nstevey

Hotel is a couple of blocks from the White House. Looking to park somewhere outside the city for 3 days, take the Metro in, looking to save a couple of bucks. What station would you recommend?

clarkgriswold

Coming in to the area from which direction?

obxgirl

Huntington and Springfield have multi day parking -- maybe 15 or 20 spots. I think it's about $5 a day or whatever the regular daily rate is. Not all of the metro stations allow overnight parking so check for that. You can park at Reagan for $14 a 24 hour period. That's a few short stops from downtown. Or Union Sta for $22ish per 24 hour period covered parking.

Enjoy DC nstevey!

kamae

We often use Parking Panda to park downtown. The rates are usually very good.

https://www.parkingpanda.com/dc-parking

tomfuller

I have parked twice for free at the Greenbelt station which is at the NE end of the Green line.
This works if you are coming in from PA or Baltimore.

nstevey

Thanks to all for the info. I can't seem to tell if Reagan lets you park multiple days overnight. Same with the lots in the city. Anyways, I'll look at Huntington, Greenbelt and Springfield stations.

Coming in from NYC by way of Baltimore.

obxgirl

My suggestion for Reagan is the economy lot for the airport. Sorry, I should have said that. Shuttle to the Terminals/Metro run every 10 minutes or so or its walkable. $14/24 hours. Or $22/24 hours covered parking adjacent to the terminals/metro. (but then Union Station would probably be more convenient).

You can book ahead (https://dcaparking.mwaa.com/ReaganNe...EntryPage.aspx) or there is real time availability of spaces on line.

Panda Parking is the Air BnB for parking? Many if not most DC garages are not 24/7 so hours need to be checked. When I plugged in random overnight dates in May (both weekday and weekend) the prices were not particularly cheap. The least expensive ones (in the $15-20 per day range) tended to be individuals renting our their unused spaces. That may or may not work depending on where the spaces are located.

kayd

Details on multi-day parking at Greenbelt: http://www.wmata.com/rail/parking/pa...cfm?station=80
Note that the only way to pay for Metro parking is SmarTrip card, so be sure to have value remaining when you return to Greenbelt at the end of your visit,

Christina

There aren't very many metro lots where you are allowed to park overnight, anyway, so you'd have to check.

Recently, I flew out of Reagan (I live in DC) and used some online websites to find cheaper overnight parking than the airport. It worked great, I got to park at the Crystal Marriott (which is actually connected to the Crystal City metro station, but the hotel also has a free shuttle bus) for only about $6 a day, and it was covered parking. Reagan's lots are really expensive now, more than any airport.

This is the website I used. Highly recommend Marriott Crystal Gateway http://www.easyparkfly.com/

kayd

I have used easyparkfly.com too, and it worked great (also a local flying out of DCA). I'd recommend it for anyone coming from the south, but think Greenbelt would be less hassle for visitors coming from NY.

Christina

true, it would be, I wasn't paying attention to where they were coming from. I don't know how someone above said they parked at Greenbelt for free, though. Metro parking lots are free on weekends, so I guess if you parked on Saturday and left Sunday it would be free.

kamae

We've always had success with Panda Parking. Just for comparison, I looked up a parking lot fairly close to the White House (1111 19th Avenue). The cost for three random days in May (from 6:00am on the 19th to 11:59pm on the 21st) is $43 total. This is your basic office building parking lot. As long as you don't have to retrieve your car between midnight and 6:00am, overnight parking is not a problem. If you park your car at the Greenbelt Metro Station it will cost you $4.50 per day plus the Metro fare ($4.50 each way during peak hours) plus $2 each to buy a SmartTrip card. So for two people it will cost $35.50 plus the time and hassle of leaving your car in Greenbelt, which is at least a 45 minute trip given train time and time spent waiting for the train. If you have more than two people the cost of the Metro parking lot option goes up of course. We've done it both ways many times since we live in the Maryland suburbs and often stay downtown for various reasons. The savings during the summer months aren't as great as during the winter but still something to consider. If you can search around and find a good parking rate near your hotel, it might make sense to spend an extra $7.50 for the convenience of parking near the hotel and not hauling your luggage around the Metro.

nstevey

It's just going to be me doing the parking/commute and no baggage, but Panda Parking is looking more enticing, especially if we might need the car during the day, I can get it.

I guess I'm looking at it from a where I live perspective. If I were visiting NYC, knowing what I know, I could easily find a free long term overnight parking space in a safe neighborhood and commute 20 minutes into the city. I just don't know the DC suburbs enough to pull this off without a lot of hassle.

nstevey

Panda Parking question - how do you opt for overnight parking? If I arrive at 4pm and chose the 5PM option, does that mean I can park it overnight?

https://www.parkingpanda.com/washing...5/5/2014#hours

Or do I need to do this:

https://www.parkingpanda.com/washing...5/5/2014#hours

nstevey

Errr, let me rephrase that. If I arrive at 6pm and choose the after 5pm option, does it mean I can park it overnight?

https://www.parkingpanda.com/washing...5/5/2014#hours

kamae

Nstevey, I just want to clarify that the Greenbelt Metro Station is easy to find and access - that aspect would not be a problem.

nstevey

kamae - yes, looks very simple. By hassle, I meant looking at the Greenbelt details, there are 15-17 long term spots available. It could potentially be a problem if all the long term spots are taken. Probably not gonna happen though.

http://www.wmata.com/rail/parking/pa...cfm?station=80

obxgirl

It looks to me like you have to enter two or more days to get the overnight price quote. From PP's customer support:

How do I know if overnight parking is available?

The easiest way to check if overnight parking is allowed is to set the dates to reflect a two day reservation. Once you search a two day reservation, only locations that allow overnight parking will be displayed. If the website allows you to make a multi-day reservation, you know overnight parking is allowed at that location.

For that garbage it also looks like you have to enter and exit between 3pm and 11pm and that the price quote is for one entry and exit.

Arrive Mon, May 05, 2014 (3:00 PM - 11:00 PM)
Depart Tue, May 06, 2014 (3:00 PM - 11:00 PM)

* Allowed one entry and one exit within the time listed above

11 Dupont Cir NW
Washington, DC 20036
Total
$35.00

Is that the actual garage you are considering?

nstevey

Thanks obxgirl, should have looked harder to find that. I was gonna call, you saved me 5 min.

No, that was just to see how overnight parking worked. One exit? That sucks. I'm going to try other lots.

A little whine. My relatives are totally unappreciative of this. They think I just magically find parking and navigate w/o effort to interesting places. Errrr. Complaint over.

obxgirl

They think I just magically find parking and navigate w/o effort to interesting places. Errrr. Complaint over.

That is the price you pay for being so smart and talented.