Will be visiting Washington D.C. this summer for about 4 nights, along with my two sons, ages 10 and 14. Have heard positive things about staying in the city, but also have heard from others who claim it is a much easier experience if you stay in Arlington or surrounding cities and take the Metro into DC each day. I would love to hear from anyone who has been there with kids and has an opinion on this. Also, any recommendations for kid friendly places to stay would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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DC is a great place to go with kids. I started taking mine
when they were still in the GerryCarrier stage (on my back).
The Smithsonian always has something interesting going on,
beside the normal stuff. A neat place to do a picnic lunch
(or buy it there, although it's getting a bit expensive) is
the old Post Office building. It's got one of those food
court things. Also, the mall is huge and is a good place to
just let kids run. Depending on when you're there, you may
see miles of school buses with a million kids running
around.
I have stayed in DC both on business and with family. On
the whole I would not recommend staying in town. The metro
is extreamly clean, fast, and reliable, and nice hotels in
town are not cheap. Out in Maryland or in N.Virginia you
can find almost anything from super posh to motel 6. When I
travel on business I stay in posh, with family at motel 6.
Don't know if you're a Yank, but our government spent
indulgently on the development of the DC metro. I have
driven in-town DC, but traffic is a pain and parking is hard
to find. I'd park my rental car at the park-and-ride, take
the metro and walk in town.
Be careful on your museum planning. Most of them are not
open at night, and most of the inhabitants head back to the
suburbs. If you can get a rental car, I would also plan on
heading south to Manassas for a day. The park service has
done a nice job with the battlefield parks.
We live in Northern Virginia (a DC suburb) and highly recommend staying out of town. The rates in the District are very high. We had a large group of friends come last year and stay at the Holiday Inn in Fairfax. There is a free shuttle to the Metro (subway). A swimming pool. A shopping mall across the parking lot. MUCH cheaper rental car rates and much much cheaper room rates. Plus the people in the suburbs are nicer!!! ; )
DC is a great place... i went there when i was eleven and
loved it...
it's kind of far off (30 min or so) but Annapolis, MD is
worth a look at. of course, your kids might become so
engrossed in Annapolis that they won't want to go to DC!
it's extremely safe, me and my sister ran all around the
harbor area of downtown by ourselves when we were 11 and
13. there's a place near the harobor called Market Square
where food is cheap and you can find just about anything
there (it'sll be marked on any tourist map). if you don't
want to break your budget spending the WHOLE time in DC,
i'd look into it.
-m
Hi- We lived for a year in the dc area with an 8 and 10
year old. We were tourists for a year. My favorites of
things to do... the FBI tour is very good and never
crowded. Get there early so you don't get bumped for the
day (early is 8:00). Mt. Vernon has added a lot of outdoor
stuff in the last few years, in addition to a wonderful
house and grounds tour. It is one of the few things which
will cost you to go see. If you are in dc during the folk
life festival, it is well worth at least a 1/2 day on the
mall. And to eat, try the Clarendon stop on the yellow
line. There are also some reasonable hotels in that area.
The zoo has a tremendous new exhibit on the world in the
next millenium, the postal museum is rarely crowded and a
wonderful thing to combine with Union station. My favorite
monuments are the Jefferson and the FDR. Also, the Newseum
in Arlington is a fun experience. My personal favorite in
the Smithsonian is the American History (lotsa hands on),
but it is often quite crowded in the summer. Try Oodles
Noodles downtown if your kids want an experience. My kids
favorite Vietnamese place is the Queen Bee (and they are
VERY picky eaters). Have fun.
I have lived about 90 minutes from DC for my whole life, and
so I'm sort of a perpetual tourist in the Capitol!
I HIGHLY recommend the smithosonian air and space musem for
kids. however, it is VERY crowded in the summertime.
you'll enjoy yourself more if you go on a weekday rather
than a weekend, and if you go there earlier in the day.
highlights include the space shuttle you can walk into and
the moon rock (right at the front entrance) you can touch.
Also, the imax movies are just great, they change seasonally
-although you know much better than i do how your kids will
respond to a 30 minute movie; if nothing else, it is a free,
dark, sort of calm atmosphere where you can rest and recover
from all the excitement!
Also, go see the big brass dinosaurs outside the musem of
natural history before you actually go inside. sounds
silly, but my brother and sisters and i went crazy climbing
on them, and it got some of our energy out before we went
into that musem. The musem itself is wonderful, especially
the dinosaur exhibit. It's easy to get to on the first
floor.
The other smithsonian recommendation I have is in the musem
of American History. There is an AWESOME hands-on science
center for kids. you'll need to duck in early-ish in the
day to get tickets, but the tix are free and it is really
worth it. My fiancee worked there a summer ago and I can
attest that the program there is super. They run a bunch of
different experiments that the kids really DO get to try on
their own, with a leader showing them stuff. for example,
fun with dry ice, acid/base chemistry, DNA extraction (it
looks like floss! and more.
DO NOT stay in the city--it is not worth the extra expense.
the metro is safe, clean, and pretty exciting for kids who
do not spend a lot of time on public transport of that kind.
My advice is to get a Metro map and choose one of the cities
at the end of the rail lines. (Rockville or Potomac, MD,
Shady Grove, etc)The ride into the city is not too terrible,
and you'll feel safer in the suburbs at night with kids.
(not to mention the price cut in hotels!)
Also recommend the national zoo as a day trip, and the Inner
Harbor in Baltimore. (anywhere from 30 min to 1 hour away,
depending on where you are staying) Baltimore has a
fabulous aquarium at the harbor, tix are rather expensive
but its the best aquarium i have ever seen. it is also
incredibly kid-friendly. Give me an email if you have more
questions; DC is a great trip, and I could write suggestions
for paragraphs more; I hope these are helpful! -erica
I've lived in the Virginia suburbs for more than 25 years,
have two children 5 and 9. I second many of the suggestions
already posted. Smithsonian musuems (www.si.edu) are great,
especially Air and Space, but very crowded in summer. IMAX
theater in Air & Space has very good films; see 'To Fly'. I
don't think they're free but they are cheap; buy tickets as
soon as you get to the museum as showings sell out early.
Folk Life Festival is June 23-July 4. Zoo is good and is on
Metro line. Tours of the White House and Capitol Building
are interesting but also crowded; the White House tour in
particular is an exercise in mass movement. You can contact
your US Representative or Senator ahead of time to get
tickets to early-morning (like 8 AM, 9 AM maybe?) tours of
the White House that are smaller and more informative;
tickets are in limited supply. Likewise passes to the
visitors galleries in the House and Senate are available
from your Representative or Senator and allow you more time
to sit and watch than the mass public tours allow. (But
Congress may not be in session when you visit so not much to
see from the galleries.) Postal Museum, Union Station good
places and on Metro. Jefferson, Lincoln, Vietnam, FDR
memorials, Bureau of Engraving and Printing all good but
lots of walking since not on Metro (Engraving and Printing
not too far a walk). Washington Monument is a "have-to" but
note it is undergoing restoration this year. You can still
get to the top but view is partly obstructed by scaffolding.
It has a new visitors' center that is said to be interesting
but I've not been there. Mount Vernon is a good place to
visit but not on Metro line. Likewise Old Town Alexandria,
a cheaper, calmer alternative to Georgetown. (Georgetown
isn't on the Metro either.) Arlington Cemetery another good
place; your boys will like the changing of the guard at the
Tomb of the Unknowns. It's on the Metro but a looong walk
uphill. The Tourmobile is a great way to get around to all
of the DC attractions, including Arlington, but is also
crowded in the summer (www.tourmobile.com). Other trips to
Baltimore, Annapolis, Manassas etc. are very interesting but
you may not have time in just 4 days. I agree it is easier
and cheaper to stay in suburbs rather than downtown, and
Metro is fun to ride, reasonable in price and reliable
(www.wmata.com). Buying fare cards can be confusing the
first time. Parking downtown is non-existent or very
expensive, traffic is bad news, especially for
out-of-towners. Virginia locations are closer than Maryland
locations to most tourist places (www.seedcstayva.com).
Find a place on or near a Metro line. Having access to a
swimming pool is a great idea; DC can be god-awful hot and
humid in the summer. Embassy Suites has a place across the
street from the King Street station in Alexandria and they
have great breakfasts and a pool. Send me an e-mail for
more specifics if you like.