cat_lover

I'm planning a trip to DC and am on a tight budget. I have a friend who lives in Baltimore who I'm sure I could stay with if I asked. Before I call in the favor, I wanted to see how much of a pain it will be to lodge in Baltimore for a trip that is mainly for sight-seeing etc. in DC.

Based on the cost and inconvenience, would it be better to just go ahead and pay for a hotel? If hotel is the way to go, can you suggest inexpensive options?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Anonymous

The MARC commuter train, and Amtrak trains, run from Baltimore's Penn Station to Union Station in DC. MARC runs only on weekdays, costs $7 and takes about an hour between the cities; then of course you have local travel at either end.

The best deals on hotels are through online sources like Priceline. Prices at most hotels vary considerably by date.

Don

Personally, I'd prefer to stay closer to D.C. than have to travel to and from Baltimore if my intent is to do sightseeing in D.C. Were you planning to drive yourself to and from D.C., or use buses, or what?

What price would you be willing to pay for a hotel per night? (I don't know what your "tight budget" means--differs from person to person.)

Priceline bidding would probably be a good option, especially if you can find a zone with lots of lower-priced hotels that are near a Metro stop. BiddingForTravel.com or BetterBidding.com would give you ideas of which hotels you could expect to get in each zone.

I imagine there are lots of such zones in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs around D.C., but I'm too lazy to do the looking myself.

I hope this helps a little...

Cicerone

My gut feeling is that it would be pretty much of a pain. My first question would be how close to the Baltimore train station(s) does your friend live, and how would you get back and forth to that station each day? If your friend lives in the suburbs, it may be difficult and/or expensive to get to downtown stations.

Then in terms of trains there is Amtrak, which while a bit faster, is not cheap, see Amtrak.com for prices and schedules, but from what I see on the website I think the cheapest fare would be about $28 round trip (assuming you don’t qualify for any discounts), and this only applies to some trains (not the Acela train which is a reserved train), so this may play havoc with a sightseeing schedule. MARC as noted above only runs on weekdays, so if your trip is over a weekend, you will have to use Amtrak. With MARC or Amtrak, you would have to time your departures which may be a pain, and with MARC this assumes you can go to and from a main station in Baltimore which has frequent service. (Also, it appears to me from checking their website, that MARC may not operate on holidays either, but check you dates). There is greyhound bus service, it seems a bit limited, about twice a day, and you also have get to and from the bus station.

I heartily agree with the price line and other recoos above, and there are websites with guidelines to bidding and what hotels you are most likely bidding on. Also, you might consider Alexandria, Virginia which may be slightly cheaper for hotels, or Bethesda, Maryland (i.e., someplace outside DC but on or near the DC subway line) which also may be cheaper, but you can much quickly and easily reach downtown DC via the subway from either. Bethesda is quite a lively area with good restaurants, there are a strip of hotels along Wisconsin Avenue that might be worth looking into. (a Hyatt, a Doubletree, a Marriott Residences and a Sheraton Four Points as well as others; metro stop is Bethesda). Or try this same part of Wisconsin Avenue a bit further south that is actually still Washington DC (Friendship Heights stop on the metro). Arlington can work too.

Also you can try to use hotel points if you have them. That might enable you to be at a downtown hotel which would be great for walking to most things.

Daniel_Williams

If your friend lives in say, the Mount Vernon neighbourhood, downtown B'more or the Federal Hill neighbourhood of Baltimore, this would be long-ish but not too bad. Easy walk to Penn Station from the former and Camden Station from the latter two. 40 minutes-1 hr. and a bit (depending on the MARC train) into Union Station DC from either station. Maybe Charles Village or Fell's Point with cab/bus/water taxi would be acceptable too.

If your friend is in more outlying areas of Baltimore, I think going into DC more than 1 day on your stay would start to get tedious(even with a car considering DC traffic).

Even if your friend lives in the neighbourhoods close-by to the train stations and you opt to go that route, I'd recommend spending SOME time actually sightseeing in Baltimore, a city I find personally (I'm probably in the minority in this opinion though) every bit as interesting as DC...

sincerely

Daniel

cat_lover

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Based on this sage advice, I think I'll try to find a hotel in the city.

Happy travels!

obxgirl

No question it'll be more convenient to stay in a hotel closer to DC. But you said you were on a tight budget. What can you afford to spend on a hotel room?

Also, when are you visiting? Time of year and day of the week can have a huge impact on what you'll spend for lodging.

Priceline is good option. You can probably get a room for $60-$100 a night depending on when you're going to be there.

rb_travelerxATyahoo

Would you consider a hostel? There is a HI/AYH facility in DC. You don't get a private room, you get to stay with your "new friends".

Aside from that, please do consider the suggestions for outside DC, but near a Metro. I stayed in Alexandria last month at Comfort Inn VanDorn, and the company also had a Days Inn right next door. Free shuttle to the VanDorn Metro stop and public bus service went by too. Rooms were $60 with about a 25 min Metro ride to downtown DC. Arlington has stops the closest to DC but in VA, where the taxes will be much lower. Look at College Park and Silver Spring MD areas.

Check the website
http://www.stationmasters.com/Lodging/lodging.html
for hotels close to a Metro (I notice that some are not that close - map it out!) Look at hotel that have free breakfast if you want to save some $ from your food budget.

Good luck --

And DO spend some time in "Bawlmor" too.