Washington D.C. Metro Parking
 

Planning to get a Priceline hotel bid in the Falls Church area and use the Metro to get into D.C. ... Will drive to the Vienna/Fairfax station on Sunday morning and park there while in D.C. Sunday, take the Metro back Sunday night for the hotel room and then check out of the hotel Monday morning and drive to the Metro station Monday morning for a 2nd day in D.C.

QUESTION: Is there any likely issue wifh finding a place to park at the Metro station on a Sunday or Monday? I didn't know if spaces fill up and therefore needed to get there early or if it's not a concern.

Any better suggestions to the above plan? I figured it'd be more likely to get a good rate (under$100) on a nice room outside the city and not have to deal with parking cost/hassle.

Thanks!

<<<Any better suggestions to the above plan?>>>

Yes. Why not park outside the city, but use Priceline to get a room IN the city, so you can avoid the trip back and forth?

Here are a few options for you:

If you get an early enough start on Sunday, you could park in D.C. (Street parking is free on Sundays.) My daughter works Sundays in the Penn Quarter section of D.C. and never has a problem finding parking there on Sunday mornings before 10am. It's an easy walk there to the Mall for the Smithsonian museums.

If you are in Falls Church and want to park at a Metro station, you would be closer to the West Falls Church station which has parking. I haven't parked there on a Sunday, but I don't think it would be a problem. If, for some reason, you don't find parking at West Falls Church, just drive to a Metro station in Arlington where street parking is free on Sundays.

On Monday, you would need to get to the Metro parking areas very early in order to get a parking spot.

A final choice would be to stay at the Americana Hotel in Arlington (Crystal City area). Their rooms are generally below $100 per night and while it is not a fancy place, the reviews (e.g. on Trip Advisor) are good. Parking is free and it is within walking distance of 2 Metro stations.

Good thought to save time on the trip back and forth but ...

a) looking for a Metro station off I-66 (Orange Line) and none of those sations have multi-day parking
b) the stations that do have multi-day parking have pretty limited availability (15-17 spaces) and am concerned I wouldn't get one
c) figured hotel rates would be more reasonable outside the city

If I'm off on the above ... may reconsider.
Thanks

Longhorn55 - my a)b)c) post above was in response to sf7307's suggestion

Thanks for the info on parking being free on Sundays - I didn't realize that. Still left with a parking question about Monday as we're not staying Monday night in a D.C. area hotel - just spending the day in the city.

How early is "early" to be reasonably sure of getting a parking space at a Metro station on Monday?

>>How early is "early" to be reasonably sure of getting a parking space at a Metro station on Monday?<<

7:00 am and even then as you describe it you're going to be headed west (away from DC) in rush hour traffic to park and travel back into the city. You'll have the same rush hour traffic to deal with on Monday afternoon when you're trying to leave town. It's going to cut into a notable chunk of your time touring DC on Monday.

You don't specify your dates but generally speaking you'll have little trouble on Sunday finding a Priceline hotel room downtown or in the closest Va spots (Arlington, Crystal City, or even Alexandria) for under $100. Monday night is not as easy but study the sites that do PL or Hotwire and see what you can come up with. I've seen the Hotel Palomar (Arlington in Rosslyn) go for the $100/night range. It's a gorgeous hotel and a 10 minute walk from Rosslyn into Georgetown.

You can park you car at Reagan National Airport's economy lots for $12/day with shuttle to the airport metro (3 min). A few of the major hotels in Crystal City offer $8-10/day parking rates again with shuttle to the metro.

The Americana is a very bare bones hotels. Nothing wrong with that.

I just booked the Days Inn on Connecticut Ave in DC for $100 per night. I will not have a car so I am not sure what the parking cost is. The hotel is about a 10 - 15 min Metro ride to the Mall. I have not stayed there before but the reviews are good. If parking is too much at the hotel you could park at Reagan National when you arrive and take the Metro to the hotel and on Monday evening take the Metro back to the airport and leave the area from there.

Dates are October 2-3 ... driving into the D.C. area around 9AM Sunday leaving around 6PM Monday.

OK - everyone seems to be pointing me to downtown or nearby. Just didn't know what to do with the car on Monday :-)

There are some good rates on hotwire you might want to investigate. www.betterbidding.com might be helpful

TT,

Traffic after 6pm on Monday is not THAT bad. By 7:00pm rush hour is pretty much over. Driving into DC on Sunday morning at 9AM will be empty roads.

You can get a central DC hotel on Priceline for under $100.

It sounds like you're coming from the South. If so, parking at DCA airport for $15 is a great suggestion if you are sure you can't park in town.

That said, paying for downtown parking for just one night may not be a budget breaker depending on how good a deal you get on the room. What's your combined room + parking budget?

Bardo1 - thanks for the traffic insight ...

I just got a Priceline bid of $65 at the 3.5star DoubleTree Crystal City for the night - we don't plan on being in the hotel room much so as long as there's a decent bed and shower, we're good. May not be the greatest hotel around, but the price seems good and it looks pretty convenient to the Metro for a short ride to the sightseeing places. My 4star bid wasn't accepted :-) That's the risk of Priceline - you never know what you're going to get - but, that's part of the adventure - right?! I can risk it for 1 night.

So, unless someone sees flaws in this, am thinking I can ...
drive into the city Sunday morning and park for free somewhere ... likely going to do the hop on/off Old Town Trolley Tour ... drive to the hotel Sunday night and either park at the hotel or as gardendiva mentioned, park at National and catch the Metro or hotel shuttle to the hotel, then leave the car parked Monday til we're done sightseeing and ride the Metro back to get the car.

Thanks all!

You're going to be much happier with Crystal City than staying all the way out in Falls Church.

Just out of curiosity (and I can't seem to see it in the posts above) when you leave on Monday evening, are you driving away from DC or going to the airport?

The Double Tree Crystal City website says it's 2 blocks from Metro and that Self Parking is 23.00 USD IN/OUT

That parking is about 1/2 what you would pat for downtown DC hotel - I'd use it. Can't beat the convenience and with your great hotel rate you still come out ahead.

I don't see any advantage of driving into the city on Sunday and looking for somewhere to park free, since finding free parking will be harder than you think.

CYESQ - will be driving away from D.C. (I-66W). Yeah, us and all the other commuters heading home :-(

The sales manager at CC Doubletree extended an offer that we could leave our car parked in their garage til 6PM Monday even though we'll have checked out that morning. (I emailed him and asked for suggestions.)

Hmmm re: not driving into the city Sunday. We were thinking of taking the Old Towne Trolley Tour tickets for the day so thought we could park somewhere (free?) in the morning and leave it there til evening since we won't have checked into the hotel yet. Is that not recommended?

Honestly, have wondered about the HOHO Trolley Tour, but the last time in D.C. about 15 years ago (yikes!) we just remember getting worn out with walking and wanted to hear some of the tour guide commentary. So, this one seemed to be recommended.

Thanks again ...

On Monday night I suggest leaving the area as late as possible. Maybe have dinner after you pickup your car. I do not remember which expressway we were on but we drove out of Alexandria towards Williamsburg at about 7:00 on a weekday. I have never seen so much traffic in my life and many of the big trucks that would not slow down for anything. It truly was the scariest hour of my life.