If you can afford to, stay at the Jefferson, which I consider to be D.C.’s best hotel. (I’m hardly alone: U.S. News & World Report named the Jefferson not only the #1 hotel in D.C., but the 11th best hotel in the entire U.S.) And if you can’t afford to, at least stop in at Quill, the hotel’s delightful bar, where a pianist plays jazz standards Tuesday through Saturday evenings starting at 9pm. Located slightly off the beaten track, about a half-mile north of the White House, the Jefferson exudes the ambience of a country-house hotel. Decor throughout pays homage to Thomas Jefferson in all his passions, from Quill’s display of 18th-century maps tracing the oenophile’s journeys through the wine regions of France, to guest-room fabrics imprinted with architectural and agricultural scenes of Monticello. A handful of rooms catch glimpses of the Washington Monument a mile away, and another few look to the White House, at the end of 16th Street; none, alas, capture the sight of the Jefferson Memorial a bit beyond. In addition to Quill and the lovely, skylit Greenhouse restaurant, the hotel’s dining options include the sublime and intimate, Michelin-starred Plume restaurant, which serves seasonal menus inspired by the harvest from Thomas Jefferson’s kitchen gardens at Monticello.