As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports, Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on Iberia, which operates a non-stop flight Mondays, and Wednesdays, Thursdays from Madrid, Spain (MAD) to Washington (IAD), regularly scheduled to depart at 4:40pm and arrive at 7:25pm. Usually an Airbus A340 is flown for this route. Generally, a movie is offered on this route. The average travel time from Madrid, Spain to Washington, DC is 8 hours and 45 minutes.

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Regularly Scheduled Flights to Washington (IAD) from Madrid, Spain (MAD)
				Daily Non-Stops		Select Non-Stop		Earliest Flight		Last Flight
	Iberia			-		1		4:40pm		4:40pm
	American Airlines			-		1		4:40pm		4:40pm

During your Washington vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:

The White House Visitor Center
Even -- especially -- if you are not able to tour the White House, you should stop here. The Visitor Center opened in 1995 to provide extensive interpretive data about the White House and to serve as a ticket-distribution center (though that function is suspended indefinitely). It is run under the auspices of the National Park Service and the staff is particularly well informed. Try to catch the 30-minute video about the White House, Where History Lives, which provides interior views of the presidential precincts (it runs continuously throughout the day). Before you leave the Visitor Center, pick up a copy of the National Park Service's brochure on the White House, which tells you a little about what you'll see in the eight or so rooms you tour and a bit about the history of the White House. The White House Historic Association runs a small shop here. The association operates an informative website, www.whitehousehistory.org. Before you leave the Visitor Center, take a look at the exhibits, which include:Architectural History of the White House, including the grounds and extensive renovations to its structure and interior that have taken place since its cornerstone was laid in 1792.Symbol and Image, showing how the White House has been portrayed by photographers, artists, journalists, political cartoonists, and others.First Families, with displays about the people who have lived here (such as prankster Tad Lincoln, who once stood in a window above his father and waved a Confederate flag at a military review).The Working White House, focusing on the vast staff of servants, chefs, gardeners, Secret Service people, and others who maintain this institution.Ceremony and Celebration, depicting notable White House events, from a Wright Brothers' aviation demonstration in 1911 to a ballet performance by Baryshnikov during the Carter administration.White House Interiors, Past and Present, including photographs of the ever-changing Oval Office as decorated by administrations from Taft through Clinton.

International Spy Museum
After several visits to the Spy Museum, my 12-year-old and I like to test each other's powers of observation. We'll be standing in a store or other public place and look around for signs of "hostile surveillance, security systems, and unexpected risk or unlucky breaks." We're putting into practice some tips we picked up at the museum, in a section called "Tricks of the Trade," where interactive monitors teach you what to look for, when it comes to suspicious activity. This tradecraft area is the first you come to in the museum, after you've seen the 5-minute briefing film, and it's easy to spend a lot of time here. In addition to the surveillance games, the section displays trick equipment (such as a shoe transmitter used by Soviets as a listening device and a single-shot pistol disguised as a lipstick tube) and runs film in which spies talk about bugging devices and locks and picks. You can watch a video that shows individuals being made up for disguise, from start to finish, and you can crawl on your belly through ductwork in the ceiling overhead. (The conversations you hear are taped, not floating up from the room of tourists below.)Try to pace yourself, though, because there's still so much to see, and you can easily reach your limit before you get through the 68,000-square-foot museum. The next section covers the history of spying ("the second oldest profession") and tells about famous spymasters over time, from Moses; to Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, who wrote The Art of War in 400 B.C.; to George Washington, whose Revolutionary War letter of 1777 setting up a network of spies in New York, is on view. Learn about the use of codes and code-breaking in spying, with one room of the museum devoted to the Enigma cipher machine used by the Germans (whose "unbreakable" codes the Allied cryptanalysts succeeded in deciphering) in World War II. An actual Enigma machine is displayed, and interactive monitors allow you to simulate the experience of using an Enigma machine, while learning more about its invention and inventor.Much more follows: artifacts from all over (this is the largest collection of international espionage artifacts ever put on public display); a re-created tunnel beneath the divided city of Berlin during the Cold War; the intelligence-gathering stories of those behind enemy lines and of those involved in planning D-Day in World War II; an exhibit on escape and evasion techniques in wartime; the tales of spies of recent times, told by the CIA and FBI agents involved in identifying them; and a mockup of an intelligence agency's 21st century operations center. You exit the museum directly to its gift shop, which leads to the Spy City Café.While you may look with suspicion on everyone around you when you leave the museum, you can trust that what you've just learned at the museum is authoritative: The Spy Museum's executive director was with the CIA for 36 years and his advisory board includes two former CIA directors, two former CIA disguise chiefs, and a retired KGB general.The International Spy Museum has been immensely popular ever since its mid-2002 opening, which often translates into long lines for admission. Consider ordering advance tickets for next-day or future date tours through Ticketmaster (tel. 202/432-SEAT), which you can pick up at the Will Call desk inside the museum. You can also purchase advance tickets, including those for tours later in the day, at the box office.

National Museum of Natural History
Before you step inside the museum, stop outside first, on the 9th Street side of the building, to visit the butterfly garden. Four habitats -- wetland, meadow, wood's edge, and urban garden -- are on view, designed to beckon butterflies and visitors alike. The garden is at its best in warm weather, but it's open year-round.Now go inside. Children refer to this Smithsonian showcase as "the dinosaur museum," since there's a dinosaur hall, or sometimes "the elephant museum," since a huge African bush elephant is the first thing you see if you enter from the Mall. Whatever you call it, the National Museum of Natural History is the largest of its kind in the world, and one of the most visited museums in Washington. It contains more than 124 million artifacts and specimens, everything from Ice Age mammoths to the legendary Hope Diamond. The same warning applies here as at the National Museum of American History: You're going to suffer artifact overload, so take a reasoned approach to sightseeing.If you have children, you might want to make your first stop the first-floor Discovery Room, which is filled with creative hands-on exhibits "for children of all ages." Call ahead or inquire at the information desk about hours. Also popular among little kids is the second floor's O. Orkin Insect Zoo , where they enjoy looking at tarantulas, centipedes, and the like, and crawling through a model of an African termite mound. The Natural History museum, like its sister Smithsonian museums, is struggling to overhaul and modernize its exhibits, some of which are quite dated in appearance, if not in the facts presented. So a renovation of the gems and minerals hall has made the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals worth a stop. You can learn all you want about earth science, from volcanology to the importance of mining. Interactive computers, animated graphics, and a multimedia presentation of the "big picture" story of the earth are some of the things that have moved the exhibit and the museum a bit further into the 21st century.The Kenneth E. Behring Hall of Mammals is an example of an updated section of the museum. Here, visitors can operate interactive dioramas that explain how mammals evolved and adapted to changes in habitat and climate over the course of millions of years. At least 274 models of mammals and a dozen fossils are on display. This exhibit represents the first time the mammal hall has been updated since 1963. Also, don't miss African Voices Hall, which presents the people, cultures, and lives of Africa, through photos, videos, and more than 400 objects.Other Rotunda-level displays include the fossil collection, which traces evolution back billions of years and includes a 3.5-billion-year-old stromatolite (blue-green algae clump) fossil -- one of the earliest signs of life on Earth -- and a 70-million-year-old dinosaur egg. Life in the Ancient Seas features a 100-foot-long mural depicting primitive whales, a life-size walk-around diorama of a 230-million-year-old coral reef, and more than 2,000 fossils that chronicle the evolution of marine life. The Dinosaur Hall displays giant skeletons of creatures that dominated the earth for 140 million years before their extinction about 65 million years ago. Suspended from the ceiling over Dinosaur Hall are replicas of ancient birds, including a life-size model of the pterosaur, which had a 40-foot wingspan. Also residing above this hall is the jaw of an ancient shark, the Carcharodon megalodon, which lived in the oceans 5 million years ago. A monstrous 40-foot-long predator, with teeth 5 to 6 inches long, it could have consumed a Volkswagen Bug in one gulp. In an effort to update this exhibit, the museum in 2001 mounted a digital triceratops (that is, a computerized rendering of that dinosaur); you can manipulate the image to learn more about it.Don't miss the Discovery Center, funded by the Discovery Channel, featuring the Johnson IMAX theater with a six-story-high screen for 2-D and 3-D movies (T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous was among those shown in 2004), a six-story Atrium Cafe with a food court, and expanded museum shops. The museum also offers the small Fossil Café, located within the dinosaur exhibit on the first floor. In this 50-seat cafe, the tables' clear plastic tops are actually fossil cases that present fossilized plants and insects for your inspection as you munch away on smoked turkey sandwiches, goat cheese quiche, and the like.The theater box office is on the first floor of the museum; purchase tickets as early as possible, or at least 30 minutes before the screening. The box office is open daily from 9:45am through the last show. Films are shown continuously throughout the day. Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $6.50 for children (2-12) and seniors 55 or older. On Friday nights from 6 to 10pm, the theater stages live jazz nights, starring excellent local musicians ($5 cover).

Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the Washington area, including:

The Madison
Having completed a $40-million plus renovation and reinvention in 2003, The Madison is once again at the top of its game. Not surprisingly, with all of the extra touches offered here (fresh fruit always available, water and fruit waiting for returning morning runners, etc.), the Madison feels like a nice mix of luxury hotel and comfortable home. Having hosted every U.S. president since JFK as well as numerous dignitaries and heads of state, The Madison really knows how to give its customers everything they could need or want (consider a whole floor devoted to those traveling with pets -- and there's no size limit nor deposit required to bring Benji along). The Federalist decor is effectively juxtaposed with all the modern amenities you'd expect from a world-class hotel. Though the 2-bedded doubles are a tad on the small side and the beds were a bit firm for my taste, the luxe sheets, Frette duvet covers, helpful staff, shower curtains that curve away from the tub (no more sticking to you -- why haven't more places done this?), and the hotel's location all make this a great choice in the area. Be sure to check out the framed and signed presidential correspondences on the wall of Postscript, the hotel's lounge. Funfact: the Madison was the first hotel to introduce the minibar!

Hay-Adams Hotel
An extensive $18 million renovation completed in spring 2002 was the Hay-Adams's first major refurbishment in its 75-year history. Some improvements, like the new heating and air-conditioning system and structural changes that make the hotel accessible to guests with disabilities, were long overdue. Other improvements, like the modernized kitchen, are invisible to guests. Whether or not you've stayed at the Hay-Adams before, you'll appreciate the hotel's elegant decor of sage green, off-white, beige, and gold tones, the CD players, high-speed and wireless Internet access, custom European linens, new furnishings (the hotel donated its old furniture to local homeless shelters), and thermostats in each room.But the best of the Hay-Adams remains much the same. The hotel still offers the best views in town. Reserve a room on the sixth through eighth floors on the H Street side of the hotel (or as low as the second floor in winter, when the trees are bare), pull back the curtains from the windows, and voilà! -- you get a full frontal view of Lafayette Square, the White House, and the Washington Monument in the background. (You'll pay more for rooms with these views.) The view from rooms facing 16th Street isn't bad, either: Windows overlook the yellow-painted exterior of St. John's Episcopal Church, built in 1815, and known as the "church of the presidents."The Hay-Adams is one in the triumvirate of exclusive hotels built by Harry Wardman in the 1920s (the Jefferson and the St. Regis are the other two). Its architecture is Italian Renaissance and much of the original features, such as ornate plaster moldings and ornamental fireplaces, the walnut-paneled lobby, and high-ceilinged guest rooms, are still in place. The hotel has about 13 one-bedroom suites (the living room and bedroom are separate) and seven junior suites (living room and bedroom are together in one space). Stop in at the Off the Record bar for casual fare at lunch and dinner and the occasional sighting of a big name in the media or administration.Facilities: Restaurant (American); bar; access to local health club ($15 per day); 24-hr. concierge; complimentary morning car service; secretarial and business services; 24-hr. business center; 24-hr. room service; same-day laundry/dry cleaning; 9 rooms for those w/limited mobility, 3 with roll-in showers.

Hamilton Crowne Plaza Washington, DC
A much needed renovation in 2002 updated the appearance and amenities in the guest rooms, adding handy items like CD players and wireless Internet access (the latter for $9.95 per day), handsome features such as royal blue robes and dark wood armoires and headboards, and comfortable accommodations like the seven-layer bed. Not much they could do about the size of the rooms, though, so those with king-size beds feel a bit tight, those with two double beds a little roomier. K Street-side rooms overlook Franklin Park, which is pleasant, and those on the upper floors offer views of the city skyline. In keeping with the times, the hotel has a designated "women's floor," accessible only to those with a special elevator key. This is a well-placed hotel, sort of central between the two sections of downtown: the K Street side and the section that's fast being revitalized around the MCI Center. The hotel's restaurant is popular with office workers at weekday lunch, thanks to a generous buffet of soups, salads, and rotisserie items, for $15.In room: A/C, TV w/pay movies, 2-line speaker phone w/dataport, coffeemaker, hair dryer, iron, safe, robes, CD player/clock radio, wireless high-speed Internet access ($9.95 per day).