Should I drive to DC?

I'm from the Eastern shore of Maryland and go to DC at least 5 times a year and always take the metro. However I'm going on a business trip Thrusday-Friday in inner DC and the hotel they booked provides parking.

I have to be there by 9:30am, however I'm mostly worried about convienence. The directions I have say to take 50 and then just make a few turn offs (Hotel is the Westin Grand on M and 24th)

Which would be easier and faster?

I should mention price is no option since my company is paying for all travel expenses.

Why would you want to drive? Traffic into the city, especially if you have to be there by 9:30 AM on Tuesday, is atrocious,

Even if parking is free, what would you do with the car? Go to a restaurant? You can easily get to the best ones via Metro, and if you drive finding parking will be difficult to impossible. Some restaurants have valet parking, but it can really inflate the cost of your meal!

Evening sight-seeing? The main sights are easily visited my metro and again you have a significant parking issue.

So if you drive in you would want to drive directly to the hotel, then not use the car until you leave. And risk being late coming in because of traffic.

Westin Grand is very near Foggy Bottom - I'd definitely not drive in. Metro is definitely easier and faster, irrespective of price.

And if your company is paying, you can also do cabs to get places, if you'd rather not metro or there is a delay on metro.

IMO YOU ARE BETTER OFF ON METRO

It all depends upon the time, mood, company, occasion and how you feel about it, go for what suits you the best, enjoy either way and be at peace to have fun, you can have a trip ticket made from AAA or get the directions from the computer

It's not a bad drive, but the traffic can be daunting! I'd say, if you really want to have a car available, go ahead and drive, but at a MINIMUM have lots of Mapquest pages printed out of anywhere you plan to go while there, and your route to & from DC to home.
And memorize your exits, or pull off the road instead of trying to look at the pages while driving. Things happen SO fast there!
MUCH better would be a GPS/Navigation system on your dash! But really, I strongly suggest taking the Metro. I have driven all around there, and also used Metro when my hotel was at or close to my meeting place. Metro can be SCARY too, I took it to the old Post Office Museum one night, and I had to walk several blocks through a VERY threatening, poorly-lit and uninhabited part of DC by myself! Be CAREFUL and try not to travel alone! Esp at NIGHT! ~Melanie.

Well if I was you and my job is paying for travel arrangements I would use their travel arrangement and save my gas! You can always ride the subway or catch the metro bus to just about anywhere in DC. Do whatever would be more convience for you, go with it..

If the company is paying expenses, drive to the hotel, park there, and take cabs for the rest of the trip.

There are cabs all over the place and you can always get one pretty easily. Cabs are faster and much less hassle than the metro.

Hello,
Driving around DC can be slow at times, but if you have parking at the hotel I would be inclined to take the car.

Any city can be daunting, but DC is actually very easy to drive around, and you are talking to a guy that used to drive on the other side of the road back in England and have small single lane roads to deal with. LOL

I use map quest for all of my travel related directions, and they seem pretty good for the DC area.


Good luck and enjoy the meeting


Paul.