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Willard InterContinental

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  • T+L 500 Winner
1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, White House/Downtown
Washington, D.C.
(800) 827-1747 or (202) 628-9100

COST: $$$$


This opened-in-1816 hotel remains steeped in Washington history, even though the rooms where Lincoln lived, Coolidge governed, and Martin Luther King Jr. wrote have long since been renovated away. Today's Willard, a bit like the political world it esteems, is grand in public, bland in private: its majestic lobby dazzles with soaring Corinthian columns and a marble mosaic floor, while the 332 guest rooms, while spacious and comfortable, are comparatively spare. Café du Parc sells enticing French pastries to go—a great breakfast and a surprisingly great deal.

Tip: The Willard is admirably green: low-energy lightbulbs, lit by wind-generated power, are standard, and the hotel composts food waste.

Room to Book: Suite 1212 (the Jenny Lind Suite) is all romance, with a white-draped wrought-iron bed tucked into a roof turret, and a double Jacuzzi looking out a giant porthole at the Washington Monument.

As Featured In...

From Travel + Leisure, Sep 2006

“Stay at the historic Willard InterContinental...” MORE>>

–Amy Farley, “Drive Coast to Coast”

Last updated January 2008 lastArticle = 9/2006 and lastAward = 01/2008

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