Washington DC and New york trip
 

I am thinking to take my family and drive to washington dc from chicago in the next couple of weeks. Also I am interested to go to NYC from washington. I have never been to these places and hence need your help in planning. I will have at the most a week at my disposal for this trip. do you think that will be sufficient?
Please let me know where should I stay and should I go to NYC first and then DC or vice-versa. Also a help in planning my itinerary will be highly appreciated.
Thanks for your help.

What are your family's interests? Ages of children? Budget?

No children. Me and my wife and my mom and dad aged about 60.
My parents are mostly into famous places, so white house, statue of liberty, kinda stuff, you know.. places/stuff that everyone knows about. I am also interested in scenic places/drives and historical stuff, so museums and monuments are higher up in my list.

Budget, i have no idea how much its going to cost. but as we will be driving, i guess we will be saving some compared to flights.

thanks for your reply.

Washington DC is all about "historical stuff," so you will have no problem fulfilling that requirement! :) My personal favorite museums are the American History Museum, Museum of Natural History, and the Air and Space Museum, which are all part of the Smithsonian museum complex and are free of charge. Arlington National Cemetary is also a must-see in my book, as are the National Archives. Many of the most well-known monuments are on the National Mall, with the Lincoln Memorial on one end, the Capitol Building on the other end, and several of them in between the two~the Washington Monument, the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the majestic WWII memorial........keep in mind that the Mall is almost two miles from the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building, so bring great walking shoes!! Since you'll be driving and will have a car, a trip to Mount Vernon would be advisable. There's also the lesser-known (and less crowded) Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport.

Although I love New York City, if you only have a week, and you're driving from Chicago, pick either NYC or DC. I have made many trips to DC and still feel that I haven't seen or done everything I want to!

With just a week, I would choose either New York City or DC as they are both worthy of around a week. Given your parents and your interest, both cities would definitely be of great interest.

Which city would be a bigger priority for you and your parents?

thanks again for the detailed reply.

so in dc, which place is recommended for stay? i would like it to be safe and cheaper. Also I will have a car, so parking is another worry for me. does any hotel offer free parking? i was thinking to do priceline for hotels, so i will have no idea which hotel i will end up with. will it be better to stay in heart of the city or in the outskirts and take a train/cab/bus?

wouldnt it be possible to squeeze in atleast 1-2 places in NYC within a week?
my dad really wants to see the statue of liberty.

You'll pay less if you stay on the outskirts. Although I haven't personally stayed there, a friend stayed at the Americana Hotel in Arlington and recommended it (it also has good reviews on TripAdvisor). You can check it out at www.americanahotel.com

It WOULD be possible to squeeze in NYC, but with "a week at most," here's something to consider..........it's about a 12 hour drive from Chicago to DC, so 2 days will be spent traveliing. That gives you 5 days in which to see some of the major sights of DC. It's a 5-6 hour trip from DC to NYC, which reduces your sightseeing time to about 4.5 days and your travel time increases to 2.5 days. My advice, again, is choose one or the other. If the Statue of Liberty is a bigger priority that the National Mall, go to NYC and save DC for another trip.

I believe the Statue of LIberty is still closed for renovations - but do check the web site of the National Park Service to be sure. That is also where you need to get tickets for the ferry to Liberty island and Ellis island You must get them now - if you wait until you get here the ticket line can be hours long.

If you prefer not to do Ellis Island you can get a view of the Sol from either the free Staten Island ferry (runs 24/7 and takes about 1.5 hours to and fro across the harbor - but this is transit - not a tour). Or you could take the 2 hours Circle Line cruise - a tour - which will get you fairly near the statue.

The only hotel in Manhattan with free parking is the Travel Inn on the far west side. It is a reliable budget property. Other than that you would have to pay to park your car in the hotel or public garage at $30 to $40 per 24 hours. Unfortunately NYC is well into high seasons - mobbed with tourists - and hotel prices will be high. You best bet is to try to find an advance pay internet special or use one of the discount sites. You can;t use Priceline unless you bid for 2 rooms - since all they promise is a room with one double bed (standard for NYC hotels).

If you provide a specific budget in dollars and your dates people may be able to help you track down a lodging at not too awful a price.

But - I agree - with only a week - and all the time to drive from and to Chicago -you really only have time to see one city (since you would spend the best part of a day getting from DC to NYC).

How set to a week are you? Maybe plan 10 days (assuming a day on each end for travel) then 5 in DC / 3 in NY or 4/4. Its a ~ 5 hr drive to NY from DC (varies with traffic).

The hotel I stay at in DC is the Americana Hotel. its a budget hotel near a Metro station with free parking. Admittedly, it is not for everyone and is a 2 star hotel but its cheap.

Assuming 5 full days in DC (I do NYC as day trips so Im not the best person to help with NYC itineraries)

Here is what I would propose based on my interests which are similar to yours. My best advice though is to stay flexible and not have a set list of things to do

Day 1:
US Capitol Tour (Get timed tickets now) This won't take very long but is enjoyable. Be aware there is security to pass through and takes some time
Pick a Smithsonian Museum (www.si.edu)
Have a late lunch / early dinner.
Cab it to Jefferson Memorial (this will assume a lot of walking) and walk all the Monuments in a clockwise motion. This will take some time but will be worth it.

Day 2
Arlington Cemetery. Take your time going through here. There is a tram tour but you can walk away from the stops to some of the other sites within the cemetery too.

Different Smithsonian Museum (my favorites are the Air and space, Portrait Gallery (which is open later than most) and the American History)

White House walk-by as you are too late to do a tour of it

Day 3
Newseum - great Museum in DC. Will take a majority of the day to see everything and is not free. Ticket generally includes a 2nd day (consecutive)

Maybe have a late tour of Ford's Theatre here

Day 4
If you want, go out to Udvar Hazy Air Museum. Will need to drive or take public transportation for a long time

Day 5
national Archives - don't miss this
national Zoo if interested. If you are, I would go first thing in the morning and drive. leave from there to go to NYC. Parking isnt cheap though.
Anything else then drive to NYC

Here is my trip report from my trip a few weeks ago so hopefully it can help you.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...5-168698-2.cfm

If you have 7 days including travel from Chicago, I'd pick one city. If it's two cities in 7 days, you can't do them both justice but you can prioritize and hit some highlights of both.

For your DC portion, listen to tchoiniere's advice for hotel and touring.

thanks a lot tchoiniere, nytraveler, tenthumbs and obxgirl for your detailed replies.
wow, tchoiniere, words will fail to convey my appreciation for the detailed itinerary. a big thank you. if i decide to do just dc, then this is plan i m following.

however i m not sure whether i will be able to come back to nyc, given that winter is almost here, and my parents would be in the states for another 5 months, and we plan to do a few more trips as well.

if i absolutely want/need to do both cities within my time constraint, could you please give your suggestions to how to go on with it.

thanks for the hotel tip. i just checked it out, seems like i can get 1 room for 4 people. i did not think it was possible, was planning on booking 2 rooms in priceline. i guess i will save some money if i choose americana and book only 1 room.

is october 26 - november 1 a good time for this trip?

Yes - that's early enough that you shouldn't hit bad weather - although we did have a significant snow storm - a real freak of nature - last Halloween.

I would do DC first and the NYC - since NYC has an incredible Halloween parade in Greenwich Village - like nothing you have seen anyplace else and definitely for adults - not children. And you'll be out of the City before the Marathon madness begins (although I'm sure the elite runners will be here early - most of the extra 30,000 won't be).

But do look for an NYC hotel now. I checked and the Travel Inn has double double rooms (4 adults) for only $227 per night - a steal at this time of year.

I'll second tchoiniere's recommendation of the Americana Hotel. We (dh, our 17yo son, and I) stayed there a year ago and it met our needs perfectly.

Lee Ann

thanks again.

based on all your advices, i m thinking about the following,

day 1
a smithsonian museum
monuments
white house outside walk by

day 2
another museum
arlington cemetary
national archives

day 3
open to suggestions, maybe mt vermon or something else, how far is any good beach? my wife hasnt yet seen a ocean.

day 4
open to suggestions

day 5
NYC statue of liberty, anything else if time permits (no idea what)

i checked out the americana hotel and they have 2 double bed rooms for 145 bucks per night. Is that a good value?

you'll need to use day 4 as a travel day; either leave DC in the morning and do something in NYC in the afternoon (like see Central Park), or do something in DC in the morning and leave for NYC in the afternoon.

Two double beds, free parking, and a continental breakfast for $145? I'd say that's a good value........

Look at Hotwire - better hotels in a better location for that price.

There is free parking (40 long term spaces) at the Martinsburg WV Amtrak station. Take train #30 Capitol Limited into Union Station. The fare from MRB is only $15/pp. This avoids driving in and paying to park in the cities. Union Station has the Metro downstairs.There are car rentals right at the station if you want to rent for a day to go out to Mt. Vernon or other places not close to a train or Metro station.

ok... so day 4 is for traveling. can i edit my earlier post? i dont see any options for that.

any suggestions about nearby ocean beaches for day 3? is it doable what i have for day 1 and day 2?

what is there to see in mt vernon?

and btw, the scene in the movie forest gump, where tom hanks and the lady crosses a water body, it is also in DC right? sorry for too many questions. I guess that would be a cool place to see.

Washington is inland, The most popular ocean beach for my DC friends is Rehoboth Beach Delaware but it's about 3 hours each way, and there's not much to do or see there in October or November.
If you must see a beach you can detour on your way to NYC and stop in one of the Jersey Shore towns like Spring Lake, Again, not much to do at this time of the year. With such a packed trip, you'd just be doing a drive by and maybe a lunch stop.