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Help me get to DC from Spotsylvania

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We (2 adults, 4 teens) are staying at the Presidential Resort at Chancellorsville. I've been trying to decide how to get us to DC to do some sightseeing. I'm sure we will be doing at least 4 days in DC, with other trips to Jamestown and parts in Maryland.

I could drive us to DC, but how is the parking? Should I drive to the metrorail in Springfield and ride in? I heard about VRE, but it looks expensive for the 6 of us. But then the thought of letting someone else do the driving.... nice.

Also, how long is the trip? I've seen it to be a little over an hour, but I don't believe it...

Any advice?
 
I'd drive straight to DC or take the VRE. Since you have 6 people, you can take the HOV lanes into DC during peak morning hours (6am-9am); if you drive after peak rush hours, you should also be fine. Without traffic congestion, it's around an 75 to 90 minutes away.Traffic is pretty bad on I-95 to and from DC. Don't try to drive on Friday anytime between 2pm and 6:30pm from DC to Spotsylvania -- the traffic congestion is unbearable and you can expect a 3 hour commute from DC to Spotsylvania during that time. Parking in DC is ok if you get in early and get an early bird special -- you can get early-bird special deals for $10-15 per day at some places around the White House on Pennsylvania Ave near 17-18th Streets.

VRE might be a good thing for you; but you have to get to the F'burg VRE commuter parking lot early to get a parking spot -- anytime before 6:30am and you should be ok. If you buy a 10 trip ticket, which is cheaper than single tickets, you can punch in all 6 riders on the ticket, and just purchase 2 single tickets on the way back. If you take VRE to the L'Enfant Plaza station, you're within a short walk to the Mall and most of the major Smithsonian museums, like Air and Space. You can spend most of the day on the Mall, and ride around on a DC turnmobile to lessen the walking around the area (walking the entire perimeter of the Mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial is around 5-6 miles).

I'm not sure it makes that much sense to drive to Springfield for the Metro. Springfield is only 12 miles from DC, so if you've come that far up I-95 from Spotsylvania, I'm not sure you gain that much by finding parking at the Springfield metro and taking the metro into DC.
 
I live in Stafford just a few miles north of Spotsie/Fredericksburg and I commute to DC everyday.

I-95 traffic is terrible at rush hour......I suggest you wait until 9AM and drive up to the Franconia-Springfield Metro and take Metro into the city......you can park at the Metro parking structure, there are always spaces open on the top floor.....get an all day ticket for the Metro good after 10 AM....cost about $6.00....this will save you traffic and parking headaches downtown.
 
chris5 said:
I'd drive straight to DC or take the VRE. Since you have 6 people, you can take the HOV lanes into DC during peak morning hours (6am-9am); if you drive after peak rush hours, you should also be fine. Without traffic congestion, it's around an 75 to 90 minutes away.Traffic is pretty bad on I-95 to and from DC. Don't try to drive on Friday anytime between 2pm and 6:30pm from DC to Spotsylvania -- the traffic congestion is unbearable and you can expect a 3 hour commute from DC to Spotsylvania during that time. Parking in DC is ok if you get in early and get an early bird special -- you can get early-bird special deals for $10-15 per day at some places around the White House on Pennsylvania Ave near 17-18th Streets.

VRE might be a good thing for you; but you have to get to the F'burg VRE commuter parking lot early to get a parking spot -- anytime before 6:30am and you should be ok. If you buy a 10 trip ticket, which is cheaper than single tickets, you can punch in all 6 riders on the ticket, and just purchase 2 single tickets on the way back. If you take VRE to the L'Enfant Plaza station, you're within a short walk to the Mall and most of the major Smithsonian museums, like Air and Space. You can spend most of the day on the Mall, and ride around on a DC turnmobile to lessen the walking around the area (walking the entire perimeter of the Mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial is around 5-6 miles).

I'm not sure it makes that much sense to drive to Springfield for the Metro. Springfield is only 12 miles from DC, so if you've come that far up I-95 from Spotsylvania, I'm not sure you gain that much by finding parking at the Springfield metro and taking the metro into DC.
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I agree with most of this, but, I find VRE to be a big pain in the neck...it is costly and slow....and to get to the DC sights you will need to get on Metro anyway......take the HOV lanes up to the Metro and avoid driving downtown.
 
I can't disagree with anything that anyone has said so far, but if you are looking at this purely from a dollars and sense perspective:

You will pay about $40 for metro parking and the six $6.00 tickets.

VRE will set you back about $50 and you'll still want the metro tickets, but could actually get by with about $4 pp in non rush hour for a ride from Union Station to the National Mall and another ride to somewhere like the zoo. So VRE is a lot more money.

Other things to think about:

Some of the metro lots fill up and not getting parking will be a nightmare.

Going after rush hour on a weekday morning will mean that you will probably get to your attractions at 10:30-11 at the earliest. Leaving before rush hour will give you about 3-4 hours to see stuff. Coming back after rush hour will require you to wait until about 7pm. Even then you'll run into a lot of traffic and the metros will be mobbed.

So....

I would try to go on a Saturday or Sunday and avoid all of the rush hour headaches. Drive to the Springfield (yellow line) or West Falls Church (orange line) station and take the metro in. Spend all day and head back down 95.

If you are just going to see the sights near the Capitol/Smithsonian/Whitehouse, I'd just drive into the city and find a parking garage for about $15 (quite easy to find on weekends) and just walk from there. The metro is really only good if you want to go to various locations like the zoo, Spy Museum, Pentagon, etc.

You should also be aware that the metro doesn't go to some great places like Georgetown and Mount Vernon.
 
These are all helpful suggestions; I have commuted from Spotsylvania to DC for almost 20 years so I know the road the OP would travel. If you do travel on the weekend to DC, which means you'll be driving since VRE is not generally available, Route 3 in Spotsylvania can get ugly on Saturdays going from Presidential Resorts to I-95 between 9am to midafternoon. (You can take the backwoods to I-95 from Presidential Resorts but that would get complicated and you won't save a lot of time.) Route 3 is a very congested road -- it is the main road to very big retail shopping centers in F'burg and Spotsylvania.

By the way, don't forget to visit the newly-opened Marine Corp Museum in Quantico Virginia (Exit 150 from I-95) if you head up to DC. It's a great museum.

One other point; DC is very walker friendly. If you take VRE to the L'Enfant Plaza stop, that would put you right around the Mall and 2-5 minutes from the Air and Space Museum -- no need to take Metro. (Don't take VRE to Union Station unless you want to go to Union Station -- you're just adding to your time and the cost of transportation since it's further north on the VRE and you have to take the metro to get to the main spots in DC.) Once on the Mall at 7th Street, it's a 15-20 minute walk to Chinatown (Verizon Center, parts of the National Gallery, etc) in one direction or the Southwest waterfront area in another direction; 10 minutes to the Capitol; and around 30 minutes to the Lincoln Memorial. Here a map of the Mall area.

http://dcpages.com/Tourism/Maps/Washington_DC_Map/


If do want to go to Georgetown or the Kennedy Center (which sometimes has free music programs at its Millenium Stage), you can take the Metro to Foggy Bottom and take a bus right outside the station for a $1.50 that would take you to either place. It's actually not a bad walk from the Lincoln Memorial to Georgetown.
 
Thanks everyone, you've given us some great points to ponder. With a Sat-Sat stay at the resort, that leaves just one day, Sunday, for any full weekend sightseeing, which means we'll be in DC on the weekdays.

I think I'm leaning on driving and taking the metro in/out to avoid parking in DC. Only it seems that finding parking at the metro station is also difficult. And I'm certain we won't be at the metro station early, this is our vacation after all.

Maybe VRE would be easier.
 
The last time we went sightseeing for 4 days (6 of us), we spent the first day doing the tour bus. You could get off/on and spend time at each stop. We didn't get off at stops that we knew that we were spending 1/2 days at like the Smithsonian or the White House (we had a tour scheduled). We were able to see alot of DC.

We did the zoo on the last day . . the entire DC zoo is built on a downhill grade from the front entrance - where you will enter if you come by metro. By the end of the day walking back up was pretty miserable. If you have anyone that is older with you, this should be taken into consideration.
 
I just went to the zoo yesterday, and your comments are right on.

If you drive to the zoo, park in lot D (at the bottom of the hill) and enter the zoo from that point. Head up the right side trails (Olmstead trail) and come back down through the other side. You will be much less tired going down hill on the way back. Pluse the return walk is mainly through woods and is shaded.

Emily said:
We did the zoo on the last day . . the entire DC zoo is built on a downhill grade from the front entrance - where you will enter if you come by metro. By the end of the day walking back up was pretty miserable. If you have anyone that is older with you, this should be taken into consideration.
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Central park is a place us locals tend to avoid because of the traffic congestion. Potomac Mills(Exit 156-158) up north in more Northern Virginia, right in Prince William County and near Fairfax County, has plenty of shopping too.

Do visit our most treasured local resources, the National Battlefield Parks, like Chancellorsville which is a stone's throw from Presidential Resorts, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Wilderness Battlefield parks. A hidden, made man treasure is Lake Anna State Park in Spotsylvania. Spotsylvania is also a great place to explore a lot of American history within 65 miles, in addition to DC. You're close to Charlottesville, Virginia where Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's splendid estate) and University of Virginia (which Jefferson also founded) are located; Montpellier, James Madison's estate in Orange County, or Westmoreland County, birthplace of George Washington, James Monroe and Lighthorse Harry Lee.

And the downtown area of the City of F'burg is a great place to spend some time -- it's quaint and has a lot of history too. http://www.simplyfredericksburg.com/ is a good place to acquaint yourself with the area.
 
chris5 said:
Central park is a place us locals tend to avoid because of the traffic congestion. Potomac Mills(Exit 156-158) up north in more Northern Virginia, right in Prince William County and near Fairfax County, has plenty of shopping too.

Do visit our most treasured local resources, the National Battlefield Parks, like Chancellorsville which is a stone's throw from Presidential Resorts, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Wilderness Battlefield parks. A hidden, made man treasure is Lake Anna State Park in Spotsylvania. Spotsylvania is also a great place to explore a lot of American history within 65 miles, in addition to DC. You're close to Charlottesville, Virginia where Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's splendid estate) and University of Virginia (which Jefferson also founded) are located; Montpellier, James Madison's estate in Orange County, or Westmoreland County, birthplace of George Washington, James Monroe and Lighthorse Harry Lee.

And the downtown area of the City of F'burg is a great place to spend some time -- it's quaint and has a lot of history too. http://www.simplyfredericksburg.com/ is a good place to acquaint yourself with the area.
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I would also add a stop to the Stonewall Jackson Shrine just south of F-Burg and Ferry Farm just outside F-Burg.
 
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