If you live in Newark, I'd say drive. It only takes about 1.5 hours, as long as traffic isn't too bad. Just try to avoid rush hour. There should be no problems with safety if you are staying in downtown DC. The hotels are pretty pricey, however, and and if you try to get a cheaper hotel in the District, you may end up being in a neighborhood you feel uncomfortable in. One way to go is to look for a hotel in Montgomery County - Bethesda or Rockville - or in Arlington or Alexandria, VA close to a metro line. Access to DC via the metro works very well, and is not very expensive. You'd also save money on parking, both over night and during the day. In Alexandria, you'd also have access to Old Town, which is very nice.

I assume you do drive & have a car? If you do your travel on weekdays, and you have a car, maybe a drive to Perryville or Aberdeen MD, and take the MARC train from there ... but check if overnight parking is allowed. You'd be riding MARC's "Penn Line"
http://www.mtamaryland.com/schedules/marc/marc_schedule.cfm

If you want to save a lot of money, but use up time, you could stay at the Laurel MD Red Roof Inn (or others, but that's one I've stayed at) and make a 15 minute drive to the Greenbelt Metro station (parking free weekends, $3 weekdays), then take the Metro into town (~25 minutes). Check rideguide.wmata.com for Metro prices. An all day pass for unlimited use is $6, but it's not valid before 9:30am weekdays.

You can check <a href="http://www.ivymedia.com/chinatownbus/">Chinatown Bus</a>, it was easy to search pickup locations, time and maps. Good luck.

By all means drive in - it's quicker, cheaper and more convenient. You might try not to arrive between 7-9am on a weekday, however.

It is much better to stay in the city. There are many well located hotels for every budget starting as low as $100/night (basic accomodations) - though the average price is closer to $200 (much nicer). Worth the extra cost.

Of the hundreds of DC hotels, the only ones in bad areas are the Best Western Skyline Drive and the cluster of motels on New York Ave. or Bladensburg Rd NorthEast.

Tell us when are you coming and what your hotel budget is (including tax) and you'll get a bunch of good suggestions.

the only ones in bad areas are the Best Western Skyline Drive and ...

You might be referring to the Best Western Capitol Skyline Hotel, though I don't know the specifics of the neighborhood. If there is a Best Western on Skyline Drive, it will be in the mountains a couple hours away from DC.

Here's a vote for the train.

There's a nice evening train from Newark to Union Station, leaves 7:30 or 8 and takes less than 90 minutes. It eliminates all parking fees in DC, which can be high.

The MARC idea is also solid. Driving/parking in the city is rarely worth the hassle IMHO. And once you get here, the chances are you won't use it to get around.

If I were to stay in the burbs -- usually only a last resort -- it certainly wouldn't be in Laurel . . . and then a drive to Metro.

Let us know what you want to do and a rough idea of your budget and folks here will do a great job helping out.

Also, folks who preface queries about D.C. with a remark about safety are usually arriving from some off-base preconcieved notions.

MikeBuckley,

That was the Best Western I had meant, thanks for the correction.

BTW, it's at South Capitol & I St, SW.

I would go with the drive option. You could park in the GreenBelt station and take the subway from there.

Just if you were curious, there is train service from Newark, Delaware to Washington DC that takes about 1 hour 20 minutes. Amtrak leaves from Newark to Washington around 7pm daily and returns from Washington to Newark at around 2pm daily. Alternatively, you have the very frequent Wilmington-DC services, if you can get to Delaware's largest city without too much trouble. I'd definitely recommend staying in Washington if you can for proximity to nightlife & sights.

Cheers, DAN