My husband and I are going to DC in May for a long Memorial Day weekend. We are early 30s and will hit the historic sights and musuems during the day and out to restaurants and bars at night - would love an area that has a lot of fun restaurants/bars walking distance to hotel. We can get around during the day on the Metro. Looks like most of the hotels I have looked at have good rates $200 and under (Park Hyatt, Washington Monarch). We like luxury-type hotels (but not stuffy), as we are casual people so we are willing to stay almost anywhere - luxury or not.

Dupont Circle would probably be the most fun area for you in terms of nightlife - you're close to Adams-Morgan that way as well, and there's several metro stops close by for getting to the Mall and downtown for sightseeing. The Rouge and The Topaz are two new boutique hotels in that general area that are much more fun and hip than a lot of the more traditional DC hotels. The Radisson Barcelo on P Street is also generally a good bet, and their restaurant Gabriel has the best Sunday brunch in town.

Have fun!

Georgetown has great nightlife! Great shopping during the day too.

The Metro rail system will take you anywhere, so dont worry about staying too close to the site seeing.

Have you tried priceline for hotels? www.biddingfortravel.com can help you with that. My friends have gotten 4 star hotels for $50!

Georgetown is fun, but there is no Metro stop in G'town - just something to keep in mind. The closest one is Foggy Bottom, which can be a pretty long walk depending on where in G'Town you're coming from. There are buses.

The aforementioned Barcelo hotel has the benefit of being in Dupont Circle, but also a pretty easy walk down P Street into Georgetown - so that might be a good option for you, but if you had to pick Dupont or Georgetown, I would definitely go with Dupont. Georgetown is very touristy and can verge on cheesy, Dupont is much more fun in my opinion.

Dupont Circle is a great area. I love the Canterbury Hotel. Small but nice. Cheap too! (for DC anyway). About a 2 minute walk to the Dupont Circle metro stop

My advice, if you are willing to pay up to $200/night, is the J.W. Marriott. It is near the Metro Center stop, which connects with all the major subway lines and can take you anywhere you want to go. J.W. is connected to a huge shopping and restaurant complex, you really don't need to leave the building to eat. The FBI bldg (J. Edgar Hoover), Ford's Theatre, Archives, Naval Museum and Smithsonian Natural and Am. History are in walking distance.

I'd go on lodging.com and do a search. I think they have this hotel on their site.

The J.W. Marriott, although nice, is like any other top business-class hotel. I think you would enjoy the Dupont Circle area more than the area around the J.W. The earlier recommendations of the Radisson Barcelo (haven't been inside, but it's a great location and other posters have reported a $99 room rate during sales), and some of the other hotels mentioned in the Dupont area are better bets than the J.W. You could also try the brand new Ritz in Georgetown (although there is no metro in Georgetown and the Dupont Circle area is hipper). As for bars/restaurants, I don't know what your taste is, but there is a lot of variety of bars near Dupont. The sophisticated (i.e. don't wear khakis if you're a man) scene is at the 18th Street lounge and Dragonfly. Further away from Dupont are Dream (dance club), and the U Street Corridor. Casual with room to sit down near dupont is the Brickskellar (300+ beers from around the world), the college scene drinking bars are the Front Page, Madhatters, Lulu's and many others in the L/M street between 18th & 19th street area.

Forgot to add that if you're in DC in May and it's nice out, head for the Washington Harbor complex in Georgetown. There are several restaurants with outdoor bars/seating areas. The popular ones are Tony & Joe's (more casual) and Sequoia (see & be seen at happy hour).

Jill:

As everyone has stated, Georgetown is a classy place to visit. Many, many restaurants and a nice part of D.C. to walk around.

Check out The Rouge and The Topaz at www.kimptongroup.com. They are very hip and in a great location. I doubt you'd forget your stay in DC after staying at either. The prices are fantastic, too -- around $99 - $150. Good luck!