How far is Washington, DC from Columbia (Maryland)? Here's the quick answer if you make this quick drive without any stops. Of course, traffic is going to make a big difference so make sure you check that before leaving.
Nonstop drive: 37 miles or 60 km
Driving time: 50 minutes
Even on a short drive, it might be more interesting to stop along the way and explore the local area. You can scroll down to see the calculation if you drive with stops.
Now let's assume you have a private jet and you can fly in the fastest possible straight line between Columbia, Maryland 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: 22 miles or 36 km
Flight time: 33 minutes
The straight line flight distance is 15 miles less than driving on roads, which means the driving distance is roughly 1.6x of the flight distance.
Your plane flies much faster than a car, so the flight time is about 1/2th 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.
Let's say you're actually planning a road trip to Washington, DC, and you want to stop on the way to explore. If it's a real road trip, you might want to check out interesting places along the way, or maybe eat at a great restaurant. That's what Trippy is perfect for, helping you figure out travel plans in detail.
Road trip: 1 day of driving
With the full itinerary planned out, we can estimate your total travel time for this trip.
Travel time: 1.5 hours on the road
Itinerary
Start in Columbia (Maryland).
Drive for about 13 minutes, then stop in Jessup and stay for about 1 hour.
Next, drive for another 14 minutes then stop in Maryland City (Maryland) and stay for 1 hour.
Drive for 17 minutes then stop in Greenbelt and stay for 1 hour.
Drive for 17 minutes then stop at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and stay for 1 hour.
Drive for 10 minutes then stop at National Gallery of Art and stay for 1 hour.
Finally, drive for about 5 minutes 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:
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.
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 Columbia (Maryland), or go to the main page to calculate the distance between cities.
If you happen to know Columbia (Maryland), don't forget to help other travelers and answer some questions about Columbia (Maryland)!
More info on this route:
drive from Columbia to Washington, DC
road conditions
alternate routes
Google driving directions