Drive or Tour Operator

We are a family of 4 driving from Ontario for a one week stay at the Massenutten Resort in Virginia. We were wanting to tour Washington on one of our days...not sure to take tour offered from the resort, or just drive ourselves? Have seen many tours, including a hop on hop off trolley tour, that might be interesting, just not sure how easy it is to get around in Washington etc?? Anyone done the tour from resort? or other suggestions?? Our kids are 11 and 12 and we will be there June 26. Thanks for any info you might have!!!

Drive or Tour Operator

I don%26#39;t know anything about the tour from your resort, but I think one of the most fun things about DC is using the Metro system. Aside from the convenience of leaving the driving to someone else, I can%26#39;t think of a good reason to take the tour. You%26#39;d obviously have more flexibility on your own. You could drive to the outskirts of DC, park the car, and use the metro. You can look at the website (wmata.com) to see which station you might drive to - I would choose Vienna-Fairfax (George Mason University).

Drive or Tour Operator

I agree with Wendy--drive, park and take Metro into D.C. It%26#39;s clean and safe and if your kids have never been on a subway before, it will be fun for them. (Just remember, please stand to the right on the Metro escalators. The local commuters often walk up/down the escalators on the left so you don%26#39;t want to block their path.)

Once you get into D.C., you can easily walk to visit the sites you want to see. (Get a good map and have a plan.) The distances will not be too great for kids the ages of yours. The hop on/hop off buses are a good option if you would prefer a type of guided tour since they do provide commentary. If you do a search for hop on/hop off buses on Trip Advisor, you will get a wealth of information about the various companies--Tourmobile, Old Town Trolleys and Open Top Sightseeing.

I have done it both ways.

The first few times in Washington we traveled by metro - very easy to do, you can get an all day pass.

Massanutten%26#39;s tour I really enjoyed - I did get to see things that I have never seen before because I never had the time. Great tour!! BUT a lot of stop and go, getting on/off bus. Very long day, we got back to Massanutten about 9:15-9:30.

If it was just adults I would say take the Massanutten tour. With your kids - you are probably better off driving close and taking metro. Then you can pick and choose where you want to visit and adjust depending on how tired of walking you get :)

Zoo is great, Smithsonians are great, we loved the Library of Congress - beautiful building.

And kids can be funny - we took my grandkids to Massanutten in August. Went to Frontier Culture Museum, Luray Caverns and Maze, hiking in the Woods, Massanutten%26#39;s ski lift to the top of the slopes, the park in Staunton, Jason Bishop Magic show (fantastic), they played mini-golf, rode the go-karts, joined in a soccer and softball game.... They had a GREAT time. My one grandson - 11 years old - when asked what he really enjoyed the most told everyone that he learned to play ping-pong. That is his favorite memory of his trip. The 10 and 13 year olds favorite part was the magic show and Frontier Culture. But those 2 loved everything.

I traveled to dc by hoping on the train just outside the city and once there did the bus tour with afriend, giving us time to chat as well as see the city and free to jump off at any time. If i didn%26#39;t do the tour I would%26#39;ve missed alot. If you are there for 2 days you will see the places that you might want to spend more time at the 2nd day. I would%26#39;ve missed the most amazing site, the Cathedral, which is like disneys castle...amazing.

By bus you%26#39;ll also spend time walking when you want, as there really is so much to see.

Great city..enjoy

If you are leaving Massenutten and driving to the DC area on a weekday, you are going to be hard pressed to find a parking spot at a Metro station after 6 in the morning-the lots fill up from commuters.

There is a commuter train (not subway) that serves Washington D.C. out of Virginia. You can park in Manassas and use the train from here. There is a parking garage that is permit only, but if you go into the train station and go to the visitor%26#39;s center, the ladies that work in there will give you a day pass to park the car since you are using the train.

Manassas is about 30 minutes closer to Massenutten than the closest Metro parking lot. If you look at Virginia Railway Express online, you can find the fares and train schedule.

Thanks to everyone for the responses!! Now I am thinking we may be best to stop in Washington on our way to the resort, or on the way home instead, and get a room in Washington for the night. This would cut out the 4 hrs driving and still give us options for seeing the sights. We figure the drive from home is roughly 11 hours to the resort. Our last day at the resort is July 3, so I am thinking we would be best to stop in Washington on our way down instead as it might be too crazy on the 4th of July!! If you have any more tips...

Yes, best idea yet. And unless you want to get wrapped up with 4th of July stuff, stop on the way down.

Although, the main chaos is the fireworks, so if you are able to get a hotel in DC and be there on the Mall to watch the fireworks, and then have a hotel room to walk home to, it wouldn%26#39;t be the worst experience. You would probably have a very good time.

Okay, so we are going to do DC on our own. Best day for this would be?? Planning to drive to a metro station and then take one of the trolly tours. We are arriving at the resort on a Friday so not sure if weekend would be better for traffic etc?

How difficult is the metro system? We live in a town of like 1000 ppl so we don%26#39;t even have taxis!!

Hoping it%26#39;s not too crazy!!