The White House and the Washington Monument seen over treetops from the roof terrace of the Hay Adams

    Washington DC · Hotel guide · 2026

    The ten best luxury hotels in Washington DC

    Ten Washington hotels compared on the two things the brochures blur: how many minutes it actually takes to walk to the National Mall, and whether the grand old building is a grand old hotel. The spread on that walk runs from eight minutes to thirty.

    By Jack Williamson, Luxury Travel EditorPublished 20 September 2026Rates and scores verified 18 September 202617 minute read

    The quick answer

    Waldorf Astoria Washington DC is the one I would book first. Entry level rooms average about 600 square feet, which is a suite almost anywhere else on this list, Federal Triangle Metro is under the building, the Mall is a ten minute walk and there are three proper restaurants inside, one of them a Michelin starred sushi counter. The trade is that the Old Post Office is a public landmark with a National Park Service observation deck in its tower, so the ground floor is never yours alone, and there is no pool.

    If the trip is about the White House rather than the museums, the Hay Adams looks straight across Lafayette Square at it from USD$389. If it is about walking, Riggs Washington DC sits in an 1891 bank in Penn Quarter with two Metro stations within five minutes and a bar in the old vault, from USD$335. Riggs is my value pick of the ten.

    Two warnings. Only three of these ten hotels have a pool of any kind, which surprises people paying USD$500 a night. And the hotel formerly called Salamander Washington DC changed its name in August 2026: it is now The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection, and half the internet has not caught up.

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    Washington DC month by month

    Daytime high, celsius

    These figures are the NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals for Reagan National, which is the station four miles from most of these hotels rather than a rounded brochure average. Two numbers decide the trip. October records five wet days, the driest month of the year, with highs around 21C. July and August sit at 31C to 32C with overnight lows of 22C, and Washington has no coast to take the edge off, so the city is at its emptiest in August for a reason you can feel by ten in the morning.

    7
    9
    14
    20
    25
    30
    32
    31
    27
    21
    15
    9
    JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
    Rain days656676766556
    CrowdsQuietQuietPeakPeakBusyBusyBusySteadySteadyBusySteadySteady

    My verdict. Go in late September or October. The temperature sits in the low twenties, October is the driest month on record at five wet days, and the cherry blossom crowds are eight months away. April is lovely and priced accordingly. July and August are genuinely unpleasant: 32C with overnight lows of 22C and no sea to cool off in.

    The ten compared

    Rates are the lowest published entry rate for a standard room, all pulled on the same day so they compare with each other rather than with a booking engine on a different afternoon. The column to read first is the walk to the Mall, because in this city that number is the holiday.

    Ten Washington DC luxury hotels compared on area, walking time to the National Mall, rate, room count and who each one suits
    Hotel Area To the Mall From Rooms Best for
    Federal Triangle 10 min USD$577 263 The largest standard rooms in the city
    Lafayette Square 12 to 15 min USD$389 145 A White House view, and political Washington
    Penn Quarter 12 min USD$335 181 Walking the city, and the best bar in this guide
    Downtown 8 to 10 min USD$391 335 The shortest walk to the museums
    Southwest Waterfront 10 to 12 min USD$405 373 A pool, a spa and a serious kitchen
    Downtown 12 to 15 min USD$650 99 A small quiet hotel, if you will eat out
    Georgetown 25 to 30 min USD$470 55 keys A townhouse on the canal rather than a hotel room
    Georgetown 25 to 30 min USD$825 212 Families who want a pool and a proper gym
    CityCenterDC 15 to 18 min USD$233 360 A modern room at the lowest rate here
    Downtown 12 to 15 min USD$385 182 Traditionalists with business on K Street

    Rates checked 18 September 2026 for a standard room before taxes and fees. Walking times are door to the nearest edge of the National Mall at a normal pace. Valet parking is extra everywhere and runs to USD$90 a day.

    The ten reviewed

    Ranked in the order I would book them, which is not the order of their rates. The most expensive hotel here finishes eighth and the cheapest finishes ninth, which tells you how little the headline number settles in this city.

    One structural note before the list. Washington's sights sit in a single strip about two miles long, and everything else is commuting. So the ranking weighs walking time and Metro access far more heavily than it would in a resort guide, and it says plainly when a hotel is beautiful and badly placed.

    01. Federal Triangle

    Waldorf Astoria Washington DC

    4.8 on Tripadvisor, 2,201 reviews

    The Old Post Office building lit at night on Pennsylvania Avenue
    The lit clock faces of the Old Post Office tower against a dark blue sky
    The nine storey glass roofed atrium at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC with a large flag hung across it
    A deluxe king room at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC with an arched window and a carved headboard
    The sitting room of the Franklin Suite with blue drapes and a glass coffee table

    The 1899 Old Post Office, built in Richardsonian Romanesque granite and now the hotel, sits on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol

    Six hundred square foot rooms, a Metro station underneath and a Michelin starred sushi counter

    The Old Post Office went up between 1892 and 1899 and spent most of the twentieth century under threat of demolition. Granite, Richardsonian Romanesque, standing on Pennsylvania Avenue halfway between the White House and the Capitol. It became a hotel in September 2016 under a different operator, closed on 11 May 2022 and reopened three weeks later, on 1 June 2022, as the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC. I rank it first for two unglamorous reasons. The rooms are the largest in the city and there is a Metro station in the basement.

    There are around 263 rooms and suites, and the entry level ones average roughly 600 square feet, a suite almost anywhere else in this guide. They are cut into the building's original arched window openings, so the glass is tall enough to change the light in the room, and the scheme is formal blue and cream over marble bathrooms. Two presidential suites run to about 3,000 square feet each. Three restaurants sit downstairs: Peacock Alley for all day food and afternoon tea, Bazaar Meat by José Andrés for fire cooked steak, and Sushi Nakazawa, a one Michelin star omakase counter. The spa covers roughly 4,000 square feet and holds a salt chamber. There is no swimming pool.

    The choice that matters is which way you face, and it is not the obvious one. Rooms look either into the nine storey glass roofed atrium or out onto Pennsylvania Avenue. Atrium rooms are quieter and have no daylight view at all; avenue rooms have the light and the traffic. Take the avenue side. The thing nobody tells you is that the clock tower observation deck is run by the National Park Service rather than the hotel, has its own lift entrance, and is free. It is the best free view in Washington and being a guest gets you nothing.

    That arrangement is also the drawback. The building is federally leased and behaves like a monument with a hotel inside it: the atrium is a public thoroughfare, the tower brings a steady stream of visitors who are not staying, and on a busy afternoon the ground floor reads as a railway station with a bar in it. No pool is harder to forgive at USD$577 than the crowds are. TripAdvisor has it at 4.8 from 2,201 reviews, the joint highest here, so guests are plainly not put off. Nor was I.

    “We had a great stay at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC, but it's always the people who really make a difference.”

    TripAdvisor review by Lesli F, September 2026

    The verdict

    • +Entry rooms average about 600 square feet, the largest here
    • +Federal Triangle Metro sits under the building and the Mall is ten minutes on foot
    • +Three restaurants in house, including a one Michelin star sushi counter
    • −A public landmark, so non residents move through the atrium all day
    • −No swimming pool at USD$577 a night

    From about USD$577 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    02. Lafayette Square

    Hay Adams

    4.7 on Tripadvisor, 1,904 reviews

    The upper storeys of the Hay Adams with flags flying from the facade
    The entrance canopy of the Hay Adams with clipped planting and a car at the door
    A bedroom at the Hay Adams looking through the window to the Washington Monument
    A premier king room at the Hay Adams with cream walls, toile curtains and a padded bench
    A suite sitting room at the Hay Adams with two armchairs, a sofa and a round table

    Mihran Mesrobian's 1928 Italian Renaissance building faces Lafayette Square and the White House beyond it

    The only hotel in Washington that looks straight across Lafayette Square at the White House

    Mihran Mesrobian built this in 1928 in Italian Renaissance style on the site of the houses of John Hay and Henry Adams, and its whole argument is the address. It stands on Lafayette Square with the White House directly opposite. That is not a marketing claim about a neighbourhood, it is a window you look out of. At USD$389 it is also cheaper than three hotels in this guide with nothing like the same view.

    There are 145 rooms including 20 suites. They are traditional and not large, cream walls, toile, period furniture, in a building that has never been gutted and does not pretend otherwise. The Lafayette is the dining room, with window tables facing the square and a grand piano at the far end. Off The Record, the basement bar hung with editorial cartoons, is a working Washington institution rather than a hotel lounge, and it is the reason people who are not staying here come in. Top of the Hay, the roof terrace, is the hotel's real amenity. There is a fitness room, treatments are delivered in the room, and there is no pool and no spa floor.

    The advice here is the whole booking. South facing rooms look over the square to the White House and the Washington Monument. North and inner facing rooms look at 16th Street or a light well, and they are a different hotel at the same brand and nearly the same rate. Ask for the south side in writing, and if the hotel will not confirm it, book elsewhere. If you cannot get one, the roof terrace gives you the same view for the price of a drink.

    The address is also the problem. Sitting inside the White House security perimeter means motorcades, demonstrations and cordons that can close the 16th Street driveway with no notice, and it happens often enough that the staff are visibly practised at it. There is no pool and no spa to retreat into when the street outside is shut. TripAdvisor has it at 4.7 from 1,904 reviews and the recurring theme in those reviews is the staff rather than the rooms, which is the right way round for a hotel of this age. I would book it every time the trip is about the White House and never when it is about the Smithsonians.

    “From the moment we arrived until the moment we reluctantly departed, every interaction reflected a level of hospitality that is (unfortunately) increasingly rare.”

    TripAdvisor review by Stellatravels, July 2026

    The verdict

    • +South facing rooms look over Lafayette Square to the White House
    • +Off The Record is a genuine Washington bar, not a hotel lounge
    • +Five minutes from McPherson Square and Farragut West Metro stations
    • −Motorcades and demonstrations can close the driveway with no notice
    • −No pool, no spa floor, and north facing rooms have no view at all

    From about USD$389 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    03. Penn Quarter

    Riggs Washington DC

    4.6 on Tripadvisor, 1,165 reviews

    The arcaded granite corner of the former Riggs National Bank at dusk with a crescent moon above
    A guest room at Riggs with terracotta walls, a yellow armchair and a patterned rug
    The bedroom of a First Lady suite at Riggs with a painted headboard and tall windows
    A yellow sitting room in a First Lady suite at Riggs with a grand piano and a leather bench
    The marble bar and stone columns of Café Riggs in the former banking hall

    Built in 1891 as the headquarters of Riggs National Bank, the building still reads as a bank from the street

    A cocktail bar in an 1891 bank vault, two Metro stations, and the best value of the ten

    The building went up in 1891 as the headquarters of Riggs National Bank, in Richardsonian Romanesque granite, and it still reads as a bank from the pavement. Lore Group opened it as a hotel in February 2020, its first property in the United States, which is about the worst month in a century to open a hotel anywhere. It survived. At USD$335 it is the value pick here, and the argument is short: the best connected address of the ten, at less than the St Regis, which has a lower score and no bar worth crossing town for.

    There are 181 rooms and suites. Rooms are mid sized and each committed to a single strong colour, usually terracotta, ochre, pink or deep blue, with painted headboards and hardwood floors. Because it was a bank, window sizes vary wildly from room to room, which is either charm or a gamble depending on your mood. Café Riggs occupies the old banking hall and keeps the original columns. Silver Lyan, built into the bank's vault in the basement by the Mr Lyan team, is a destination bar with its own following. There is a fitness room. There is no spa and no pool.

    Book one of the nine First Lady suites if you can stretch, and ask for the Louisa Adams: it has a piano, which is a strange and good thing to find in a 181 room hotel. If you are staying in a standard room, ask the desk for one with a tall window rather than accepting whatever the algorithm gives you, because the variation is large. The hotel lends bicycles, free, and does not advertise it loudly. Gallery Place Chinatown and Metro Center are both within five minutes, the National Portrait Gallery is a block away, and the Mall is twelve minutes.

    The drawback is two blocks north. Capital One Arena sits right there, and on event nights Penn Quarter is loud until late and the pavements outside are full, and this hotel has no spa and no pool to hide in. Check the arena calendar before you pick your dates; it takes a minute and it will decide how you feel about the place. TripAdvisor gives it 4.6 from 1,165 reviews. For a hotel at this rate, in this position, with that bar downstairs, I think it is the most sensible booking in Washington.

    “The hotel is really well appointed.”

    TripAdvisor review by Gasper M, August 2026

    The verdict

    • +Two Metro stations within five minutes and twelve minutes to the Mall
    • +Silver Lyan, in the old bank vault, is the best bar of any hotel here
    • +Nine First Lady suites, and the lowest rate of any hotel in the top half
    • −Two blocks from Capital One Arena, so event nights are loud
    • −No spa and no pool, and window sizes vary a lot between rooms

    From about USD$335 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    4.6 on Tripadvisor, 5,825 reviews

    The Willard InterContinental at dusk on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue
    The Willard lobby with marble columns, a painted coffered ceiling and potted palms
    Peacock Alley at the Willard, a long arcade with mosaic flooring and hanging lanterns
    The circular bar at the Round Robin with leather stools under a domed ceiling
    The interior of Café du Parc with leather banquettes and tables set for lunch

    Henry Janeway Hardenbergh's 1901 building, two blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue

    Eight to ten minutes from the National Mall, the shortest walk in this guide

    The current Willard opened in 1901 to a design by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, closed for years, and reopened on 20 August 1986 after a full restoration, with more work through the late 1990s. It stands at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, two blocks from the White House, and it is eight to ten minutes on foot to the National Mall. Nothing else in this guide is closer. If your week is the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery and the Capitol, that number is worth more than any amenity.

    There are 335 rooms and suites, including 41 one bedroom suites and three Presidential Suites, and they run from 375 to 3,000 square feet, the widest spread here by a distance. An USD$18 million renovation completed in 2018 for the hotel's 200th anniversary put walk in marble showers, electronic locks and integrated power into every room while keeping the reupholstered antiques, embroidered headboards and crystal lighting. Café du Parc is the French brasserie on the corner with a terrace. The Round Robin Bar is circular and hung with portraits. Peacock Alley runs tea along the arcade. The Willard Spa is small, a relaxation room and a few treatment rooms, and there is no pool.

    Decide before you book whether you want the historic floors or the annexe, because the hotel will not volunteer the difference. The historic floors have the smaller, oddly shaped rooms with the original proportions; the annexe has the regular ones. If you are here for two nights and the building is the point, take the historic floor and enjoy the awkward corners. If you are here for a week with a suitcase each, take the annexe. Either way, book the Round Robin rather than Café du Parc for a drink; the brasserie is fine and the bar is the reason to be in the building.

    It is not a quiet hotel and it does not try to be. Peacock Alley is a public arcade, so the ground floor works like a street, and with 335 keys plus a constant events business the lobby is busy from breakfast until late. There is no pool. TripAdvisor puts it at 4.6 from 5,825 reviews, far more reviews than anything else here, and the recurring note is exactly the one you would expect: gloriously traditional, occasionally overwhelming. Book it for the walk and the history, not for a retreat.

    “We were here for four nights in July for a family wedding. Although the aesthetic was overwhelmingly traditional, I quickly began to appreciate the charming color schemes and the obvious nod to the hotel's grand past.”

    TripAdvisor review by rkr727, August 2026

    The verdict

    • +Eight to ten minutes to the National Mall, the shortest walk here
    • +All 335 rooms renovated in 2018 with walk in marble showers
    • +The Round Robin Bar and Peacock Alley are landmarks in their own right
    • −Peacock Alley is a public arcade, so the ground floor is never quiet
    • −Historic floor rooms keep the small, awkward shapes of a 1901 building, and there is no pool

    From about USD$391 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    05. Southwest Waterfront

    The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection

    4.4 on Tripadvisor, 1,164 reviews

    The circular lobby of the hotel at 1330 Maryland Avenue with a patterned carpet and curved seating
    A double height lounge with floor to ceiling windows looking onto trees and water
    The indoor pool with tall arched windows and loungers along one side
    A guest room with a pale bed, two armchairs and a wide window onto the river
    A suite living room with a long cream sofa and a round dining table by the window

    The round lobby survives from the building's Mandarin Oriental years and is unchanged by two rebrands

    An indoor pool, a two floor spa and Dōgon, under a name the hotel has only had since August 2026

    Start with the name, because most of what is written about this hotel online is out of date. It opened in 2004 as the Mandarin Oriental Washington DC. Henderson Park bought it in 2022, Salamander rebranded and ran it from 2023, and in August 2026 it changed again: it is now The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection, managed by Pyramid Global Hospitality and sold through Marriott under property code WASWF. The old salamanderdc.com address now redirects elsewhere. If you are searching for Salamander Washington DC, this is the building.

    It is large: 373 rooms and suites at 1330 Maryland Avenue SW, between the Mall and The Wharf. Rooms are big and deliberately plain, pale neutrals and wide windows, and suites have full living rooms with a dining table, a legacy of the five star specification the building was drawn to in 2004. Dōgon, by Kwame Onwuachi, is an Afro Caribbean, Creole and West African restaurant built around the story of Benjamin Banneker, and it is among the most talked about rooms in the city. The spa runs over two levels with its own reception and tea room, an indoor pool, a fitness centre and a nail salon. There are 26 event rooms and a ballroom for 1,170.

    The room split is simple and the hotel underplays it. Water side rooms look over the Washington Channel to the Jefferson Memorial. The others look at the courtyard or the road. Pay the difference or do not stay here, because the view is most of what distinguishes this from a very good conference hotel. Book Dōgon well before you travel rather than assuming you can walk in as a guest. And do not arrive by car: valet is published at USD$90 a day, which is the highest number in this guide.

    Two honest problems. Three names in three years is unsettling, and the service infrastructure of a 2004 five star property now has to be carried by a new operator under a new flag; its TripAdvisor score of 4.4 from 1,164 reviews is the joint lowest here. And the immediate streets are federal offices that empty at six, so every evening starts with a walk to The Wharf, ten to twelve minutes away. Set against that, it is one of only three hotels here with a pool and the only one with a full spa and a kitchen people cross the city for.

    “I LOVED my room! I had a one bedroom suite and it was clean and BEAUTIFUL!”

    TripAdvisor review by Davina O, July 2026

    The verdict

    • +An indoor pool and a spa over two floors, which almost nothing else here has
    • +Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi is among the most talked about restaurants in the city
    • +Ten to twelve minutes to the Mall and the same to The Wharf
    • −Rebranded twice in three years and now called The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection
    • −The surrounding blocks are office quiet after six, and valet is USD$90 a day

    From about USD$405 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    Five more worth your money

    06. Downtown

    The Jefferson

    4.8 on Tripadvisor, 1,653 reviews

    The Greenhouse restaurant at The Jefferson under its arched glass skylight
    A panelled corridor at The Jefferson leading to a lounge with a chandelier
    A guest bedroom at The Jefferson with a dark four poster bed and a padded bench
    The parlour of the Presidential Suite at The Jefferson with a lit fireplace
    A pale sitting room in a suite at The Jefferson with a tufted sofa and long curtains

    The Greenhouse sits under a skylight that was boarded over during the Second World War and only uncovered in the 2009 restoration

    Ninety nine rooms, a resident historian, and no restaurant worth the rate since 2020

    Jules Henri de Sibour drew this in 1923 as a Beaux Arts apartment block. It became a hotel by 1955, reopened in 2009 after a two year restoration, closed in March 2020 and came back on 3 July 2021. There are 99 rooms across eight floors at 1200 16th Street, in the quiet blocks north of the White House, and the service ratio that number buys is why its TripAdvisor score is 4.8 from 1,653 reviews. It is, room for room, the most charming hotel in Washington. It is also the hardest to justify.

    The Greenhouse sits under a domed skylight boarded over during the Second World War and only uncovered in the 2009 restoration. It is the best interior of any small hotel in the city, and it does breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. Quill is the bar, busy with people who are not staying here, and room service runs round the clock. The hotel keeps a resident historian and will arrange access to Monticello related collections, a specific promise rather than a vague one. A small spa, a salon and a fitness room are the whole wellness offer. There is no pool; guests are sent to a nearby health club to swim.

    Entry level rooms are genuinely small, in the way a 1923 apartment conversion is small, and many look onto 16th Street or the internal light well. The step up to a suite buys a separate parlour, and the Thomas Jefferson Suite adds a book lined study with a desk instead of a second sofa. If the budget will not stretch to a suite, this is not your hotel at this rate. Farragut North and Farragut West are both five minutes away, so the Metro does the work the location does not.

    Now the part that decides it. Plume, the hotel's Michelin starred restaurant, held its star into the 2021 guide and has not reopened since March 2020. Six years later there is still no announcement. So a hotel charging from USD$650 a night offers a bar, a breakfast room and room service, and anybody booking on the strength of an old Michelin listing will be disappointed at eight. There is no pool either. Book it because you want a small quiet old fashioned hotel and will eat out every night. On those terms it is superb. On any other terms it is expensive.

    “The Jefferson is a wonderful hotel, a real gem, with a wonderful atmosphere and amazing staff.”

    TripAdvisor review by MARTIN P, April 2026

    The verdict

    • +99 rooms with a staff ratio to match, so the service is genuinely personal
    • +The restored lobby skylight over The Greenhouse is the best small hotel interior in the city
    • +Quiet residential blocks, five minutes from two Metro stations
    • −Plume, its Michelin starred restaurant, has not reopened since March 2020
    • −No pool on site, only access to an offsite health club, at USD$650 a night

    From about USD$650 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    07. Georgetown

    Rosewood Washington DC

    4.6 on Tripadvisor, 535 reviews

    The Rosewood Washington DC seen across the C and O Canal in spring
    The brick and painted townhouses that form part of the Rosewood Washington DC
    A superior king room at the Rosewood Washington DC with dark wood floors and a tufted headboard
    The living room of the Presidential Suite at the Rosewood Washington DC with a fireplace
    The rooftop pool at the Rosewood Washington DC with a fire feature along one side

    The hotel backs directly onto the C and O Canal, which is the quietest address in Georgetown

    Six townhouses with their own street doors, and the only outdoor rooftop pool of the ten

    This opened in March 2013 as the Capella Washington DC and was rebranded Rosewood Washington DC on 21 April 2016. It has 55 keys in total, which makes it comfortably the smallest hotel in this guide, and it sits at 1050 31st Street NW with its back to the C and O Canal in lower Georgetown. That address is the quietest in the ranking and the least practical, in roughly equal measure.

    The 55 keys break down as 37 rooms, 12 suites and six historic townhouses next door. The townhouses are the point: full residences with their own kitchens, living rooms and street doors, and staff who will stock the fridge before you arrive. Standard rooms have hardwood floors, a tufted headboard and a glass rainfall shower, and read more like a well kept apartment than a hotel room. CUT DC, the Wolfgang Puck steakhouse, holds the ground floor along with CUT Bar and Lounge, the CUT Above rooftop bar, Cakes by CUT and a wine cellar with outdoor tables along the canal. The rooftop pool has a fire feature down one side and is the only outdoor hotel pool in this guide.

    Book a townhouse or think hard about booking at all. At USD$470 the standard rooms are pleasant and unremarkable, and the thing this hotel does that nothing else in Washington does is hand you a house with a front door on a Georgetown street. Take one for four nights with another couple and the arithmetic changes completely. If you are in a standard room, ask for canal side rather than the townhouse street or the courtyard.

    Georgetown has no Metro station, and at 55 keys this is the hotel most exposed to that fact. Foggy Bottom GWU is the fallback and it is a substantial walk or a short bus ride, so every museum day starts and ends with a cab. The other issue is scale: when CUT is full, the ground floor belongs to the restaurant's customers rather than to the hotel's guests, and a 55 key lobby can feel borrowed. TripAdvisor has it at 4.6 from 535 reviews, the smallest sample here, and the reviews that stand out are about staff holding things together under pressure. Right hotel, wrong side of town for a first visit.

    “Despite being under an incredible amount of pressure, every member of the team remained calm, professional, and genuinely focused on taking care of their guests.”

    TripAdvisor review by Kim C, July 2026

    The verdict

    • +Six full townhouses with kitchens and their own street doors
    • +The only outdoor rooftop pool in this guide
    • +55 keys on the canal, the quietest address of the ten
    • −No Metro in Georgetown, so every museum day starts with a cab
    • −CUT brings a lot of non residents through a very small ground floor

    From about USD$470 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    4.8 on Tripadvisor, 1,489 reviews

    The planted courtyard at the Four Seasons Washington DC with the brick hotel behind it
    A guest bed at the Four Seasons Washington DC against a fluted leather headboard
    A suite sitting room at the Four Seasons Washington DC with a striped rug and framed prints
    The indoor saltwater lap pool at the Four Seasons Washington DC under a vaulted ceiling
    A double treatment room at the Four Seasons spa with a freestanding bath and two beds

    The courtyard on the Georgetown side of the building, which is where the hotel gets its only real outdoor space

    A saltwater lap pool and BOURBON STEAK, at the highest rate in this guide

    This opened in September 1979 and was the first hotel anywhere to trade under the Four Seasons name, which is a better fact than most hotels have. It stands at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, where Georgetown runs into Foggy Bottom, a six storey brick building with 212 keys: 149 rooms and 63 suites. It carries a TripAdvisor score of 4.8 from 1,489 reviews and it is the most expensive bed in this guide by a clear margin at USD$825.

    What that buys is depth rather than drama. The fitness club covers 12,500 square feet with floor to ceiling windows over the C and O Canal and holds a saltwater lap pool, a yoga studio and personal training, and it is the reason families keep choosing this over the Georgetown competition. The spa is 3,500 square feet with nine treatment rooms, a eucalyptus steam room and a sauna. BOURBON STEAK, the Michael Mina room, seats 144 inside and 32 out with a private room for 22, and its lounge seats 44 and runs a cocktail cart. Seasons is the all day restaurant at 126 seats and is known locally for brunch rather than for dinner.

    Do not pay up for a view here, because there is not one to buy. Rooms look at the canal, the courtyard or Pennsylvania Avenue, and no category in the building faces a monument. Spend the difference on a suite instead, where you get a separate sitting room with a dining table, or take the entry room and put the money into the spa. Standard rooms are large, low key and finished in creams and pale wood with fluted leather headboards, and they are among the better standard rooms in the city.

    The problem is arithmetic. USD$825 is the top rate in this guide, the building dates from 1979 with no wholesale renovation announced in the last two years, and the Mall is a twenty five to thirty minute walk with no Metro in Georgetown to shorten it. Foggy Bottom GWU is ten minutes away on foot and then you are still on a train. On museum days you will be in cabs both ways, a real cost on top of a rate that is already the highest here. The service is exceptional and the staff tenure shows. It is still the entry I would think hardest about paying for.

    “Beautiful, well located property but what really sets this hotel apart is its outstanding service.”

    TripAdvisor review by Mary M, June 2025

    The verdict

    • +A saltwater lap pool inside a 12,500 square foot fitness club, unique here
    • +BOURBON STEAK is a destination restaurant rather than a hotel dining room
    • +Service depth from a property that has been running since 1979
    • −The highest rate in this guide and the longest walk to the Mall
    • −No room in the building faces a monument, and Georgetown has no Metro

    From about USD$825 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    09. CityCenterDC

    Conrad Washington DC

    4.6 on Tripadvisor, 943 reviews

    The curved timber walls of the Conrad Washington DC atrium above a terrazzo floor
    Looking up at the perforated skylight and layered timber ceiling of the Conrad atrium
    A double queen room at the Conrad Washington DC with a window seat and a city view
    The bedroom of a park view suite at the Conrad Washington DC with pale wood and a corner window
    The living room of an avenue suite at the Conrad with a gas fire and a view over downtown

    Herzog and de Meuron designed the atrium as a set of curved timber walls, and it is the thing that identifies the building

    Herzog and de Meuron glass at USD$233, the lowest entry rate of the ten

    The Conrad opened on 21 March 2019 as the brand's first hotel in Washington, with architecture by Herzog and de Meuron and interiors by Rottet Studio. It has 360 rooms and suites over ten floors at 950 New York Avenue in CityCenterDC, next to the Convention Center, and at USD$233 it is the cheapest way into this guide by more than a hundred dollars a night. It is also the only building here that was designed as a hotel this century.

    Every room has floor to ceiling glass and a built in window seat, finished in pale oak and cream over a marble bathroom, and the glazing is doing most of the work because the rooms themselves are a normal downtown size. Estuary is the signature restaurant with its own bar onto CityCenterDC Park. Summit at Conrad is the rooftop bar, with views to the Capitol and the Washington Monument, open seasonally in the warmer months. Sakura Club on the tenth floor was the first full service club level the Conrad brand built anywhere, and it runs an all day menu, a Japanese whisky list and afternoon tea. The building is LEED Gold. There is a fitness centre and no spa and no pool.

    The upgrade to look at is the corner suite, where the glass wraps two elevations, and a handful of upper floors catch the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the frame. If you cannot get one, price the Sakura Club rate against a standard room plus breakfast and drinks for your party and do the sum honestly; for two people on a three night stay it usually wins, and it gives you somewhere to sit that is not your room. Ask for a high floor away from New York Avenue.

    It reads as new, because it is. No history in the building, no pool, no spa, and the rooftop bar shuts for the cold half of the year, which removes the best thing about the hotel from November to March. The walk to the Mall is fifteen to eighteen minutes, the longest of any downtown entry here, and Metro Center and Gallery Place are both about ten minutes rather than five. TripAdvisor gives it 4.6 from 943 reviews and the praise is consistently about the staff. At USD$233, in a guide where the median rate is nearly double that, none of the complaints are unreasonable.

    “The staff is attentive, highly professional, and genuinely hospitable without ever feeling intrusive.”

    TripAdvisor review by David F, July 2026

    The verdict

    • +The lowest entry rate in this guide at USD$233
    • +A Herzog and de Meuron building with floor to ceiling glass in every room
    • +Sakura Club was the first full club level the Conrad brand built
    • −Fifteen to eighteen minutes to the Mall, the longest walk of the downtown hotels
    • −No pool, no spa, and the rooftop bar closes for the cold months

    From about USD$233 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    10. Downtown

    St Regis Washington DC

    4.4 on Tripadvisor, 1,717 reviews

    The limestone facade of the St Regis Washington DC lit at dusk with planted window boxes
    The grand lobby of the St Regis Washington DC with red sofas, gilt panelling and chandeliers
    An Astor deluxe room at the St Regis Washington DC with twin beds and a gold patterned carpet
    The living room of the John Jacob Astor suite with a pale sofa and a marble fireplace
    The panelled library of the Presidential Suite at the St Regis Washington DC

    Mihran Mesrobian's 1926 building, opened as the Carlton Hotel, two blocks north of the White House

    All 182 rooms rebuilt in March 2024, two blocks north of the White House

    Mihran Mesrobian designed this in 1926 as the Carlton Hotel, the same architect who gave Washington the Hay Adams two years later. It became a St Regis in 1999 and has been owned by Al Rayyan Tourism Investment since 2015. It stands at 923 16th Street at K Street, two blocks north of the White House, with 182 rooms and suites over seven guest floors. It finishes tenth here, and not because it is a bad hotel.

    The reason to look at it is recent. Every one of those 182 rooms was renovated in March 2024, taking them from heavy traditional to a lighter scheme of cream, blue and grey with gold detail, and rebuilding the bathrooms in marble with brass fittings. The Presidential Suite runs to about 2,510 square feet. Alhambra is the restaurant, Mediterranean with Iberian and Middle Eastern cooking, open from breakfast to dinner with an outdoor terrace, and afternoon tea runs Thursday to Sunday. Champagne sabering happens in the lobby nightly at six. Butler service is assigned floor by floor. There is a fitness centre and nothing else.

    Entry level Astor rooms are a normal size rather than generous, and the ceiling heights give away that this is a 1926 building, so if you want space this is the wrong hotel on this street. Use the butler rather than treating it as decoration: floor by floor is a real service and most guests never call it. And set your expectations about the bar. A redesign of the St Regis Bar was announced to follow the 2024 guest room work from 2025 and has not landed, so the bar you will drink in is still in its pre renovation form.

    It holds the joint lowest TripAdvisor score here at 4.4 across 1,717 reviews, and the reasons repeat: no pool, no spa, and a formality that reads as attentive to some guests and stiff to others. This is the most formal front of house of the ten by a distance. At USD$385 you are paying more than Riggs for a lower score, no bar worth staying in and the same walk to the Mall, and the March 2024 rooms are the only thing tipping it back. Book it if a 1926 building two blocks from the White House with brand new bathrooms is exactly the trip. Otherwise there are better uses of USD$385 here.

    “We were well taken care of”

    TripAdvisor review by Lynsey, January 2026

    The verdict

    • +All 182 rooms and bathrooms were rebuilt in March 2024
    • +Two blocks from the White House and five minutes from two Metro stations
    • +Nightly champagne sabering and butler service assigned by floor
    • −No pool and no spa, and the joint lowest TripAdvisor score here at 4.4
    • −The bar redesign announced for 2025 has still not happened

    From about USD$385 a night

    Rate checked 18 September 2026, standard room, before taxes and fees

    Check ratesOfficial site ↗

    Where to stay in Washington DC, by area

    Washington's sights sit in a strip about two miles long and almost nothing you have come to see is outside it. That makes the area you pick a bigger decision than the hotel you pick, because the difference between Federal Triangle and Georgetown is not a nicer street, it is twenty minutes each way, twice a day, for a week.

    The shortest version: Downtown and Penn Quarter for a first visit and for walking, Federal Triangle if you want the Smithsonians as close as they get, Lafayette Square for the White House and for political business, Southwest Waterfront if you want a pool and the Tidal Basin, CityCenterDC for a modern room at the lowest rate, and Georgetown only on a second visit or if dinner matters more than museums.

    One thing to plan for everywhere except Georgetown: the Metro does the work. Fares run from USD$2.25 to USD$6.75 depending on distance and time of day, most of these hotels are within five to ten minutes of a station, and hotel valet parking runs to USD$90 a day. Do not hire a car unless you are leaving the city.

    The one area trade that catches people out is evenings. Penn Quarter and CityCenterDC stay busy after dark, and Georgetown is at its best then. Federal Triangle, 16th Street and Southwest Waterfront are federal office blocks that go dark at six, which is fine if you are walking to dinner somewhere else and grim if you assumed the street outside would be alive. Read the walking time to the Mall alongside the walk to a restaurant, not on its own.

    Washington DC areas compared on who they suit, walking and Metro access, and the entry rate
    Area Suits On foot and by Metro From
    Downtown and Penn Quarter
    		 First visits, museums, no car Mall 8 to 15 min · Metro Center and Gallery Place USD$335
    Federal Triangle
    		 The shortest commute to the Smithsonians Mall 10 min · Metro under the building USD$577
    Lafayette Square and 16th Street
    		 White House views, political business Mall 12 to 15 min · McPherson Square 5 min USD$385
    Southwest Waterfront
    		 Cherry blossom trips, and a pool Mall 10 to 12 min · Smithsonian and L'Enfant Plaza USD$405
    CityCenterDC
    		 Shoppers, conventions, modern rooms Mall 15 to 18 min · Metro Center 10 min USD$233
    Georgetown
    		 Second visits, dining, quiet streets Mall 25 to 30 min · no Metro station USD$470

    Walking times are door to the nearest edge of the National Mall at a normal pace. Lafayette Square addresses sit inside the White House security perimeter, so street closures happen with no notice.

    Downtown and Penn Quarter

    Metro Center, Gallery Place and Federal Triangle are all here and the Mall is 8 to 15 minutes on foot. The trade off is Capital One Arena: on event nights the streets around Penn Quarter are loud until late. Best for first visits, museum trips, anyone without a car.

    Lafayette Square and 16th Street

    Quieter and more formal than Penn Quarter, and inside the security perimeter, so motorcades and demonstrations can close streets with no notice. Best for political business, and anyone who wants a White House view.

    Georgetown

    The prettiest part of the city and the best restaurants, but there is no Metro station. Foggy Bottom GWU is the fallback, a real walk from the canal. Budget for cabs on museum days. Best for second visits, dining, couples who want a quiet street.

    Southwest Waterfront

    Ten to twelve minutes from the Tidal Basin and the same to The Wharf for dinner. The office blocks in between empty out after six, so evenings mean walking somewhere. Best for cherry blossom trips and anyone who wants a pool.

    CityCenterDC

    A new build district of shops and restaurants next to the Convention Center. Well served by Metro Center and Gallery Place but the longest walk to the Mall of the downtown options. Best for shoppers and modern hotel people.

    What the glossy lists do not tell you about Washington hotels

    Three things separate these hotels, and the photography hides all three. The first is minutes on foot. Every one of them calls itself central and the spread is enormous: eight to ten minutes from the Willard to the Mall, ten from the Waldorf with a Metro station under the building, twelve from Riggs, fifteen to eighteen from the Conrad, and twenty five to thirty from either Georgetown hotel, with no Metro at that end to rescue you. Over four days that gap is several hours and a stack of cab fares.

    The second is whether the grand old building is a grand old hotel. Four have been hotels for most of a century: the Willard since 1901, the Jefferson as flats from 1923, the St Regis as the Carlton from 1926, the Hay Adams from 1928. Three are old buildings converted very recently, which is a different thing. The Waldorf's post office was finished in 1899 and only became a hotel in 2016. Riggs was a working bank until February 2020. Rosewood's townhouses are historic; the hotel attached to them was built in 2013. Three are new builds: 1979, 2004 and 2019. The shell tells you about the lobby and nothing about the room.

    The third is the one almost nobody writes down. Washington is a weekday city that empties. The blocks around the Potomac and half of downtown are federal offices that go dark at six, Congress leaves town in August, and the crowd level in the table above drops from busy in July to moderate in August while the temperature barely moves. The practical consequence is that Saturday nights and the whole of August are when the good rooms in this guide are actually obtainable, and the two weeks of cherry blossom peak bloom in late March or early April are the most expensive nights of the year. You are paying least in August for a reason: 31C with overnight lows of 22C and no coast anywhere near.

    The ten hotels compared on walking time to the National Mall, nearest Metro station and what the building actually is
    Hotel To the Mall on foot Nearest Metro The building
    Willard InterContinental
    		 8 to 10 min Metro Center, 5 min Hotel since 1901
    Waldorf Astoria
    		 10 min Federal Triangle, underneath 1899 post office, hotel since 2016
    The Potomac Hotel
    		 10 to 12 min Smithsonian and L'Enfant Plaza Purpose built in 2004
    Riggs Washington DC
    		 12 min Gallery Place and Metro Center, 5 min 1891 bank, hotel since 2020
    Hay Adams
    		 12 to 15 min McPherson Square, 5 min Hotel since 1928, never gutted
    The Jefferson
    		 12 to 15 min Farragut North, 5 min 1923 flats, hotel by 1955
    St Regis
    		 12 to 15 min Farragut North, 5 min Hotel since 1926, rooms new in 2024
    Conrad Washington DC
    		 15 to 18 min Metro Center, 10 min Purpose built in 2019
    Four Seasons
    		 25 to 30 min Foggy Bottom GWU, 10 min Purpose built in 1979
    Rosewood Washington DC
    		 25 to 30 min None in Georgetown Built 2013, with older townhouses

    One more number worth knowing before you book: three of these ten hotels have a pool. Rosewood's is on the roof, the Potomac's is indoors, and the Four Seasons has a saltwater lap pool inside its fitness club. The other seven have a gym and that is all.

    The value pick, and the one I would think hardest about

    Riggs is the value pick and the case is mostly geography. USD$335 buys you a room in an 1891 bank in Penn Quarter, a block from the National Portrait Gallery, twelve minutes from the Mall, with Gallery Place Chinatown and Metro Center both within five minutes. That is the best connected address in this guide, and it costs USD$50 a night less than the St Regis, which sits a similar distance from the Mall with a lower TripAdvisor score, no pool, no spa and a bar still waiting for the redesign announced for 2025. Silver Lyan in the old vault is better than anything the hotels above it have downstairs.

    The trade is noise and it is not trivial. Capital One Arena is two blocks away and on event nights Penn Quarter stays loud, and Riggs has no spa and no pool to retreat into. Look at the arena schedule before you fix your dates. If your week happens to be quiet, you are getting the most useful hotel in Washington for less than the rate of five others on this list.

    The one I would think hardest about is the Four Seasons, and not because there is anything wrong with it. The service is the deepest here, the fitness club with its saltwater lap pool is genuinely unmatched in the city, and BOURBON STEAK is a destination in its own right. But USD$825 is the highest rate in this guide, the building has been standing since 1979 with no wholesale renovation announced in the last two years, no room in it faces a monument, and Georgetown has no Metro station, so the Mall is twenty five to thirty minutes on foot and a cab the rest of the time. If the pool and the gym are the trip, take it. If the museums are the trip, eat at BOURBON STEAK and sleep at the Waldorf for USD$248 a night less.

    Which of these to book, by what you actually want from the trip
    If you want Book Because
    The largest standard rooms in the city
    		 waldorf-astoria-washington-dc Six hundred square foot rooms, a Metro station underneath and a Michelin starred sushi counter
    A White House view, and political Washington
    		 hay-adams The only hotel in Washington that looks straight across Lafayette Square at the White House
    Walking the city, and the best bar in this guide
    		 riggs-washington-dc A cocktail bar in an 1891 bank vault, two Metro stations, and the best value of the ten
    The shortest walk to the museums
    		 willard-intercontinental Eight to ten minutes from the National Mall, the shortest walk in this guide
    A pool, a spa and a serious kitchen
    		 The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection An indoor pool, a two floor spa and Dōgon, under a name the hotel has only had since August 2026
    A small quiet hotel, if you will eat out
    		 the-jefferson Ninety nine rooms, a resident historian, and no restaurant worth the rate since 2020
    A townhouse on the canal rather than a hotel room
    		 rosewood-washington-dc Six townhouses with their own street doors, and the only outdoor rooftop pool of the ten
    Families who want a pool and a proper gym
    		 four-seasons-washington-dc A saltwater lap pool and BOURBON STEAK, at the highest rate in this guide
    A modern room at the lowest rate here
    		 conrad-washington-dc Herzog and de Meuron glass at USD$233, the lowest entry rate of the ten
    Traditionalists with business on K Street
    		 st-regis-washington-dc All 182 rooms rebuilt in March 2024, two blocks north of the White House

    Getting in from the airport

    Fly into Reagan National if you possibly can. It is about four miles from downtown and it has its own Metro station joined to Terminals B and C by a covered walkway, so you are on a train within minutes of clearing the concourse rather than queueing on a kerb. The Blue or Yellow line to Metro Center takes about fifteen minutes and the fare sits at the bottom of the USD$2.25 to USD$6.75 band. That is the single easiest major airport arrival in the United States and it is not close.

    The alternatives cost time. Dulles is about 26 miles west and now has a direct Silver line ride to Metro Center, which is a real improvement, but it takes about 55 minutes at the same fare. BWI is the third option and is usually reached by MARC or Amtrak into Union Station. A metered taxi from Reagan National downtown runs about USD$15 to USD$20 before tip, on a tariff of USD$4.00 for the first eighth of a mile and USD$2.56 a mile after that, with waiting time billed at USD$25 an hour, so rush hour can push that figure well past the estimate. Private transfers are quoted at around USD$143 for two.

    Two traps nobody mentions. The first is that the Metro advantage evaporates if you are staying in Georgetown, because there is no station there: from Reagan National to the Four Seasons or Rosewood you are taking a cab whatever you planned, and you will take one again every time you go to a museum. The second is parking. Valet is punishing across the board and the Potomac publishes USD$90 a day, with downtown hotels in the same range. Five nights of valet is more than an extra night in the cheapest hotel in this guide. Do not hire a car unless you are driving out of the city.

    How this ranking was made

    Every hotel here was checked against the same five things: what the entry level room actually is, what is inside the building rather than nearby, how many minutes it takes to walk to the National Mall and to the nearest Metro station, what recent guest reviews complain about repeatedly, and what a standard room costs on a comparable date.

    Rates are the lowest published entry rate for a standard room before taxes and fees, all pulled on 18 September 2026, so they compare with each other. They are not a promise about your dates. TripAdvisor scores and review counts were read off each hotel's own page and are quoted with the number of reviews attached, because 4.6 from 5,825 reviews and 4.6 from 535 are not the same statement. Weather figures are the NOAA 1991 to 2020 monthly climate normals for Washington Reagan National, station USW00013743.

    Where a hotel has changed since the last version of this guide, the change is in the copy rather than buried. The hotel that traded as Salamander Washington DC is now The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection, and it is listed under that name here. The Jefferson's Michelin starred restaurant Plume has not reopened since March 2020, and that is stated in its entry because a guest paying USD$650 a night has a right to know what is behind the dining room door. Drawbacks come from two places only: detail the hotel publishes itself, or a complaint that recurs often enough in recent reviews to be a pattern.

    Every photograph on this page was opened and looked at before it was published, and every one comes from the property's own site or its brand's press library. That sounds like a low bar. It is the one this guide failed last time, and it is why the whole page was rebuilt.

    Washington DC luxury hotel questions

    The questions that come up most often, answered with the detail rather than the brochure line.

    Which Washington DC luxury hotel is closest to the National Mall?

    The Willard InterContinental, at eight to ten minutes on foot from 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Waldorf Astoria is second at about ten minutes and has Federal Triangle Metro station directly underneath it. At the other end, the Four Seasons and Rosewood are both twenty five to thirty minutes away in Georgetown, which has no Metro station at all.

    Which Washington DC luxury hotels have a swimming pool?

    Three of the ten in this guide. Rosewood Washington DC has a rooftop pool with a fire feature, the only outdoor one. The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection has an indoor pool as part of a spa spread over two floors. The Four Seasons has a saltwater lap pool inside its 12,500 square foot fitness club. The other seven, including the Waldorf Astoria, the Hay Adams, the Willard and the St Regis, have a gym and nothing else.

    What happened to Salamander Washington DC?

    It changed its name in August 2026. The hotel at 1330 Maryland Avenue SW is now The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection, managed by Pyramid Global Hospitality and sold through Marriott under property code WASWF. It opened in 2004 as the Mandarin Oriental Washington DC and was run by Salamander from 2023. The old salamanderdc.com address now redirects elsewhere, so book through the Marriott listing or thepotomachoteldc.com.

    Does The Jefferson in Washington DC still have a Michelin starred restaurant?

    No. Plume held a Michelin star into the 2021 guide and has not reopened since the hotel closed in March 2020. Six years on there has been no announcement of its return. The Jefferson currently offers Quill, the bar, The Greenhouse for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, an all day menu and twenty four hour room service, at a rate starting around USD$650 a night.

    What is the best value luxury hotel in Washington DC?

    Riggs Washington DC, from about USD$335 a night. It occupies the 1891 Riggs National Bank building in Penn Quarter, sits twelve minutes from the National Mall with Gallery Place Chinatown and Metro Center both within five minutes, and holds Silver Lyan, a cocktail bar built into the old vault. It scores 4.6 on TripAdvisor from 1,165 reviews. The catch is Capital One Arena two blocks away and the noise on event nights.

    When is the best time to visit Washington DC?

    Late September and October. October is the driest month on the record at five wet days, with highs around 21C, and the cherry blossom crowds are months away in either direction. April is lovely and priced accordingly. Avoid July and August, when highs sit at 31C to 32C with overnight lows of 22C and there is no coast within reach.

    When is cherry blossom peak bloom in Washington DC, and should I book then?

    Peak bloom at the Tidal Basin normally falls in the last week of March or the first week of April. Those two weeks carry the highest hotel rates of the year across the whole city, and March and April are the two busiest months in the visitor calendar. If the blossom is the point, book six months out and stay at Southwest Waterfront, ten to twelve minutes from the Tidal Basin. If it is not, come in October instead.

    How do I get from Reagan National Airport to my hotel in Washington DC?

    Take the Metro. Reagan National is about four miles out and its own station is joined to Terminals B and C by a covered walkway, with the Blue or Yellow line reaching Metro Center in about fifteen minutes at the bottom of the USD$2.25 to USD$6.75 fare band. A metered taxi downtown is about USD$15 to USD$20 before tip, charged at USD$4.00 for the first eighth of a mile then USD$2.56 a mile, with waiting time at USD$25 an hour. Private transfers are quoted around USD$143 for two.

    Do I need a car in Washington DC?

    No, and you should actively avoid one. The Metro reaches every hotel in this guide except the two in Georgetown, fares run from USD$2.25 to USD$6.75, and hotel valet parking costs up to USD$90 a day. Five nights of valet parking costs more than an extra night in the cheapest hotel on this list. Hire a car only if you are driving out to Virginia or Maryland.

    Should I stay in Georgetown or downtown Washington DC?

    Downtown on a first visit, Georgetown on a second. Georgetown has the prettiest streets and the best restaurants but no Metro station, so the National Mall is a twenty five to thirty minute walk and every museum day means cabs in both directions. Downtown, Penn Quarter and Federal Triangle put you eight to fifteen minutes from the Mall with a station within five minutes.

    Which Washington DC hotel has the best restaurants?

    The Waldorf Astoria, on depth: Sushi Nakazawa is a one Michelin star omakase counter, Bazaar Meat by José Andrés does fire cooked steak and Peacock Alley handles all day dining and afternoon tea, all in one building. For a single restaurant, Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi at The Potomac Hotel is the most talked about room in the city right now, and BOURBON STEAK at the Four Seasons is a destination in its own right. Note that The Jefferson's starred restaurant Plume has been closed since March 2020.

    Which Washington DC hotel has a White House view?

    The Hay Adams, from about USD$389 a night. Its south facing rooms look across Lafayette Square to the White House with the Washington Monument behind it, and the Top of the Hay roof terrace has the same view. North and inner facing rooms look at 16th Street or a light well for a similar rate, so confirm the aspect before you book. The address sits inside the security perimeter, which means motorcades and closures with no notice.

    From $450 /night
    Check prices