Hotel Tabard Inn

If you favor the offbeat and personal over cookie-cutter chains, try the Tabard. Named for the hostelry in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Tabard is one of the oldest continuously operating hotels in the city, having opened in 1922. The heart of the ground floor is the dark-paneled lounge, with worn furniture, fireplace, the original beamed ceiling, and bookcases. Washingtonians come here for drinks nightly, jazz on Sundays, and to linger before or after dining in the charming Tabard Inn restaurant.

From the lounge, the inn leads you up and down stairs, along dim corridors, and through nooks and crannies to guest rooms furnished with antiques and flea-market finds. Perhaps the most eccentric room is the spacious top-floor "penthouse," which has skylights, exposed brick walls, an ample living room, and the feel of a New York City loft. Quaint as it appears, the Tabard is progressive when it comes to going green: Its roofs are planted with herb and rose gardens (the Tabard's restaurant uses the fresh herbs in its cooking) and the inn hopes soon to install solar panels to provide hot water heating.

The inn is not easily accessible to guests with disabilities. The Tabard Inn is nonsmoking.

Facilities:
Restaurant w/lounge (free live jazz Sun evenings); free computer access and printing in lobby; fax and hair dryer available at front desk; free access to nearby YMCA (w/extensive facilities that include indoor pool, indoor track, and racquetball/basketball courts)

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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