Which neighborhood should you stay in when visiting Washington, DC?
Penn Quarter is the most central base for first-timers, Georgetown suits shoppers and couples willing to skip the Metro, Dupont Circle works for food and nightlife, Capitol Hill puts you near the sights, and The Wharf is the pick for waterfront stays. Your trip type should drive the decision.
In brief
Penn Quarter is the most central base for first-timers, Georgetown suits shoppers and couples willing to skip the Metro, Dupont Circle works for food and nightlife, Capitol Hill puts you near the sights, and The Wharf is the pick for waterfront stays. Your trip type should drive the decision, because DC's neighborhoods are genuinely different from one another.
The five neighborhoods worth your serious consideration
Penn Quarter: best all-around location
Penn Quarter is the most convenient area to stay in Washington DC, close to so many attractions, however, it comes at a high price. The most popular neighborhood among KAYAK users searching for a hotel in Washington, DC is Downtown, with an average price of $300 per night. You are walking distance from the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Verizon Center. Hotels here include the Eaton DC, Kimpton Monaco, and Conrad, with rates running roughly $240 to $400 a night.
If you have never been to DC before and want one home base that gets you everywhere without thinking hard about transit, this is it. The Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro stop (Green, Yellow, and Red lines) sits right in the neighborhood.
Georgetown: the upscale, car-friendly pick
Georgetown is DC's oldest neighborhood, established as a tobacco port in Maryland in 1751. The intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue is the heart of Georgetown, with boutique-lined streets extending in all four directions. The C&O Canal towpath runs through it, and the brick Federal-era rowhouses make it one of the most photogenic areas in the city.
The catch is transit. There is no Metro station in Georgetown, but the Foggy Bottom-GWU stop, located on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines, is a short 15-minute walk away. The real cause of Georgetown's lack of a station is less about NIMBYism and more about strategy and geology. Plan on using the circulator bus, an Uber, or your own two feet. Georgetown shows the highest average hotel rate among the major DC neighborhoods, around $341 per night. Properties include the Four Seasons, the Rosewood, and the Georgetown Inn on Wisconsin Avenue NW.
Dupont Circle: food, culture, and walkability
Dupont Circle is the most searched area for hotel stays in DC, with a wide spread from boutique properties to full-service chains. Expect to pay roughly $200 to $350 a night. The circle itself, with its famous fountain and chess players, anchors a neighborhood full of independent restaurants, embassy row, and the Phillips Collection at 1600 21st Street NW.
Dupont Circle's Walk Score is 97, the highest of any major DC neighborhood tracked by Priceline, meaning you can get almost everywhere on foot. The Red Line stop at Dupont Circle puts you one or two stops from Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. If you plan on enjoying DC's nightlife and popular brunch spots, staying in Dupont Circle or Logan Circle makes sense. The Tabard Inn on N Street NW is a good mid-range option; the Dupont Circle Hotel at 1500 New Hampshire Avenue NW goes higher-end.
Tourists on Capitol Hill can enjoy local markets, cafes, restaurants, and cultural attractions like the Library of Congress and Eastern Market. The neighborhood runs east from the Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Independence Avenue SE, and it feels genuinely residential in a way that downtown does not. Early mornings here are quiet enough to hear the birds.
Average nightly hotel prices in Capitol Hill run around $180. Hotels include the Hotel George, Phoenix Park Hotel, Yotel Washington DC, and Liaison Capitol Hill. The Capitol South Metro stop (Blue and Orange lines) puts you one stop from L'Enfant Plaza, where you can transfer to the Green or Yellow line toward the Mall.
The Wharf: waterfront, newer, and event-driven
The Wharf is DC's Southwest Waterfront development, stretching along the Washington Channel between 6th and 9th Streets SW. The InterContinental opened in 2017 as the flagship hotel of The Wharf, bringing upscale polish to the southwest DC riverfront. The Wharf has three purpose-built hotels right on the waterfront: the InterContinental, the Canopy by Hilton, and the Hyatt House.
Steps from some of the city's top dining, popular music venue The Anthem, and some of the best Potomac views in the city, the hotels here appeal to both leisure and business travelers. The nearest Metro station is Waterfront on the Green Line, about a 10-minute walk from the hotels. One note: rates at The Wharf shift significantly by season and concert schedule, so check The Anthem's calendar before you lock in dates.
Quick reference by trip type
First-timers: Penn Quarter (close to all the attractions), Downtown (convenient, good shopping), and Foggy Bottom (arty and upscale) are the three best choices.
Families: Woodley Park may be the best answer for a family trip to DC. It sits on the Red Line, two stops from downtown, with the National Zoo at your doorstep.
Nightlife: For nightlife, stay in the East End, Dupont Circle, or the Waterfront.
Budget: Rosslyn and Arlington in Virginia are the best areas for travelers on a budget. Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, and Bethesda on the Red Line are popular with DC workers and may be cheaper than staying downtown.
Luxury: Foggy Bottom and the West End are the top picks for luxury travelers. The Watergate Hotel at 2650 Virginia Avenue NW sits here.
What to watch out for
DC hotel prices spike hard around major political events, Cherry Blossom season (late March to mid-April), and summer. Book early. Also pay attention to how neighborhoods are labeled on booking sites: some listings stretch neighborhood boundaries, and this is especially problematic for Capitol Hill, where properties listed as Capitol Hill can be much farther from the actual attractions than the name suggests. Check the address on a map before you confirm.
If you are open to staying just outside the District, Old Town Alexandria has a water taxi that goes directly to DC, and Rosslyn is only a short walk across the Key Bridge. Both are real options, not just fallbacks.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
