student group going,

We are a hogh school band visiting DC next April. Is this something we can plan ourselves or should we go through an agent?

Hotel, restaurant suggestions? Advice needed please!

student group going,

I don%26#39;t see why you couldn%26#39;t plan this yourselves, but are you talking about next month or April of 2010?

student group going,

For the most part, I find that agents are pointless when travelling within the US. It%26#39;s a waste of money and time dealing with them.

This website is one of the best I believe for seeing deeper into most places with the traveler photos and the comments. Just be careful of postings of people who have never been on any forums or have only made one or two comments about a particular place.

That being said, DC is very easy to book a trip on your own. First start off by selecting a hotel. Note that DC is very commuter friendly meaning if you are on a budget you can stay outside of the city and use public transportation to come into the city in 20 minutes or less. But because of that, there isn%26#39;t much parking in the primary tourist areas. Garages are readily available with varying prices.

After you choose a hotel, then pick where you want to visit. Museums, Monuments, Ethnic/Cultural places, etc. After that, everything is else is a toss up. Just familiarize yourself with the different sections of DC; Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Downtown, Chinatown/Verizon Center/Penn Quarter, Capitol Hill, Woodley Park, etc.

You may actually want to do that first because it may help with the hotel choice.

Restaurants are all based on cuisine and prices. You probably want moderately priced which leaves you wil a lot of choices. Decent places can be found in Penn Quarter/Verizon Center/Chinatown area, Dupont Circle, Georgetown and Adams Morgan for more ethnic cuisine. Otherwise use the Washington Posts going out guru to aid in that aspect.

I completely agree with MrsMaryland, with one caveat - if you are a very large group, sometimes having an agent can be helpful, as they might be able to negotiate lower group rates for hotels, attractions, etc.