How do I get from the airport to Washington DC?

Reagan National (DCA) sits less than 5 miles from the National Mall in Washington DC. Walk out of Terminal B or C, follow signs down one level, and you're on the Yellow or Blue Line platform. A ride to Metro Center takes 12 minutes and costs $2.50 at peak, $2 off-peak. SmarTrip cards load at machines on the platform, or you can tap a contactless credit card at the fare gate. Trains run 5am to midnight weekdays, 7am to midnight weekends. That weekend 7am start has caught many a Saturday red-eye arrival off guard. If you land at DCA before 7am on a Saturday, you're waiting or taking a rideshare from Terminal A's lower level. After midnight any night, Uber or Lyft from the designated pickup area runs $15-22 to a downtown hotel. Skip the taxi queue at DCA. Rideshare prices tend to run $5-8 lower for the same trip.

Dulles International (IAD) handles most transatlantic and transpacific flights and sits 26 miles west of Washington DC in Virginia. The Silver Line Metro extension reached the terminal in November 2022, and it changed the calculus completely. Follow signs from baggage claim, tap your SmarTrip or contactless card, and ride to Foggy Bottom or Metro Center for about $6. The trip takes 50-55 minutes through Tysons Corner and Reston. The cars can feel warm and close in August when air conditioning fights against 90°F heat at the outdoor platform stops. Metro is still the right pick for Dulles arrivals. A taxi or rideshare from IAD runs $60-75, and I-66 eastbound on weekday afternoons can stretch the drive to 90 minutes. The Washington Flyer taxi service still quotes a flat $75 from the curb, but there's no reason to pay that now with Metro at the terminal.

Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) tends to have the cheapest airfares into the Washington DC area, with Southwest running more routes from there than from DCA or IAD. The route from BWI to downtown takes a shuttle-then-train connection. A free shuttle bus runs every 10-12 minutes from the terminal to BWI Rail Station, where you board the MARC Penn Line to Union Station for $8. The ride takes 35-40 minutes and drops you on Capitol Hill. From Union Station, the Red Line Metro connects to the rest of Washington DC. Amtrak covers the same corridor in 25-30 minutes for $15-49 depending on the train. Mind you, MARC only runs weekdays. If you arrive on a Saturday, Amtrak is your only rail option, and weekend trains sell out over holiday weekends like the 4th of July. A rideshare from BWI to downtown Washington DC costs $70-90 and takes 50-60 minutes depending on I-95 traffic.

Washington DC's Metro is not 24-hour transit. Last WMATA trains leave around midnight. If your flight gets in at 1am, you're in a rideshare no matter which airport you used. The 98 stations are distinctive. Harry Weese designed the brutalist concrete barrel vaults in the 1970s. At Dupont Circle, dim amber light fills the vault, and the faint metallic smell of warm brake dust rises from the tracks. That quiet breaks every 6-8 minutes when the next train rushes in. The escalators at Rosslyn run about 190 feet, and they break down with depressing regularity. When one goes out at Wheaton or Rosslyn, you're climbing 10 stories with your luggage. An elevator exists at every station, but expect a 5-minute wait during rush hour.