Trippy
 
  Questions  
Drive      Fly      Stay      Login    Signup

Distance between Detroit and Washington, DC

Driving non-stop from Detroit to Washington, DC

How far is Washington, DC from Detroit? Here's the quick answer if you don't sleep at all, or you have a friend with you so each person can drive some of the way, letting you make the entire trip by car without stopping.

Nonstop drive: 535 miles or 861 km

Driving time: 8 hours, 19 minutes

This is a pretty long drive, so it's not very realistic to drive nonstop. To get a better idea of how long this road trip would really be, scroll down to calculate how many hours it would take if you drive with stops.


From:
To:
Depart:
Return:
Get:    
  Change your route
From:
To:
 


Flying non-stop from Detroit to Washington, DC

Now let's assume you have a private jet and you can fly in the fastest possible straight line between Detroit, Michigan and Washington, District of Columbia. Because of the curvature of the Earth, the shortest distance is actually the "great circle" distance, or "as the crow flies" which is calculated using an iterative Vincenty formula.

Flight distance: 394 miles or 635 km

Flight time: 1 hour, 2 minutes

The straight line flight distance is 141 miles less than driving on roads, which means the driving distance is roughly 1.4x of the flight distance.

Your plane flies much faster than a car, so the flight time is about 1/6th of the time it would take to drive.

This is a relatively short flight in a private plane, but you might be planning to book a commercial flight. In that case, your travel time would really need to include how many minutes to get to your local airport, wait for security, board and taxi on the runway, land at the other airport, and get to your destination. Scroll down to see a more realistic calculation that takes into account all these factors to get a more accurate estimate of your actual flight time.





Detroit to Washington, DC road trip

Let's say you're actually planning a road trip to Washington, DC, and you want to stop along the way to rest. If it's a real road trip, you might want to check out interesting stops along the way, eat at great restaurants, and maybe even find a hotel to stay overnight. That's what Trippy is perfect for, helping you figure out travel plans in detail.

Based on the length of this trip, we think you could spread out this fun road trip over more than one day.

Road trip: 2 days of driving

With the full itinerary planned out, we can estimate your total travel time for this trip.

Travel time: 11 hours on the road with 1 overnight


Itinerary

Start in Detroit.

Drive for about 1 hour, then stop in Toledo (Ohio) and stay for about 1 hour. Next, drive for another 1 hour then stop at Cedar Point (Ohio) and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 1 hour then stop in Cleveland and stay for 2 hours. Drive for 1 hour then stop in Youngstown (Ohio). Stay overnight.

The next day, drive for about 1 hour, then stop in Pittsburgh and stay for about 1.5 hours. Next, drive for another 1 hour then stop at Fallingwater and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 1.5 hours then stop in Breezewood and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 1.5 hours then stop in Harpers Ferry and stay for 1 hour.

Finally, drive for about 1 hour and arrive in Washington, DC.


To see all the details on this itinerary, including recommended restaurants, hotels, and things to do along the way, check out the full road trip planner:





Detroit to Washington, DC airports and flights

In the quick calculation above, we assumed you had a private plane and just wanted to know the time in the air from city to city. But for most of us, we're going to be flying on a commercial airline (whether it's first class or coach). So that means we really need to account for all the extra travel time getting to the airport, waiting for our flight, and making it to the destination.

To give you a better estimate of real-life travel, we've put together a flight itinerary with actual airports. Eventually you'll be able to customize this plan, choosing your own airports and flights. But for now, here's an example we've selected to give you an idea of how traveling might work between airports.

Departure airport: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)

Arrival airport: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)

With the airports selected, we can estimate the travel time to and from the airport, based on how far the airport is from downtown.

Getting to the airport: 54 minutes

Getting to your destination: 12 minutes

Now finally, let's look at an actual flight from DTW to DCA on Delta Air Lines and figure out how long it would take to fly including take-off and landing, and time to taxi on the runway.

Commercial flight time: 1 hour, 26 minutes

So now we can finally get an idea of the total travel time from Detroit to Washington, DC including time spent getting to/from the airports, an estimated wait time of 2 hours at the airport for TSA security lines and waiting at the gate, and the actual flight itself.

Total travel time: 5 hours


To see the details on this flight plan, including recommended airports, airline, and route, check out the flight planner:





Plan a trip to Washington, DC

Trippy has a ton of information that can help you plan your trip to Washington, District of Columbia. Start by reading the Trippy page on where to stay in Washington, DC. If you're looking for a place to stay, you might want to check out JW Marriott Hotel. A great place to eat might be Mitsitam Cafe. Trippy members can suggest things to do in Washington, DC like National Mall. Check out some of the questions people have asked about Washington, DC like Best hotel near museums. Click the button below to explore Washington, DC in detail.





How far is it the other way?

The distance is the same either way if you're flying a straight line (or driving the same roads back and forth). But for a real trip, there can be plenty of differences so go ahead and check the reverse directions to get the distance from Washington, DC to Detroit, or go to the main page to calculate the distance between cities.

If you happen to know Detroit, don't forget to help other travelers and answer some questions about Detroit!





At a Glance
without making any stops
total driving distance is 535 miles
driving time of 8 hours, 19 minutes
flight distance is 394 miles
flight time of 1 hour, 2 minutes
Washington, DC is the same time as Detroit
42 Detroit travel answers
199 Washington, DC travel answers








   
Questions   ·   Destinations   ·   Drive   ·   Fly   ·   Airports   ·   Stay   ·   Search

Login   ·   About   ·   FAQ   ·   Contact   ·   Privacy   ·   Terms