OT: Washington DC (Long Weekend)

[Goo]

Looking to spend a 3-4 day weekend in DC in early April, mostly to bring the kids to see some of the sites and visits some museums. Any suggestions as to hotels? We're looking to stay close to both, the center of town and Georgetown as well. We're considering the Hyatt Place as it seems convenient to both. One requirement is that we would like an indoor pool for the kids. If you've been and can share your experience that would greatly appreciated. My kids BTW are 6 and 8.

Thanks.

 

[vkj91]

Good time to go....DC will be significantly greater by then.









Joke. Relax all....carry on with actual recommendations.

 

[Rokodesh]

I would move to DC tomorrow if I could, love it there.

I stayed at Marriott Key Bridge in Arlington just a few weeks ago for work. Pretty Quiet area and was able to take a 5 minute Uber ride to Georgetown for Dinner. Don't remember if they have a pool but the Hotel was very nice.

Also stayed at the Grand Hyatt by close to the White House (great hotel) as well as the Crowne Plaza. All 3 were very nice, and not too far from the Metro, which makes it easy to get around.

 

[bethlehemfan]

I would move to DC tomorrow if I could, love it there.

I stayed at Marriott Key Bridge in Arlington just a few weeks ago for work. Pretty Quiet area and was able to take a 5 minute Uber ride to Georgetown for Dinner. Don't remember if they have a pool but the Hotel was very nice.

Also stayed at the Grand Hyatt by close to the White House (great hotel) as well as the Crowne Plaza. All 3 were very nice, and not too far from the Metro, which makes it easy to get around.

Key bridge is agood choice.

 

[RutgersSam]

DC is meh. Some good spots in certain neighborhoods but the suburbs are plain as vanilla, to include Arlington and Alexandria.

 

[Armor and Sword]

Read the recent thread on the Cherry Blossom Festival. If that is the time you are going, you will be in the middle of the festival and the trees could be at peak bloom, but with the warm weather we've been having, they could bloom a few days earlier. Anyway, Rooms might be tough to get in some spots or get pricey around that time.

 

[czxqa]

Read the recent thread on the Cherry Blossom Festival. If that is the time you are going, you will be in the middle of the festival and the trees could be at peak bloom, but with the warm weather we've been having, they could bloom a few days earlier. Anyway, Rooms might be tough to get in some spots or get pricey around that time.

They bloom in mid to late March. This would be the tail end of it.

 

[ron313]

Looking to spend a 3-4 day weekend in DC in early April, mostly to bring the kids to see some of the sites and visits some museums. Any suggestions as to hotels? We're looking to stay close to both, the center of town and Georgetown as well. We're considering the Hyatt Place as it seems convenient to both. One requirement is that we would like an indoor pool for the kids. If you've been and can share your experience that would greatly appreciated. My kids BTW are 6 and 8.

Thanks.

Stayed at the Hyatt Regency. Was great and reasonable and pool and loved the location.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Forget where we stayed, but we went to DC right around the time Tyler and Corey were the same age as your kids. Gotta take them to the Air & Space Museum - every kid loves that. (Have they seen Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian?) Also, at the Museum of Natural History, they have the Butterfly Pavilion which the kids get a kick out of.

 

[HeyHuey]

Cafe Mozart for lunch...pick up some Germany soccer hats for the kiddies.

 

[Tango Two]

Looking to spend a 3-4 day weekend in DC in early April, mostly to bring the kids to see some of the sites and visits some museums. Any suggestions as to hotels? We're looking to stay close to both, the center of town and Georgetown as well. We're considering the Hyatt Place as it seems convenient to both. One requirement is that we would like an indoor pool for the kids. If you've been and can share your experience that would greatly appreciated. My kids BTW are 6 and 8.

Thanks.

Here's some suggestions from last week that might be helpful:

https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/ot-dc-cherry-blossom-festival-travel-advice.117261/

 

[Mr.Television]

Since you most likely read the previous D.C. thread, most likely you can find an indoor pool in one of the many brand hotels in this Crystal City area. If you must stay in town, stay at the Hyatt Regency, close to the subway at Union Station. Stay away from Key Bridge Marriott, relatively isolated with no restsurants around. Georggetown is a tourist trap, high priced restaurants.

 

[RU4Real]

Georgetown isn't all bad.

Head to the corner of Prospect St. NW and 36th St NW. Locate these stairs. Pay homage to the late William Peter Blatty by shouting "The power of Christ COMPELS YOU!" and then jump.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Since you most likely read the previous D.C. thread, most likely you can find an indoor pool in one of the many brand hotels in this Crystal City area. If you must stay in town, stay at the Hyatt Regency, close to the subway at Union Station. Stay away from Key Bridge Marriott, relatively isolated with no restsurants around. Georggetown is a tourist trap, high priced restaurants.

He said he wants to visit Georgetown and D.C. Key bridge is perfect for that and also has a pool. It's a bridge to walk Georgetown and he can walk to the metro or zip across into D.C. Very quickly with an uber which are abundant.

 

[jtung230]

Guided tour of the capital building is a must. It's too late to schedule a WH tour. Also enjoyed Astro donuts and fried chicken.

 

[phlop87]

We went a few years ago with my 4 Kids ( at the time 11, 9, 6 and 4) they older kids and I loved the International Spy Museum. Definitely worth the time

 

[Armor and Sword]

They bloom in mid to late March. This would be the tail end of it.

According to this, last year was early and 2013-15 were April 9th and 10th. I predict early bloom this year because of the warm weather. Just remember that DC is almost always 5ish degrees warmer than NJ.
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/about/bloom-watch/

A couple other tidbits:

My favorite hotel in the DMV is Landsdowne Resort. Downside is that its way out in Loudon County VA (Leesburg), at least an hour from DC, less for the closest Metro stop. Great for golfing and three outdoor pools open in the summer. While the exterior says early 90s the interior has been recently updated. Not a bad place to stay if you are going to see NOVA sites like Manassas, Bull Run or Udvar-Hazy Museum, the larger version of Air and Space Museum.

My pick for best museum is Holocaust. It's well curated, it's set up to tell a compelling story and I've learned a few things I did not know about the Holocaust. Emotional and moving too.

My pick for the worst museum is American Indian (except for it's dining, one of the best museum food courts). Little if any telling of Native history, there is more of that in the bookstore than most of it's exhibits. Exhibits are usually focused on the contemporary, modern day tribal experience, a lot of tribal arts and crafts.

Udvar-Hazy Museum out by Dulles is a far better version of Air and Space mostly because it's large, spacious and not as mobbed with people as Air and Space is. Plus it has a Space Shuttle, a spy plane and a Concorde.

 

[newell138]

We were just there a couple months ago, we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Alexandria, excellent. Right across the street from the Metro so you dont have to deal w/ parking in DC. They also have a great free breakfast buffet and at night they have a 2 hour free happy hour which includes some local craft beer that I thought was pretty good along with munchies. We got pretty happy and walked to Lena's Wood Fired Pizza and Tap. Fabulous pizza and good beer choices, also good if you have kids.

 

[Just_my_thoughts]

The security lines for the popular museums can be long if you are carrying bags. The lines for no bags are much shorter.