How to get from BWI to DCA.
 

As part of a trip in Jan. I am arriving at BWI and leaving the next day from DCA.
Looking for advice on how to get there.

Thank in advance.

If it's a weekday, there are MARC trains from BWI to Union Station in DC, then you could take the metro from there to DCA. It's not too painful. Or you could take a shuttle (It's might cost around $25).

The prices may be off, but this old thread might help.

The area's public transportation will work perfectly for you.

If you were to go directly between the airports, the quickest would probably be to take the BWI airport shuttle to the MARC Penn Line/Amtrak station, either MARC or Amtrak to Union Station, the Metro Red Line to Gallery Pl/Chinatown, and the Yellow Line to DCA.

If you happen to board an Amtrak train continuing south of DC, you could take that past Union Station to Alexandria and then backtrack from there to DCA on the Yellow Line, but that may actually be slower than using Metro from Union Station, depending on the Amtrak train's layover at Union Station.

IIRC, there's also a cheaper way to do it involving a bus from BWI to the Greenbelt Metro station, but it won't be as fast and is probably more confusing.

Of couse, if you're not leaving until the next day, you'll probably end up staying somewhere overnight, in which case you can see other options for getting out of BWI and into DCA at http://www.toandfromtheairport.com.

I assume a moderator will be moving this shortly to the DC forum, as that is probably the more appropriate place for this. :)

For even further advice, let me move this to our Travel->Washington, DC forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

The Metrobus B30 (www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/md/b30.pdf) runs every 40 minutes for $3.10. Takes you quickly from BWI to the Greenbelt Metro station - 35 minutes or so. Take the Green Metrorail line into the city and change to the Yellow line at any of the 9 stations where the Green and Yellow lines share the track (suggest doing it at Fort Totten station). Yellow line takes you directly to DCA. Metrorail cost varies with time of day - $2.35 outside of rush hour, $4.50 during rush hour.

The B30 bus may actually be less confusing as it leaves right from the terminal at BWI and there is good signage to the stop. It goes to the Greenbelt metro station, which is on the green line. For DCA, change to the yellow line at Mount Vernon Square (same platform, train will be labeled Huntington).

I really hate the shuttle bus between BWI and the airport train station, so I may be biased.

Note that the Yellow Line only runs to/from Fort Totten off-peak. At rush hour, it terminates at Mount Vernon Square.

B30 bus to Greenbelt metro is easiest, cheapest and most convenient way to go.

FYI, MARC trains do NOT leave directly from BWI. You need to get to one of the train stations nearby.