<p>Any suggestions for DC college trip (places to stay, things we "must" do)? We are going 1st week in April. We plan on touring Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, UVA, George Washington, American, and possibly William and Mary. D's main interest is international relations.<br>
We have done the DC tourist trip, so we don't plan on any of that this time.</p>
<p>As far as a convenient and pleasant place to stay in DC, our family has been comfortable at the Embassy Suites in Foggy Bottom--convenient for GW and generally a nice area within reasonable walking distance of the Foggy Bottom metro station.</p>
<p>If you are visiting W and M, you might want to stay at one of the Williamsburg properties--the Williamsburg Lodge is essentially just a very nice motel but very convenient for walking to both William and Mary and the atttractions of Historic Williamsburg. And consider making a reservation for dinner at the Trellis or one of the historic inns--both are fun and quite good, especially desserts at the Trellis.</p>
<p>For Charlottesville, I would recommend avoiding the chains on Emmett Street and perhaps staying at the Hampton Inn on University Avenue--or someplace else, more expensive; I seem to recall that there are several other more than decent chains in that immediate area. If you stay there you can walk to the Rotunda and even to the admissions office if you like walking. For good food, explore the pedestrian mall downtown--would probably want to drive there. There is ample parking just outside the pedestrian area.</p>
<p>If you have not visited Monticello, you definitely should work that into your UVa trip. You might also enjoy going over to "james Madison's place, a few miles away; W and M owns it, and it is usually fairly deserted, and in a beautiful setting. If the weather is good you can picnic there.</p>
<p>Be sure to contact the schools before you plan your itinerary to ask about accepted student days. You don't mention Washington and Lee, but that was one on our Virginia/Pennsylvania trip that did not allow any visitors but accepted students on one day in April. It just happened to be the day we planned to visit, so we had to rearrange our itinerary a bit.</p>
<p>In Williamsburg: I recommend staying at the Hospitality House, which is across the street from the football stadium, a 3-minute walk from the Admissions building, and next door to the GreenLeafe, one of the delis where lots of W & M students periodically hang out. For restaurants: the Trellis is great (bring lots of money) but Sal's by Victor for Italian and Nawab for Indian food are, too - both are walkable from campus and popular with locals, not tourists. The Cheese Shop is good for a sandwich if you're in the historic district. The Whaling Co. is great for seafood - it's located a good 10 minutes from campus, also popular, reasonably priced.</p>
<p>You can walk through Colonial Williamsburg, including the historic sites, without buying an admission as long as you don't want to enter any of the structures - that's fun on a nice evening. The cost of a CW admission is well worth it, especially the museums, but you may not have time for extensive exploring on a college tour. Wishing you great weather and blister-free feet!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice - I'll definitely be taking good walking shoes. I've been to Charlottesville a couple of times and never had time to do Monticello, so that's definitely on the agenda. We've been to Williamsburg - love it - but don't know if we'll have enough time this trip.<br>
Does Washington & Lee have a good IR dept? I'll check their website.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of any "hidden gems" for IR?<br>
We may do a NE trip later in the year.
thanks.
Georgiamom</p>
<p>We "did" Washington DC last spring break. Absolutely loved the River Inn, in Foggy Bottom. Just two blocks from GWU, where we were in the studio audience for "Crossfire" one afternoon, and close to subway transportation. Georgetown was just a 15-min. walk. We stayed in a one-bedroom suite with a kitchen and all, for $179 a night, which wasn't bad. Did our breakfast shopping at the Watergate.</p>
<p>The drive down to UVA was obnoxious. 3 hours of stop and go. And Charlottesville was confusing to get in and out of. Never did find the "historic downtown," although we tried. UVA was great, though, and we stayed at a B&B within walking distance: Bowling Wood. $148 per night. Get detailed directions to it, as Charlottesville has several ring roads that, as I recall, are similarly named.</p>
<p>Monticello was good.</p>
<p>Not sure about IR at Washington & Lee. It's known for poli sci. Some items to note: W & L is a very republican-leaning school if that matters to you. It is also 70% frats/sororities. They have a speaking tradition and an honor code enforced entirely by students. My D is very conservative, but was intimidated and said, "I just can't get over the high-heeled flip-flops."</p>
<p>Our tour guide told us that the trustees plan to increase costs a bit each year from $29K to be more in line with their "competition", which they view to be Harvard and the other Ivies. Struck me as, not only a ridiculous justification for raising the price, but quite an arrogant attitude on the part of the trustees although I was impressed with everything else.</p>
<p>All that said, if W & L is your "bag", you're in for a treat! It's a gorgeous place with fine academics and a high-caliber student body.</p>
<p>Hmm. For those who know: how long does it take to take in Colonial Williamsburg if you're going to be comprehensive about it? Can it be easily done in a day? Two days? Half a day?</p>
<p>And what's the travel time from Monticello to Williamsburg? I owe D a trip to Williamsburg because I screwed up during our college trips. Didn't realize how long it would take to travel from D.C. to Williamsburg, and stopped at Jamestown and Yorktown because they were close and I didn't realize that CW was such a big "theme park" kind of place. And so we got there around 4:00pm, just in time for a thunderstorm, and they wrapped up at 5:00pm.</p>
<p>Interesting arms race in tuition increase for W&L. Similar to U of Richmond justification...</p>
<p>One full day should do you at CW. You can only watch the guy pound a horseshoe for X amount of time...</p>
<p>On our visit to Williamsburg last April vacation, we flew into Richmond at noon, drove to Wmsbg, toured Wm. & Mary, shower/change, out for walk and dinner.</p>
<p>We never toured Colonial Williamsburg, but you're driving right through the middle of it, so you get a decent look at it and can appreciate it. We would have loved to spend the next day there, but had to go on to the next college.</p>
<p>The tour of W & M was 1/2 college and 1/2 aboretum. It was a perfect sunny day and the campus was heavenly and rich with history. D said (after realizing she was unlikely to be accepted), "This is the reward for the kids who did everything right". C'est la vie.</p>
<p>You can't drive down Duke of Gloucester Street, which is the middle of CW, but I'd agree that you can get a good introductory sense of the place during an evening walk. The heart of the historic district is not open to automobiles, but it's true that you can park just otuside and then walk as you wish. There may also be evening events such as concerts at the old church that you can get tickets to without necessarily being at CW during the hours that the buildings are generally open.</p>
<p>We did almost this exact trip April of my S's junior year - your post brings back fond memories :)<br>
The difference: we didn't do Johns Hopkins, but did U Richmond (pre price increase!) because it was right on the way from W&M to UVa.</p>
<p>A few things I can add to the previous posters:
Make sure you head south from DC before 4:00PM, because the traffic really is unbelievable. We make the drive to W&M often from CT, and that stretch in VA is the absolute worst part of the trip.</p>
<p>Georgetown has an on campus hotel (conference center) which is connected to the student center and offers special rates for prospectives. It was lovely and cheap...easy drive to American. Mass transit to GW.</p>
<p>In Williamsburg, the Hospitality House (right across the street from campus) is my favorite, but can be very expensive. We often stay at the Summerfield Suites - very nice and full breakfast.</p>
<p>BTW...W&M was not on our list initially, then we decided to squeeze in a quick tour before heading to UVa (the main attraction at the time...) and S fell in love with it and is now finishing up his junior year - we will all miss our visits to this beautiful area.</p>
<p>We always stay at the Holiday Inn Rosslyn just across the Key bridge from Georgetown. It's not "fancy" but nice and it's clean and by calling the manager and asking for a "break" we always pay less than $ 100.00 a night...a bargin for that area. We also often get free upgrades to suites with a great view if you ask at check in. It is only a few hundred yards from the Rosslyn Metro station (we LOVE the metro!). In nice weather we walk over to G'town and in bad we take a quick cab ride for less than ten bucks.</p>
<p>We stay at the Georgetown Conference Center for parents weekends and it's very convenient being right on campus but nearly twice the price as across the river. I also didn't like not being close to any metro stations (there are none in Georgetown). That said, it is a very nice hotel.</p>
<p>I have to put in my plug for Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. My son has had a remarkable experience there! He's been challenged but he's learned a lot and heard a lot of amazing speakers. High price but no regrets. He loves his classes related to International Relations. In fact, that's the major he just declared with a concentration in Security Studies. </p>
<p>Good luck with the trip! Enjoy the tours. Be sure to "submit" a trip report to CC when you return.</p>
<p>We also stayed in the Rosslyn area. There's a BestWestern right across the street from the Holiday Inn ,and even closer to the Metro -- by 1 block ;-)
It too is nothing fancy, but VERY reasonable, with free parking - a big plus in the DC area. Georgetown is a quick walk across the bridge.</p>
<p>The last time we visited Williamsburg, we stayed in one of the official "Colonial W. hotels" They range in price and accomodations, but the biggest plus was that you could buy a two day CS pass at a reduced rate. Visit the CW website for more info. The two day pass has extra perks such as no-waiting admission to the Governor's Palace, and half price evening programs (book early, as these fill up fast). The two day pass also allowed us to visit at a much more leisurely pace. We could walk back to the hotel for a respite, or to W & M. </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>We stayed at the Best Western in Rosslyn also--- and you can take the free Georgetown shuttle bus to the campus. Just tell the shuttle driver you're going for a tour. The shuttle stop is very close, can't remember exactly. The admissions office can tell you.</p>
<p>I agree with The Hospitality Inn in Williamsburg - you can book through expedia but make sure you confirm with the hotel that they received the reservation. It is less expensive through expedia but I was there a couple of weeks ago and they didn't have the reservation - said that I should always confirm online booking with a call even with the confirmation from expedia in hand. They had room for me but April vacation week will be busy at WM and in WMsburg. The admissions sessions were packed, btw, last year at WM - go early to get a seat! The hotel is comfortable, clean, ideally located across the street from the College and has a restaurant and bar open til 11:00, breakfast buffet (not free) and parking onsite - no charge - in walking distance to town. We did stay once at the Embassy Suites in Wmsburg but have to say it is the one ES that we found substandard. I think a day is enough for CW but I come from an area with colonial sites and am a bit jaded. I also didn't find my teens were thrilled enough for two days of CW touring. My husband and I ended up taking in some historic walking tours by ourselves when the kids said enough and pleaded to order pizza and rent a movie in the hotel. Oh, there are great delis right next to the hotel - good food for kids - pizza, subs, etc. I should mention that is was very, very hot and muggy in Wmsburg in April last year - I am not sure where you are coming from but we were in shock with the heat. The second day we went to Busch Gardens - Williamsburg and Busch Gardens were supposed to be my younger son's treat for putting up with the Baltimore/DC college tour. </p>
<p>I agree with Embassy Suites in Foggy Bottom - DC is expensive and if you have more than one child with you Embassy Suites works out well. Great free breakfast - lasts through lunch! </p>
<p>Restaurants in Wmsburg - I just ate at the Blue Talon two weeks ago - a bistro across from The Campus Shop in town (not The Campus Store which is in a Barnes and Nobles) - very good. You can also get sandwiches and salads at Aroma's a sidewalk cafe style eatery frequented by the students - should be nice in April. The Trellis is nice but expensive. There are many places to eat that are reasonable on the strip towards the Wmsburg outlets, including chains like Chilis, Ruby Tuesdays, etc but they are not obvious near CW. I haven't eaten at the CW historic restaurants - if you want to do that make sure you make reservations as April is a busy time in Wmsburg. Enjoy your tour - it can be challenging to get to all the tours and information sessions on time - we ended up dropping American in favor of getting to Baltimore in time for Johns Hopkins - or something like that! I am reminded of the craziness - good luck!!!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, the shuttle is great except it doesn't run on weekends and last year they didn't run it on the Friday during parents weekend due to the increased traffic around campus (what did they think caused that?). There were 12 - 15 parents all standing at the bus stop assured by the students that the bus was supposed to come. We finally gave up and shared a bunch of cabs (and we included the students with us). When we got to the parent's weekend function we asked and they told us they cancelled the buses for that day. We let them know what happened and they were very apologetic. I used to ride the shuttle often but after one or two times the driver begins to give you a little hard time. It's really meant just for students. To be honest, in the time it takes for the bus to come you can easily walk across the bridge.</p>
<p>Have a great tour!</p>
<p>A couple other ways to navigate DC:</p>
<p>There is a bus that goes from Foggy Bottom Metro to Georgetown. They are smaller and painted blue and distinct from the normal red/white/blue Metrobus.</p>
<p>Metrobus 38B, goes from VA and then the Foggy Bottom area (Penn. Ave.).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all of the great suggestions. Will report back when we return.
Georgiamom</p>