DC to National Harbor
 

Hello there!

I need to spend a week in National Harbor (www.nationalharbor.com) and am wondering how inconvenient it is to stay in a D.C. hotel (I prefer that... there are places I couldn't visit during a recent vacation :) ) and just use a Metro/Bus combo everyday. According to their website, there are buses connecting one of the Metro stops but I am hoping to hear from someone local.

Thanks a bunch!

I hate to disappoint you but it would be pretty difficult to get to National Harbor using public transportation. It could easily take you 1 1/2 - 2 hours EACH way. If you have a map of DC, Maryland, and Va, you'll find National Harbor just below the Wilson Bridge.

You could help yourself more by staying within National Harbor.

Definitely stay at National Harbor. It would be prohibtive to travel from the city every day.

No problems, I suspected that. Thanks a bunch, LN and MikeT.

Too late for your original question, but there is a water taxi that connects National Harbor to various points in DC. Since you are staying at National Harbor, maybe you can use it to visit DC.

http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord...n/water-taxis/

Not too late. Great thought. Instead of 3 hours every day, I could easy do 3 hours couple days during that stay (which is probably all the time I likely anyway would have). Thank you.

Not much is open at the National Harbor yet.....from what I am told. Pretty much just the convention center and hotel.

If you are going to have a lot of free time to sight see and want to be near food & drink, I'd stay in D.C.

Depends if you have a rental car also.....

I guess they've finally gotten rid of the rats.

Dukey, rats or not (someone told me about their problems when they initially opened......), it is really quite a place. See this: http://tinyurl.com/5b2lk6. Not bad if you ask me.

It really is quite a place. Definitely catches your eye while driving from Virginia into Maryland as it sits there on the waterfront on the right.

If you look over to the left, however, you'll see the D.C. sewage treatment plant.

Really? And I thought it was some monument! Good thing I didn't take out my camera because that would have been embarrassing :)

Just kidding. It is in the middle of nowhere for sure.

Visited the National Harbor a few months back. Still not a ton open as far as retail. It is nice looking but I found it boring and very....very over-priced. I have no desire to ever go back.

With its location being as it is; I think it may need about 12 months to achieve what Gaylor hopes to achieve. Potential is there!

I agree with LN. The place has potential. Although only few places were open when I was there, the shops they plan to open soon are pretty high-end and the evenings seemed to attract a fair number of hip couples. The hotel itself is grand, for sure. And pricey, no doubt.

Yep, retail and food are high end for the most part. Idea is to try and keep the riff-raff away. The Harbor was not exactly built in the greatest area.

Next May my husband and I will be "stuck" at the Gaylord for 3 nights for business, so my question is sort of the reverse of ComfyShoes'. We had hoped to sneak out on one or two afternoons and go up to DC, where we've never been -- it is possibly 2 hours each way on public transit? Are there rush hour considerations? Is renting a car really a pain?

The flights from LAX are better to IAD than DCA, perhaps we will fly in 1 day early, stay in central DC, then after the convention go back to central DC, stay just one night, then go home.

Our time is very limited on this trip, but we want to cram in as many museums and monuments as we can in our little amount of time, especially the Smithsonian. Hotel/location suggestions?

Thanks.

I doubt that there is public gtransportation available to the National Harbor area.

It's possible that you could take a cab from the hotel over to the Metro station on Branch Avenue and head into DC and do the same on return. Hopefully someone who knows that Panorama area better can chime in.

There is a bus from the Gaylord to Branch Avenue. It runs fairly often. You can also take a water taxi to Old Town and then take a free trolley to the King Street Metro.

It is not 2 hours by mass transit. Depending on your timing, 45 minutes to downtown.

gigib, MikeT is right (LN, your information is slightly dated). My wife was with me during this stay and simply took the bus (every 30 minutes) which took her to King Street Metro in 15 minutes, and then on to Metro to downtown in 15 more minutes. Allowing for 15 minutes of wait time etc, you will be in downtown DC in 45 minutes and very cheaply/efficiently. When in Gaylord, ask the Concierge for maps/schedules and you will be all set.

Great, thank you!

gigib, also look at flights to BWI--it would be closer to National Harbor than Dulles. Also, don't rent a car to drive into DC--parking, when you can get into a garage, is expensive and street parking is extremely limited and almost completely disappears at rush hour which starts at 4 pm. DC is a wonderful city, so I hope you can get some time there.