Washington from New York is a visit we don’t want to miss. But whether to do it on our own or on an organized tour is a question that often arises when we are spending a few days in the city that never sleeps.
Located about 360 kilometers away from NYC, Washington has many things to see and a day in it can be a very good option. The questions we ask ourselves at the time of deciding are several, we will try to clear up some of them here.
Indice:
Visit for the day or stay there?
In other posts we talked about optimizing our time in New York by using a tourist pass or not. If you haven’t seen it, here it is: Tourist passes in NYC, yes or no?, comparison. And in the same post we told you that if you get one, you might still have free days without a pass to be able to do other activities, well one of them could be visiting Washington for the day.
Of course, another option could be to spend one or two nights in the city, in which case we would only need transportation to and from the city with our luggage and a hotel reservation.
Which option is worth it? Both. If you have already traveled enough around NYC and have a couple of days left, going to Washington is a good plan. If, on the other hand, you only want to spend one day in New York, a day trip is also a good idea. Of course, you will see everything more quickly, but it is worth the visit.
FIND YOUR HOTEL IN WASHINGTON DC↓
Booking.comWashington tour from New York or self-guided visit?
Let’s look at the options we have for visiting Washington from New York, and we’ll choose.
As always when we evaluate options for a trip, the price can tip the balance, as well as the traveler’s style. If you like to have everything already planned, have someone pick you up at the hotel, not worry and just enjoy, a planned tour from New York is a very good idea.
Organized tour
There are several options, the price is around US$ 100, which includes transportation and a visit to the main monuments of the capital. You have a Spanish-speaking guide so you can tour the places with the necessary information.
You will leave early in the morning by bus from Manhattan, and you will visit Arlington Cemetery, the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, the Obelisk, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Capitol, among other things.
They are a good quality/price option, although, at least most of them, do not include entry to the Capitol, keep this in mind if entering it is important to you.
We will see later that if we add the costs of going on our own, we may exceed the cost of the tour, and the transfers between attractions to visit will be faster, so the day will be more productive than if we did it on our own. So, we need to carefully evaluate what we want.
Self-guided tour
We will now look at the options to do it on your own. We have several means of transport to make the trip from New York to Washington, we will detail each one of them.
Bus
The first one we will study will be by bus. It is the option that will be cheaper. The journey will take about four hours, the bus will drop them off at Union Station, relatively close to the Capitol. Some of the best known companies that make this route are Flixbus, Peter Pan, Greyhound and Megabus, but there are many, the latter, Megabus we have used on one occasion. Prices vary quite a bit but can range from $1 (if you get it) to about $40 each way.
The criticism of the users of the service of these companies or others is not good, but as I was saying we use them, and although we left later due to the breakage of the bathroom then it complied normally with the service.
The recommendation is to leave in one of the cars that leaves early, remember that you have about four hours of travel, so you can take advantage of the day.
Train
You may be wondering why we left the train option in second place, and it is simply because of the price, in general it tends to be expensive.
Amtrak trains cover the route, the time it will take you to make the trip is only slightly less than by bus, about three and a half hours, and prices range from $60 to $100 each way, so it is quite expensive and you will not save time.
►Search for information on Amtrak
Plane
The other option is by plane, although the journey will only take you a little over an hour, including the journeys to and from the corresponding airports, plus the delay in the journeys will take you much longer. Prices vary a lot, so I advise you to search with your corresponding dates.
Car
The other option is to rent a car for the day, which will help you make the round trips and move around Washington. As we always say, it has the disadvantage that you will have to be very careful about where to park it, paying for parking, and driving on the road, as well as paying tolls and fuel. But if you are traveling with children, it can be an option to make the trip from New York to Washington with a little more freedom.
TIP: Look for the options in the search engine that I leave you below, in it you will put the dates and it will give you three tabs with the options for that journey by train, bus, and plane. That way it will be easier to compare price and duration of the trip . ►SEARCH TRAVEL COMPARISON
How to Get Around in Washington
Before planning your itinerary in the city, do some research on the ways you can get around the city so you can make the most of your day there.
You have the metro network, the Metrorail, it is efficient and you can move quickly in the city. METRORAIL Pricing & Timetable Information
You also have the bus line, the Metrobus, the schedule is extensive and you have a travel pass to make the transfers more comfortable. METROBUS price and timetable information
And finally the Dc Circulator, a tourist bus of the city, with 6 different routes with several stops to be able to do several routes in the city. The price is per way and is around $1. Price information and DC CIRCULATOR timetables
If we want to travel on a tourist bus but with commentary in Spanish to get to know the city as we go, the traditional red tourist buses that we find in other cities can be a good option. HOP-ON HOP-OFF BUS TOUR
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Itinerary in the city
When planning the tour of the city, we will ask ourselves two questions: What to see in Washington? and.. What reservations to make in advance?
PLACES TO VISIT:
Major points to visit: The National Mall, the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the Air and Space Museum, the White House, the Washington Monument (the great obelisk), the Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean and Vietnam War Veterans Memorials, and Arlington Cemetery.
If you are going to Washington for a day trip from New York, these are perhaps the most significant things to see. If you are going for more than one day, add Ford’s Theatre, Washington Cathedral, a visit to Chinatown, and the Spy Museum or Madame Tussaud’s are also good ideas.
But if there is something I wouldn’t miss if I were to spend the night, it is the Georgetown neighborhood, full of shops, colorful and with a special personality.
WHAT RESERVATIONS TO MAKE?
The entrance to the Capitol, if it is something that interests you, is what you should book in advance to go with the peace of mind that you will have your ticket. Here is the official site to make the reservation: visitthecapitol.gov
Summary of how to visit Washington from New York and video:
In short, if we talk about costs, it is possible that the already organized tour ends up costing you the same or even less than doing it on your own and do not complicate your organization, they will pick you up and take you back to the hotel when the day is over.
On the other hand, if you want to organize your time and choose what to see and how much time to spend on each thing, doing it on your own is the option. Weigh both options of visiting Washington from New York with their pros and cons so you can choose.
NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links
