[Disclosure: At the time of this writing, I am not directly affiliated with nor have I been hired by Interfusion Festival, DC Fall Salsa Bachata Festival or Victory Inspired Events, aside from being a personal friend of these organizations’ respective proprietors, and a loyal attendee of both Interfusion and DC Fall Salsa Bachata Festival. At the time of this writing I am not directly affiliated with nor have I been hired by the Westin Alexandria or any of the other businesses whose services I describe, and everything I am writing is my objective opinion and advice. Any advice in this blog does not constitute legal or medical advice and is provided as is with no liability to #FrugalCongressLife or the author.]

[IMPORTANT UPDATE: As of January 2020, Interfusion Festival will be relocating to the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, VA.  Capital Congress has already relocated to the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center for their 2019 congress.  At press time, we are not sure of DC Fall Salsa Bachata Festival’s status for 2019 and beyond as we have heard no announcements, but we assume it will happen at this time.  New guides will be posted for Capital Congress at the end of March and Interfusion Festival at the beginning of May.  This article will remain up for archival purposes if no other festivals are happening at this hotel.]

For my second multi-congress #FCL hotel guide, I am covering one of my top five favorite congress hotels in the US, The Westin Alexandria, located at 400 Courthouse Square in Alexandria, VA, a nearby suburb of DC.  The Westin Alexandria was designed as a “wellness hotel”, a hotel that makes the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of its guests its top priority, and this is evident throughout in its gorgeous, meditative, spiritually inspired design and luxurious amenities.

Until 2019, the Westin Alexandria was home to the one and only Interfusion Festival, an eclectic mix of not only Latin and African dance workshops, but also workshops for meditation, yoga, pole dance, tantra, ecstatic dance, acro-yoga, essential oil, and other spiritual topics, in addition to all-night dance socials featuring ballrooms for salsa, bachata, zouk, EDM, and acro-yoga jams.

The Westin Alexandria also recently became the new home of DC-based promoter and DJ Parker Cocolo’s DC Fall Salsa & Bachata Dance Festival, also known as DCSB Fest or DCSBF and sometimes lovingly referred to as “Parker’s Joint” by local dancers in DC. After some technical difficulties with the festival’s previous location in Crystal City, Parker has found a permanent new home for this excellent brand new up-and-coming dance festival, currently in its third year, at the familiar congress-tested Westin Alexandria location, which will provide the Westin’s atmosphere and amenities, as well as larger ballrooms, a greater variety of workshops, and social dancing until 6am. 

Up until 2018, the Westin Alexandria was also the location of the Capital Congress, DC’s longest-running salsa congress (since 2005!), organized by Shaka Brown and also including workshops and ballrooms for bachata, kizomba, and zouk.  For its 2019 incarnation, the Capital Congress has picked up and moved to the Hilton Mark Center Hotel located about 16 minutes west of the Westin.  I will be researching transportation and food options for this hotel and dropping a survival guide to the new Capital Congress location on the blog around late March of 2019 when we are closer out to that particular congress.

To my knowledge, The Westin Alexandria is the only congress hotel on the east coast and possibly in the US to have hosted three separate Latin dance-related congresses or festivals within a two year period.  Feel free to correct me if you know of any others.

With the Westin Alexandria’s credentials out of the way, on to the definitive #FCL guide to this storied congress hotel.

TRAVEL:

DRIVING:

Driving and ride-share is a solid way to get to this hotel if able.  Street parking is tight around the hotel and the hotel has no garage of its own to speak of.  However, the hotel basically has an unofficial garage in the form of the West Parking Garage, located at 550 Elizabeth Lane. This garage costs $5-10 all day on weekends and is free after 7PM.  Located right around the corner from the hotel and boasting multiple levels of abundant off-street parking at a low cost and 24-hour access, this garage is your best parking option for the Westin, whether you are staying or commuting.

FLYING:

Try to fly into Reagan National Airport (DCA) if you can – it is the closest airport to the Westin Alexandria by a longshot; BWI is too far away to be practical and you will eat into your Spirit savings a bit getting from BWI to the hotel.  IAD is also too far away to be practical.

FROM DCA: Take the DC Metro yellow line toward Huntington from Reagan National to Eisenhower Avenue.  Once there, follow walking directions from Eisenhower Avenue.

FROM IAD: Take an UBER from IAD to the Wiehle-Reston Metro stop on the silver line, take the silver line toward Largo Town Center to L’Enfant Plaza and transfer to the yellow line toward Huntington and go to Eisenhower Avenue.  Once there, follow walking directions from Eisenhower Avenue.

FROM BWI: If you must come from BWI, try to get there during the day so you can take the MARC train to Union Station.  Once at Union Station, take the Metro red line toward Shady Grove to Metro Center, then transfer to the yellow line toward Huntington and go to Eisenhower Avenue.  Once there, follow walking directions from Eisenhower Avenue.

BUS/TRAIN:

Take any bus or train line to Union Station in DC and follow the above Metro directions from Union Station from there.

From Eisenhower Avenue metro to the Westin: Walk out of Bay E to Eisenhower Avenue and make a right.  Make a left onto Elizabeth Lane, hang a right at Courthouse Square/The Carlyle Club and you will see The Westin Alexandria from the square, you can’t miss it.  This is about a 10 minute walk.

Information on the MARC trains can be found here: https://mta.maryland.gov/marc-train

Information on the DC Metro system can be found here: http://www.wmata.com

A map of the DC Metro system can be found here: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps/upload/2017-System-Map.pdf

Since the DC Metro system did away with paper farecards a while back, a SmarTrip card will be essential for paying the fares on the Metro system and parking at Metro lots (see below). A SmarTrip card costs $10 for the initial purchase but can be refilled as many times as you want at designated SmarTrip kiosks, but prepare for this initial expense. Try and keep your SmarTrip card if you plan on visiting DC again in the future.

LODGING:

The Westin Alexandria is where it’s at, period.

There are a few offsite budget options, but when taxes, room fees, and cost of transporting yourself between these offsite locations and the Westin are taken into account, they will save you a grand total of $0-20 per night over both congress’ room blocks at the Westin and may even cost a bit more – hardly worth it.

Stay at the Westin, both to support this outstanding hotel and because it is objectively the best option for any congress or festival held there, period.

A solid between-workshop-and-party showering option for the brokest of local commuters who can’t even swing a room-share and don’t want to double back home is the Park Center XSport Fitness at 4300 King Street, located about 14 minutes from the Westin at 4300 King Street.  This gym offers $10 day passes and $5 garage parking and full shower facilities as well as a wide variety of free weights, machines, and cardio equipment for your workout.  This option is as frugal as it gets and not really an option for out of towners.  I have done this option sometimes when I was very low on money and lived close enough to the Westin to do it feasibly.

FOOD:

For your frugal grocery shopping, the closest Walmart Supercenter is about 11 minutes south of the Westin at 6303 Richmond Hwy.

As far as other grocery stores go, there is a Whole Foods about an 8 minute walk from the Westin at 1700 Duke Street, a Safeway about a 9 minute drive away on 500 S Royal St., a Harris Teeter about 15 minutes away at 735 N. Asaph Street, and a Balducci’s near Safeway at 600 Franklin Street.  Keep in mind parking around many of these stores could be tight.

The Starbucks located immediately next door is the most convenient option for your coffee needs.

However, as a fan of Bulletproof Coffee, I can’t not mention the presence of Bon Vivant Cafe + Farm Market, one of the only coffee shops in the US at the time of this writing that sells pre-made Bulletproof Coffee, about a 10 minute drive one way from the Westin in the nearby Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria, at 2016 Mount Vernon Avenue.  For time and logistical reasons I still usually choose to save myself the trip and make my own Bulletproof coffee with my own ingredients at Starbucks, but Bon Vivant’s interpretation of Bulletproof Coffee is exceptionally good and worth the extra effort to get it if you can swing it.

As for your meal out options, The Westin’s restaurant, Trademark Drink and Eat, sometimes has special deals for festival guests and it is definitely worth a shot to ask them as their food is quite good.  Pasra Thai, a Thai food bar, is also a very excellent dining option nearby.  More casual options in walking distance include Quiznos, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread, and Potbelly.  All options I’ve mentioned outside of the hotel can be found by making a right out of the hotel’s main entrance, making a right onto Jamieson Avenue, and walking along that street.

A 7-Eleven can also be found at 504 John Carlyle Street near Potbelly.

That’s all I got, hit the comments if you have any other suggestions and I’ll see you next time there’s a congress at this hotel!

– Owen