need help. We will be staying for a weekend - Friday night to Sunday. Sunday will be going to a baseball game, so just have one full day on Saturday for sightseeing. We will have our 10 year old son and 15 year old daughter with us. Suggestions for attractions for these ages?
Also - suggestions for a place to stay. We're OK staying further out if it means we get a good price for a nice hotel, but only if there is an easy way to get in to DC... We're OK squeezing in to one room. Any thoughtson Reston Heights area. Found a great deal on a hotel, but seems really far out. If stayihg in DC itself, where to stay?
Thanks!

Can't say I've ever heard of Reston Heights. Reston, on the other hand, I know about, and it is WAY too far out. Maybe you mean Friendship Heights? If so, that might be okay. Which hotel?

It was a westin hotel

What about the L'enfant plaza?

L'enfant plaza is a good location.

I would also recommend the Crystal City/Reagan National airport area. They are on the metro line, and usually priceline will yield good deals.

I would go the the Spy Museum if I were you for the kiddos. If they like that, then the nearby Crime and Punishment museum as well. And the American History museum (which has the added bonus of being free).

The zoo has pandas,but it's kind of far from the other attractions. But once you get on the National mall with a basic map, your kids can kind of tell you whether they want to go in or not. Oh, here's the botanic gardens? No. Okay. Let's keep walking. The Native American museum (which has interesting and good food)? No? Okay. Well, here's the Hirschhorn with modern art.
And if we cut across the mall here, we can go to the National Gallery of Art with classical art.

Then there's the biggies, of course, the Lincoln memorial, the Wall, the Washington Monument...

The OP can't use Priceline because they need a room for 4 people; DC is one of the cities where you can't count on getting that with your PL win.

I would strongly recommend against making decisions after arriving, based on your very limited time. Direct the kids to the Smithsonian web site ( si.edu ) and have them each choose one of the museums on the Mall; the most popular with kids are Air & Space, and Natural History.

How about Hotwire. I heard that you can "figure out" which hotels they are, but no clue how?

Hotwire has the same problems as PL; you can get a good guess on what you're going to get (or at narrow it down a lot) by going to betterbidding.com.

You also might want to check out travelzoo's "hot deals." There's almost always a DC hotel that has some sort of sale.

And pre-planning isn't a bad idea. I just think that in DC, it's not as needed as it is in other cities. With the exception of the zoo-and Georgetown-all of the major sites are really concentrated around the mall. And many of them can be discarded pretty quickly. Most people know already that they do or don't like Modern Art. Or that whether they would enjoy Asian art.

I've lived here for years, and I haven't fully explored the Natural History museum. Because every time I go in there, I feel like a sardine. If you gave me a list of museums in DC, it would probably be one of the ones I most wanted to see. But in practice, I find it miserable. I hate the crowds there. So if I were a teen and chose this as my museum in advance, would my parents let me leave? Assuming my sibling chose was happy with his museum, would he be bitter that I got two musuems if we left?


I think there is an argument for the spontaneous route.

If you insist on NOt staying in the District itself I would look somewhere such as Arlington/Crystal City for a possible hotel..there are lots of them including some MOTELS that are within walking distance of the Metro and ergo an easy ride into the District.

if your kids want to see any of the Smithsonian offerings then plan on GETTING THERE early especially if it is a weekend or be prepared for a possible mob scene.

Look on quikbook.com. The Days Inn Conn. Ave is ~0.090 per night. I cant remember how many beds though? We have 1 room with 2 doubles for that price.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...aveling.cfm?87

This is my long trip report, if you care to read about some real detail to choices.

I was just going to post what Dukey did. Arlington or maybe old town Alexandria by the Metro would be great for kids.

If I take grandkids, I'll do just that myself. Motels/hotels are easy walking distance to the Metro and there are also myriads of restaurants near the boardwalk area in Alexandria too, especially.

Hotwire is much less "anonymous" than Priceline. You can usually figure out which hotel it is from the amenities lists and matching up the rating on Trip Advisor. But more important, you can assure a 2-bed room by saying that you have 3 or 4 people in your party. Go onto Hotwire and check what's available for 3-4 people for your dates and post them here -- I'm sure someone here can help you make an educated guess as to which hotel it is.

Oh, and with only one full day of sightseeing, I'd highly recommend staying closer in (the Loew's, BTW, is in an okay location because it's on top of a metro station, but there's nothing around there to walk to - no restaurants etc.)

Just checked back to this post and I looked up the Westin and it is indeed in Reston, VA. Very inconvenient -- don't do it.

I'm not a big fan of L'Enfant Plaza either for the reason that sf7307 mentioned. Since you are going to see the Nats, I agree that VA seems like a good option. There is a nice Embassy Suites Alexandria across the street from the metro station.

Hello. I did end up booking L'Enfant Plaza just because I got a good deal and Saturday will be all day sightseeing, going to the Nats game on Sunday and then leaving for home right after the game.
A few more questions:
Where to eat - the kids like casual,not very adventurous(think Chilis) but I'd prefer to stay away from the chain restaurants but still stay inexpensive. Suggestions?
Do you suggest taking the metro to the Nats game and leaving the car at the hotel, taking the metro back and then leaving. Or drive to the game (cost of parking?)
As far as museums, sights etc - first time in DC so need to do the main tourist sites. What would you consider "must see" sights? Also, my son wants to go to the spy museum and my daughter wants to do an art gallery. We're thinking we'll split up at that point and then meet back up. Suggestions for an art gallery - it'll be her first, so I don't think she really has an idea of what to expect.
Thanks for everybody's help.

There are several museums in the genreral area of the Spy Museum, the Portrait Gallery and American Art just across the street, plus National Gallery about 6 blocks away. Bonus for that area is that 7th Street has dozens of restaurants of all prices and flavors, and is a short Metro ride (Yellow or Green lines from Gallery Place) to L'Enfant.

I would get Clyde's to go for lunch. It's right by the American Art Museum, and you can go over and eat on the steps outside of that museum. You can also eat in there. Most museums have cafeterias with edible food (the Museum of the Native American has a cafe with lots of different choices, but many on the stranger side, like bison.)

The number one art gallery here the National Gallery. I would go there and skip all of the rest. It's a huge collection with two buildings and a ton of variety, impressionists and Vermeers and medieval art and modern.

The most iconic places here are the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the Washington Monument, and the White House. Arguably Congress as well. The FDR memorial is wonderful and I would say better than many of those, but probably not something that first comes to mind when people say DC.

The White House isn't that impressive-it's not like you're going to get to go inside. You can see the Washington Monument from a distance-a long distance.

The Lincoln Memorial, the Wall, and the FDR memorial are pretty close to each other. You might just want to get a bus tour. I think one of them has hop-on-hop-off at stops.

Don't try to drive to the game. Go to L'enfant metro stop (I assume that's the one your hotel is on). Take the yellow line to Mt. Vernon Square or the Green line to Greenbelt. Get off at one stop, at Archives. Get on the Green line to Branch Avenue (yes, you just went out of your way, but when you see the mass of people at L'enfant, you'll thank me.) Get off at Navy Yard. Follow the mass of people.

Thanks for all the great info. Kayd - Any particular restaurants that you recommend in the 7th street area?
What type of restaurant is Clydes?
Myown - not exactly sure I follow your metro directions, but maybe it'll make sense when I look at a map.
Is there any kind of weekend pass available for the metro?
I did think about a bus tour, but quite expensive for 4 of us, esp. since we'll also be buying tickets for the ballgame.

Info on Clyde's

http://www.clydes.com/main/Restauran...e&Section=Main

"Is there any kind of weekend pass available for the metro?"

No weekend pass but daily or 7-day ones. Look here:

http://www.wmata.com/fares/purchase/passes.cfm

Click on Metrorail Passes and Farecards to get past the bus info.

I did think about a bus tour, but quite expensive for 4 of us

Keep in mind, then, that the mall is pretty long (lots of walking). From the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol Bldg. is close to 2 miles.

Thanks. That's OK - we are all big walkers (even my little guy). Or maybe we'll do the metro if our feet get tired.
But thanks for letting me know - I didn't realize quite how long it is.
Where is the FDR memorial?
If anybody has anything else to add, particularly about where to eat, I'd appreciate the input.