Look at DuPont Circle. Metro is handy, hotels, inns and lots of dining options.

If you want to visit the White House of Congress you need to make a request of your congressperson's or senators office far in advance - and will need full ID with you. Don't dawdle - do it as soon as you have your dates.

DuPont Circle is my favorite area because of its proximity to transit, and restaurant choices in the immediate area. However, the Hilton Garden Inn is also in a fantastic location for sightseeing and right across the street from the McPherson Sq metro station.

Because most Washington hotels are full of business/political travelers during the week, it is a great place to use PriceLine for upscale hotels which are otherwise empty on Friday and Saturday nights.

If you can't come on a weekend, the DuPont Circle or MacPherson Circle areas are excellent, though not within walking distance of most of the mall sites for many people. There is a huge variety of eating places near DuPont Circle in particular.

Try the Omni Shoreham, a very short walk from Woodley Park red line metro station, the zoo and some good reasonably priced restaurants. We have stayed there a couple of times and loved it. You can get to all the must-see places on the metro in very little time.

Would you rather walk to the Mall, the White House, the Smithsonian museums, the Spy, the Verizon center, Chinatown, etc.? Then think of staying further downtown. The advantage of Dupont is that there is something going on after dark.

It would really help to know your budget. Rates in mid-May could be outside of your budget, especially if you need 3 rooms. You might want to consider a hotel in one of the close-in suburbs such as Arlington or Alexandria. Crystal City in Arlington is full of restaurants and there's a Metro stop right there. The travel time from there to the Smithsonian Station is about 15 minutes or so.