Hotel Tabard Inn

Frommer's Review

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 the oldest continuously operating hotel in the city, having opened in 1917. Initially, the Tabard occupied a single Victorian town house, but expanded in 1920 to encompass the town houses on either side of it. The trio of joined Victorians has operated as an inn ever since.

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, jazz on Sundays, or 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 rooves are planted with herb and rose gardens (the Tabard's restaurant uses the fresh herbs in its cooking) and solar panels provide the inn with hot water heating.

The inn is not easily accessible to guests with disabilities.

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

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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