Plane spotting Washington, spotting Dulles Airport

The Marriott Dulles Airport is situated right at the centre of the airport complex and is connected with the airport by means of a frees shuttle bus. When you book this hotel make sure you ask for a room with a lakeside view. From these rooms you will get a somewhat distant view of the approach to runway 01R. With the help of a scanner you can make a note of the flight numbers of the arrivals and hopefully tie them up on ACARS.

Location *** Great location being so close to the airport.

Spotting ** You can see things from the rooms with a view of the lake, but they tend to be a bit too far away to read off easily.

Photos * No reports available.

Value *** Great value for a twin room with prices typically £48 for one night.

The hotel can be booked on the website of AGODA.COM

The Hyatt Hotel Dulles

Is close by to the perimeter and the runway 19L. A free shuttle operates to the terminal area.

Location ** One of the closest hotels to the terminal complex with a 5 minute shuttle bus service. Various points have been reported in the vicinity of the hotel where you can see arrivals onto 19L when this is the runway in use. The hotel also overlooks the Signature FBO.

Spotting ** Nearly all movements can be seen and is a great view across the airport. However you do need an SBS box to tie them up as the view is distant on most movements. If they were landing on 1R and taking off past the hotel window and you can read these fine but other runways are hard to read registrations. One bonus was inbounds into Washington National could easily be seen and tied up with SBS as they came right over at 8,000 feet. High rooms ending on low even numbers give the best views. Room 1202 is reported as giving fine views. One tip is to take an extension lead as the layout of the room is not set up for monitoring a laptop and looking out of the window and a normal laptop power cable wont allow you to do this

Photos ** One or two points have been reported around the short final area to RW19L. Walk out of the hotel and explore-follow the aircraft !

Value * Rooms starting from £100 per night The hotel let you book an airport facing room with good views for an extra £5 a night

The hotel can be booked on the website of AGODA.COM

The Hyatt is shown on the map below.

WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT

The Courtyard Crystal City

Is located to the west of the National Airport. Corner rooms are reported to have views of the airport. The Crystal City area itself is around a one mile walk along a dedicated cycle/jogging path to the famous Gravelly Point Park which is a supurb photo point when runway 19 is in use. If the airport are using Runway 01,Marina Drive is about a 1.5 mile walk, where again good views can be had.

Location *** Airport views and a short walk to the viewing areas on the perimeter.

Spotting *** Corner rooms should have a partial view of the airport allowing aircraft to be seen

Photos ** Not possible from the hotel, but Gravelly Park is one of the best locations in the USA for photos.

Value *** Great value for a twin room with prices typically £48 for one night.

The hotel can be booked through the AGODA website

There are many hotels in the Crystal City Area, although they do not all have views they are a short walk away from the parks which are described above. A comprehensive list of Crystal City Hotels can be found at AGODA