No one is suggesting that you have a car in NYC. I was suggeting that for several people and a ton of luggage a car rental (for one day) would be cheaper and might well be easier than hauling everyone and all the stuff to Penn Station, one and off the train and from Union Station to you hotel.

Not sure of the ages of your kids - but the fare you are quoting sounds amazingly low. Unless you have infants they don;t charge for. In which case I wuold never consider trying to deal with trains.

Hi, I read all your answers and sorry I could not post back sooner. End of season activities for the kids.

I talked to my husband about all the baggage and the train. He's not keen on having a suitcase stolen from the rack. He felt that while the train would be do-able, the better plan is that we should go look for more deals on rental cars. Drop fees were the problem before; this is why I had the idea that if we never dropped or picked up in NYC then we could just find parking during our stay. I think there is a science to the car rentals like frequent flyer miles. We'll keep you posted.

BTW a poster named Tom found the $196 fare for 5 of us, and I also was able to find that price on amtrak as well. Two kids are ages 2-15 and then 3 adults for mid-afternoon (2 pm ish) midweek. Fares go up significantly for peak times.

The chances of having anything stolen from the racks at the end of the car approaches zero. You can make it infinitisimal by linking your bag handles with a bike lock, chain or cable variety. The possibility exists of someone grabbing one monster suitcase, I suppose, but not several.

Picking up on Doug's post above, wouldn't it be nice if we could simply rent bags the way we might rent tools or banquet tables? Haven't got anything below a 30" monster? Off to Rent-a-Bag for a 24 incher! They could be fumigated for bedbugs when returned.

I agree about the very minimal chance of any luggage being stolen from the train, especially if you store it in the racks above/near your seats.

Don't even THINK about a car rental...not worth the time, the hassle, the tolls, the gas, etc., etc. and the train will deposit you right in the middle of everything in Washington.

On the Amtrak fares -- your fare is NOT a special fare and it has nothing to do with peak times. The fare from DC to NY or reverse is $49 for an adult. Just like the airlines there are a certain number of seats allocated for that fare. Once those seats are sold the fare jumps up in increments as each price range gets sold out. Your chances of getting the $49 on off peak times obviously increases. Booking in advance can also help in getting the lower fare. Its all supply & demand. They do occasionally run specials on the NE corridor, but $49 is the lowest fare you can get for a regular fare.

I agree that the chances of having your luggage stolen are slim to none. As has been posted smaller bags go overhead and large bags are placed in designated areas at the end of the cars. The train is much more pleasant that the drive between the 2 cities.

That fare is the lowest possible and it requies that you purchase in advance and that the fare be available. If not, the rates can be much higher.

I recently paid $126 from Boston to NY for one person -on the regular train, not Acela - since we bought only 2 days in advance. If you are going to do the train definitely purchase tickets as soon as yo uhave dates - or the price could be alot higher.

And considering the size of the luggage I think you are safe. No one is going to haul away and try to run off with a 31" bag. But definitely do the Red Cap thing with the luggage - since this also gets you on the train sooner and gives you a better chance of sitting together. (The ticket gives you a seat - not any specific seat - and if the train is very crowded it's likely you'll be split up.)

Worry over getting your bags stolen is a bad reason to not take Amtrak. i've never heard of it happening, although I am sure it has.

There's no science to rental cars in NYC. They are just very expensive, and drop off fees worse. The real alternative is a bus. Both Megabus and Boltbus are pretty cheap and popular, but you do need to book tickets in advance and meet the bus on the street. But this is reliable and used by lots of people.

However I agree that I've never known anyone to have luggage stolen on Amtrak.

As as been said, u need to purchase your AMTRAK tickets as soon as u can to ensure u get the lowest fare. Also note that AMTRAK tickets are fully refundable as long as you use the print off method as opposed to having the tickets mailed to you. So if u purchase the tickets and change your mind and need to cancel no issue.

Wow, I'm so sorry you're under the impression your bags could be stolen! Add me to the group who's never heard of it happening - despite me and my family riding the rails for decades.

At that fare for all five of you, I can't imagine why you'd want to deal with a car rental instead. DO jump on it, because like the airlines the fares do change the closer to the date you are ($49 for an adult now, more if you purchase less than a certain number of days before the trip, most if you purchase same-day).

Or take the bus... but don't deal with the rental car! If you decide to keep the original car, parking alone will swamp you, especially in midtown.

I thought $196 was amazingly cheap for a family of five on Amtrak, also, but didn't know what kind of prices they could have for families. I'd definitely take the train for that fare.

If by any chancey ou do consider the bus (which it doesn't sound like is interest), I would not recommend Megabus. I have heard too many very negative comments on that bus (it oversells seats and it disorganized and may be very late). There are lots of good buses such as the ones I named, I would not consider Megabus. YOu can get some fares for only $17-20 on Bolt at certain times.

Any bus can be very late - since the roads between NYC and DC are often mobbed, have accidents, construction, etc.

I saw a post form someone who regularly took Megabus to save money and just accepted that it would be late most of the time. And late is anything from 15 minutes up to a couple of hours.

The train is less likely to be late (usually within the 15 minute window) but of course can rarely be late - due to accidents on the tracks or downed trees from bad weather.

Hi, I kept the last post too short, I see. I wasn't frantic about just theft but the whole lugging everything all over the place.

The posts leading up to mine mentioned/implied the following:
1. We have too many bags to take the train.
2. We need to watch them at every stop.
3. We will have a hard time getting them down to the train and need to use a red cap.

Further, we will still need to take a cab there and a cab from the station at DC. (Or, we could take a bus there with all our bags. And we could take the DC metro at Rush Hour followed by a short hotel shuttle, but neither of those sounded great at all.)

Together it all just sounded like a lot of work and not very fun. We did ultimately find a car for about $20 less than the train. Yes, we'll have to pay for gas, no we won't need to pay for a cab as the car rental location at both locations are fairly close to the hotel. My husband will jog them.

The other big plus for the car is that we will have a kitchen in DC and we'll get some groceries before turning the car in.

For those also looking for deals on rental cars, the Entertainment book deals were far better than the other deals we'd previously found through our credit cards or online.

I am sorry not to check back here sooner. Am kind of buried at the moment (but definitely looking forward to a fun vacation). Thank you.

I'm so glad to see you found a way from NYC to DC that works for you! Sounds like it will come out about even from what you would have incurred with cabs/public transit. And since you said on the other thread that your husband enjoys long drives, the rest of you can still look out the window as much as you might have on the train! ;)

FWIW, gas in NJ is full-serve-only throughout the state, and much cheaper than on this side of the Hudson. So keep an eye on the prices, and fill up before crossing the state line to the south!

Glad it all worked out--sometimes the easiest way is the best regardless of cost. have a great trip.