Road trip Washington DC and Capital region

[grannyed]

Has anyone done this. We are thinking of doing one and would like more info. A trip report if one is available would be great.

[wdw-wanderer]

Washington, Philadelphia and the historic area around Virginia & Pennsylvania are great areas if you’re interested in colonial times and the civil war sites. I spent about 10 days touring round - especially enjoyed Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg. Gettysburg was very moving too.

[Reunion]

We have family in DC and some of our favourite road trips have been:

Skyline Drive - 100 miles through Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Fantastic scenery.

Anapolis (Naval Academy), beautiful architecture, across the Chesapeake Bay bridge & a couple of nights at Ocean City

There is lots to do in and around the Capital as well.

[tapley]

Washington itself is excellent and the Smithsonian museums as well as the Zoo are free. If you want to go the Capitol I suggest you book in advance. We have stayed in Alexandria old town and used the Metro to go into Washington itself. A visit from there to Mount Vernon is real worth it. As previously said Skyline Drive is worth it we saw two brown bears there last week. We also enjoyed Charlottesville Williamsburg and Chincoteague were really good. As for Annapolis if you visit the naval academy they only accept the passport as ID not our driving licences.

[paulaandhappy]

We went from Washington down through Shenandoah staying at NP lodge there for a couple of nights then down BLue Ridge Parkway to Roanoke. Then headed east towards The Outer Banks staying Roanoke Rapids on way. From Outer banks to Williamsburg and then back to Washington.
The Outer Banks are lovely we were supposed to be there 4 nights but had to leave early as there was a mandatory evacuation due to hurricane. Is on our list of places to return to as we we didn’t get to do all we planned there.

[georgemac]

Originally Posted by Reunion

Skyline Drive - 100 miles through Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Fantastic scenery.

Anapolis (Naval Academy), beautiful architecture, across the Chesapeake Bay bridge & a couple of nights at Ocean City

There is lots to do in and around the Capital as well.

See more...

Last year - we flew into Baltimore, 1 night (not much to do there and BA crew never said much nice about it) and we drove to NY for the US Open Tennis - stopped in Philly which looked nice. Went to Nantasket Beach, then Syracuse, then Niagra, then Harrisburg and finished with 4 or 5 nights in Washington - which we loved.
Day we left we went to Annapolis - had evening flight - beautiful town and would have liked to spend some more time there.
I really enjoyed Washington. Did White House Tour (good but not a must do), US Capitol Tour - fantatstic, went to Arlington, Pentagon 9/11 memorial, national monument, mall, Smithsonian Air & Space museums x 2 - loved it all.

This Sept plan is to go back, into Dulles, then do Skyline drive to Roanoke, couple of nights Gatlinburg and Smokey Mts, 3 nights Nashville, 1 night Atlanta, 3 nights Tybee Island or Hilton head, 2 nights Charlotte and 4 nights Washington.

Hoping to Pentagon tour this time.
However, finding hotels are very expensive.

[Gunna]

I did something like this about 5 years ago.

Flew into DC then drove to Williamsburg, down to the Smokies back up and visited Shenandoah, Gettysburg before flying out of NY. There’s a link to my trip report in my signature.

Great holiday and loved this side of the USA, any questions just let me know.

[grannyed]

Thanks everyone for responding.
We are actually hoping that we can arrange this holiday and go during September so it will be quite short notice.
I have some health issues and can’t really book anything more than three months in advance any more. Seeing the consultant in two weeks and if I am given the go ahead I would like to have plans on hold so that I can just confirm

[Glee Fan]

We are doing Washington, Williamsburg and Virginia beach at the beginning of July. I may do a trip report! But if you have questions after we get back, I'd be happy to answer any.

[grannyed]

Thank you Glee Fan, I will bear that in mind. How long are you going for?