Washington DC Zones

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The following was posted elsewhere by TravelGuy, but as we've been getting a lot of requests with Washington DC help lately, i thought it would deserve a thread of its own in the "Tips" section so that it can help others make a decision.

If TravelGuy wants to add to these comments, or copy/paste and rewrite them with additional information, i will delete this post and let the comments appear in a post with TravelGuy's name on it:

It's hard for me to say which zone would be best, as that's really a subjective decision which may involve age and personality. I like the Dupont/Woodley Park zone at 4*, because of the predictability. There are only two hotels that come up in that zone, they're both quite good and well located, with the Omni coming up the overwhelming majority of the time. They are close to the Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan nightlife. Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and Georgetown are the most lively areas at night. (I should note however that, like New York's Grenwich Village, Dupont is somewhat "alternative". Also, the Adams Morgan crowd at night is relatively young - generally 20's-early 30's.)

The problem with the Georgetown/Foggy Bottom zone is that it's rare that a hotel comes up that's actually in Geogetown. All 4*'s are in Foggy Bottom. Foggy Bottom, to me anyway, gets a little too quiet in the evenings, and it's not as pleasant to walk around the immediate vicinity of the hotel - although it's close to downtown restaurants and Georgetown.

The two most frequently bid zones on Priceline are Downtown/White House and Convention Center/Capital Hill (with Dupont/Woodley Park being third), and should also make for a satisfying stay. Although there's some activity in those zones in the evening, they're substantially less lively than Dupont or Georgetown at night. However, there are some very good 4*'s in those two zones, so, depending on the person, it might be worth the trade off.

I wouldn't be surprised if you get a 4* for no more than $80 using Priceline. Lately, the 4*'s in Dupont/Woodley Park have been going for somewhat higher, but we know that, in the worst case, you can get something in that zone for no more than $94 using Hotwire.

All zones mentioned have easy access to Metro, except that with regard to Georgetown/Foggy Bottom, only Foggy Bottom has a Metro stop.