If you're traveling to Washington DC I'm going to tell you about the best areas where you can stay.
Welcome to Trip Hacks DC. My name is Rob. I'm a tour guide here in the nation's capital. If you're coming to Washington DC
and you're looking for the best tips, tricks, and hacks for exploring the city, make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell
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And if you're interested in signing up for a Trip Hacks DC tour, head on over to TripHacksDC.com
afterwards, to see the tours that I offer. If you've traveled to Washington DC before, leave a comment on this video and let me know
where you like to stay and why. A very common question that people send through TripHacksDC.com goes something like this:
I'm traveling to Washington DC for the first time and I don't know anything about the city. Can you please recommend an area
that's safe and convenient for tourists?
I understand that finding a place to stay can be challenging because there are an almost overwhelming
number of options here. To help with this I have created the Trip Hacks DC
Recommended Hotels guide, which you can access by heading over to www.triphacksdc.com/hotels. In this video
I'm going to tell you about 11 areas of the city where I would recommend staying
ranked in order from which I consider the best. These areas line up exactly with the Recommended Hotels guide
and I've created a Google Map
that shows you where they are as well. So the cool thing is that if you have your eye on a particular hotel
but it's not in my guide you can plug it into the Google Map and it'll put a pin on the map showing you whether
it's in one of my 11 areas or not. I will leave a link to the guide, the map and all of the resources
I'm mentioning in this video in the description. Now,
let's jump in to the eleven areas... the best area in my opinion for tourism and general sightseeing is downtown,
specifically the area around the White House. For most people this is a good mix of being close to sightseeing,
transportation, and some restaurants and nightlife. If being close to transportation is important, depending on exactly where you stay, you could be close to all
six metro lines; but in a lot of cases you'll be able to walk to whatever destination you're going to because it'll be so close.
The next area I recommend is around our Convention Center.
Washington DC hosts a ton of big events so it makes sense that there are a lot of hotels near the Convention Center
to accommodate all the attendees. If you're coming in for an event at the Convention Center
then staying here is a no-brainer; however these hotels are well located for the general tourist as well.
You'll be within walking distance of the Capitol and the museums on the National Mall.
This is also a great area if you're attending a concert or a game at the Capital One Center (formerly the Verizon Center)
and you don't want to have to worry about transportation or getting back to your hotel
after the game. The next area is what I'm calling Georgetown /
Foggy Bottom. The most important thing you need to know about hotels that have the word
"Georgetown" in the name is that most of them are not actually in the heart of Georgetown.
They're usually about 1/2 to 1 mile down the street from the main intersection of
Wisconsin and M Streets. If you're looking for the highest-end hotels in DC
this is where you will find them. The Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Fairmount and Park Hyatt are all in this area.
There are also plenty of more modest hotel brands in this area as well like, Embassy Suites,
Hilton Garden, and Hyatt Place. This area is best if you want to be close to Georgetown for whatever reason. It's not too far from
the monuments on the National Mall
and you can use the Foggy Bottom metro station for fairly easy transportation. The next area is around
Dupont Circle. Most hotels in this area are actually not too far from the ones
I mentioned in the Georgetown area, but they're a little bit closer to the Dupont Circle metro,
rather than the Foggy Bottom metro. This area is best if you want to be close to nightlife.
There's a decent number of bars on Connecticut Avenue right near Dupont Circle;
but more importantly you're within walking distance of the Adams Morgan corridor and the U Street corridor,
two of the biggest nightlife areas in DC. For general sightseeing this isn't a bad choice.
It's a little bit farther away from the National Mall than some of the other options
but it's not bad; and of course you'll have Metro there if you need it as well. The next area is around Union Station. The
Capitol is only about a half mile north of Union Station
so the hotels in this area serve the dual purpose of serving train travelers and general tourists.
Just like with the Georgetown
hotels, be very careful about any hotel that slaps the words "Union Station" on to its name. Some of them can be as far as
miles away. You want to stay in the area
directly adjacent. The hotels in this area will give you easy access to Metro if you want it,
or you can use DC Circulator to access the museums, the monuments, and the memorials on the National Mall. The next area is Woodley Park.
There are two big hotels near the Woodley Park
Metro station. They attract a lot of conference business from organizers who don't quite need as much space as they'd get at the Convention Center,
so if you're coming to DC for a conference it's possible you might wind up here. It also means that if you come to DC
during a time when they're not booked up for an event you can get some great deals on these hotels.
This is the best area to stay if you want to be close to the National Zoo. For most other tourism
you're going to be hopping on the Metro, and remember that there's only one line here: the red line. Next is Southwest DC. In
2017 the massive multi-billion dollar Wharf development opened in the southwest quadrant of Washington. There are three
brand-new hotels in this area,
and I personally think this would be one of the coolest areas to stay if I were coming to DC. The big downside is that
the closest metro stations are at least a 10-minute walk away.
But there is a free Southwest shuttle that will take you to metro stations and the museums on the National Mall.
There are also a few hotels in the southwest quadrant of the city that are typically booked by business people who are traveling to federal
office buildings,
but on weekends these can actually be great options for tourists due to their proximity to the Capitol and National Mall. The biggest downside is
That there isn't a ton of restaurants or nightlife right nearby. The next area is around the Navy Yard Metro.
This is another newly developed area of the city. Nationals Ballpark is located here,
so if you're coming to DC for a baseball game, this is the ideal area to stay. For general sightseeing
it's not a bad option as well. The Capitol is about a 20 minute walk to the north and most hotels are very close to
the Navy Yard metro station,
so you can hop on the Green Line to get elsewhere. The next three areas are actually going to be in Virginia, not Washington DC.
I generally recommend that people try to stay in the city, if possible, because it's just much more convenient; however
I understand that people have many reasons for choosing the areas where they stay, so I wanted to make sure I mentioned a few
suburban locations as well. Crystal City is located directly adjacent to Ronald Reagan National Airport,
so this is the ideal location for airport travelers or those who need to catch a really early morning flight. For general sightseeing
it's actually not bad either because it's only three stops on the yellow line to get into the National Mall. Next is the area that
I'm calling North Arlington. If you are going to stay in Virginia, my recommendation is not to venture any farther west than
the Rosslyn or Court House metro stations. Once you start getting farther away
Metro fares start going up. Remember that that's because Metro doesn't charge a flat fee
but rather charges you based on how far you travel, so if you're trying to stay really far away to save money on a hotel
you have to be careful that any savings isn't being wiped out in higher Metro fares.
That said, if you are adamant about staying in the suburbs, this would be my preferred location. Lastly,
let's talk about Old Town Alexandria. Old Town is a
fantastic historic area that I often recommend for people who are looking for a fun day trip.
There's plenty of great
restaurants, shopping, and things to see and do; however it is quite a bit farther away from DC than a lot of people realize. You
Can use Metro from the King Street station or an uber or taxi to get into DC, but if you're staying here
but spending majority of your time in the city,
commuting costs can start to add up. So my
recommendation is to stay in Old Town if you think you're going to spend 50% or more of your time in Old Town. And
that's it!
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where you can see the tours that I offer. Enjoy your trip!