Washington DC to Pittsburgh drive: Best stops, distance & time
The distance from Washington DC to Pittsburgh is 241 miles, with s 4h18m driving time. The best road trip stops on the Washington DC to Pittsburgh drive are the Antietam National Battlefield, the Flight 93 National Memorial and Fallingwater.
Planning a Washington DC to Pittsburgh road trip itinerary
The Washington DC to Pittsburgh drive connects the capital of the US to western Pennsylvania.
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.
Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania is a monstrously underrated city, with a series of stellar attractions. Get great views from the top of the Duquesne Incline, enjoy the globally-themed rooms at the unmissable Cathedral of Learning and become immersed in pop art at the Warhol Museum.
You can explore Pittsburgh with a hop-on, hop-off bus pass. Pittsburgh experiences include bike tours full of stories, guided whiskey-themed walks and craft beer sampling on a multi-brewery tour.
For Pittsburgh hotels with great reviews, try the Italian villa-style Priory Hotel or the often good value Drury Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown.
Washington DC to Pittsburgh distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Washington DC to Pittsburgh is 241 miles. That makes for a driving time of around four hours and 18 minutes. The quickest route is along the I-270, I-70 and I-76.
The best stops to add to a Washington DC to Pittsburgh road trip itinerary are the Antietam National Battlefield, the Flight 93 National Memorial and Fallingwater.
Washington DC to Pittsburgh drive: Antietam National Battlefield
The Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Maryland, was the site of the bloodiest battle in the American Civil War. The Battle of Antietam repelled the first Confederate invasion of the North and led to Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Dunker Church and the National Cemetery are key highlights while wandering the site. But the visitor centre will give you more insight into how 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing on September 17, 1862.
Washington DC to Pittsburgh road trip attractions: Flight 93 National Memorial
The Flight 93 National Memorial pays tribute to the fourth plane that crashed on 9/11. This is the plane that was heading for the US Capitol Building, but the crew and passengers fought the hijackers until it crashed in a field.
The Flight 93 National Memorial is near the settlement of Shanksville. The Visitor Centre tells the story of what happened on board, while the 93ft-tall Tower of Voices plays 40 wind chimes, acting as the voices of the 40 passengers and crew.
Best stops between Washington DC and Pittsburgh: Fallingwater
Visiting Frank Lloyd-Wright’s architectural masterpieces will add another 37 miles to the journey, but it’s worth it. This signature piece of architecture in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands is partially built over a waterfall, with a daring cantilever design.
Tours of Fallingwater show the Japanese influences of Lloyd-Wright’s design and show off how it blends with the mountain landscape.
More Washington DC road trips
Washington DC to Asheville | Atlanta to Washington DC | Washington DC to Baltimore | Boston to Washington DC | Washington DC to Charlotte | Chicago to Washington DC | Dallas to Washington DC | Durham NC to Washington DC | Fort Lauderdale to Washington DC | Fredericksburg to Washington DC | Greensboro to Washington DC | Hartford to Washington DC | Houston to Washington DC | Washington DC to Knoxville | Washington DC to Myrtle Beach | New Haven to Washington DC | New York City to Washington DC | Philadelphia to Washington DC | Raleigh NC to Washington DC | Washington DC to Richmond VA | St Louis to Washington DC | Washington DC to Tampa | Washington DC to Wilmington NC.
More Pittsburgh road trips
Akron to Pittsburgh | Allentown to Pittsburgh | Baltimore to Pittsburgh | Buffalo to Pittsburgh | Chicago to Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh to Cincinnati | Pittsburgh to Cleveland | Columbus to Pittsburgh | Dallas to Pittsburgh | Denver to Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh to Detroit | Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale | Harrisburg to Pittsburgh | Houston to Pittsburgh | Indianapolis to Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh to Louisville | Pittsburgh to Nashville | New York City to Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh to Niagara Falls | Pittsburgh to Philadelphia | St Louis to Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh to Tampa.