Taking 8yr old to DC. Decent mid-priced hotel VERY NEAR any Metro station, but not necessarily attractions?

Question

Don;t want to waer her out waling a mile and a half to the Metro, then drag her across the mall and museums all day. Rather stay very close to a station, even if out in the suburbs, then expend our energy walking at the attractions. This will be her first trip to DC (a young history buff), and our first multi-day just dad and daughter outing (without mom and sister). Thanks!

Answer 1

Depends on what you consider inexpensive. Anything near the Metro will be at least $149/night. I would try and stay in Falls Church Metro in FAlls Church VA or Shady Grove Metro in Rockville MD. I also believe there are hotels on Eisenhower Ave. near the Van Dorn Metro in Alexandria VA. Most hotels will shuttle you to the Metro. These are relatively safe areas that I am aware of. Good luck. E-mail me with any questions.

Answer 2

There are a TON of them. I was about the same age when I first visited DC with my mom. We stayed at a cheap hotel in the middle of nowhere in DC. But still everything was nearby, and there was a TV broadcast station across the street - we laughed because we couldnt tune that TV station in the hotel's TV, and here it was across the street.

Just be excited and upbeat about everything while there! Take your time, talk about things, bring her with you to buy a guidebook - ask her what she wants to definitely see, and you suggest a few things too.

Dont be shy about taking a cab when needed, and a few places offer shuttles to some of the bigger attractions - like the monuments and memorials. Dont forget that they White House has tours too! Regardless of whether or not you LIKE the President, seeing the White House is a fantastic experience!

Also, do some more normal types of things too - eat out, go to the movies, play some video games, do some shopping - injecting a little bit of normalcy into things goes a long way toward calming things down.

As for hotels, I am going to suggest trying "The River Inn" in Foggy Bottoms. It is 2 blocks from a Metro station, is blocks from some historic locations, and is still very close by many other major attractions. CALL THEM. I dont think their online reservation system is working right!

http://www.theriverinn.com/index.php

They have a special package for people doing sightseeing and touring DC as well:

http://www.theriverinn.com/packages.php?package=seedc#seedc

I hope everything goes good for you! This should be a very special and extremely fun trip!

Answer 3

Check out Silver Spring, MD. The Crown Plaza and Courtyard Marriot are both in the "downtown" area of Silver Spring so they are very close to many restaurants, and the red line of the metro is a short walk. Also, Crystal City, VA is a good option, as there are MANY MANY big name hotels (Hilton, Marriot, Radisson, etc) there...basically it's a hotel district servicing the airport. They are all walking distance to the Blue/Yellow lines of the metro, and if not the hotel usually has a shuttle. Hope this helped!

Answer 4

Two years ago, I took my daughter 11 and my son 6 through the museums in DC. We had been on a vacation that included Niagara Falls, Gettysburg, Hershey, and places in between. We camped in College Park and took the metro right in to the mall each day. It was certainly memorable and I give my kids a lot of credit... the 6 year-old lasted longer than i thought he would! Its amazing what an ocassional snow-cone will do !! We did one of the Smithsonians in under 90 minutes when i realized I was pushing my luck by the third day...... and when we begin talking about our summer trip every year, the older one (almost 14 now) keeps reminding me about my planning skills.
Good luck! You'll remember it always (they never let us forget!).