Ideas for short driving tour around Washington DC, please
 

Hello all,

Asking for your help, please.

I'm attending a family wedding in Washington, DC this November and we've tacked on a few days afterwards to explore the local region.

We'll have a couple of days before the wedding to explore Washington, DC so we'd like to get out of town for the 4-5 days afterwards.

We have Monday to Friday available - we'd be heading out of Washington on the Monday morning, not outrageously early as the wedding is the evening before. We need to be back into Washington early Friday evening, for a late Friday night flight home to the UK.

We don't mind whether we spend all 4 nights in one place, 2 x 2 nights in 2 places or 4 1 night stops in a loop. Whatever makes most sense for the suggested itinerary.


We've driven many times in the US before, so we're happy renting a car and pootling around. That said, with such a short amount of time, we'd prefer to avoid long drives/ distances this time around.

I have a strong food focus (I write a food blog and am regular columnist in a food & travel print magazine too) so would like to include places that are known for local specialities/ great food. My husband has a strong interest in beer and whiskey, so any tips on good places for those would be appreciated too.

I don't even know where to start. Looking at a map I can see Baltimore and Philadelphia within reaching distance, but don't know whether I ought to focus on those, or smaller towns instead or what, really.

Any advice welcome as I need to pin this down ASAP and I've got very little time available for planning. (I'm usually a detail researcher and planner, so am feeling a bit stressed out on this one!)

THANK YOU
x
Kavey

Colonial Williamsburg and Jefferson's Monticello - but I'm a history fan.

The Inn at Little Washington comes to mind for the "foodie" aspect of this request.

Charlottesville VA is a wonderful, historic town, full of architectural masterpieces, a lot of terrific restaurants and cafes, and there might be some colo(u)r left in the leaves up on the Blue Ridge. I'd think it would be ideal.

These are all great ideas which I heartily second.

You could also head towards the water: Annapolis is a lovely town, and while I have never had a "foodie" experience there, Maryland seafood is justifiably famous.

You can't go wrong with Philly, of course, but that's another city to explore, and I hear you saying that perhaps you want a break from cities??

There's plenty of local & craft beer, food, art and whatever to experience in the DC area (including metro Virginia and Maryland) to keep you busy for a few days. Baltimore and Philly are fine trips as well, either as day trips or as destinations. Wouldn't use a car in either case for city center stuff. Annapolis is a great day trip from DC but realistically requires a car. Same with the Maryland or Virginia eastern shores and the Chesapeake Bay.

I think the suggestion of Virginia, Charlottesville and drivable spots near east and west, offers enough scenic rural and mountain countryside, US history, and a bounty of remarkable craft beer & farm-to-face blog worthy food to make it an enjoyable trip. Staunton, Richmond, Harrisonburg and even Wlliamsburg are accessible. Lots of specific info in the archives here or ask and people will recommend.

That would also have you southwest of the DC metro area so assuming you're flying in and out of Dulles you'd have a much easier return trip to the airport. Hear you that you're good US drivers but the kind of traffic one experiences in DC (or Philly or Baltimore) is the soul sucking kind that rivals London.

And hopefully your trip isn't coinciding with the third week in November, US Thanksgiving, in which case any travel plans are likely going to be severely impacted no matter what mode of transportation you are using.

Philadelphia. We all about the food. http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...iladelphia.cfm (And actually pretty well known for the beer, too: http://www.visitphilly.com/articles/...d-craft-beers/ Not that I would know for myself, but...there it is.)

Plus it's really easy to get around without a car, and you can even ditch the car completely and come from Washington via train or Megabus very easily.

It's a great place to spend four or five days, or even, in my case, 49 years. http://missalg.tumblr.com/

The Inn at Little Washington comes to mind for the "foodie" aspect of this request.
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That first came to mind for me as well. In a perfect world, I would go there one night and then head to Charlottesville and then to Richmond (disclaimer I am a Richmond native who loves my hometown) and if times permits, perhaps add on Williamsburg before heading back to DC.

Am just re-reading the original post and these words: "...so would like to include places that are known for local specialities/ great food. My husband has a strong interest in beer and whiskey..." kinda jumped out.

The beer thing may not be a problem since all kinds of so-called "craft" beers have become available in the Washington area. Whiskey? Am I incorrect in stating there aren't any distilleries nearby?

Having lived in the Washington area for decades I am trying to think of some "local [food] specialties"

crabs? rock fish? shad roe?

further south there's always "Virginia ham"

I just don't think cheese steak sandwiches, scrapple, and shoo-fly pie are going to cut it somehow.

Dukey, obviously you haven't been in Philadelphia for some time, or you somehow missed the multitude of fine dining restaurants that complement the amazing ethnic and street food available.

Pennsylvania has a long whiskey history: after all, the Whiskey Rebellion was here. Close to Philadelphia you can tour Dad's Hat Rye in Bristol: http://dadshatrye.com/ Or there's Wigle Whiskey in Pittsburgh, which is a great town, but that's about a six hour drive from Philadelphia.

We have a number of local breweries here in Richmond as well. And we've got great food and little traffic.

My highlights in Virginia were an incredible picnic dinner and breakfast at The Inn at Warner Hall and a great dinner at Bookbinder's in Richmond. ( Bookbinder's wasn't recommended to me by anyone on this board but we ended up there with a group from work.)

The Inn at Warner Hall has an incredible chef and the property is charming. They only serve dinner on certain nights of the week so check out the website and if it works with your dates, I would suggest you both eat and stay there! We loved it.

We had intended, on our second night to eat at Comfort but they had experienced a loss of electricity and sent us down the street to a great little place on the corner that's located in an old drugstore called Tarrant's. We enjoyed it and it wasn't far to drive down Monument Avenue.

Another vote for a stop at The Inn at Little Washington - wonderful Inn accommodations and a fabulous place for a great meal - one of the highest rated dining places in the US. While there, you can easily visit Jefferson's Estate, Monticello and James Madison's Estate, Montpelier during the day. Then drive down to Colonial Williamsburg for a short stay with dinner at the Regency Room in the Williamsburg Inn.

I know Richmond is nice, but RoamsAround's loop is a much better option, IMO.

Closer to DC and just south of Alexandria, VA is Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate with a whiskey distillery. They also have wine festivals and sell VA wine throughout the year.

http://www.mountvernon.org/the-estat...ns/distillery/

Richmond is between Charlottesville and Williamsburg. You have to drive through its completely unprepossessing outskirts, but much of the city is extremely attractive, it has a wonderful free art museum and historical museum two doors down, and a combination of low rents and avid foodies mean a fantastic food scene at prices that are laughably low by New York or Boston standards.

Janet and I don't always agree, but if you look us up on here, you will get some fantastic places to eat. Friends took me to Edo's Squid last Wednesday. It is in a dumpy building in a area full of students. You go up a steep unpromising stairway to a landing that looks like a janitor's closet, then through a door into a loft space where you have the opportunity to eat sublime fish and shellfish and incredibly imaginative dishes. Baked cabbage? Who woulda thought! We have the best Szechuan restaurant in the United States, arguably in the world, Peter Chang's in a strip mall near a Walmart.

You can't eat at the Inn at Little Washington every day.

Acki......we go to Edo's at least twice a month :) It is the one place SD & SIL miss now that they are in Charleston.

I love Philadelphia and have enjoyed many of the great restaurants there but at that time of the year I'd head south not north.

I agree that Inn at LW is one of the best restaurants on the east coast but check out the menu before you decide on it so you don't pass out from sticker shock.

Wow, thank you so so much everyone! Took day off yesterday for my birthday and intended to work through responses but was utterly lazy instead! This is fantastic, so much to look into.

Shall investigate and come back to you!

Again, wow!

You might want to stop at Mitsitam, right in DC (in the Museum of the American Indian) which specializes in (modern) preparations that use only traditional foods from the Americas:
http://www.mitsitamcafe.com/home/default.asp

Chesapeake blue crab is a "local" specialty (depending on how you define "local"), but you'll be a bit off-season for it:
http://dc.about.com/od/restaurants/a...Blue-Crabs.htm

it seems to me that one local culinary "tradition" is to dine at an old inn, even if the cuisine is very modern and/or upscale. Examples include:
http://tabardinn.com/restaurant/
http://1789restaurant.com

Another aspect of the DC culinary scene is its variety of international options. For some information about the options, you might look at
http://www.opentable.com/washington-dc-restaurants

Happy Birthday, Kavey!