Alexandria and Mount Vernon in one day??
 

We are going to Washington DC in April and want to visit Old Town Alexandria as well as Mount Vernon. Using public transport would it be possible to see both in a day without rushing? Thanks for any information.

> Using public transport would it be possible
> to see both in a day without rushing?

In a word, no.
And I say that as someone who normally rushes from site to site, and definitely uses public transport in the DC area.

Seeing both in one day COULD be done -- but not without rushing and/or skipping some things I would consider worth seeing.

Public transport to Mount Vernon??????

We tried this and failed and we drove. We stayed in a hotel in Old Town Alexandia so we did have breakfast and dinner there but no time to walk the cute little town and explore. Mt Vernon took the day. The grounds are extensive so there is a lot of walking if you want to see the gravesites, slave quarters, etc. We sat for a half hour and listened to Martha Washington talk about her life there. :-) Interesting and well done. The lines for the mansion were long. You have to sign up for a time and then when they call your time, waiting can still take a while as they only let so many in the mansion at a time.

This gets asked every so often on TripAdvisor and the responses seem to be mixed. Some say it will take too long, some say they did it and it worked fine, etc.

If you plan to leave early and don’t mind getting back latish, I don’t see what the big deal is. If it is a weekend, then you may have trouble with Metrorail since they are constantly working on lines, etc. on the weekends.

http://www.mountvernon.org/more/directions

You could also take a cab to Mount Vernon (I think someone recently reported what their cost was from DC and there may be online sources for estimates) and then a bus from Mount Vernon to Old Town and then Metrorail back from there.

I have not been there since they switched to the mansion time entry system.

We stayed in Old Town Alexandria March 2010 and took public transportation (metro & bus) to Mount Vernon. It was pretty simple. You can find directions on the Mount Vernon website.

We didn't sign up for a time for the mansion tour (I don't think it was an option) but did wait for about 45 - 60 minutes in a long line for the tour. We probably spent about half a day at Mount Vernon mainly touring the mansion and grounds. We did not spend much time in the museum, so we will save that for the next trip.

In your case I would mainly focus on Mount Vernon. Arrive early, take your time and focus on what you consider worth seeing. If you still feel up to visiting Old Town Alexandria you can hop off the metro on your way back for a short visit.

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. I think we'll do as wtm003 suggests. If we don't have time for Old Town Alexandria on the way back, we'll make it another day.

I think there is an 8:30am boat to Mt. Vernon from DC. Spend 4 hours visiting that area. Then take a cab to Old Town Alexandria, arriving perhaps at 2:00pm. Visit the Old Town, have dinner and take the Metro back to DC. That is what we hope to do.