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American Airlines Flights from Washington (IAD) to Dallas (DFW)
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on American Airlines, which operates 4 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from Washington (IAD) to Dallas (DFW), departing between 6:35am and 5:05pm, and one additional non-stop flight regularly scheduled to depart at 7:30pm and arrive at 9:50pm, everyday except Saturday. Usually a McDonnell Douglas MD80 is flown for this route, with in-seat power sources available. The average travel time from Washington, DC to Dallas, TX is 3 hours and 22 minutes.
During your Dallas vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Fair Park
Fair Park, a classic conglomeration of Art Deco buildings and spacious grounds built for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, is undergoing a renaissance. Built to commemorate the Republic of Texas's independence from Mexico, it is the only intact and unaltered, pre-1950s world's fair site in the United States. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark for its architecture (the only such landmark in Dallas), Fair Park is an attraction year-round, but especially so during the annual State Fair of Texas (last weekend of Sept and first 3 weeks of Oct), which just celebrated its 50th year.The 277-acre grounds include several museums and performance and sporting facilities like the State Fair Coliseum, Cotton Bowl, Fair Park Bandshell, and Starplex Amphitheater, one of the city's top concert venues. The two major areas are the Esplanade and the Lagoon. There's much to see and do at Fair Park, so depending on your time, you may have to pick and choose. Plan on 2 or 3 hours minimum, and a full day during the State Fair of Texas. Below are the highlights:The Women's Museum, 3800 Parry Ave. (tel. 214/915-0860; www.thewomensmuseum.org), is a huge coup for Dallas. The pet project of a trio of Texas women and designed by Wendy Joseph, the chief designer behind the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., this exciting $25-million museum is an ambitious, high-tech architectural feast, audacious enough to encompass the accomplishments of women over the past century.The museum presents two dozen mostly interactive exhibits, with a clear predilection for engaging the visitor with technological wizardry. Audio guides (handheld cellphones) feature the voices of "mentors" Connie Chung, Gladys Knight, and the former Texas governor Ann Richards. "It's Amazing" is a glass labyrinth of female stereotypes, behind which are revealed several women who defied convention; "Mothers of Invention" showcases popular inventions by women (such as Liquid Paper, conceived by a Dallas secretary, and the brown paper bag). The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5pm. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and students ages 13 to 18, and $3 for children ages 5 to 12.The Hall of State, 3939 Grand Ave. (tel. 214/421-4500; www.hallofstate.com; open Tues-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm), is the centerpiece and principal Art Deco legacy at Fair Park. Inside is a Texan's dream, the Hall of Heroes, with larger-than-life (as any Texan will tell you they were in real life) stalwarts of the Republic of Texas, including Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. Venture into the four-story-high Great Hall, yet more proof that bigger is always better in Texas.Trains evoke nostalgic feelings of travel and exploration in just about everyone; the collection at the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, 1105 Washington St. (tel. 214/428-0101; www.dallasrailwaymuseum.com), including 28 locomotives, steam-era Pullman passenger cars, and Dallas's oldest surviving train depot, is sure to feed such impulses in visitors of all ages. The entry in the "Bigger in Texas" sweepstakes? Big Boy, the world's largest steam locomotive. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm; admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children.The African American Museum, 3536 Grand Ave. (tel. 214/565-9026; www.aamdallas.org), is the only museum in the Southwest (and one of eight in the country) that focuses on the African-American experience and culture. The standout exhibit is the fine collection of African-American folk art, supplemented by a survey of African art objects and contemporary African-American art. Admission is free; it's open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5pm, Saturday from 10am to 5pm, and Sunday from 1 to 5pm.The small but diverse collection of marine life at the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park, 1300 Cullum Blvd. (tel. 214/670-8443), highlights some of the weirder aquatic specimens in the marine and freshwater world, including walking fish, four-eyed fish, upside-down jellyfish, and desert fish. And who can resist watching the piranhas and sharks being fed? The newest and largest addition is the Amazon Flooded Forest, a 10,000-gallon tank with 30 species from the Amazon River. The aquarium is open daily from 9am to 4:30pm; admission is $3 for adults, $1.50 for children ages 3 to 11.The Dallas Museum of Natural History, 3535 Grand Ave. (tel. 214/421-3466; www.dallasdino.org), is the place to view the kind of wildlife that roamed Texas before steers and longhorns: namely, dinosaurs. Permanent exhibits include "Paleontology Lab" and "Prehistoric Texas." The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm, Sunday from noon to 5pm; admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, $5 for students ages 13 to 18, and $4 for children ages 3 to 12. Parking is free.The Science Place & Planetarium/IMAX Theater, 1313 2nd Ave. (tel. 214/428-5555; www.scienceplace.org; open Tues-Fri 9:30am-4:30pm, Sat 9:30am-5:30pm, Sun 11:30am-5:30pm), is a great place to entertain the kids with more than 300 hands-on science exhibits -- where they can amaze themselves by lifting a half-ton with one hand and playing with electricity -- and the massive, domed IMAX theater. The Planetarium features stargazing shows Monday through Saturday.
The Studios at Las Colinas
North Texas's major movie and TV studio -- where Walker, Texas Ranger and Silkwood were filmed -- offers daily tours of its grounds, including displays of movie memorabilia and hands-on demonstrations of special effects (from that memorable blockbuster Addams Family Values) and blue-screen technology. You'll see the Oval Office set used in Oliver Stone's JFK, as well as costumes from Star Trek and Forrest Gump. If you've been to studios in Hollywood or the movie museums in other parts, you've probably seen more and better; however, if you've always wanted to visit a movie set, you'll at least get a glimpse here. Tours last about an hour and 15 minutes.
Swiss Avenue Historic District
Toward the turn of the 20th century, the Dallas elite began to abandon the area that now comprises the Arts District and move east (near the modestly funky Lakewood neighborhood). Sprawling, grand homes from the early 1900s -- English Tudor, Georgian, Spanish, you name it -- line a broad avenue, about 4 blocks of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Wilson Blocks (2800 and 2900), named for Frederick Wilson, who built a number of the homes there, are especially attractive. Around the holidays, Swiss Avenue is a favorite for Christmas lights cruisers. A drive-by can be done in 15 minutes; allow a half-hour if you want to stroll.
Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the
Dallas area, including:
Hôtel St. Germain
The St. Germain is blissfully out of place in Dallas. The tiny, intimate boutique hotel and restaurant envelops guests in old-world luxury, with a library, parlors, and sumptuous style that borders on bordello. Equal parts late-19th-century France and New Orleans, each of the seven suites is individually decorated, with pampering features like wood-burning fireplaces, tapestries, draped Napoleon sleigh beds, bidets, and Jacuzzis and soaking tubs. Indulgence is rarely cheap, and it certainly isn't here (though the two largest and most expensive suites really skew the price range), but if price is no object, you won't object to the refined white-glove treatment. Continental breakfast is included. The romantic restaurant, which overlooks an ivy-covered garden courtyard and serves a seven-course, prix-fixe gourmet dinner (Tues-Sat, on antique Limoges china and by candlelight for $85 per person), is ideal for a very special occasion (jackets required) or merely a superior meal. The candlelit, parlorlike Champagne Bar is capable of making Dallas feel like Paris, and that's saying something!
Quality Suites DFW Airport
As its name makes abundantly clear, this new addition to the Quality Suites chain offers convenience to travelers on their way in or out of Dallas. What you'll find are good, standard-size rooms (with surprisingly bold bed covers and curtains) and a range of services and amenities designed to make your short stay hassle-free. One-bedroom suites feature extra sofa sleepers in the living room and large work desks, while executive rooms sport cathedral ceilings and skylights, and some come equipped with whirlpool tubs. And if you're not inclined to stay in your room and work, you can take advantage of the free full continental breakfast.
The Bradford at Lincoln Park
This residential-style hotel -- the most upscale member of this exceptional-value small chain that operates in Texas and Colorado -- may be the best deal in Dallas. It's where all of my wife's coworkers stay when they visit the Dallas home office. Popular with business visitors who stay for a week or more, the stylish and spacious suites are coolly decorated in muted tones, with fully equipped kitchens. (There are three different floor plans to choose from, but for most visitors the "Executive," the cheapest room, will be more than sufficient.) Conveniently located just off Central Expressway and near NorthPark Center and Northwest Highway, it's just 10 minutes from downtown (unless you catch rush hour, when it could take forever) and even nearer to the nightlife options of Greenville and McKinney avenues.
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