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SAS Flights from Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to Washington (IAD)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on SAS, which operates a daily non-stop flight from Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to Washington (IAD) regularly scheduled to depart at 11:55am and arrive at 3:30pm. Usually a Boeing 767-300 is flown for this route. Generally, a movie is offered on this route. The average travel time from Zurich, Switzerland to Washington, DC is 9 hours and 35 minutes.*
* Some flights must connect with additional service on this airline.
During your Washington vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
National Zoological Park
The giant pandas are the zoo's biggest draw, but don't stop with Mei Xiang and Tian Tian.Established in 1889, the National Zoo is home to some 500 species, many of them rare and/or endangered. A leader in the care, breeding, and exhibition of animals, it occupies 163 beautifully landscaped and wooded acres and is one of the country's most delightful zoos. You'll see cheetahs, zebras, camels, elephants, tapirs, antelopes, brown pelicans, kangaroos, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, apes, and, of course, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my).Consider calling ahead (allow at least 4 weeks and call during weekday business hours) for a free 90-minute highlights tour (tel. 202/673-4671), though it's not recommended for kids under age 4. Tours take place only on weekends. The tour guide will tell you how to look at the animals; where, why, and when to look; and will fill your visit with lots of surprises.Pointers: Enter the zoo at the Connecticut Avenue entrance; you'll be right by the Education Building, where you can pick up a map and find out about feeding times and any special activities. Note that from this main entrance, you're headed downhill; the return uphill walk can prove trying if you have young children and/or it's a hot day. But the zoo rents strollers, and snack bars and ice-cream kiosks are scattered throughout the park.The zoo animals live in large, open enclosures -- simulations of their natural habitats -- along two easy-to-follow numbered paths: Olmsted Walk and the Valley Trail. You can't get lost and it's hard to miss a thing. Be sure to catch Amazonia, where you can hang out for an hour peering up into the trees and still not spy the sloth (do yourself a favor and ask the attendant where it is).New at the zoo is the Kids' Farm, which offers children ages 3 to 8 a chance to observe farm animals up close. Ducks, chickens, goats, cows, and miniature donkeys are among the animals milling around. Children might also enjoy the vegetable garden and pizza sculpture.The zoo offers several dining options, including the Mane Restaurant and a number of snack stands scattered around the property. Other facilities include stroller-rental stations, a number of gift shops, a bookstore, and several paid-parking lots. The lots fill up quickly, especially on weekends, so arrive early or take the Metro.
Dumbarton Oaks
Many people associate Dumbarton Oaks, a 19th-century Georgetown mansion named for a Scottish castle, with the 1944 international conference that led to the formation of the United Nations. Today the 16-acre estate is a research center for studies in Byzantine and pre-Columbian art and history, as well as landscape architecture. Its yards, which wind gently down to Rock Creek Ravine, are magical, modeled after European gardens. The pre-Columbian museum, designed by Philip Johnson, is a small gem, and the Byzantine collection is a rich one.This unusual collection originated with Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, Mildred. In 1940, they turned over their estate, their extensive Byzantine collection, a library of works on Byzantine civilization, and 16 acres (including 10 acres of exquisite formal gardens) to Mr. Bliss's alma mater, Harvard, and provided endowment funds for continuing research in Byzantine studies. In the early 1960s, they also donated their pre-Columbian collection and financed the building of a wing to house it, as well as a second wing for Mrs. Bliss's collection of rare books on landscape gardening. The Byzantine collection includes illuminated manuscripts, a 13th-century icon of St. Peter, mosaics, ivory carvings, a 4th-century sarcophagus, jewelry, and more. The pre-Columbian works feature Olmec jade and serpentine figures, Mayan relief panels, and sculptures of Aztec gods and goddesses.The historic music room, furnished in European antiques, was the setting for the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks Conversations about the United Nations. It has a painted 16th-century French-style ceiling and an immense 16th-century stone fireplace. Among its notable artworks is El Greco's The Visitation.Pick up a self-guiding brochure to tour the staggeringly beautiful formal gardens, which include an Orangery, a Rose Garden, wisteria-covered arbors, groves of cherry trees, and magnolias. Unless you're a fan of Byzantine or pre-Columbian art, you're likely to spend more time in the garden, as much as an hour when everything is in bloom. Exit at R Street, turn left, cross an honest-to-goodness Lovers' Lane, and proceed next door to Montrose Park, where you can picnic. There is parking on the street.
Ford's Theatre & Lincoln Museum
On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was in the audience at Ford's Theatre, one of the most popular playhouses in Washington. Everyone was laughing at a funny line from Tom Taylor's celebrated comedy, Our American Cousin, when John Wilkes Booth crept into the president's box, shot the president, and leapt to the stage, shouting "Sic semper tyrannis!" ("Thus ever to tyrants!") With his left leg broken from the vault, Booth mounted his horse in the alley and galloped off. Doctors carried Lincoln across the street to the house of William Petersen, where the president died the next morning.The theater was closed after Lincoln's assassination and used as an office by the War Department. In 1893, 22 clerks were killed when three floors of the building collapsed. It remained in disuse until the 1960s, when it was remodeled and restored to its appearance on the night of the tragedy. Except when rehearsals or matinees are in progress (call before you go), visitors can see the theater and trace Booth's movements on that fateful night. Free 15-minute talks on the history of the theater and the story of the assassination are given throughout the day. Be sure to visit the Lincoln Museum in the basement, where exhibits -- including the Derringer pistol used by Booth and a diary in which he outlines his rationalization for the deed -- focus on events surrounding Lincoln's assassination and the trial of the conspirators. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to spend here.The theater stages productions most of the year.
Holiday Inn on the Hill
A major renovation completed in 2003 took the Bing Crosby out of this traditional Holiday Inn, and garnered a "Renovation of the Year Award" from the hotel's umbrella organization, the Inter-Continental Hotels Group. What you see now is a hotel that's very 21st century, or trying hard to be, anyway. Gone are double beds and family-friendly features, like the Discovery Zone kids program. Gone, too, are the prices that made this hotel a great value for families and business folks on a budget (this hotel used to be listed in the "Inexpensive" category). Instead, you'll find guest rooms done in shades of cobalt blue, with zebra wood armoires, glass-topped desks with ergonomic mesh chairs, and triple-sheeted king-size or two queen-size beds. Rooms are standard size, though bathrooms are larger than expected, with a small vanity ledge just outside the bathroom for overflow counter space.Every guest room offers free high-speed Internet access, and the restaurant and an area of the lobby allow for wireless Internet access. Some of the hotel's former clientele will be outpriced here, but for others the Capitol Hill location remains unbeatable. Several labor union headquarters are nearby, making the hotel a popular choice among the "labor" folks doing business with one of them. And for families, proximity to the Capitol and other sites, as well as certain amenities, may appeal: the free 24-hour fitness center, seasonal (outdoor) pool, and the "kids 12 and under eat free" restaurant policy.To get the best deals and perks, ask about summer promotions, the "Great Rates" package, and the hotel's "Priority Club" frequent guest membership.Facilities: Restaurant (American), where kids ages 12 and under eat free with an adult; bar; outdoor (unheated) rooftop pool; 24-hr. fitness room; concierge; business center; room service (6am-11pm); same-day laundry/dry cleaning service; 8 rooms for those w/limited mobility, including 4 with roll-in showers.
Kalorama Guest House
This San Francisco-style B&B has two locations: in Adams-Morgan, where a Victorian town house at 1854 Mintwood Place NW is the main dwelling, with two other houses on the same street providing additional lodging; and in nearby Woodley Park (tel. 202/328-0860; fax 202/328-8730), where two houses on Cathedral Avenue NW offer a total of 19 guest rooms (see "Woodley Park," later in this chapter for more information about this location).The cozy common areas and homey guest rooms are furnished with finds from antique stores, flea markets, and auctions. The Mintwood Place town house has a breakfast room with plant-filled windows. There's a garden behind the house with umbrella tables.Rooms in all the houses generally offer either double or queen-size beds, but the Mintwood Place town house offers larger units in a greater variety of configurations: There's an efficiency apartment with a kitchen, telephone, and TV; one small two-room apartment with a kitchen, cable TV, and telephone; and four suites (two two-bedroom and two "executive" suites, in which the living room and bedroom are together).All locations serve a complimentary breakfast of juice, coffee, fruit, bagels, croissants, and English muffins. They also give guests access to laundry and ironing facilities, a refrigerator, a seldom-used TV, and a phone (local calls are free; incoming calls are answered around the clock, so people can leave messages for you). It's customary for the innkeepers to put out sherry daily, adding lemonade and cookies in summer, and tea and cookies in winter. Magazines, games, and current newspapers are available. All of the houses are nonsmoking. At both locations, your fellow guests are likely to be Europeans, tourists, and business people.The Mintwood Place location is near Metro stations, restaurants, nightspots, and shops. The Cathedral Avenue houses, which are even closer to the Woodley Park-Zoo Metro, offer proximity to Rock Creek Park and the National Zoo.
The St. Regis
Ah, luxury! Guest rooms are quietly opulent and decorated in tastefully coordinated colors, with duvets on the beds, desks set in alcoves, mirror-covered armoire, creamy silk moiré wall coverings, gilded chandeliers and sconces, and marble bathrooms. On the concierge level (called the "Astor Floor"), a butler unpacks and packs your suitcase, presses two items upon your arrival, and generally sees to your needs. The best rooms (other than those on the Astor Floor) probably are the grand deluxe units, which are oversize traditional rooms with a sitting area. Suites number 13, plus one presidential suite. The hotel has a restaurant on-site, but it's the bar that is the winner here: The Library Lounge might be the best hotel bar in Washington, with a working fireplace and paneled walls lined with bookcases. Recent changes have installed 24-inch flat screen TVs in standard guest rooms, 48-inch plasma screen TVs in the suites, high-speed Internet access in all guest rooms, and wireless Internet service in the lobby, restaurant, and bar.Facilities: Restaurant (American); bar/lounge; 24-hr. state-of-the-art fitness suite (plus access, for $25 fee, to either of 2 nearby health clubs, 1 of which has an indoor lap pool); 24-hr. concierge; complimentary 1-way transportation within 6 blocks of hotel (7-9:30am weekdays); 24-hr. business center; 24-hr. room service; in-room massage; babysitting; same-day laundry/dry cleaning; concierge-level rooms; 3 rooms for those w/limited mobility, all with roll-in showers.
