Anyone familiar with the Baltimore/Washington D.C. are please help. I am planning a trip with about 15 people to spend the weekend in the Baltimore/D.C area. They want to see/tour the harbour area, but the must see is the Holocaust museum.
How far is Baltimore from D.C.? A very nice hotel to stay in Baltimore, or any hotel you can suggest that is in a good location for traveling between Baltimore and D.C.. Is Bethseda good. Whatever you can suggest - any help is appreciated.
Thanks so much.

I think Columbia Maryland might be a good location for you. I believe there is a decent Hilton there. It will be about 20 minutes to downtown Baltimore and about 40 minutes to DC. (Although to park and everything in downtown DC, I would factor in more time.) The drive between the DC and Baltimore is a minimum of a hour.

Baltimore is about 2 1/2 hours from downtown DC.
You can get there easily by ferry or flying car.
I think,,,,

Ignore Bubba. He apparently woke up on the wrong side of the cave.

The two cities are about an hour apart. Columbia would be OK but you could go farther south, maybe to Rockville, to be more in the middle.

Bethesda is nice. It's a suburb of Washington and staying there will leave you with nearly an hour's ride to Baltimore.

To do both cities in a weekend is a little much. My suggestion would be, rather than trying to find a nice hotel halfway, to pick one city to stay in and commute for one day to the other.

We just returned from Baltimore Inner Harbor (Wyndham). This specific hotel is a little farther from Inner Harbor than others, but it was a very pleasant hotel. Still, I might use Washington as a home base, and commute for part of a day to Baltimore - it is about an hour drive unless it is rush hour. Best to decide which city your guests want to see more in and plan based on that.

I agree with Gail, the two cities are so close, but yet so far, and to coordinate 15 people!

Decide which is more important and do that. The inner harbor is nice, but it doesn't warrant (in my opinion) a trip to Baltimore, the city has more to offer than that.

If you are set on both areas, look into the Capital Hill area of DC, preferably close to Union Station, cause some areas are rough. That way you are close to the metro and commuter trains to downtown baltimore.

I think the above suggestion is the best one, stay near Capitol Hill to take the train to Baltimore. Columbia is probably the best location in the middle but think it would be more interesting to stay in either city. Bethesda isn't the best location to get to Baltimore and isn't really in its direction. Rockville is not more in the middle than Columbia and isn't south of it -- it is southwest, but emphasis more on the west. If you stayed at the Marriott Pooks Hill near Bethesda you can get on the freeway fairly easily but the traffic on it is terrible any time near rush hour, morning or evening, and it's not walkable to a metro stop but they might have a shuttle.

Thanks everyone for your honesty and suggestions, It seems as though going to and from Baltimore, with a group isn't the best idea and no one wants to stay in DC. [I am ready to go spend the weekend in New England myself]. Looks like it will be Baltimore.

Sorry - I'm late getting in on this but since I am here (Balt/Wash/Annapolis) I could advise you to stay in baltimore (any hotel of your choice) and take the train (Marc) from baltimore to washington - then hop the subway over to the holocaust museum. You will need passes t the Holocaust and if you search the net you can find the site. Baltimore is a great city (especially the inner harbor) and D C is a fantastic city with lots of sites to see. Have a great trip (I won't bore you with how fantastic Annapolis is as a seaport and one of the oldest U S capitols around!!!

If you are looking to stay in a nice hotel in Baltimore, there is the Harbor Court. It is quiet and elegant. It is with-in walking distance of Harborplace, but not directly in the middle of things. Pier 5 also is a little quieter.

On the other hand, the Renaissance and the Hyatt are nice hotels right in the middle of things. So, these hotels are a little bit more active.

I am not sure why your group wants to aviod DC, but, if you all are looking for a quiet weekend, you might consider Annapolis.

I thought a must-see was the Holocaust museum - so how can you avoid Washington, DC? We just spent 2 days in Baltimore and 5 in DC. Had a fine time in Baltimore - took a duck tour, had a nice dinner, went to Orioles game, water taxi to Ft. McHenry - but it certainly can't compare to DC.

Seems like you have gotten the role of reluctant tour guide. If you want more info, tell us a little more about your group, interests, ages, etc.

you'd better make sure you have tickets for the Holocaust museum before you get there. Its very overwhelming and you need to spend at least a day there. Its not a quick look-see at all. Sometimes you can arrange a VIP tour, but i guess you have to know somebody. I've been to the museum twice and each time had to spend hours. Expect to be depressed afterwards. By the way... just in addition... there is a really fine Italian restaurant in the Georgetown area called "Fatima" something like that...it looks like a little storefront..but you go downstairs and get very impressed.

Do your guests by chance not want to stay in DC because of crime? Because, not to rile up the Baltimoreans, but I've walked around DC at night, in the hotel and tourist areas, with nary a concern; at 42 years old the only crime scares I had were all three of my hotel stays in Baltimore -- homeless beggars, a mugging in the walkway to the Inner Harbor, and more.

Micki:

I lived in Baltimore and worked in D.C. from 1987 to 1989. However, I would still prefer staying in the D.C. area over Baltimore. I lived in the suburbs of D.C. and even in the N.E. and no crime happened to me whatsoever during that time. Also, there are 15 of you, who will bother you? There is so much more to see and do in D.C. My suggestion to you would be to stay in Old Town Alexandria, VA, which is close to D.C. There is a Holiday Inn on King Street or you could stay on North Washington Street at a Best Western that has a Giant Supermarket right across the street from it. You could take a walk to the Potomac River and see the Torpedo Factory and also tour the Lee-Fendell and Caryle homes and Gatsby Tavern. There are many small shops and good restaurants to go to also. Only a few miles from there is George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, which is well worth the trip.