We are considering driving from Montreal to Washington, D.C. (even with the drop off charge it is cheaper than flying because there are 4 of us). My question is - what is a good location to drop off the car when one wishes to avoid chaotic city traffic. We have driven around large cities before, i.e. Paris - but prefer to avoid city centers. Any ideas?

Where will you need to drop? Where are you staying and flying out of after you drop?

Reagan airport is the closest to DC and easiest to take mass transit into DC if needed. Traffic around the area is HORRIBLE!

Need more details and then might be able to help!

8-)

Airport dropoffs are certainly easiest. You can leave the car at BWI (Baltimore) and take a train to the District without negotiating the Beltway (circumferential highway) which is essentially immobile from 1530-1900. Dropping off at Reagan would be very convenient because of the Metro into the District, but between those hours, it is or can be a pain.

There are plenty of easy to find suburban drop-offs depending on the rental car company, your route into the DC area, and where you are staying.

It's hard to say without knowing what is available with the particular car company you use. Regan would be fine but you can't get there that easily if you are coming from Montreal, not in a way that avoids traffic and it would involve tons of extra travel to go all the way across the city. BWI would be on your way and that's a possibility. I presume you'll be coming down I95 and then perhaps the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

So where are you going, anyway? If you don't even know yet, you could get a hotel in Silver Spring as that wouldn't be too bad to drive into from the NE side of town, and there are a couple hotels there and a metro stop to take you right down into the city in about 10 minutes (at least to Union station). But even if you don't want to stay there, it wouldn't be too bad a place to drop off a car. There is a Hertz car rental near the metro stop (and Enterprise, but I presume you won't be using them).

It really depends where you need to go with the car, if an airport, BWI is best.