Hello:

We will be in DC the last week of August for 3 nights with a 10 year old. We are considering two hotels: The Hampton Inn located on 6th Street and The Beacon Hotel located on Rhode Island Ave. Which is the best neighborhood to be in when it comes to safety? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. It's hard to make a decision when you don't know the area. Please help!

Thank you!

Where on 6th? I only know the other one becuase I work relatively close. It is in a fine area. Most hotels except those along the NY Avenue NE corridor are in fine areas.

For DC adresses you need more than just the name of the street. The streets are pretty long. A cross street or "block" (ex. 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue) and the quadrant (NE, SE, NW, SW) are needed (ex. 1600 N St, NW)

If the Hampton Inn is the one at 901 6th NW, it's fine. So is the Beacon. The Hampton is near the Convention Center and can be lively at night; the Beacon is not too far from Dupont Circle, both are neighborhoods we've wandered with our children at night and felt safe in. The Beacon is nearer to the Orange (to Smithsonian) and Red (to the Zoo) Metro lines; the Hampton is closer to the Green and Yellow lines. Each is about a mile walk to the Mall. All else being equal, I'd take the Beacon.

The Hampton Inn is at 6th & Mass NW - about 1 block north of Chinatown. Both hotels are safe. I think the Hampton is a little closer to a Metro station.

Check out these area maps for a clearer idea (look for the "red" squares:

Hampton:
http://www.stationmasters.com/System.../gallrypl.html

Beacon:
http://www.stationmasters.com/System.../dupontci.html (The Beacon is just off the right side of the map - across 17th st. from the YWCA)

YMCA - sorry

The Beacon will probably "feel" safer, but both are quite safe. The Hampton is, arguably, in a more interesting neighborhood with a 10 year old. Close to Chinatown, Chinatown has a very "New York" feel to it these days.

I drive by that Hampton Inn often on the way to work and don't agree with the above. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere as far as I'm concerned, there is nothing around it where you would walk at night, I don't think. I sure wouldn't. The neighborhood isn't at all interesting IMO. It's about a block from Mt Vernon Square, but those blocks are very long around there and there are a lot of very big, major streets crisscrossing all over. I think it's fine to stay there if you take a cab elsewhere or something. I can't imagine it's lively near the Hampton at night, it's on a corner and there isn't anything around there at all, not for some blocks.

"I can't imagine it's lively near the Hampton at night, it's on a corner and there isn't anything around there at all, not for some blocks."

Busboys and Poets is on the next block, as well as a Safeway. Within two blocks is Chinatown, which has at least 30 restaurants. No, you can't stumble out the front door and find a restaurant and bar. But you don't get that at the Beacon either.