Washington DC to New York Penn Station - weekend journey?

I'm planning a journey between DC and NYC next year - hoping to arrive at Penn St around midday. Options for travel are Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We will be two passengers with a suitcase each. Are there any advantages or disadvantages of travelling on any of those days? Presumably Friday before 7.00am will be a busy commuter time. And if we make reservations well in advance, we'll be guaranteed a seat?

Grateful for any advice please.

Thanks in advance.

The only concrete thing I can say is that when making plans for a trip to NYC this Spring, the rates for the hotel right across the street from Penn Station (Hotel Pennsylvania) were the lowest for a stay on Sunday night. At least they were for the el-cheapo rooms I was looking at. Don't know if that'll be the case next year.

Other than that - I know nothing.

Generally, hotel rates in NYC are less over weekends - many times Sunday is the least expensive. However, I, and many other AU members, would recommend against staying at the hotel referenced in the above post (Hotel Pennsylvania).

You will be guaranteed a seat on the train, but it is open seating. You should find a seat and wait for the conductor to place a seat check on the rack above your seat after verifying your ticket. The seat check marks your seat as occupied.

Midday trains 10 AM to 2 PM have slightly fewer passengers.

I second pennyk's comments re that hotel.

Gemuser said:

I second pennyk's comments re that hotel.

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We like the Marriott Fairfield Inn - 1 block from Penn Station. Rates fluctuate wildly, but good value can be had with advance booking or a discount code (AAA, senior, etc.).

While any hotel in NYC may be better than the Hotel Pennsylvania, it was hard to find a less expensive one not too far from NYP - unless I wanted a flop house. But all this is a bit out of my league as my only NYC hotel stay was in, uh, the late 1950's. And that one was a flop house!

According to 1,300 reviews on Yelp, Hotel Pennsylvania IS the worst hotel in NYC.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/hotel-pennsylvania-new-york

Sherman, Penn Station is always crowded, and NYC is a 24 hour city. Given that, I would say Penn Station is marginally more crowded during "normal rush" hours because of commuters, but the difference is not massive. Midday Friday isn't a bad time to arrive; mid-day Saturday and mid-day Sunday should be somewhat less crowded (but there could be a massive Madison Sq. Garden event).

The only successful strategy for Penn Station is look for Exit signs and head to the nearest Exit. Once on the street, doesn't matter where, get your bearings and head to your destination.

Saturday is the slowest day of the weekend as far as both the NEC and NYP are concerned, in my experience, and Friday the busiest. Reservations do not guarantee you seats together no matter when you make them, just seats. I don't travel from WAS so can't say for sure, but at NYP a redcap will ensure you get a seat before others, so for a small gratuity, I think that's worth it. Someone else who travels from WAS can tell you how to get a redcap there.

Stay away from the Hotel Pennsylvania. There are a number of hotels just a bit further down 32nd St. I often stay at the La Quinta Manhattan, which is on 32nd between 5th and 6th. It is about a 6 minute walk down straight down 32nd from Penn Station's 7th Ave entrance. The LaQuinta is just fine, and is often about the cheapest decent hotel available in Manhattan. Bear in mind that hotel rates in Manhattan swing widely based on the time of year.

Just an observation, that original poster didn't ask for hotel recommendations but 7 of 9 replies were about hotels.

Thank you AG1!

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my OP? My enquiry is about how busy the trains are. But thank you to others about hotel advice. FWIW I'm very familiar with NYC and know which hotel I shall be using (and I would NEVER stay at the Pennsylvania!)

AG1 said:

Just an observation, that original poster didn't ask for hotel 2425recommendations but 7 of 9 replies were about hotels.

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Probably because of niemi24's mention of the Hotel Pennsylvania. It is well known to many of us as a pit, and once it was out, I, for one, wanted to warn the OP away had he not been familiar with it (turns out he was).

Since all trains are all seats reserved from DC to New York, you will have a seat. As for whether you will have two seats together, that is a different issue, If you take an early enough train in the morning on Friday you probably stand a slightly better chance of getting seats together. Of course in all cases if you stand in the boarding line near the front you will get seats together since seats are first come first served when boarding. This means getting to the boarding gate as soon as possible after you know which one it is.

On weekend days you are more likely to get to sit together.

C'mon folks. Turn on your reading comprehension and re-read what I wrote in post #2. I wasn't recommending the OP stay at the Hotel Pennsylvania. I was simply using it as my basis for saying rates for Sunday night might be the lowest of all the other days of the week. At least they were for that one hotel when I checked a few months ago for a stay sometime during the fortnight following Easter. And recall that the OP asked for recommendation as to whether it was best to arrive on a Friday, Saturday or on a Sunday. To me, Sunday was best based on hotel rates for that single hotel.

According to 1,300 reviews on Yelp, Hotel Pennsylvania IS the worst hotel in NYC.

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And according to the 8,185 reviews on Trip Advisor there are 20 hotels rated worse. In all fairness, consider that there are three categories of rooms at that hotel: rooms that may have never been renovated (Classic); rooms renovated within the last few years (Penn 5000); those renovated within the last few months (Penn Plaza). Because of that, I'd venture a guess its rooms range from the "flop house" category up to perhaps the "fairly nice" category.

I suspect those here thinking poorly of the place based on their first hand knowledge probably opted for the cheapest "flop house" category (Classic).

Has anyone here ever stayed in one its pricier Penn 5000 or Penn Plaza rooms?

On second thought, forget it. The OP already has a hotel picked out.

jis said:

Since all trains are all seats reserved from DC to New York, you will have a seat. As for whether you will have two seats together, that is a different issue, If you take an early enough train in the morning on Friday you probably stand a slightly better chance of getting seats together. Of course in all cases if you stand in the boarding line near the front you will get seats together since seats are first come first served when boarding. This means getting to the boarding gate as soon as possible after you know which one it is.

On weekend days you are more likely to get to sit together.

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If you are leaving from DC, even during busy weekday evenings, you can usually find two seats together, as long as you are willing to hoof it to the very front two cars of the train. And do the walking on the platform, as you will be held up by passengers selecting seats, trying to hoist luggage into the overhead racks, etc.if you try to walk up through the train. The last car (closest to the gates in Washington) is business class, the car in front is the quiet car, there's another coach before the cafe car, and then there are three or four coaches in front of the cafe car.

If you have any excuse to get into the priority boarding line (i.e. age, presence of small kids, service member in uniform, AGR status) you will have the first chance to get the seats. To be sure you get 2 seats together, the $5 or so tip you give to the redcap is well worth it, as you'll get boarded before any one else, even those with priority boarding.

It should be noted that, strictly speaking, this applies only to the Northeast Regionals that originate in Washington. There are a bunch of Northeast Regionals that originate in various parts of Virginia, and those trains will already have passengers even if you are the absolute first to board. I would say that in those cases, to ensure having two seats together, the use of a redcap is a really good idea.