We're coming over to Washington in January from U.K. for the first time and I'm trying to work out the best way to get from IAD to Dupont Circle (hotel is literally 2 mins walk so thats all good). Ideally I don't want to use public transport purely because of the cold weather and having big suitcases so its either shuttle bus or taxi.
In a perfect world I'd have added it onto my booking with British Airways and saved myself the worry of getting it right but it doesn't seem to be an option.
Am I right in thinking there seems to be only one shuttle service from the airport? It seems to be getting not so great reviews which on top of my 14 hours travelling and 6 hours time difference will make me weep if it all goes wrong!!
Any ideas would be really gratefully received.
Also any handy hints or tips of bars would be more than appreciated. I will be a bit of a tourist obviously but love to have drinks in bars that are more used by locals. There's no point in visiting a new city without mixing with the people who live there!
For two people, SuperShuttle (which is irritating for a number of reasons) is probably not much savings over a taxi. However, the taxis from IAD are very expensive, too, since Washington Flyer has a monopoly on them. Y
ou can arrange things beforehand with other car services. I can't recommend speciific ones as I use public transit, but I have seen a few people post recommendations in the past.
One public transit option that might make sense is to take the 5A bus to L'Enfant Plaza and take a taxi from there.
As for meeting with locals for drinks, post your travel dates to the DC Happy Hour thread in Community Buzz here and we can probably figure something out.
Programs: CO Plat and too many hotel and rental car programs to bother listing...
Posts: 2,381
You can get a cab or a car service starting at about $75, which is fair considering that IAD is 30+ miles away. Anyhow, there's not a particularly convenient public transit option (Bus plus 2 trains, currently).
DC doesn't have the greatest selection of bars or restaurants, but there are a few good ones. I can tell you that you 100% want to avoid the 18th St strip in Adams-Morgan, the M St strip in Georgetown, and the U St. strip heading east, unless you fancy puking university students and horribly loud music. Personally, I prefer some of the more adult neighbourhood establishments in Glover Park (Breadsoda, Bourbon (It can get loud...)), Bloomingdale (Boundary Stone, Big Bear), Columbia Heights (Further away from the A-M strip), and Cap Hill.
Dupont is a bit of a touristy wasteland, but is centrally located. Prepare for it to be very cold and wet.
You can get a cab or a car service starting at about $75, which is fair considering that IAD is 30+ miles away. Anyhow, there's not a particularly convenient public transit option (Bus plus 2 trains, currently).
isty wasteland, but is centrally located. Prepare for it to be very cold and wet.
i only took the mxp/milan taxi once. even then, the cost was €100. bcn to town was 50 or so. most others i have taken have been the better part of $3 a mile.
I live in Kalorama, just a mile above Dupont Circle. You can expect taxi fare of about $60 then about $10 tip so total of $70. I do the trip to/from IAD several times a year. With a lot of luggage and 2 people there is really no alternative unless you want a rental car or you are truly broke (then you can do public transit, which is much cheaper but quite inconvenient with lots of luggage).
Bars: Can't really answer without info about preferences. As you might guess, there are high-end spiffy bars like at the Willard Hotel, dive places for college students, bars with modern ambience, etc.
Programs: Marriott Silver/Gold, Best Western, Choice, AS, DL, UA, WN
Posts: 1,014
One thing to add---not sure when you arrive....as in time of day.
There are many options for car service from Dulles---alot of it is hush hush because of washington flyer monopoly.
There is a shuttle bus that runs from dulles to national airport...Im not up to date on the schedule. This is designed for people with luggage who need to make connections. You can use this to then connect to the metro system and take yellow line to red line to Dupoont.
Dupont is a food section of DC to stay in. There is a variety of restaurants in that area along the streets that meet there. There is also shoppingoption as well.
FYI--Dupont circle is the gay section of town. You have a chance of going into a gay bar near your hotel.
There are a few other places to eat a few stops away from Dupont along the red line going either way. It depends on your taste.
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum, United Club Life Member
Posts: 808
Quote:
Originally Posted by djp98374
There is a shuttle bus that runs from dulles to national airport...Im not up to date on the schedule. This is designed for people with luggage who need to make connections. You can use this to then connect to the metro system and take yellow line to red line to Dupoont.
There is no bus from Dulles to National - hasn't been for many years now. There is an airport-operated bus (Washington Flyer Coach) which leaves every 30 minutes between Dulles and West Falls Church Metro station on the Orange Line.
The best public transit option from Dulles Airport to Dupont Circle is (1) Metrobus 5A from Dulles getting off at Rosslyn - costs $6. (2) Take the Curculator bus that leaves every 10 minutes, running between Rosslyn and Dupont Circle - costs $1.
Bars: Can't really answer without info about preferences. As you might guess, there are high-end spiffy bars like at the Willard Hotel, dive places for college students, bars with modern ambience, etc.
We normally have a couple drinks/cocktails in 'nice' places while we're away but as a rule we tend to stick to the kind of bars where we can just hang out for a couple of hours, have some drinks and watch the local world go by if that makes sense.
I've got 5 nights (although my first one is normally wiped out by jet lag! We've normally been up for about 18 hrs by the time we get to the hotel so I'm like a tetchy two year old ) so the plan was to maybe cover a different area each night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djp98374
One thing to add---not sure when you arrive....as in time of day.There are many options for car service from Dulles---alot of it is hush hush because of washington flyer monopoly.
There is a shuttle bus that runs from dulles to national airport...Im not up to date on the schedule. This is designed for people with luggage who need to make connections. You can use this to then connect to the metro system and take yellow line to red line to Dupoont.
Dupont is a food section of DC to stay in. There is a variety of restaurants in that area along the streets that meet there. There is also shoppingoption as well.
FYI--Dupont circle is the gay section of town. You have a chance of going into a gay bar near your hotel.
There are a few other places to eat a few stops away from Dupont along the red line going either way. It depends on your taste.
We arrive at 2.45pm so slap bang in the middle of the day. Are there any car services that you'd either recommend or advise me to avoid?
Thanks for the heads up on Dupont being the gay area - I'd not actually noticed!! My guide book has a gay/lesbian section but I completely bypassed it.
Once again thank you so much to everyone for your input - I really do appreciate it.
Thanks for the heads up on Dupont being the gay area - I'd not actually noticed!! My guide book has a gay/lesbian section but I completely bypassed it.
That's actually less true than it used to be. Other than a couple of places on 17th St (which are fairly obvious from the leather and drag queen types hanging around), more of the gay bars are further east now and even Logan Circle is more mixed than it was.
Dupont Circle does, however, tend towards touristy. I think the most local scene there is probably at Kramer Books, which has a bar and a restaurant inside as well as actually selling books (and is open 24 hours on weekends).
If I were going to recommend one bar in the District, I think I'd go for The Passenger on 7th St NW, which is far enough from Gallery Place to avoid the tourist hordes and has interesting cocktails. I've also been to a very nice, more upscale place down the street from that but I am blanking on the name. I do remember it had backlit menus which was well appreciated by those of us with aging eyes.
'll suggest it is also worth the metro excursions to a couple of areas of northern Virginia - both Clarendon and Old Town Alexandria have lots of hangout places. Other DC nightlife hubs are U Street and H Street Northeast, but I think the former is somewhat past its prime and the latter is a bit scary so I will leave it to others to comment.
After a long flight, I would not advise any form of public transportation. Other than Super Shuttle (which is a bad idea for a variety of reasons), there are no shuttles designed for travelers.
Unless money is really an issue, I would strongly advise a car service. Red Top Executive Sedan (not Red Top Taxi, but same company) will send a town car and the cost is $15 over the approx. metered cab fare. They add an 18% gratuity and the total will come to approx. $90. They will meet you inside at the IAB with a placard and help with your luggage for another $15. I use these guys for all trips to/from IAD and they are highly reliable and mean that the journey ends/begins well.
Another option is Uber. That requires an app on a smart phone. You cannot reserve in advance. Flat rate of $85 includes tip. Transaction is billed to a CC on file. Wait time for a car is generally from relatively immediate to as much as 15 mins.
What age group/demographic do you want in your bar scene? DC has lots of interesting places, but they tend to sort along age and demographic - the lobbyists will likely not be in the same places as Hill staffers, for example.
DC is not particularly a college town, George Washington U, American U, Georgetown and Howard notwithstanding, but it is a young town, with far more places catering to 20 something singles than 40 something marrieds (who tend to be in the burbs anyway...)
17th street south of R has a few blocks of decent restaurants and bars mostly catering to the locals. If you like craft beer, (i.e. the stuff UK does not have...) then Churchkey near 14th and P is a great stop - 50 taps and 5 cask lines.
We arrive at 2.45pm so slap bang in the middle of the day. Are there any car services that you'd either recommend or advise me to avoid?
Once again thank you so much to everyone for your input - I really do appreciate it.
I'd consider keeping an eye out on Groupon.com - we had a good experience with a car service that offered a half-off coupon for a Dulles roundtrip transfer. Otherwise, I'd go with the ones already offered.
Also, Groupon can be a good way to sample some of the local restauants too - just watch the T&Cs, and Google them to make sure you're interested. It's not a deal unless you'd be going anyway.
I'd consider keeping an eye out on Groupon.com - we had a good experience with a car service that offered a half-off coupon for a Dulles roundtrip transfer. Otherwise, I'd go with the ones already offered.
Also, Groupon can be a good way to sample some of the local restauants too - just watch the T&Cs, and Google them to make sure you're interested. It's not a deal unless you'd be going anyway.
Thanks for that!! I use Groupon loads in England but it had never occurred to me to think about using it abroad.
I've follow a DC Happy Hour Twitter account now which updates every day with whats going on. Unfortunately I'm normally gutted when I realise that Tuesday seems to be the best day and thats the day I come home
I'd consider keeping an eye out on Groupon.com - we had a good experience with a car service that offered a half-off coupon for a Dulles roundtrip transfer. Otherwise, I'd go with the ones already offered.
Also, Groupon can be a good way to sample some of the local restauants too - just watch the T&Cs, and Google them to make sure you're interested. It's not a deal unless you'd be going anyway.
Thanks for that!! I use Groupon loads in England but it had never occurred to me to think about using it abroad.
I've follow a DC Happy Hour Twitter account now which updates every day with whats going on. Unfortunately I'm normally gutted when I realise that Tuesday seems to be the best day and thats the day I come home
