Hello All,

As the title says, I will be in town for two days in Oct.

I was looking at staying at the W near the White House. Is that area well-located when taking food and shopping into account? I plan to do the typical touristy stuff (visiting national sites, etc.)

Also, which airport should I fly into when taking into account that I am relying on the subway and won't have a car?

Appreciate good food (not too fancy) recommendations. Thank you.

The W is perfectly located for touristy stuff and has a very nice, albeit eye-wateringly expensive, rooftop bar. DCA is, by far, the easiest airport for relying on Metro, as IAD is in the boonies with infrequent and time-consuming bus service. Insofar as food, DC is not a great restaurant town, but there are a handful of good choices nearby to your hotel, depending as to your preferences.

The area around the White House is dead at night. I advise visitors staying in hotels who are coming for tourism reasons to say in the Gallery Place/Chinatown area, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, or Capitol Hill neighborhoods. There will be much more in the way of restaurants, bars, coffee houses, and shops, especially at night. In the daytime, I expect you'll be at museums, monuments, etc.

The W hotel is quite nice, though at the pricier end of the spectrum as one might expect.

Not at all! The rstaurant scene is booming, especially along 14th street. Only problem is long, long waits and difficulties getting tables. But as someone said, not a lot of dining options near the W -- but central DC is small, so they're within an easy cab or Metro ride (or walk, if you're so inclined).

I'm sure others will have varying opinions on what to do while you are in town, but I thought I'd share a few ideas. My wife's brother is visiting this summer with his boys (first time to DC) so we are jam packing 2 days with them. We are being as "touristy" as possible. The difference with them is that they are staying in Crystal City:

Sunday
- George Washington Masonic Temple ($8) (opens 9:00)
- Brunch in Old Town Alexandria
- Water Taxi to Georgetown ($)
- Pictures in front of White House
- Ford's Theater
- Paid Museum Downtown? ($): Crime Museum (closes 7:00) / Spy Museum (7:00) / Newseum (5:00)
- Dairy Godmother for Dessert

Monday
- Arlington National Cemetery / Tomb of the Unknowns (opens 8:00)
- Lincoln Memorial
- Tidal Basin: Vietnam, Korean, MLK, FDR, Jefferson Memorials
- Washington Monument 12:00
- WWII Memorial
- Museum of American History (closes 5:30)
- Museum of Natural History (closes 7:30)
- National Archives (closes 5:30)
- Air & Space Museum (closes 7:30)

DCA. There is no other option.

Pretty much have to agree. You -could- do BWI, but why would you?

DC dining is a curious thing - unlike other cities where I've lived such as Boston or Chicago. In DC you won't find, with one exception, moderately priced ethnic, except for very good Ethiopian. You won't find good examples of american regional cooking. You will find expensive, expense account/lobbyist oriented steak places. You will find ultra-trendy restaurants that focus on novelty and cater to millenials.

It's interesting, too, to see how the goegraphic clusters have differentiated. 14th street is solid trendy millenial. Dupont Circle is diverse with a heavy tourist/conventioneer orientation - no surprise given the number of huge hotels nearby. U street is millenial with more of a bohemian flavor. Georgetown appeals to the Georgetown University parent/student types. Anything within a reasonable walk of the Whitehouse is solid lobbyist (i.e ultraexpensive), most likely with a steak focus. And a huge swath, from 22nd street to at least 10th st, and K street to the mall is dead outside working hours. It would be hard to find anything on a weekend.

Shopping? Basics at Macy's. Not much else. We locals go to the burbs for shopping. However, a short metro ride on the Red Line takes you to Friendship Heights on the DC/MD border with some mid to high end stores not in a mall setting.

Finally, if you like art, the National Gallery is a must see. And 4 blocks north is the National Portrait Gallery and museum of american art, in a great building with a great enclosed courtyard and a good, reasonably priced cafe for lunch. The latter is my favorite, especially the storage area on the top floor. Hirschhorn, Sackler etc. are good too, but smaller.

Lastly, the dino exhibit is closed for the next five years, if that's your thing, you lose.

Old Ebbitt Grill is right next to the W and I've never had a bad meal there. It's touristy bc of it's location but IMO the food is good.

Zaytinya is also quite good and walking distance from the W over on 9th and G. It's Mediterranean tapas style - it's not cheap but it's not terribly expensive depending on how many dishes you order - and the fresh (and hot) pita and hummus is amazing

Everyone in this thread has offered great advice!! DCA is a very convenient airport to fly in/out of. There is a metro stop there. I would suggest buying a Smart trip Card either at the Station or buy one before you are arrive. It is truly Smart to use. You can use the Metro bus, Metro, most of the Regional buses(Fairfax Connector, Ride On etc).

As for touristy things to do.... I would suggest visiting someplace that opens at 8-830 am( Library of Congress and Arlington Cemetery) until the Smithsonian Museums open at 10am. My 5 favorite Museums are the Sackler/Freer(Asian Art, Usually never a crowd when I am there), Natural History( Huge Science etc fan), US History(not a huge fan of the big crowds that could be there but it is great), American Indian Museum and the Air And Space Museum in Dulles. I would pick 2-3 museums to visit from 10-530 pm each day. Then do the Monuments and Memorials from that time period until it gets dark. Really depends on what you are interested in but I highly suggest you find time for Arlington Cemetery, National Archives and Library of Congress.

If you need any help, don't hesitate and PM me! I have lived here 94 and I love it. Plus I am very knowledgeable about the touristy things in DC.

You now have Nordstrom Rack on 18th and L.

I like the Hirschhorn. National Gallery could take all day.

National Gallery can indeed take all day, but of course one benefit of all the Smithsonian museums is free admission. No need to feel like you need to get your money's worth out of it. Many of them will produce overload if you try to see the whole place at one shot, but fortunately one doesn't have to.

Buying the SmarTrip cards is a good idea - since now the cards are only $2.00 (they used to be $5 each), and there is a $1.00 surcharge for rail trips on a paper ticket. One round trip and you've paid for the card in the surcharges avoided.

[pedantry] The National Gallery isn't actually a Smithsonian museum, although it has a free-admission policy as well. [/pedantry]

As others have already pointed out, DC's dining scene is rather lame. There *are* some good restaurants, but they're far outnumbered by mediocre, overpriced places.

If you like Ethiopian, try Ethiopic on H Street NE, or Dukem on U St. NW. As already noted, Ethiopian food is basically the only ethnic cuisine that DC proper does well. Otherwise you have to trek out to the burbs.

Also, shopping in DC is flat-out bad. There's very little in the way of local flavor. Most of it is mid-market chain or mall stores, with a preponderance of stores (e.g., Ann Taylor, Jos. A. Bank) selling boring clothes that Republican lobbyists would wear to work. Georgetown has a bit more in the way of variety - but honestly not much. If you want to shop, there's always Pentagon City Mall in Virginia - reachable quite easily by Metro.

From my perspective, DC's dining scene is fine - it just isn't for tourists. Cheap, ethnic cuisine rings the city rather than being in the center, because DC's ethnic communities established themselves much later than in most industrial cities and established themselves in the suburbs. Even the Ethiopian which you suggest is better found on Georgia Avenue at the DC-Silver Spring border.

Sure there are plenty of steak and cigar smoke (virtual nowadays) places for the lobbyists, but there are plenty of places which appeal to the well-healed international set as well - Rasika, Taberna del Alabardero, Izakaya Seki, Obelisk, Zaytinya, etc. They aren't cheap, but that is to be expected when many of DC's surrounding counties are amongst the richest in the US, and there are lots of DINKs and well-paid single folk in the city.

Pretty good advice. If I was a tourist and staying 2 nights in D.C., I would first look at something around Gallery Place/Chinatown and then Georgetown, though Metro accessibility there is much more limited given the location of the Foggy Bottom station.