Can anyone tell me alternatives or ideas on parking? We are going to Rome for seven days this Thanksgiving and IAD parking is $15 per day. We live 4 hrs away so leaving the car at home is not an option.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

D.

Not sure you will do better then that. There is a very good chance they will be full, so you may want to have a plan B (parksleepfly.com or something).

Long term lots over there are only $9 a day, and you won't beat that for a week in the Blue, Green, Gold and Purple lots.

When I was young and single and living in that area I would park at the Holiday Inn and hop on the shuttle to the airport. Once I got back I'd take the shuttle back to my waiting car. Free parking!!

Once I got married and my wife would give me that look if I suggested that option I figured out that it's still cheeper to book a room the night before or after the long trip. Priceline will usually find a hotel around Dulles for about $35-45 where as the blue/green lot would be $63-72 for you week long trip. So book a room the night before, have dinner at the Green Tree up in Leesburg, and get a good night sleep before your flight!

The economy lots are $9/day, which would soften the blow a little. They significantly increased the size of the economy lots, so if you're not flying out on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or perhaps the Tuesday before, you should be OK. I live in Leesburg and I've PM'd you with some more detailed questions I didn't want to put on the open forum.

Link to Dulles parking: http://www.metwashairports.com/Dulle....htm#Long-Term

We have the same dilemma when we fly out of Boston or JFK -- we live in CT, two or more hours away from either airport.

We've tested many different solutions to the problem (including the least-favorite CT Limo, which takes _Forever_ to get to JFK and is pretty expensive). Our best option has consistently been to rent a car one way -- pick up at our nearby local airport, drop off at BOS or JFK, and do the reverse on our return. For two, it is much the cheapest, and least hassle. For one, it breaks almost even with the Limo price, so is still the best option. Only downside is driving back from JFK in late evening, with jetlag...

Depending on where you are driving from, this might work for you too.

You probably are going to end up parking in the gold lot. Take the first entrance, turn right, and keep going. Then drive some more, until you see a lot of empty spaces. Park near a pickup spot. All lots are serviced about equally, so just as well park over there.

One extremely low-cost option is the Herndon-Monroe Park & Ride, a public lot located a few miles east of IAD off the Toll Road.

Parking here is absolutely free and there's no prohibition on overnight parking, unlike in Metro station lots.*

From the park & ride, hop on Metrobus 5A. The bus takes only 8 minutes from the park and ride to the curb in front of the terminal---fare is $3 per person.

The biggest inconvenience to this route is the bus service. The 5A only runs once an hour, from roughly 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and tends to be very crowded with very little room for luggage. But hey, it's cheap. And the buses from the $9 a day long-term parking at the airport are PAINFULLY slow, stopping at every shelter in the designated lot and going a steady, law-abiding 25 mph on the roads to the terminal. As long as you arrive at Herndon-Monroe reasonably close to the bus's scheduled departure time it'll probably take just as long to get to the terminal as it would on the long-term parking buses.

*Disclaimer: I've never actually attempted overnight parking here, but I've passed through the lot on the 5A bus and there are no signs stating a time limit, nor is there any mention of one on the Web site. I am, however, flying out of IAD on Tuesday (only for one night) and I'll park at Herndon-Monroe and share my experiences in this thread!

If you do use the economy lot at IAD, give yourself plenty of time to drive over there (if you see a sign saying 'Welcome to West Virginia, you have gone too far, but only by a little ), wait for the bus, and travel back to the terminal. Although the buses run pretty regularly, you can get stuck stopping at several stops before heading to the terminal.

I would give yourself an extra 30 minutes, just to get to the airport (then time for ticket, security, the 'people mover' to the gate, etc.) It can be a lonnnnng affair before you even get to the gate.

Did this work? I face a 16 day parking problem next week, driving to IAD from central VA. Is taking a cab from IAD to Herndon-Monroe to retrieve the car an option?

If this works, it should be 14 to 17 inc tip from/to IAD in a cab.. closer to the 14 I think. I work near the Reston Hyatt and its between 17 and 20 with a tip one way. I park at my office even on personal trips and take a cab over and it runs me less than 20 most of the time and the Herndon P&R must be 3 to 5 bucks cheaper

I'm curious if this option works

Yep, I've parked at Herndon-Monroe twice now---once for four days and another time for three days---and my car was still there, unticketed. No signs anywhere in the lot or garage limiting parking time, so even for 17 days you should be fine. In fact my car is sitting there right now while I'm in Los Angeles.

I missed the 5A bus when I parked there last week, so called Washington Flyer taxi - 703-661-6655. They picked me up within 10 minutes of my call and the fare to the airport was only $9.40---$11 with tip. The ride took about 7-8 minutes (late morning, no traffic on the toll road).

If you're parking during the middle of the day Monday-Friday, be sure to allow plenty of time to find a space in the garage. I don't know if Herndon-Monroe ever fills up, but it took me a good 10 minutes to circle around for an empty spot last week. Weekends it's practically empty.