June 21-24 D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia

Going with a buddy of mine this summer to D.C. and I am pumped about seeing 3 more stadiums to check off the bucket list. Anyone else planning on going on this itinerary? We're going to fly into DC and rent a car to drive to Balt and Philly. I'd like to stay somewhere relatively in the middle of Balt and DC so I can use public transportation to get to Nationals Park and I can be close as well to Oriole Park. Any advice?

Thanks everyone!

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Permalink Reply by Tim Choiniere on January 10, 2012 at 8:25am

Are you going to have extra days or is it literally just the 3 stadiums? You don't even need a rental car with Amtrak going between the 3 cities.

Fly into DC (preferably Reagan). Spent the night at a hotel (take a look at the Americana in Arlington, VA as I got it for $65 a night last year) - if you fly in on gameday and use Metro within DC. Get up the next morning, take MARC or Amtrak to Baltimore. I believe MARC even has a stop at Camden Yards but verify this. Get a hotel near Camden or at least within the Inner Harbor. Spend the night and then take Amtrak to Philly which has a subway. Fly home from Philly or just Amtrak back to DC.

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Permalink Reply by Juan G. Ruiz on January 10, 2012 at 8:39am

Hey Tim, thanks for much for your response. Actually we're literally going from Thurs-Sunday, games on Thur, Fri and Sat evening. I looked at some Amtrak prices and they are definitely affordable and it would be convenient for us based on our cities. But I think we're going to opt for the rental since we tend to travel to some foodie places and want the flexibility of being able to come and go as we please. However, I do plan on taking the metro in each city to the games and parking the car at the hotel. Also, I believe I'll be staying somewhere in the College Park, MD area as the DC Green line takes us to Nats stadium and we're not far from Baltimore. Any other area you recommend I look at for centrally located hotels?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Choiniere on January 10, 2012 at 9:52am

You may want to check www.wmata.com to make sure the subway run thats far north that late (assuming a night game - game that I went to last year in DC ended at 2:30 and there were people that couldn't make it to their hotel). Late at night they go to a reduced schedule and don't go to a lot of outlying stations. Be aware that parking in DC is very scarce so do not drive into the city (like you mentioned). Parking in Baltimore was not much better.

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Permalink Reply by Juan G. Ruiz on January 10, 2012 at 10:40am

Right good call, I will check the metro site you provided and definitely not take the car into the city. Worse case scenario, I'll cab it. Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Den McDonough (12) on January 12, 2012 at 8:46am

Hi Juan:

My friend and I went to a weekend series at Nationals Park in '09. I'm budget-conscious, so we used Expedia or Priceline to find a decent hotel (Days Inn?) in Silver Spring that was close to public transit. This worked out well for us getting to and from the park. We did get to the stadium a couple of hours before game time one day, though, and found there was nothing to do in the vicinity of the park. The gates weren't going to open for some time, and when we asked a passer-by where we could get food nearby she looked at us like we were from another planet (they were building in the area then, so this may have changed since).

I took my nephew to Oriole Park last year. We drove down, saw the game, and drove home, so I can't write intelligently about the area. The stadium is one of my favorites, though.

The Broad Street Line in Philly runs south from Center City and terminates a short walk from Citizen's Bank Park. It's crowded on game days, but runs every 10-15 minutes. If you decide to drive your rental, parking is plentiful for $15. If you come off of route 76 (Schuylkill Expressway), the first parking you will see is at the Holiday Inn, where they charge $20... keep going. Lot K, between Citizen's Bank and Lincoln Financial Field, is filled hours before game time, and is worth at least a walk through if you've never seen tailgating taken to an art form before. Oh yeah, traffic is horrific after Phillies games... Ben Franklin didn't plan for this.

Our partial Phillies season tickets don't have a Tampa game that weekend, but I'll likely pick up the Saturday or Sunday game as the Rays are my adopted team (my Mom lives outside Tampa now). If you want, let me know what day you'll be at Citizen's Bank, and maybe we'll run into each other.

Enjoy your trip!

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Permalink Reply by Juan G. Ruiz on January 12, 2012 at 9:28am

Hi Den,

Thanks for the response. My sentiments exactly on using priceline for my hotel in the outskirts of DC (Silver Springs or College Park area). I always use Priceline and can't begin to tell you how much I've saved over the years. Only thing I wanted to ensure was that the hotel had a free shuttle to the metro or it was walking distance but worse case scenario, I know the metro stations have parking lots where it costs under $5 a day. So that would be a last resort option.

Thanks for the Philly info. Back in 2003 I went to the Vet for a game but haven't been back tp PHI since then so I will definitely use your advise to find parking near the stadium or take the metro. I'm absolutely going to the Saturday, June 23rd game at 4:05pm.If you end up going, definitely let me know and we can meet up for a beer.

Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Tim Choiniere on January 12, 2012 at 11:07am

Nothing has changed yet around Nationals Park. There is nothing in the immediate area. If you are early, go someplace around the National Mall or even hop into 1 of the Smithsonians.