Houston to Washington DC drive: Best stops, time & distance
The best road trip stops on the Houston to Washington DC drive are New Orleans, Chattanooga and Roanoke. The distance from Houston to Washington DC by car is 1,409 miles, with a 20h28m driving time.
Planning a Houston to Washington DC road trip itinerary
The Houston to Washington DC drive connects the biggest city in Texas to the national capital.
The top Houston attraction is unquestionably the NASA Space Center, which takes you behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center. This includes the Mission Briefing Center, and a vast array of high tech exhibitions.
Other attractions include the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Children’s Museum,
For more Houston experiences, try hip hop party bike tours, foodie walks in the Montrose neighbourhood and quirky tours of Houston’s tunnel system.
Top Houston accommodation options include the superb value Club Quarters Houston Downtown and the upscale but boutique Magnolia.
Washington DC has an enormous range of tours, experiences and attractions available. You could happily spend weeks in the Smithsonian Museums alone. Top choices, however, include the nighttime monuments and memorials tour, small group guided visits to the Capitol and National Library of Congress and Lincoln assassination tours that visit Fords Theatre.
Memorable Washington DC accommodation options include the Willard, where Martin Luther King Jr wrote his I Have A Dream speech. There’s also the Watergate Hotel, a luxurious conversion of the offices from the Watergate scandal.
Houston to Washington DC distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Houston to Washington DC is 1,409 miles. You can expect a driving time of around 20 hours and 28 minutes. The quickest route is via the I-10, I-59 and I-81.
The best stops to add to a Houston to Washington DC road trip itinerary are New Orleans, Chattanooga and Roanoke.
Houston to Washington DC road trip attractions: New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans resolutely refuses to feel like any other American city. From the raucous hedonism of Bourbon Street to the European-influenced charm of the French Quarter, New Orleans is mesmerizingly unusual to hang out in.
Top New Orleans experiences include French Quarter food tours, haunted pub crawls, jazz cruises aboard the steamboat Natchez and cemetery walking tours.
For other attractions, try the National WWII Museum, the Vue Orleans observation deck and the urban enslavement tours at Hermann Grima House.
If looking for New Orleans accommodation, the pool and jazz bar-equipped Royal Sonesta in the French Quarter is a great option. The Virgin Hotel downtown has a huge sense of fun, too.
- For more suggestions of where to stop, check out the guide to the Houston to New Orleans drive.
Best stops between Houston and Washington DC: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga in the foothills of the Appalachians is home to the National Medal of Honor Heritage Museum and the Tennessee Aquarium. But it’s mostly an outdoorsy place. Great Chattanooga experiences include rafting on the Middle Ocoee River, backcountry tours in Swincars and kayak adventures to the Nickajack Bat Cave. You can also try Segway tours, guided ghost walks and trolley tours.
Houston to Washington DC drive: Roanoke, Virginia
The giant star on the side of Mill Mountain is the famed symbol of Roanoke VA. But there’s more on offer in this Blue Ridge Mountains city. For a start, you can head to the top of Mill Mountain – the park also contains Mill Mountain Zoo.
For museums, the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture and the Taubman Museum of Art are the best bets. The highly playable Roanoke Pinball Museum is arguably more fun, though.
Good Roanoke activity options include ebike tours that combine sightseeing and craft breweries, and downtown food tours.
For Roanoke accommodation, the Country Inn and Suites offers good value but the more luxurious Hotel Roanoke has plenty of character.
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