Washington DC to Tampa road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time

The best road trip stops on the Washington DC to Tampa drive are Raleigh NC, Savannah GA and Jacksonville FL. The distance from Washington DC to Tampa by car is 902 miles, with a 13h4m driving time.

Planning a Washington DC to Tampa road trip itinerary

The Washington DC to Tampa drive takes you down the east coast of the US to the west coast of Florida.

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.

Tampa is justifiably one of the most popular holiday destinations in Florida. It’s home to top attractions such as the Florida Aquarium, ZooTampa, the Adventure Island water park and Busch Gardens theme park.

Other great Tampa experiences include historic Ybor City food walking tours, seeing the highlights in a street legal golf cart and a Haunted Tampa tour that combines ghosts and pubs.

Also on offer are Segway tours, history cruises, dolphin-watching and celebrity homes tours.

Tampa accommodation is best booked in advance – look for deals here.

Washington DC to Tampa distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Washington DC to Tampa is 902 miles. That makes for a driving time of around 13 hours and four minutes, mostly down the I-95.

The best stops to add to a Washington DC to Tampa road trip are Raleigh NC, Savannah GA and Jacksonville FL.

Washington DC to Tampa road trip attractions: Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh NC offers a series of high quality museums. The North Carolina Museum of History, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina Museum of Art are the three big-hitters. Meanwhile, the Mordecai Historic Park is where you’ll find Raleigh’s oldest house and the William B Umstead State Park is the top spot for outdoorsy pursuits.

Top Raleigh activities include trolley pub tours and ghost tours.

For Raleigh accommodation, the Marriott is the prime address downtown and the Store is a gorgeous guesthouse.

Best stops between Washington DC and Tampa: Savannah GA

Savannah has a timewarp handsomeness about it. Parks are lined by mossy oak trees, 19^th century buildings ooze history and riverboats glide along the rivers.

Great activities in Savannah include the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley tour, riverboat cruises and a true crime pub crawl.