So, we’re not American, but I reckon if you’re feeling like you need a little pinch of patriotism, head to Washington DC. Even as a ‘foreigner’, I felt pretty impressed by the city, museums and the share size of the monuments in DC. Here’s where we stayed, how we got there from NYC and the best bits of what we saw while we were in Washington DC.
Getting to Washington DC from New York
Given this trip was ‘time out’ from our hectic NY adventure, we started from the Port Authority where we boarded a greyhound, headed for the nation’s capital.
Most people would probably take the Amtrak, but given it was holiday season (I can only assume), fares were pretty steep and the $60US round trip on the Greyhound bus seemed like a better option for us. It’s not flash, but from what I understand, a whole lot better than it was a few years ago.
The trip’s meant to be around 4 1/2 hours, but expect delays, there was traffic and neither of our buses were on time. Plus, you can expect some disorganization at both ends.
Where we stayed
Given it was holidays, accommodation booked up and pretty fast, we booked a month out and still struggled to find something decent in our budget. From what we can work out, half of America heads to DC for the holidays.
We landed on Kimpton Monaco Washington Hotel, in Penn Quarter. We booked on Booking.com, as that’s our go to. It’s in a heritage building and has been done up with some pretty funky interiors. There’s a cocktail bar attached, large rooms (I think we were upgraded too, which helped), complimentary coffee and wine time at 5pm! So, we were happy.
Penn Quarter sits between the main sites and Chinatown, hosts some decent shopping and lots of restaurants and places to drink. From what we were told by a local, 10 years ago you wouldn’t have been safe to walk around the neighbourhood and despite seeing the left over from a crime scene when we headed out to breakfast, it seemed not too bad.
Visiting the Sites in DC
It’s the monuments and White House that the people come to see, and we were no different. We basically spent a full day walking from the Capital building, right down to the Lincoln Memorial, past the museums, the botanic gardens, The Washington Memorial and the World War II Memorial. We also checked out the White House (because you have to) and made sure we saw the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial too, because he really was such an important part of American History. One thing to note is that you will walk the entire day, so wear some comfortable shoes!
We had a day and a half here and it wasn’t long enough to see everything we wanted to see, but it really does depends on how much you love museums and how much you like to queue. We gave the Air and Space Museum a miss due to the lines outside, but made the Smithsonian Natural History Museum a priority, and loved it.
Where we ate
During our two night stay, we made the most of the food around the hotel. It’s quite convenient really that Penn Quarter has become a foodie destination. We were really impressed by some of the offerings and recommend you try Crimson Diner, Grafittio, Penn Commons and The Smith. We’ve dedicated a whole post as you need to know more about what we ate, oh you do. Also had a cheeky little reindeer from Starbucks. Would have been rude not too! Check out the full post here!
Washington DC is a fantastic city to visit. We used it to break up a trip in NYC, but it’s definitely worth doing regardless. Big thanks to our friends who suggested we do, so glad we did!