Area Advisory

Virginia Area Advisory

Suggested Areas to Stay:  depending on your budget restrictions, King Street/Alexandria, Arlington, and most places along the Orange and Blue metro line.  The areas that are tourist-draws tend to be more safe although expensive.

Hotels:  in general, you can find lots of chain hotels of all price range around metro stations; you can use online travel websites to find hotels based on location or attraction.  Orange Line:  between Ballston and Rosslyn - hotels in that area are usually used for conferences so they might have special group deals available.  Blue Line:  There are a number of reasonably-priced hotel chains at The Springfield Interchange, also known as the Mixing Bowl, proximate to the Franconia-Springfield metro station.  Some may have shuttles over to the Metro station.  Other areas close to metro stations - King Street (rather upscale but safe area, if you can find a good deal on hotel), any of the three stations between Reagan Airport and Pentagon City (do not confuse it with Pentagon station – that’s where Pentagon is and you won’t find much around there); Crystal City station area had lots of developments going on in 2005 – adding new restaurants, shopping, and large selection of hotels (that are also used by business people, so you might get a good group discount deal).

Areas to avoid:  there is some gang activity (MS13) in various small spots, but we cannot point to a particular area, and obviously things might be different in April 2010.  It is mostly gang-on-gang and does not typically involve regular folks.   

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Maryland Area Advisory:

Since I never lived in MD, this advice is based on my recollection of news flashes and overall impression about safety of living and moving about Maryland (Maryland folks, feel free to chime in on this section).

Safe Areas to Stay:  in general, Bethesda, Chevy Chase.

Areas to avoid:  as a general rule, avoid the areas of south-east D.C. (south end of Green metro line), and Prince George County (Maryland) that spreads both North-East and South-East from D.C. – it is mentioned on crime news everyday. 

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Downtown D.C. Area Advisory:

Safe Areas to Stay:  if you chose to stay in D.C., we suggest you stay downtown or north-west (N.W.) portion of the city – it has lots of business and government office buildings, nice hotels and heavy police presence.  Expect to pay at least $180-200 for a room, compared to $100-150 in Virginia.

Areas to avoid:  the rest of D.C.

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D.C. Area Airports

Public transportation allows you to get from either of the airports to nearby metrorail or bus service stops.

Dulles International Airport:  Metro Bus shuttle 5A route to/from Rosslyn metro station.

Baltimore International Airport:  Metro Bus shuttle route B30 to/from Greenbelt metro station. 

Reagan National Airport:  Reagan Airport Metro Station (Blue and Yellow line) is connected to the airport terminal with a skywalk; signs at the metro station indicate shortest pass to all terminals and airlines.  Terminal A (Northwest, Midwest, Spirit airlines) is a bit further away – use free airport shuttle bus that continuously circulates between all terminals; it also takes you to parking lots, rental cars, garages, etc.

Some hotels offer shuttle services to/from airports or other locations – inquire about available services and costs.

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