]

If you searched old threads, you should have found mine that was from December.
We did 4 days in DC and hit many of the highlights. We had our car but left it in the garage other than the one night that we went out to Chevy Chase to have dinner with friends. We never felt a need for it.
When checking on potential locations for hotels/AirBNB's, be sure to check the Metro timing. Places that would usually be an easy commute were double the time when we were there because of a closed Metro line. I realized why the hotels near DCA were so cheap once I looked at the Metro situation!
Be sure to look at what you want to do and when reservations open for the things you want to do. We missed out on the Spy Museum because it was booked for every time we had available after I had booked everything else.
I agree with others saying to take Amtrak if you're going into NYC.

[MommyAllison]

Thank you all so much! Work has been so busy that I am just now sitting down again to work on planning this trip, and this is all super helpful. Over the weekend, DD2 randomly said, Mom, do you think we could go to NY while we are there? - she is going to be over the moon if we make that part of the trip happen!

Definitely going to look into Amtrak for going to NYC, as long as the timing works with our plans that day (a meeting being scheduled by DD1's mentor so we don't have much flexibility there). A Capitol & Library of Congress tour is part of the event, so we don't have to arrange that, thankfully!

If we get into DCA at midnight on a Friday night and decide not to get a rental car, would Uber/Lyft be a decent option? I'm thinking it's easier and faster than using the Metro, esp since we'll all be tired. Our city is small enough that we don't even have Uber here yet, even though we are a tourist destination - everybody just rents a car.

I may be back with more questions as I book things over the next couple days. Thanks again!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Renting a car is going to eat up more time than just using Uber or Lyft. You need to set the apps up though so don’t try and do it when you get off the plane. Do it before your trip. A car rental adds extra costs and inconveniences to most itineraries. Even when we drive to DC we leave our car parked for the whole trip.


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