re: How safe is D.C. for a family visit?

When I first visited DC in 1993...this question would have been appropriate to ask.

Not in 2018.

If your family is doing national Mall-centric stuff like museums, look at hotels in the Penn Quarter area. You'll be able to walk to the Mall, so will not waste vacation time going back and forth on the Metro.

I'm always struck by LA folks asking about safety of other places. SE LA is one of the most violent crime ridden pockets of America. Literally almost anywhere else in America is safer than here. Go and enjoy yourselves, walk the streets and have a great time. DC has a fair number of homeless vets/mentally ill on the streets, but most will not interact with you. The kids will ask why that man is sleeping in a doorway, and you can have real-world conversations about it.

Best food on the Mall (most is crap): cafeteria at the National Museum of American Indian, cold buffet at the National Gallery of Art, gelato in the underground passageway between the two sections of the National Gallery of Art. Wine & snacks in the outdoor sculpture garden, too.

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If you can get iut of staying in Crystal City I would stay in Alexandria Va. It is very safe.


Thanks! Will look at moving the reservation

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Don't do it. Massive amount of hotels in DC

Please, don't worry about the Metro. At all. DC is blanketed by CC cameras, the Metro often has police openly displaying weapons, and most people riding it are just trying to get somewhere. In the modern era of suspicion, there is no tolerance for foolishness. I've never been panhandled on the DC metro, and it is clean, fairly efficient, and cheap. Crowded, yes, at rush hour, but not like NYC (which is old, dirty, and pretty sketchy at certain stations).

I've ridden WMATA routes from Baltimore to Alexandria, both alone and with others, day and night. No problems to report, other than the occasional wonky ticket machine.

DC's system fares are based on distance, so you have to have a ticket both to enter and exit...so it's harder to fare jump (you gotta do it twice) than in other cities with zones or fixed prices where a ticket is only needed to enter.

You and your family will enjoy DC, I'm sure. Walking the Mall in the evening, around sunset, is really nice. All of the memorials are lighted, so seeing things at night is as moving as a daylight visit. I suggest you brush up on your US history 'cause your kids are going to have 1,000 questions...who was X? Why did he get a statue? Etc.

The DC circulator is a bus route that travels around the Mall & immediate surrounds. It's cheap, and it is a godsend for tired kiddie feet. Check out the route here: LINK It's $1 per trip, per person, and you can pay in cash (exact change) on the bus.

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It’s our nations capital. It’s not a third world country.

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Heh - most third world countries have a lower murder rate.

Washington DC - 241 murders per 1,000,000 residents (2016).

Mexico - 218.
Haiti - 70.
Laos - 45.
Tunisia - 11.

Of 193 countries with statistics only 23 have a higher murder rate than DC.

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Stick to the tourist areas ... and you’ll be fine.

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True all over the world. I'm not worried about safety in DC; nor am I worried in the "third world". Just stick to safe areas.

ETA -

Baton Rouge - 262.
New Orleans - 417.

Depending on who you ask, you might want to avoid pizza and ping pong.

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Went there for vacation back in October. Stayed in the Foggy Bottom area right by GW University. Took the Metro everywhere the entire week and had no issues. There were plenty of people on there even at 9-10 at night.

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Good to know because I am not sure I can escape the Metro entirely. The kids were excited when they found out about it.

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What is it about Crystal City that makes it terrible?

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I've styaed there a few times, and it's fine. The National Mall Metro is like the first or second stop(pretty sure the first) coming from Crystal City station, so you're close to the action without paying the DC hotel rates. We even took a cab once, and it was only around $15-$20.

Went to DC aboit this time last year... stayed at the Grand Hyatt on H st NW... it was fairly reasonable cost wise. It was about a 15-20 minute walk to the mall area or the White House. We metro’d some as well, when we went to Arlington, and the day we spent on the capital hill end of the mall. We never had any issues. We uber’d a good bit as well and I don’t think we ever had a ride that cost more than aboit 15 bucks... most were under 10. We really want to go back again soon.

Don’t worry about the metro, totally safe and usually pretty reliable, download the metro app before which will give you times.. just remember walk on the left and stand on the right for the escalators.... locals do not stand on the escalator and it becomes a racetrack.

DC is a safe town, people walk everywhere...cops are abundant. I walked from navy yard from the nats game at night back to my apartment in NW DC, took about 30 min but never felt unsafe.

Like a previous poster said bums will be everywhere downtown but surprisingly they don’t bother you or ask you for anything. They’re just there