Help: which area is better for families, Georgetown or Bethesda (downtown)?

[Anonymous]

Between Bethesda and Georgetown, I’d choose Chevy Chase Viilage.

[Anonymous]

Just chiming in to agree that the daily commute from Gtown to Bethesda would be a bear. I also like Gtown better, but would choose Bethesda for the commute. I think you are easily looking at 45 minutes to an hour each way if you move to Gtwon- and if your kids do after school activities, the traffic is horrendous at that time.

[Anonymous]

Do you have parking in Farragut? I drive from Georgetown to my office in Farragut (free garage space from my employer) and its literally a 10 minute drive at the height of rush hour.

So nice to be home quickly and with my kids by 530pm.

[Anonymous]

Why are your kids going to school in Bethesda? Are they doing private or public?

Georgetown and then going for one of the many private schools in the area would be ideal. Otherwise, have them apply for DC charter schools or worst case scenario MacArthur HS.

Bethesda is boring and MCPS HS are over-crowded.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda — the commute will be brutal especially for pick up. There are lovely things about Bethesda, decent restaurants, some shopping, lots of nature and trails nearby.

[Anonymous]

I live just off the Capital Crescent trail near downtown Bethesda & biked to work in Farragut North for about 4 years. There are much better bike lanes in DC proper now as well (and depending on where you work, you could only be on roads for 10 mins or so). I also used to live in Glover Park (not Gtown proper) and although I didn't want to move out of the city, I do think with kids in school in Bethesda it would be challenging to live in Gtown. You would just spend a lot of time in traffic, driving. To be honest, though, it will then be challenging to get together with your local friends. Just the way it is, sorry!

[Anonymous]

Wesley Heights.

[Anonymous]

Live close to school and go to Gtown on weekends. Don’t bother with “in between” areas because they won’t give you the advantage of having kids walk from school or be around school friends walking distance away or a much shorter commute and your desired neighborhood feel. Gtown is very diff than Cleveland park, Westley Heights, Tenleytown, Glover park, etc, these won’t give you what you want. They are lovely areas for sure and great to live in, but you have very specific needs and you should settle with a place that would at least give you one of them. Your routine daily life I don’t know about to guess how much free time you will have to linger around Gtown cafes and waterfront on weekdays. I think it’s doable to swig for lunch to Gtown in the middle of the week once in a while for a WAH person or go do occasional dinner in DC during a weekday. There is a nice bike trail also between DT Bethesda and Gtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're only going to have one car, you need to live somewhere metro accessible, which GT is not. Live in AU Park, Bethesda, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, etc.

I live close to GT university and Rosslyn metro is 12 min walk. If you are in East Village, DuPont would take you that much too. This an urban legend that GT does not have metro access. If you can walk 10-15 minutes you can reach one of the three metro stations that are close by from any point in Georgetown. In AU park you would need to walk the same amount.

I used to live in Foggy bottom near GWU metro and walk to Gtown was rather short. Def doable to walk to FB as well DuPont to give yourself more Metro lines coverage. But walk will be longer if living near Key bridge. IMHO Gtown is metro accessible for sure. Plus there are connector buses if weather is bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Between Bethesda and Georgetown, I’d choose Chevy Chase Viilage.

No. No to Wesley Heights or any other areas. OP will not hit any of her 2 conflicting priorities (Gtown or living close to school). She needs to choose between one or anther. Living elsewhere she will get none of the things she wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Live in walking distance to the school. You and your kids’ lives will be so much better.

This. School years will fly by and then you can move to Gtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would live in Glover Park or Observatory Circle. Plus you will be driving/taking the bus to Bethesda and back with no traffic because you are driving the opposite way of traffic both in the morning and afternoon. Quieter and beautiful neighborhoods that are still very much in the city and are both very green and close to Georgetown (15 min walk). I live in one of those neighborhoods and love it. My kids though walk to school…

Yeah, it’s why you love it there and live there, your kids walk. Hers would not. And she is still not in Gtown, because it’s an entirely different neighborhood with a very different feel. She won’t get anything she wants and wins nothing out of this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're only going to have one car, you need to live somewhere metro accessible, which GT is not. Live in AU Park, Bethesda, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, etc.

I live close to GT university and Rosslyn metro is 12 min walk. If you are in East Village, DuPont would take you that much too. This an urban legend that GT does not have metro access. If you can walk 10-15 minutes you can reach one of the three metro stations that are close by from any point in Georgetown. In AU park you would need to walk the same amount.

I used to live in Foggy bottom near GWU metro and walk to Gtown was rather short. Def doable to walk to FB as well DuPont to give yourself more Metro lines coverage. But walk will be longer if living near Key bridge. IMHO Gtown is metro accessible for sure. Plus there are connector buses if weather is bad.

I live near Key Bridge. In that case Rosslyn makes more sense than FB. But in any case, anyone with two operational legs will have no problem to reach a metro station from anywhere in Georgetown. I find it amusing when suburbanites talk about a metro stop a mile away from their house as close by, but complain about Georgetown’s lack of metro access. Yes, there is none in the small area covered by Georgetown, but there are three stops to choose from that are within easy walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wfh spouse is right that it would be much more fun for him to live in Georgetown. But the commute to Farragut North and the one to Bethesda would be pretty awful compared to living in Bethesda.

If you really want to have one car, you have to live near a red line stop. The other person has to drive the kids. I don’t see how you could live in Georgetown happily without two cars so they can go in different directions each morning. Which is another problem about Georgetown - where to put the cars.

If you have one car in Georgetown, WFH spouse would probably end up driving two round trips a day to Bethesda for school pick up while the other parent uses the bus or something. That’s really, really a lot of driving. Traffic can be horrible. It would make it hard to enjoy walking to a cute lunch, if they even had time.

Maybe when the kids can drive, you move to Georgetown.

I live in Georgetown and work close to Farragut North. I walk there..my husband bikes. There are busses too. You absolutely do not need a car for this commute.

I’m sorry, I was sloppy in my writing. I meant more if the person going to Farragut north also had kid duties. If you don’t have two cars, the Farragut north person can only be responsible for their own commute. Then sure of course, they can use public transit or walk/bike.

[Anonymous]

This is sort of an aside, but if you can afford to live in 20815, don’t make one car the hill to die on. It makes no sense. If you have a house in 20815 you can afford to have two. Life will be much easier. Your kids have different activities. People can zip to the grocery store (where you will buy more than is easily carried/pushed). Of course you can take the metro to work. But it doesn’t make any sense to use having on car as a way to try to cling to urbanity. You’ll just be inconveniencing yourself unnecessarily to hold a torch to a life you’re not living. Instead, celebrate ditching the second car when your kids have different needs.

Also if you’ve never lived in our climate, you may really underestimate the difficulty of walking 15 min to the metro and looking presentable for meetings in July. Winter is no problem. It’s the summer that will get you.