Washington · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Smithsonian National Zoological Park
Gerald Whitfield The American northeast and Canada
These are my five favourites in Washington, out of the 63 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.7 down to 4.3.
All five are within 2.9 km of Smithsonian National Zoological Park.
Highest rated of the five
HighRoad Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 958 reviews
HighRoad Hotel comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.7 from 958 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 3 star property, found under poi and around $144 a night on the dates we checked.
63 hotels in Washington qualified for this list and five made it. Woodley Park Guest House is the one I would book if the first is full.
All five, ranked
-
1
HighRoad Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 958 reviews
1.2 km from Smithsonian National Zoological Park, about a 15 minute walk
-
2Woodley Park Guest House
★★★★★4.9 from 68 reviews
500 m from Smithsonian National Zoological Park, about a 6 minute walk
-
3The LINE DC
★★★★★4.3 from 2,020 reviews
1.0 km from Smithsonian National Zoological Park, about a 12 minute walk
-
4Swann House
★★★★★4.8 from 206 reviews
1.9 km from Smithsonian National Zoological Park, about a 24 minute walk
-
5Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC
★★★★★4.7 from 2,277 reviews
2.9 km from Smithsonian National Zoological Park
How this list was put together
63 Washington hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Smithsonian National Zoological Park second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Gerald Whitfield The American northeast and Canada
Volunteers three days a week and travels the rest. Maritime museums and working boatyards in 19 countries, mostly by ferry and train, talking to the shipwrights in every one.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.