By train
$404
Vacation not found. Found it: three nights in Washington, by train.
New York City to Washington, DC, 3 nights. Here is where every dollar goes.
| Amtrak, round tripNortheast Regional, booked ahead, off peak. Acela costs multiples of this and gets you there half an hour sooner. | $160 |
| Hostel, 3 nights$55 a night for a dorm bed downtown. | $165 |
| Food, 4 daysJust under $20 a day, same assumption as the Philadelphia trip. | $79 |
| Total | $404 |
Where the 3 nights go
HI Washington DC
Downtown, near Metro Center. About $55 a night for a dorm bed.
Walking distance to the Mall, which is the entire point of this trip. A cheaper bed in Maryland costs you the Metro fare twice a day and the last hour of every evening.
What costs nothing
- +Every Smithsonian museum. All of them, permanently, no ticket. This is the single reason a Washington trip costs less than a Philadelphia one per day.
- +The National Mall and every monument on it, at any hour.
- +The National Zoo, also Smithsonian, also free.
- +The Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art.
When this number is true
Every budget like this rests on assumptions. These are ours, written down instead of left out. Prices checked September 2026, and they move.
- ·Train fares on the Northeast Corridor move with demand more than bus fares do. Booked two weeks out, off peak, $160 round trip is realistic; a Friday afternoon walk-up is not.
- ·Three nights, four days.
- ·Free museums still have timed-entry passes at some buildings in peak season. They cost nothing but they do run out.
Want this planned properly?
Jettova builds the day by day version, with real places and real prices, for this trip or any other. Free, and it takes a minute.
Plan a trip