Hi folks!

At first it may seem to be a silly question, but here's my thoughts:

I'll almost certainly have a flight that arrives in the mid- to late afternoon. I'll be renting a car to get the rest of the way.

DCA: Clearly, *much* closer to Quantico. But, I've heard (and seen!) much about the travel hassles on I-95 anywhere near the beltway, so I'm wondering if.....

RIC: .....if I fly into Richmond, (fares close to those of flying into DCA), even though the distance is a bit more than twice that from DCA, it might be just as quick (or even quicker!) than driving from DCA, with much less traffic and hassle.

An additional consideration: I've never been to Monticello, and if I decide to visit there, I'd almost certainly want to fly into RIC, but otherwise, I"m not sure which airport to use.

So, what's your wisdom on this?

Any/all thoughts and opinions welcome!

Thanks!

What day and time are you arriving? That will have an impact.

Monticello is in Charlottesville, which does make the calculus swing more to RIC.

Definitely DCA if you aren't doing Montecello. Will be easier and cheaper to get to Quantico if you don't want to rent a car, but even if you do rent a car DCA is much closer.

If you fly into DCA, hotels are better in the Springfield/Alexandria/Arlington area and closer to DC attractions. All of those areas are on the subway lines into DC. Unfortunately no subways to Quantico.

dca to quantico is a straight, well marked route, no turns. after 3pm, i 95 is traffic terrible. the hov lanes back up worse than the regular lanes. at 1pm, not a bad trip.

from richmond, everybody knows how to get to dc(and back to airport), so road signs are terrible. hotels and motels in north suburbs of richmond(short pump for example) are cheap, clean and quiet. great free breakfast.

I say DCA.

In fact, if fares to IAD are comparable, that might be a good compromise. You can travel from IAD to Quantico in a similar amount of time as DCA if you are arriving in Washington around rush hour.

If you are arriving into Washington at an "off-peak" time, DCA is the way to go.

Adding Monticello to your itinerary would change things to the extent that you're going there at the front or back end of your trip.

Mid-to-late afternoon and Monticello are your deciders here. If you get in any time between 3 and 6, it will take you just as long to get to Quantico from IAD or DCA as it would from RIC, but from RIC you'll at least be moving. I don't think slawecki's road signage concerns are really that big a deal; north out of RIC on VA 156 (the exit everyone uses) past I-64 to I-295 north to I-95, then the reverse coming back.

If you know you'll do Monticello, as a local I would suggest putting CHO in the mix on similar terms as RIC. It's 20 minutes farther from Quantico, but the extreme simplicity of CHO (6 gates, rental cars right outside the terminal door, right-right-left and you're on US 29 north) vs. RIC (more tangled access than an airport that size really merits) is worth it.

I don't recall the tangled access you are refering to with RIC. Did something change there? Last time I flew from their was about 8 years ago. I've gone there from different directions..from when I lived in Fredericksburg and when I lived in Norfolk area. What I didn't do was rent a car from there.

Late afternoon drive you should be fine with traffic driving up from RIC. The only issue is if you choose hotel options in stafford or Fredericksburg then you will run into commuter traffic going to/ from quantico. If you chose a hotel look on the north side of quantico in dumfries or Woodbridge.

Unsure when you are traveling....be careful not to try and do monticello on a day of a UVA home football game.

One factor is that there are a lot more flights in and out of DCA than RIC. So you have options for irrops.

And Richmond traffic north is no picnic. I was driving home from there yesterday (admittedly a Sunday). The slow part of the trip was from 295 to just before King's Dominion.

Fredericksburg is also another frequent choke spot on I-95.

Let me throw out another possibility that may work (depending on your need for a car).

Take Metro from DCA to Crystal City or King Street in Alexandria, and get on VRE for Quantico. It drops you off right in the middle of the base I believe.

Other options include flying into charlottesville if you're going to monticello. Depending on what time you're getting in, amtrak can also take you into quantico from either direction and it's not too long of a ride. That would mean having to get from the airport to a train station. (It would be a quick metro ride on the dca end or a $30 cab on the ric end).