I have to use a weeks vacation time before 1 Sep and we're thinking about visiting the Smithsonian.
We would appreciate any info about where to stay and about transportation to and from the Smithsonian from various hotel/motels.
Any other information or suggestions will also be greatly appreciated.
i just returned sunday from 4 days in crystal city, really most any hotel within walking distance of a metro station will be great, the advantage to crystal city/pentagon city hotels is on the yellow line you are only about 15 minutes or less to l'enfant plaza and a short 3 block walk straight onto the mall right next to the air & space museum. for museums further west on the mall the smithsonian stop on the blue/orange lines works. washington metro works very well for touring the city and surrounding regions, and there is no easy dc parking of any kind so do not even bother with taking a car into the city itself.
i also did a sidetrip out to the smithsonian air & space annex in chantilly, the udvar-hazy center. took the orange line to west falls church, express bus to dulles for $18 roundtrip, leaves every 30 minutes, and then the vrta bus for 0.50 one stop right to the front door. you could drive there, but while the museum is free, parking is $15 i believe you have to pay for using the dulles access road.
i flew from islip, ny to reagan airport for less than i can drive it with gas and tolls calculated, and i was there in 1.5 hours.
One of the really rotten things about staying in/around DC is that the vast majority of hotels will charge you an extra $30 a day (just like NYC) for parking. This pissed me off so bad that last time I stayed in a Marriott suites up in Falls Church that had free parking, free breakfast and is very close to a Metro stop. My daughters both live in the Fairfax/Falls Church area so we have been to DC numerous times. The museums will consume at least a week's worth of visits and you won't even get to see everything. Most are free but there are a few, like the new Crime museum, the Newseum and the International Spy Museum that are worth the money to visit, IMHO. One thing I didn't do last time that I would have liked was to do the White House tour and visit the Zoo. There just wasn't enough time.
Rod,
The Washington Metro web site has some good detailed maps of both the subway and bus systems. These should help you plan how you want to get around during your visit. (as mentioned, Washington is not car friendly, especially during the vacation season when the number of vistors sky rockets. In addition to difficluty in finding street parking and costs of commercial lots, parking enforcement and meter fees are a rapidly expanding cottage industry). Metro has a convoluted fare system so a little time spent on the subway and bus fare pages prior to your arrival would be well worth your time.
The Smithsonian site lists all the institution's museums with pretty good details on current exhibitions, hours, etc. In addition, each individual museum page has a map showing its location as well as the best subway stop or bus to use.
The Smithsonian Associates (run by the Institution) has an active program of courses, lectures, films and events. Once you have finallized your dates you might want to check it out to see if there is something of interest to you. You don't have to be a member to buy tickets to lectures etc. They are at http://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/index.aspx
If you are interested in the grand old days of passenger railroads a visit to Union Station would be interesting for you, particularly if you take your camera. "They" have done a fine job refurbishing a great building. It is a walkable 5 blocks or so from the east end of the Mall. It is also served by the subway.
