Airport question: IAD or DCA?
 

A quick question, we will be staying in the National Harbor area at the Gaylord. DCA seems to be considerably closer, but the fares and times are not as good as IAD.

How much time would it take to travel from IAD to the hotel? Is there good public transport? We come from L.A., we are used to cars...

There are busses, shuttles and taxis at IAD. Have you checked BWI also? I am not sure if that would be better.

Check the ground transporation options of IAD and DCA here

http://www.metwashairports.com/

If you will be renting a car anyway, Dulles or BWI would make sense (each nearly an hour away). If you would use taxis, plan on $25 from DCA, $60+ from either of the other two.

Here is the Metrobus timetable that goes from IAD to Metrorail stations

http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/dc/5a.pdf

Factor in a taxi from Dulles to downtown Washington, at about $70.00.

But they aren't going downtown, they are going to the Gaylord.

I wouldn't do it, unless it is at least $150 cheaper. Dulles is quite a distance from the Gaylord and, unless you rent a car, it will cost you and arm-and-a-leg, plus a lot of time, to get to the Gaylord.

Its 5 more miles and a few minutes longer to the Gaylord than to downtown DC. My point was it will cost a LOT to take a taxi.

Actually, it's really a lot further than that. From Dulles, you're going to drive a much longer distance on the Beltway, which adds a whole lot of chances for traffic nightmares. From BWI, it's even worse (except that you don't have to cross the Wilson Bridge).

I just did IAD to the Gaylord, and IAD to the White House on mapquest.

My personal thought is that there isn't good public transportation from either IAD, Reagan Natl, or BWI to National Harbor. I do understand that there is service running from the Metro subway out to Natl Harbor but it's not really convenient to tourist sites.

If you're coming to visit Washington you would do better to stay in the city and you will not need a car.

If you're coming for meetings at Gaylor's National Harbor and would like to sightsee then you might need a car.

Travel from IAD or BWI to Oxon Hill (where the hotel is located) would be approximately 75-90 minutes.

Not too long ago I took the Metro bus from Dulles to one of the stops in VA.
It cost about 5.00 (I think) and took about an hour to get to Pentagon City.
Worth it, IMO because the fare was much less to IAD.
But I will almost take a connection to go into DCA. I prefer it 100%!

Travel from BWI is not going to take 75 minutes. And hour tops. Dulles would take longer.

60 MINUTES - 75 MINUTES

It all depends on the day, the time, and the traffic.....

It'll be six of one, half dozen of the other, I suspect, both driving time and taxi cost from IAD and BWI. As someone mentioned, the time will depend entirely on traffic and time of day. Both will be an expensive cab ride - probably around $60-80.

Another option that works well with DCA would be to take a cheap cab ride to Alexandria (which is very close to the airport) and take the water taxi to National Harbor - there are coupons available on their site. The availability will also depend on the time of day, I suppose, but it's a pretty easy transporation option.

gigib... again, there is a quick metro shuttle to the metro train from Dulles.
It's like 5 bucks.
You want a cheap way to get into town from Dulles, this is a no brainer.
Took about an hour to get to Pentagon City from Dulles... that was for the shuttle and the train.
It was totally worth it but I would now take a connection to get that cheap fare into DCA. Not only is it about the same, time wise, but I get an additional 2 segments toward my Platinum status.