There are direct flights from Madison to Reagan everyday, usually reasonable. Frontier used to offer a phenomenal rate, but they dropped that route. I've done Milwaukee to Reagan several times too, but prefer the Madison one

Anonymous wrote:The drive from Milwaukee to Madison is 1 1/2 hours.

Um, no, it's not

it's like saying what's the best way to get to Balt, fly into dc or bwi- it would be fly into bwi, right?

Sometimes there are direct flights from DC to Madison. Otherwise DC to Madison on Delta and you change in Detroit.

The drive from Milwaukee to Madison is 1 1/2 hours.

Usually Chicago or Milwaukee would be cheaper - Milwaukee is a little easier driving-wise IMO but either are fine. You can always look for Madison flights but I usually fly into MKE.

You can sometimes get good flights into Madison. Do a search and try out all three cities to see what gives you the best price and schedule. If it is just a quick weekend, Milwaukee or Madison might save you on time and sanity since you won't have to hedge your timing in anticipation of Chicago traffic.

What is the best/cheapest itinerary to get from DC to Madison? Should we fly to Milwaukee or Chicago and drive or change and go into Madison? We will need a car while we are there so car rental cost is a factor too. TIA