IAD - DCA advice please
 

We will be arriving IAD at 2:55 pm on a Monday from Munich. We fly out of DCA the next morning at 8:10. Having read several posts regarding heavy rush hour and long taxi lines at IAD we are concerned.

Our strategy is to stay overnight near Dulles, retire early, grab a taxi around 6:00 am to DCA. Having never been to DC before we're not sure if this is a realistic plan. Please advise.

Bill

Why not stay near DCA, and then have an easy trip out in the morning? There are tons of hotels near DCA that have shuttles or are located on the Metro (There is a stop at DCA).

^

This is a way safer bet than trying to deal with a transfer in the morning.

Staying near DCA should also give you metro access to do something fun for dinner (if you're up for it) in the district!

+1.
OP's strategy doesn't make sense, I'm afraid. Arriving at IAD at 1500, he/she will have plenty of time to make it to DCA. Should be in hotel by that airport by 1730 latest allowing for any bad baggage delays and traffic. That way OP is within minutes of DCA departure and can have leisurely dinner and breakfast. And easily get on morning flight with no anxiety.

I strongly agree with brendog. There are a lot of hotels at Crystal City which is about 5 to 10 minutes or less to DCA. Good luck and fly safe!

Yes, our original plan was to simply hop in a cab for transfer to DCA, having a quiet evening. We know we'll be tired after that long flight and not sure we want to sit in traffic so we thought an early morning taxi ride might be a better choice but maybe that's not the best approach.

So it sounds like you folks would not be intimidated by the potential heavy traffic to DCA in the afternoon. We will be visiting DC on the outbound segment of our trip so we'll probably only be interested in a good night sleep.

Bill

For the most part, you'll be going against traffic from IAD to DCA on a Monday afternoon. I would expect a few slowdowns, but nothing horrible; probably a 30-45 minute ride. Traffic in the morning would be much, much worse, as people from the burbs will be heading into Arlington and DC.

Depending as to whether or not you'll be interested in heading out at all, you can either grab a generic business hotel in Crystal City, which is a mile or 2 from DCA, or grab a hotel in Old Town Alexandria, which would allow you to stroll around a bit and grab a nice dinner. Either way, you'll be within 15 minutes of DCA in the morning.

Agree with the above comments. Its much, much worse to try to get to DCA in the morning from the IAD area than in the afternoon.

For an 8:00 departure, I'd leave no later than 5:45 or 6:00 am (earlier if you have no status). Traffic on the toll road can be murder (although with three of you, you can use I-66 inside the Beltway).

Stay in Arlington on Monday night (either Crystal City, Pentagon City or Ballston) and take it easy that night. From Crystal City, your transit time to DCA is all of about 5 minutes. Or stay in Old Town Alexandria and spend about 10 to 15 minutes getting to DCA that morning.

good thing you asked. i would put the odds on a 6am start to catch an 810 out at 3 out of 4.

go to google maps. type in 22101. select google traffic. this morning, easy trip in hr and a half or so. check again tomorrow., then stay near dca. the taxi line at pm at iad is rotten, but with 16 hrs, you are certain to make it to dca on time. lot of decent restaurants in noVA. if you want restaurant recommendations, what kind of food, and what price? lot of good ethnic in the area.

Leave IAD the day you arrive, stay close to DCA. You WILL hit heavy traffic in the morning. No traffic from IAD to DCA in the afternoon.

If you choose to proceed to a DCA-area hotel on the day you arrive from MUC, you'll be on the Dulles Access road, a limited access road not subject to rush hour traffic issues, for the 15 miles from Dulles to the I-66 merge. You'll be I-66, which is subject to heavier traffic, for about 9 miles. You may hit sluggish traffic on I-66, but I can't imagine your total travel time would exceed one hour (most likely around 40 minutes).

If you stay at a Dulles Airport hotel (except the Marriott at Dulles) the night of your arrival, you won't be able to access the Dulles Access road the next morning on your drive to DCA and will instead be on the very-heavily trafficked Dulles Toll road.

I definitely agree with the other advice you've received: stay near DCA and avoid the stress.

Advice taken and much appreciated
 

Having grown up in southern CA one of my goals when traveling is obviously to avoid any potential traffic nightmares. With all these great responses I now have a much clearer picture of the DC traffic patterns and will certainly heed the helpful advice and head directly to DCA area, once again proving you can't beat these boards for quality info. Thank you.

Bill

one other possibility is to stay in DC. It's an easy cab ride from the dupont circle area, for example to DCA. Maybe 15 minutes max. Advantage is much more interesting environment. No offense, NoVa fans, but no one has ever called pent city, ballston or crystal city interesting.

You may well be too tired to think about anything but sleep, but you do have more options than the area near Reagan.

I do admit though that there are pretty good restaurants in NoVa, better than DC!

Sorry, but going to have to disagree with you on Ballston. Plenty to do there - restaurants, shops, hotels, the Kettler ice area (hell you, might even see the Capitals practicing).

I would stay somewhere nice in downtown DC, have a nice dinner and then grab a cab at 6:30 AM. That will give you plenty of time to make an 8:10 AM flight and you can see and do something genuinely fun.