2026 Washington, DC Travel Cost Study
Washington, DC trip cost
A 4-night mid-range trip to Washington, DC costs two people about $1,647, not counting flights. That is about $206 per person per night.
Washington, DC trip cost calculator
Choose your nights, the number of travellers, a hotel class and a month. For the hotel, it takes our median for that month and class. Meal and car prices come from published guides. Copy the link to keep or share your budget.
Your trip
$1,647
$824 per person · $206 per person per night
| Hotel | $808 |
|---|---|
| Eating out | $512 |
| Activities | $209 |
| Car hire | $0 |
| Metro day pass | $108 |
| Metro to Reagan National | $10 |
| Hotel tax | 0not counted |
Short answer
Hotels are the biggest cost of a DC trip, and in our sample they cost much more in spring and early summer than in winter. Our 2026 study found a median 4-star night of $150 per room for 2 adults in December. In June, the same class cost $316. For a couple, 4 mid-range nights in DC add up to about $1,647, which is $824 each. The hotel alone takes $808 of that. The budget version comes to about $1,259, and the comfort version to about $2,987. The National Mall monuments, US Capitol tours, White House tours and the National Air and Space Museum charge no entry fee; some need a timed ticket or an early request. Our totals leave out flights and the 15.95% hotel tax; check whether your booking price includes it.
How to spend less in Washington, DC
- Look at December before June. A 4-star room cost a median $150 per night in December and $316 in June, among the cheapest and priciest months in our sample. Our mid-range trip for two drops from $2,101 to $1,437. Each month had different hotels and was read a different time ahead, so treat this as a rough guide.
- Check 3-star hotels too. Our 3-star median was $181 per room for 2 adults. The 4-star median was $202. The gap is small, so pick on location first.
- Keep the Saturday night. In our pairs, Saturday was usually cheaper than the Tuesday of that week. Of the 4-star hotels we paired, only 31% asked more for Saturday than for the Tuesday of that week. We did not price Friday or Sunday nights.
- Buy the Metro day pass from your sixth ride. The pass costs $13.50 per person, and the lowest fare is $2.25. Daytime fares rise with distance, up to $6.75, so the pass pays off sooner on long trips. Take fewer rides and paying per ride costs less.
- Make lunch the cheap meal. Guides put a cheap meal at $8 to $15 per person. A fine dinner costs about $99 per person.
- Book the free sights early. White House tours are free, but you request them through your member of Congress, well before your trip (official White House visit page). Tours of the US Capitol are free too; book a timed slot online, or try for a same-day pass at the Capitol Visitor Center. The National Mall monuments charge no entry fee, but the Washington Monument needs a timed ticket. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is free with a timed pass. See our guide to the museums. If you want a guide, the 3 guided museum tours on our pages cost $59 to $80 per person.
This study leaves out flights, since airfare hinges on where you start and when you go.
What a trip to Washington, DC costs for two
At mid-range, a couple pays about $1,290 for a 3-night stay, $1,647 for 4 nights and $2,718 for a full week of 7 nights, flights aside. A 5-night stay comes to about $1,002 a head.
Each row prices the same 4-night trip in a different style, using the median of all hotel prices we read. The sum has the hotel, 2 restaurant meals a day for each person, 2 activities, a daily Metro pass and the Metro ride to and from the airport. DC's hotel tax is left out.
| Style | Hotel | Eating out | Activities | Metro and airport (no tax) | Total | Per person per night |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget 3-star hotel, cheap meals | $724 | $208 | $209 | $118 | $1,259 | $157 |
| Mid-range Our default 4-star hotel, mid-range meals | $808 | $512 | $209 | $118 | $1,647 | $206 |
| Comfort 5-star hotel, one fine dinner a day | $1,612 | $1,048 | $209 | $118 | $2,987 | $373 |
By length of stay (mid-range, two people)
Hotel prices in Washington, DC by month
Across all prices we read, the median room for 2 adults in Washington, DC was $181 a night at a 3-star hotel. At 4-star it was $202, and at 5-star $403. For 4-star hotels, December 2026 was among the cheapest months in our sample at $150 a night, and June 2027 among the priciest at $316.
On 25 October 2026 we read 1,555 prices of 218 listings (hotels and rentals) on Google Hotels. The dates were a Tuesday and a Saturday in every month between November 2026 and September 2027; October was not sampled. Each price is for one room with 2 adults. The sample has 59 3-star, 55 4-star and 18 5-star hotels. The other 86 listings have fewer stars or no star rating, and some are vacation rentals. They count in the all-listing median of $203, but not in any star class. The star-class medians pool all prices, so months with more prices weigh more. Half of all 4-star nights cost between $154 and $271.
By month and star class
Each month in our sample had a different mix of hotels, and the months were read from 23 to 324 days ahead. Comparing within one star class helps, but it does not fix either point. The months marked cheapest and dearest come from the 10 months without a note below. Some nearby months were close.
| Month | 3-star | 4-star | 5-star |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | $134 | $154 | $320 |
| December 2026 | $124 | $150 | $270 |
| January 2027 | $135 | $163 | $225 |
| February 2027 | $165 | $176 | $329 |
| March 2027 | $205 | $244 | $461 |
| April 2027 | $281 | $310 | $711 |
| May 2027 | $290 | $305 | $646 |
| June 2027 | $323 | $316 | $811 |
| July 2027 | $218 | $218 | $419 |
| August 2027 | $178 | $189 | $281 |
| September 2027 few prices yet, not ranked | $281 | $303 | $757 |
About these numbers
All figures are the median price of one room per night for 2 adults on Google Hotels. September 2027 has fewer prices, so it is not ranked. December was read deeper into Google's list than the other months. A 4-star month rests on 28 to 66 prices. A 5-star month rests on 10 to 21 prices, so treat it as a rough guide. Prices read months ahead can change closer to your dates.
Saturday nights were usually cheaper than Tuesdays
How we compared weekends
In Washington, DC, Saturday was usually the cheaper night in our pairs. Each pair is one hotel, priced for a Saturday and for the Tuesday four days earlier. We had 472 such pairs. Among the 147 pairs of 4-star hotels, only 31% had the higher price on Saturday. For 3-star hotels the share was 28%, and for 5-star hotels 10%. January and July broke the pattern. In each of them, Saturday was the pricier night in 57% of pairs. We did not price Friday or Sunday nights.
Hotels from our where-to-stay guide
- Penn Quarter & Downtown Mint House Washington DC Downtown
Aparthotel by McPherson Square Metro, with the Convention Center a 12-minute walk away.
- Capitol Hill & Navy Yard Capitol Hill Hotel
Suite hotel at 200 C Street SE, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, with kitchenettes.
- Georgetown citizenM Washington DC Georgetown
Hotel in Georgetown, a 17-minute walk from Theodore Roosevelt Island and 1.7 miles from the National Mall.
- Dupont Circle & Foggy Bottom Hotel Madera
Hotel on New Hampshire Avenue NW, a 2-minute walk from Dupont Circle and 1 mile from the White House.
We took one hotel from each of four areas in our where-to-stay guide. All four are listed on Booking.com. We show no price claim for them here.
Booking.com ratings and hotel notes as shown on 25 October 2026.
How much eating out costs in Washington, DC
Guides put a cheap meal in Washington, DC at about $13 per person. A mid-range meal runs $18 to $50 per person, and fine dining about $99.
These are published prices, not our measurement. They are quoted word for word from guides and restaurant sites, all read on 25 October 2026. For each group, the calculator takes the median, and no source counts twice. The mid-range range is wide, so treat its middle figure as rough. The fine-dining figure rests on two guides' prix-fixe and tasting-menu prices.
| Meal | Used in the calculator | Published figures |
|---|---|---|
| Cheap meal a quick lunch or a simple dinner, per person | about $13 median of 2 sources |
|
| Mid-range restaurant a meal per person at a sit-down restaurant | about $32 median of 2 sources |
|
| Fine dining per person, prix-fixe and tasting menus | about $99 median of 2 sources |
|
Drinks
A pint of beer costs about $8.59 in Washington, DC, and a coffee about $5, according to published prices.
| Drink | Middle figure | Published figures |
|---|---|---|
| Beer a pint or a draft beer at a bar or restaurant | about $8.59 |
|
| Coffee a coffee drink at a café | about $5 |
|
To keep meals cheap, eat your main meal at lunch and keep dinner simple. For where to eat well, read our guide to the best food in Washington DC.
What tours and tickets cost in Washington, DC
On our pages, a tour or ticket for the monuments had a median price of $39 per person. A general Washington, DC tour had a median of $56. Day trips such as tours of the Gettysburg battlefield had a median of $42 per person.
We measured these ourselves. Each figure is the lowest listed price of a tour or ticket on our pages, as GetYourGuide showed it on 25 October 2026. The table gives the median per person. Prices came in euros, and we converted them at the ECB rate of 23 October 2026. The row marked "few tours" rests on three tours, and some rows rest on only four, so read their range as rough. The download activity-prices.csv lists one tour per activity page, not every price behind this table.
| Type | Median |
|---|---|
| Smithsonian and DC museums few tours | $75 $59–$80 |
| National Mall monuments and memorials | $39 $25–$56 |
| Gettysburg tours from Washington, DC | $42 $27–$85 |
| Washington, DC tours: guided, walking and private | $56 $53–$81 |
| Hop-on hop-off, trolley and bus tours | $57 $50–$66 |
| Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria tours | $99 $87–$99 |
| US Capitol, Library of Congress and Supreme Court tours | $57 $55–$64 |
| White House tours | $51 $46–$88 |
| Potomac River cruises and boat tours | $52 $33–$77 |
| Washington, DC night tours of the monuments | $64 $58–$68 |
| Arlington National Cemetery tours | $47 $39–$55 |
| National Archives tickets and tours | $67 $59–$88 |
| Day trips from Washington, DC | $81 $34–$99 |
| Washington, DC day trip from New York | $134 $125–$140 |
| Washington, DC food tours | $106 $98–$126 |
| Washington, DC ghost tours | $33 $26–$43 |
| Segway and bike tours in Washington, DC | $65 $57–$69 |
| Georgetown and DC neighborhood walks | $77 $47–$85 |
| Cherry blossom tours in Washington, DC | $45 $41–$55 |
Middle half: the 25th to 75th percentile of from-prices; rows with fewer than 4 tours ("few tours") show a rough spread only. A "from" price is the lowest option a listing offers. Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026.
-
from $80 per person Museums Washington DC: Walking Tour and African American Museum Check availability -
from $25 per person Monuments DC: Washington Monument Skip-the-Line Tickets & Guidebook Check availability -
from $85 per person Gettysburg tours Gettysburg: Horse-Drawn Carriage Battlefield Tour Check availability -
from $52 per person DC tours DC Monuments & American History Guided E-Cart Tour Check availability -
from $45 per person Bus tours DC: Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour & Arlington Audio Tour Check availability -
from $30 per person Mount Vernon tours Mount Vernon: George Washington's Estate Check availability
How much a rental car costs in Washington, DC
Rental sites put the average daily price of a car in Washington, DC at $54 to $77, with $62 in the middle.
These are published figures, not our measurement. They differ by site, dates, car and insurance. In the calculator, budget trips get the lowest figure, mid-range trips the middle one and comfort trips the top one.
- $54 a day:
The average price to rent a car in Washington, D.C. is $54/day
momondo.com - $59 a day: middle
On average, car rentals in Washington DC cost around USD $59 per day
roadgenius.com - $64 a day: middle
Based on the average daily cost of $64
tripeden.com - $77 a day:
average of $77 per day
skyscanner.com
Advertised minimums, not typical prices: from $33 a day (kayak.com) · from $22 a day (roadgenius.com).
In the city, you rarely need a car. Parking downtown is hard to find and costs extra. Most sights sit near a Metro station: see public transport in Washington, DC.
Hotel tax, Metro fares and the airport ride
Our totals leave out DC's hotel tax. The official notice sets it at "15.95 percent during the time period of April 1, 2023, through March 30, 2027". Check the rate if you stay after that. The airport fare shown is the top of the off-peak range. On weekdays before late evening, Metro fares run up to $6.75 a ride, by distance.
Key findings of the 2026 Washington, DC Travel Cost Study
- June 4-star median
For stays advertised on Google Hotels on 25 October 2026, the median 4-star night in Washington, DC was $316 in June 2027 against $150 in December 2026, 111% more
(per room per night, 2 adults; one Tuesday and one Saturday per month, 10 months ranked from November 2026; the hotels priced differ from month to month, December was read deeper into Google's list than the other months, and September 2027, with fewer prices, is not ranked). - Saturday dearer in only
In most months we read, Saturday was the cheaper night in Washington, DC: the same 4-star hotel cost more on the Saturday than on the Tuesday before it in only 31% of 147 hotel pairs, and the same 3-star hotel in only 28% of 180 pairs; January and July were the exceptions
(per room per night, 2 adults, one Tuesday and one Saturday per month, all read on 25 October 2026). - December 3-star median
For 3-star hotels the advertised monthly median ran from $124 per room per night in December 2026 to $323 in June 2027
(2 adults, 10 ranked months, two nights a month, so single months move a lot). - 5-star median night The 172 five-star prices we read, from 18 hotels, had a median of $403 per room per night for 2 adults across 22 nights from November 2026 to September 2027, with a quarter of them under $259 and a quarter over $808; the median 4-star night was $202 and the median 3-star night $181.
- Cheap meal, cited
Published guides put a cheap meal in Washington, DC at about $13 per person, a mid-range restaurant meal at about $32 and a fine-dining meal at about $99 per person
(medians of a small set of cited guides published from 2021 to 2026, not our measurement; the fine-dining figure rests on two guides' prix-fixe and tasting-menu prices). - Metro day pass
A 1-day Metro rail and bus pass costs $13.50 per person, and the lowest Metrorail fare is $2.25 (official WMATA fares), so the pass breaks even at the sixth ride of the day at that lowest fare and sooner on longer or peak-time trips; rental sites put the average rental car at about $62 a day
(the middle of the cited daily averages, not our measurement).
Source: 2026 Washington, DC Travel Cost Study, things-to-do-in-washington-dc.com (CC BY 4.0)
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: download the data · embed the chart
Method, data and reuse
What we measured ourselves
- Hotels: 1,555 prices of 218 hotels on Google Hotels, read on 25 October 2026. One Tuesday and one Saturday night per month, November 2026 to September 2027, 2 adults, one room; paid ads, listings without a price and duplicates left out. These are the prices advertised for those dates when we read them, not what guests later paid. Months are compared within a star class because Google shows a different set of hotels for each date. September 2027 had few prices yet; both are shown but not ranked.
- Activities: the "from" prices of the 112 tours and tickets on our 19 activity pages (the table above), as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026; the calculator offers 12 tours, one per activity page. A "from" price is the lowest option a listing offers, not a typical price.
What we cite
- Meals, drinks and car hire: figures published by travel guides, food-tour companies and rental platforms, found in Google results in the United States and quoted word for word with their date. A range counts with its midpoint, each source once per group. No figures from forums or social media. Pages that show a date are from after 2022, except the fine dining figure, from 2021; many pages show no date at all.
- Hotel tax, fares: the DC Office of Tax and Revenue, WMATA.
How the calculator adds up
- Our default trip: 4 nights, 2 people sharing one room, mid-range. The hotel is the median of all prices we read for stays from November 2026 to September 2027; October was not sampled. It is not a median of the monthly medians, so months with more prices weigh more. Two activities are in it: Washington DC: Walking Tour and African American Museum and DC: Washington Monument Skip-the-Line Tickets & Guidebook, each at its lowest listed price. There is no car. We count one day of meals and Metro per night. Meals are menu prices as published; drinks, tax and tip are not added.
- Hotel: nights × rooms (one per two travellers) × the median for the style's star class in that month (or the whole year).
- Eating out: nights × travellers × meals a day at the style's meal price; in comfort, one fine dinner a day and the other meals at mid-range prices.
- Car: days × the style's daily price. Activities: the from-price per person or per group.
- Hotel tax: not counted. DC charges 15.95% on the room charge (rate set until late March 2027). We cannot tell if the Google Hotels prices include it. If yours does not, add it to the hotel line.
- Transport: nights × travellers × the Metro day pass. This is a high Metro cost: the pass pays off only from about 6 rides a day at the lowest fare, sooner on long daytime rides. Untick it if you will ride less. Airport: two Metro rides per traveller from Reagan National, at up to $2.50 each, the off-peak fare; the fare depends on your stop. Daytime rides on weekdays can cost more.
Each line is rounded to whole dollars.
Washington, DC trip costs: questions
How much does a trip to Washington, DC cost?
Plan on about $1,647 for two people over 4 nights at mid-range. That works out to $206 per person per night. It covers a 4-star hotel, meals out, two paid activities, a Metro day pass and the airport ride. Travel cheaply and it drops to about $1,259; book 5-star comfort and it climbs to about $2,987. Our totals leave out flights and the 15.95% hotel tax; check whether your booking price includes it. Work out your own trip.
Is Washington, DC expensive to visit?
Hotels are the biggest cost, about half of our mid-range trip, and they cost much more in spring and early summer. A 4-star night cost a median $316 per room in June and $150 in December in our study. Hotels cost far more than the US norm. The US government's travel limit for a DC hotel night in its current fiscal year is $276 from March to June and $183 in July and August. In most US places without their own rate, it is $110 (GSA per diem rates). Food runs above the norm too: the same rates allow $92 a day for meals in DC and $68 in most of the country. We did not price other cities ourselves, so treat these limits as the comparison. Many of the top sights cost nothing to enter. A Metro day pass is $13.50 per person.
What makes a Washington, DC trip cost more?
Hotels, most of all: about half of the trip. In our mid-range trip for two, the hotel is $808 of the $1,647 total. In June, a 4-star night in our sample cost 111% more than in December. DC also adds a hotel tax of 15.95% on the room charge (rate set until late March 2027).
How can I visit Washington, DC on a budget?
Come in winter, keep the Saturday night and check 3-star hotels. On a budget, our 4-night trip for two costs about $1,259. The National Mall monuments, the Capitol tour, White House tours and the National Air and Space Museum are free; some need a timed ticket. A Metro day pass pays off from about 6 rides a day at the lowest fare, sooner on long daytime rides. All six tips.
Which museums and monuments in Washington, DC are free?
The National Park Service charges no fee to enter the National Mall and Memorial Parks and most of its sites. The Washington Monument and Ford's Theatre need timed tickets. Tours of the US Capitol are free; book a slot online. White House tours are free too; request them through your member of Congress well before your trip. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in DC is free with a timed-entry pass. Sights that charge admission include Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate, where the cheapest ticket on our pages was $30, and the Arlington Cemetery tram tour at $21. Guided tours cost money too: on our pages, a monuments tour had a median of $39 per person and a guided museum tour $59 to $80. Our museum guide.
How much does an Amtrak train to Washington, DC cost?
We did not price train tickets, so this study cannot give a fare. Amtrak fares change with the route, the day and how early you book; check Amtrak for your dates. Trains arrive at Union Station, a stop on the Metro Red Line, so the ride on into town is a normal Metro fare from $2.25.
How much is hotel parking in Washington, DC?
Hotel parking costs extra and is not in our prices. We did not measure parking across hotels, but as one example, The Watergate Hotel lists overnight valet parking for guests at $65 a night on its own website. Our hotel prices are for the room alone. Ask your hotel for its nightly parking rate before you book a car. Most sights sit near a Metro station, so many visitors skip the car in town: see public transport in Washington, DC.
Sources
Meal and drink prices (cited)
All read 25 October 2026 (the day we read them, not the day they were published; some pages show no date)
Car hire prices (cited)
All read 25 October 2026 (the day we read them, not the day they were published; some pages show no date)
Official sources
All read 25 October 2026
- Tourist tax per night: otr.cfo.dc.gov
- Transit day pass: wmata.com
- Transit single ride: wmata.com
- Airport transfer one way: flyreagan.com
- White House tours: whitehouse.gov
- US Capitol tours: visitthecapitol.gov
- National Mall entry: nps.gov
- Air and Space Museum entry: airandspace.si.edu
- GSA hotel rate, DC, March to June: gsa.gov
- Hotel parking example (Watergate Hotel): thewatergatehotel.com