Washington DC and Baltimore in September

Can’t help with neighborhoods but why does a lack of interest in American History or politics make it difficult to chose where to stay?

Allan,
I lived in Northern Virginia from1991-6 then Southern Maryland (Pax River) from 1997-2004.
We probably went to over a dozen games at Camden Yard and very much enjoyed that park. However, once, I made a wrong turn and went through some neighborhoods at night that had me concerned until I found the interstate.

Be careful where you stay in Baltimore, much of the city is not very safe. If you can stay close to the ball park, that would be best.

As for the Nationals game, the stadium is south of the Capitol and was a really bad area when we lived there. I haven't been to that area in 20 years, but be sure to research the safety of where you stay. I worked for the Navy at Pax River and made the trip to the Navy Yard several times and know that the area was vastly improved in the past 30 years.
https://dctravelmag.com/navy-yard-dc/

I see there appears to be some nice hotels in the area. Check them out.
My favorite area in the DC area is Old Town Alexandria in Northern Virginia.

Another really great place to visit in Virginia is Charlottesville, VA home of the University of VA. Also, Annapolis, MD is the home of the US Naval Academy and a great place to visit.

Have some great crab cakes.

I live in this area. DC: Navy Yard is near the ballpark of course but further away from pretty much anything else. I would suggest downtown, Gallery Place or Dupont Circle area to stay. Good things to see that don't involve U.S. history or politics: National Gallery; Museum of Natural History; Museum of American Indian; Air and Space Museum (ok, a bit of history with the last two, but it's not the primary focus); other Smithsonian art museums depending on interests (American art, Asian art, African art, Hirschhorn (modern sculpture), Freer).
Baltimore: Camden Yard and Inner Harbor are basically the same thing. That is a central area to stay. Dining right around there tends to be chains like Shake Shack (not that there's anything wrong with that), but it's a pretty short walk to Little Italy where there are some more original restaurants. A bit further east is the Fells Point neighborhood that has character and good dining options. It's within walking range if your hotel is a bit east of the Inner Harbor itself, or a short cab ride from Inner Harbor. Things to do: National Aquarium. There are two art museums (Walters and Baltimore Art museum) which are fine, but neither is very close to Inner Harbor. For museum-going my frank opinion is that just about anything in DC beats everything in Baltimore. The Aquarium is very good though and DC has nothing like that (although a decent zoo). Getting from Baltimore to Dulles will be a bit of a pain assuming you don't have a rental car, which you won't want or need for central DC or Baltimore. Sounds like your flights are already set, otherwise I'd say try hard to fly out of BWI rather than Dulles if your trip is ending in Baltimore.

Want to recommend the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore - I see it’s only been recommended on this Forum three times before (and always by me 😳), but it’s really great, I swear!

Ditto the National Aquarium there.

In DC, there are the Smithsonian museums, mostly on the Mall, all free, although some require timed-entry tickets.

I second Old Town Alexandria (my home town) as the place to stay. It's replete with pedestrian traffic, small stores, hotels, restaurants, ice cream shops, pubs, coffee joints, lots of 17th and 18th century history and is easily walkable. It's never boring, as there is always something interesting to see and do, including a ferry ride across the Potomac. Old Town is also considerably quieter at night than DC, where police and fire truck sirens are common.

Free buses run along King St., its main east-west road down to the Potomac River about a mile from the King St. Metro Station. From there you can take the subway into downtown Washington to see the sites, museums and monuments and take in a ball game.

The weather in September can still be hot and muggy, and most tourists have gone home by then.

Can’t help with neighborhoods but why does a lack of interest in
American History or politics make it difficult to chose where to stay?

Makes it difficult to plan what to see, not where to stay.

Thanks for the clarity.

I promise you’ll enjoy the National Air and Space Museum.

National League over American League anytime.

Getting from Baltimore to Dulles will be a bit of a pain assuming you
don't have a rental car, which you won't want or need for central DC
or Baltimore. Sounds like your flights are already set, otherwise I'd
say try hard to fly out of BWI rather than Dulles if your trip is
ending in Baltimore.

No car, and we did look at the logistics of getting back to Dulles, but it's a direct flight from Calgary and a phenomenal price. We've got all day Friday to make it to the airport so we'll work it out.

Be careful where you stay in Baltimore, much of the city is not very
safe. If you can stay close to the ball park, that would be best.

I'm eyeing a Hampton by Hilton a block from the stadium in Baltimore because of the safety factor. What about daytime? Is it OK to walk from there to Inner Harbour?

What about daytime? Is it OK to walk from there to Inner Harbour?

Yes, perfectly safe. Inner Harbor is all new(ish) development with plenty of foot traffic. There are far more interesting neighborhoods in Baltimore though (Fells Point, Federal Hill, Canton, Little Italy, etc.) so don't be afraid to visit them (or write them all off). You'll know if you're in the wrong place almost immediately so there's really no need to fear the whole city.

You can take the Metro (silver line extension) to/ from Dulles Airport, and either Amtrak or MARC to/ from BWI. Dulles is easier due to the new Metro stop there (since Nov 2022).

I concur about staying in Old Town Alexandria, it's very charming (I'm biased though as I live a stone's throw away and walk there every week).

Generally speaking it is safer during the day in Baltimore to walk from the Inner Harbor to the stadium, but don’t let your guard down. Other than the aquarium and civil war era USS Constellation, there isn’t much left to see there. Almost all the shops moved out years ago. While Pratt Street between the harbor and stadium is generally ok, be careful most everywhere else. A remodeled Lexington Market is a few blocks from the stadium, as are Edgar Allen Poe’s grave and Babe Ruth birthplace.

Personally, my wife and I won’t go into the city at all until it gets crime, much of it juvenile, under control and we live 20 minutes from the stadiums. We don’t even drive though it.

What my wife and I do when we fly out of Dulles is get a one way car rental at BWI and drop it at IAD. It’s cheaper than a shuttle surface or Uber. If we need to drive there for a weekday flight we’ll go there the day before and spend the night to avoid any potential traffic issues on the beltway. From BWI, it takes about 2 hours to drive to Dulles (non rush hour), but it’s taken us as long as three hours with congestion and accidents. If there happens to be an accident that shuts down the Legion Bridge, all bets are off.

If you really wanted to take the train and metro, take the Penn Line MARC train to Union Station in DC. Then switch to the metro’s Red Line to Metro Center. Then, switch to the Silver Line to the airport. However, by the time you did all that, driving would have been easier.

The Udvar Hazy center (part of the air & space museum) at Dulles airport has some great aircraft displays.

In DC, I stayed at the Phoenix Park Hotel, only a block or so from the train station, and a reasonable walk to the museums on the Mall. I liked the hotel quite well - really nice people working there.

Allan, I wish I could recommend based on firsthand experience (we're going to DC end of April/beginning of May) but based on what people we know who've been have told us, the United States National Holocaust Memorial Museum is supposed to provide an excellent presentation of an understandably difficult subject so should be a 'must do' on our list. It's also history without a focus on American history. Advance, timed-entry tickets are mandatory - this is a heavily visited museum - but they are free.

https://www.ushmm.org

Hmmm, Old Town Alexandria has caught my attention; thanks for the tips. Is it sensible to stay there and make a couple of daytrips into DC, or more sensible to make a day trip to Alexandria? I've got tickets to the Nationals on a Saturday-game ends about 7:00 and then I'd have to catch a train back to Alexandria. It doesn't appear I'll save much on a hotel in either place.

Good advice being offered. Just a thought — get trip insurance, as September is hurricane season, and this part of the country can get them that time of year.

Old Town Alexandria is a high-cost area, and Metro fares aren't terribly cheap (though less costly outside the--rather wide--rush-hour periods Mon-Fri. I'd consider how many trips I'd be making into DC for sightseeing and the baseball game. The Metro Yellow Line should be back in operation before your trip, so at least the subway trip will be shorter than it is right now, but that shuttle bus from Old Town to the King Street Metro, on top of the subway ride itself, could get annoying. On the other hand, hotel rates in DC (except for some areas you wouldn't want to stay in) tend to be high.

I’ve lived in this area for 38 years and there hasn’t been a hurricane that disrupted anything in decades. If you get travel insurance, don’t get it because of the possibility of a hurricane.

Is it sensible to stay there and make a couple of daytrips into DC, or
more sensible to make a day trip to Alexandria?

There is more than one-day's worth of "stuff" to do in Alexandria (https://visitalexandria.com/things-to-do/), so either way will work...just depends on your preference for location (hotels are very expensive in DC too). The metro fare on weekends is a flat $2 each way, much cheaper than weekdays which have the peak/ off-peak distance-based rates. If you want to be a temporary "local", then commuting into DC is part of the deal (I've done it for 15+ years). The metro is pretty easy to navigate. You can walk in Old Town at all hours, it feels very safe, that's why I like it here.

I wouldn't worry about hurricanes in September, never had an issue with them since I moved here in '99.

Agreed, you can easily spend two very full days sightseeing in Alexandria. Loads of historic houses, some smaller museums, a few churches, and the Masonic Lodge there.

Re hurricanes, I was in Virginia sightseeing in September several years ago, and I watched with apprehension as a hurricane ran up the Atlantic Coast while I was there. It went out to sea instead, but they don’t always do that. Regardless, it’s not a bad idea to get trip insurance for things you can’t get refunded if you have to cancel for some reason.

I live right across the river and wouldn't stay in the Navy Yard area. The Metro takes you right to the ballpark, I'd either stay in NW DC or if cheaper Arlington/Alexandria have some good rates. Try to stay near a Metro as it's easy to get around.
Definitely see the Smithsonian Museums. The African American History Museum and the refurbished Air/Space Museum are my favorites.

You should look up the MARC train schedule between DC Union Station
and Baltimore, it’s cheaper than Amtrak.

Thanks for that tip Tom. But it looks like the MARC has rush hour service only between the two. If I'm looking at the schedule correctly, the last train in the morning to Baltimore is at 8am and I may have a fight on my hands if I insist we be up and ready to be at Union Station for that one. On the way back, the first train is at 4pm which is too late for me to get to Dulles in time for my flight, but I'm going to take a closer look.

Thanks to the rest of you for the tips. After debates and plenty of overthinking, and then rethinking our overthinking we decided on a studio apartment near Nationals Stadium, which was expensive, but cheaper than most hotels. Our thought process was to stay near where we were going to end up in the evenings which would be at a baseball game. The area seems to be one of those renaissance neighbourhoods that is a trendy place to be. In Baltimore, we're staying at a Hampton by Hilton which we always enjoy and it's a block away from Camden Yards-more baseball.

*I thought is was fitting to write my response to all of your tips on Opening Day, PLAY BALL!

Enjoy your spur of the moment baseball+ trip! We have stayed in both cities for conferences and took advantage of museums and baseball games. I too would recommend you stay in Washington DC for the bulk of your trip and Baltimore for a shorter duration to correspond to the game you want to see.

For Baltimore we stayed at the Hilton Inner Harbor where some rooms looked down into the stadium. This hotel would be worth the splurge for its harbor and ballpark presence. https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/bwicchh-hilton-baltimore/?SEO_id=GMB-AMER-HH-BWICCHH&y_source=1_MTIyMDg5OC03MTUtbG9jYXRpb24ud2Vic2l0ZQ%3D%3D

We stayed 5 nights at the Kimpton Monaco between the FBI building and The Mall. We could walk everywhere. It is a beautiful historic, restored Post Office building. We loved it and I see that for some nights in September it’s about $150 per night w/o taxes. https://www.monaco-dc.com/?&utm_source=Google%20My%20Business&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=GMB&utm_term=monaco%20dc

You haven’t mentioned art museums but there are several manageable, world class museum that are a stroll away on The Mall. We love the National Gallery and the contemporary art museum. Take a peek or a stroll while you are there. But we love and have visited almost all of them over several trips to Washington DC. I used to go with our 8th graders on their spring break trip to see the city with a heavy American history emphasis.

We are doing a baseball trip too this summer with a weekend in London to see the Cardinals and Cubs play so I understand your baseball and whatever themed travel. Enjoy!

Mona, that hotel looks great, but when I check the rates it's coming in at $350/night plus an amenity fee of $35. In any case, this is where we chose https://www.placemakr.com/locations/washington-dc/coda-on-half/ for $223/night. We are spending 5 days in DC and 2 in Baltimore.

The rates very a lot depending on what is going on and who’s in session. I like the apartment style hotel you chose. Hope you’ll do a trip report when you get back.

Love Baltimore - but you have to be careful. Little Italy and Fells Point are wonderful. We stayed a few years ago at The Admiral Fells Inn - always had wanted to do that. Lovely and historic! Wonderful restaurants right there! https://www.choicehotels.com/maryland/baltimore/ascend-hotels/md280?mc=llgoxxpx
Little Italy restaurants fantastic! And you will enjoy the Inner Harbor. Get crab cakes - without a doubt!

I know the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History literally has "American History" in the name, which you've stated is not of interest. But there's a lot there that isn't hardcore history including a new exhibit on popular culture including sports (third floor), which I know has some amazing baseball artifacts. Also: Julia Child's kitchen, the First Ladies' dresses; the camera that filmed the Wizard of Oz; the lab of the guy who invented video games; etc. Anyway, I'm just saying don't rule it out entirely.

In case it's helpful, there are two supermarkets quite close to the place you're staying in DC:

Whole Foods, 101 H Street SE (0.3 miles). It has a pricey ($12/lb.) hot- and cold-food bar if you don't actually want to cook. In case you haven't encountered Whole Foods before, there's a reason people call it "Whole Paycheck".

Harris Teeter, 401 M Street SE (0.4 miles). Not a budget supermarket, but more reasonably priced than Whole Foods.

Both of those stores have decent bakery-style bread (much better than the typical supermarket stuff), but it's often not sliced. WF has a bread-slicing machine for customer use; I'm not sure HT does. WF usually has a larger selection as well. I haven't been impressed by the fresh sweet items at either store.

Even closer to you is Bethesda Bagels at 120 M Street (0.2 miles). It's open 7 days a week but just from 7 AM till 2 PM. You can easily order online for pick up. In addition to the (decent if not NYC/Montreal quality) bagels, there's a large selection of flavored cream-cheese spreads.

Bethesda Bagels website

There are quite a few restaurants scattered around that area, but I haven't tried any of them.

Walking in the direction of any of the above places will not make you uncomfortable.

And another wonderful hotel is The Revival in Baltimore in the Mt. Washington area - just lovely! They have a wonderful upstairs restaurant - great craft cocktails and food - with a view of the city! Try to get there!
https://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/maryland/baltimore/hotel-revival-baltimore

I stayed in a cheap Airbnb in Baltimore when I went in 2018, just down from the Babe Ruth museum, so I'm no help there but there is more to do than others have mentioned, I went to the B&O RR museum just down the street, I think it's a great museum, in an old roundhouse as well. https://www.borail.org/

there's a large selection of flavored cream-cheese spreads.

Nothing else needs to be said, thank you acraven.

Skunklet1771, that Babe Ruth museum is right up my alley. I'd classify myself as a Yankees hater, but I remember how fascinated I was in San Francisco to walk by the house Joe, Vince and Dom Dimaggio grew up in. My wife is already rolling her eyes.

I just got home from DC area with my daughter (14). We stayed in a studio Air B&B in Old Town Alexandria. It was perfect.

It had room for one car with free off-street parking, and everything you’d need in an Air B&B. We took the metro into DC. It was much better than parking in DC. Though I did drive into DC one night for a Bucks/Wizards game because I didn’t want to take the metro later, though I’m sure we would have been fine.

Thanks for that tip Tom. But it looks like the MARC has rush hour service only between the two. If I'm looking at the schedule correctly, the last train in the morning to Baltimore is at 8am and I may have a fight on my hands if I insist we be up and ready to be at Union Station for that one. On the way back, the first train is at 4pm which is too late for me to get to Dulles in time for my flight, but I'm going to take a closer look.

I think you might be looking at the wrong line - the most frequently used is the Penn Line, from Union Station in DC to Baltimore. It runs nearly every hour, sometimes every half hour, throughout the day. The Camden Line does go straight to Camden Yards, but Penn Station is a quick Uber/cab ride away. https://www.mta.maryland.gov/schedule/marc-penn