Washington DC 2012? I need a little help please!

My sister has arranged a week in North Carolina on the Outer Banks as a bit of a family reunion. I have not been to Cape Hatteras since I was 5 so I am soo looking forward to it!

We are flying into Dulles since I have extended family in the area, so we can take a couple of days to re-visit them and the city. I did visit frequently as a child, but have not been there much as an adult. R was there in his twenties.

We plan on booking a place to stay so as not to impose on the relatives too much so can anyone give us recommendations for great neighborhoods to stay in? Or even ones to avoid?  Most of the relatives live in Hyattsville, but i know the Metro is easy enough to use.

Somewhere easy enough to drive to from Dulles, park for 2 days, potter about the city, and escape south towards NC. Is that a tall order? 

So...are you wanting to stay in DC itself or in Virginia? That will drive most of the recommendations, I think.  And you will have a rental car, right?

Yes, I think it will be easiest just to rent the car at Dulles as we are returning directly there after the holiday so we will be stuck with it.

I've never stayed in VA before as we always stayed in Hyattsville. But I think it would be nice to be in DC itself so we can have quick access to the sights. We arrive on a Thursday afternoon (7 June) and will be leaving on Saturday morning.

Airbnb has a list of neighborhoods you can select from, but I have no ideas which ones are safe/nice/hip etc.

Okay, so based on their list, if you want to be in the thick of things, I'd pick:

Adams Morgan
Capitol Hill
Downtown
Dupont Circle
Foggy Bottom
Georgetown
Glover Park
Mount Vernon Square

I'm guessing these areas will be more expensive and you will likely have a harder time parking the car, but you will be close to lots of things and will have easy access to public transit.


These neighborhoods are what I'd call on the edge...lots of young people, slowly gentrifying, not necessarily the nicest parts of town, some parts are safe and nice but some not really safe:

Columbia Heights
U Street
Ledroit Park
Logan Circle

You can screen out a lot of the Virginia and Maryland neighborhoods (too far out from downtown DC if you only have two days). I'd use the map feature to see how far away you're comfortable with.

Excellent! Thanks so much! That is exactly the kind of direction I needed. 

No problem! Glad it was useful.

I lived in DC for most of my adult life before moving to the UK, so I am super familiar with the area as well.  I recommend staying in Rosslyn in Virginia, which is right across the Key Bridge from Georgetown in DC- it will be cheaper to stay and easier to park the car, and there is the Rosslyn Metro stop there that will take you anywhere in the city you'd like to go! You can also walk accross the Key Bridge (it has a safe sidewalk) to get right into Georgetown which is a fantastic neighborhood for eating and shopping.  Parking is serious business in DC, it is difficult to park on the street for more than 2 hours at a time, and parking lots/garages in DC can be expensive as well.  Be warned the rush hours in the area are brutal and long (although you may know this from your previous visits to the area)! Feel free to PM me or reply here and I'd be happy to offer any other advice! 

Thanks for the suggestions! We will have a look at Rosslyn too.

I live in DC now -- moving to the U.K. in August. I agree with Rosslyn suggestion -- it's on two metro lines, offers easy access to several highways and you can walk to Georgetown on a whim.

We stayed at the Phoenix Park Hotel and it was lovely! It's right next to Union Station and the red line. I'm not sure what the parking situation is like with them since we didn't have a car.

There's also the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. I've never stayed there, but well, it's in close proximity to my job. The green line picks up right below it (also the blue, orange, and yellow), which is handy for getting to Hyattsville. It's just off 395 and 14th Street, so pretty easy to get to from Dulles and easy to get back out and head south on 95. It's also just blocks away from the National Mall and all that jazz. There's a parking lot below the building.

I've stayed at L'Enfant Plaza a few times on business trips, when I had meetings there. Very convenient for the Mall and most government offices, but quite pricey. It's also getting older now, and unless it's had a recent refurb, there may be better options. Parking at L'Enfant Plaza was also expensive as I remember, and there are no 'street options'.

I too would stay in VA near a metro stop, and Rosslyn would be one of my choices. There's a couple of older hotels over in Bethesda, that are convenient, but they were headed down years ago, so couldn't recommend either. I would avoid ANYTHING in Prince George County MD because some of the n-hoods even near the beltway can be intimidating.