How to Get From Washington DC to Richmond Virginia

There are a few different options on how to travel from Washington DC to Richmond Virginia, but they are not all equal. Some are significantly better than others. 

Some of the links in this post contain affiliate links. What does that mean you ask? I may earn a small commission, but you won’t pay any extra. These links also help fund and support my page.

What are the options to get from Washington DC to Richmond Virginia

There are four options for how to travel between Richmond and Washington DC:

• Drive
• Bus
• Train 
• Fly

There are positives and negatives (or in one case, pretty much all negatives) to each travel option broken down below. 

Driving from Washington DC to Richmond

In my experience, driving has as many pros as it does cons. 

Let’s start with the cons.

First, DC traffic can be pretty terrible.  Driving in DC sucks and I wouldn’t recommend it.  Even when you cross over into Virginia, it doesn’t get much better until you’re about an hour from the city.  

On my last trip to DC, my friend and I rented a car for the week and hated every time we had to drive through the city.  We rented a car since we spent time visiting the other nearby cities and states (Rehoboth Beach, Annapolis, Northern Virginia, etc).  If we had just stayed in the city, I would have skipped the car and only used the Metro to get around. 

The second reason to reconsider driving is the cost.  Gas is crazy expensive right now, and then you also have parking.   Hotel parking fees are insane – it should be illegal to have to pay $60/night for parking on top of $200+ per night hotel rates.  And anywhere else you go will likely have paid parking lots or street parking. 

What about the pros? 

The biggest and best reason to drive between the two cities is flexibility.  This is with both a schedule, and what you want to do.  With a car you can just pick up and go whenever suits you without being held to a specific schedule like with a bus or train.  The other way things are more flexible is you can choose where you want to go.  There may be places you want to stop along the way, like a visit to Mt Vernon, or lunch in Manassas.  In Richmond you can also get further out of the downtown without being reliant on the bus or rideshares.  You could spend some time checking out nearby Colonial Heights.

Determine if you absolutely need a car in Richmond.  If not, can you get by with public transportation and Uber/Lyft?  Be sure to compare all associated costs. 

Bus from Washington DC to Richmond VA

Taking a bus from DC to Richmond VA is the option that provides the most choices and flexibility.  There are dozens of buses to Richmond from DC each day on multiple carriers.  You can take a bus through Amtrak,  FlixBus, Greyhound and Virginia Breeze.

The bus drive times are listed at 2-2.5 hours, however this will always vary if there are accidents, or traffic. 

DC to Richmond Amtrak Bus

In addition to the train, Amtrak has bus routes between Washington DC and Richmond to provide additional connectivity between cities.  The buses are mixed in with the trains on their booking site, so look for the “connecting bus” on their schedule.  Amtrak has two buses each day to Richmond, one at 12:15pm and the other leaving at 7:05pm.  The bus stops at both the Staples Mill Road Station and the Main Street Station.  Prices start at $13. 

FlixBus From DC 

FlixBus is a popular international bus service.  They have their own bright green buses, as well as using other local charter bus services.  FlixBus has the most Washington DC to Richmond Virginia bus routes at 12-15 departures per day.  

When booking, make sure to check the Richmond drop location.  FlixBus has 3 dropoff spots in Richmond.  Two are at or next to the Main Street Station, while the third is listed as Henrico, which is at the VDOT Parham Road Park & Ride. 

Fares on FlixBus usually start at $17-23 depending on the date and time of departure. You can book directly on the FlixBus website. 

Greyhound Bus to Richmond VA from DC

America’s longest running bus service has had a lot of bad press in the past, but it does seem like they’ve made strides to improve comfort and safety. 

Greyhound has 7 routes per day, however the majority are late night to early morning.  They do not have any mid-day or afternoon buses.  Their buses drop off in Richmond outside the Main Street Station. Tickets start at $21 and increase based on date and availability. You can book directly on the Greyhound website and also the FlixBus website.

Virginia Breeze Bus to Richmond

Virginia Breeze is a bus service that connects different regions of the state through the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).  This bus service runs every day of the year. 

They offer bus service from Washington DC to Richmond (and Richmond to DC) once a day on their Capital Connector route.  

This is a once daily bus.  The southbound route from Washington DC to Richmond VA leaves at 1:05pm from Union Station in Washington DC, and arrives at 3:20pm at Richmond Main Street Station.  The northbound return route leaves Richmond at 10:40am, and arrives at Union Station at 1:00pm. 

The standard fare is $24 each way.  You can buy tickets directly through the DRPT website.  They are also partnered with Megabus, so you are able to purchase through them as well, at the same cost. 

Train from Washington DC to Richmond Virginia

Personally, I would rather take a train over a bus just about any day, as long as the price is right.  

There are a lot of perks that you experience on a train that you can’t on a bus.  First, there are more options and upgrades when it comes to seats.  The options for the bus are window or aisle, and front, middle, or back.  While you get those with the train, you also have things like tray tables which make working or watching a movie significantly easier.  Some even have tables at the seats.  Trains also (typically) have a first, or business, class and coach class.  The first class section offers assigned seating, and nicer seats.  

The second thing trains offer that you can’t really do on a bus is the ability to stand up and move around.  After a couple of hours on a bus or train, you probably want to stretch your legs.  Because trains are so much larger, you can travel between the carriages or take a stretch break at the front or back end of the car.

Third, and maybe the best perk, is there often is a bar car. This car will have a staffed food service counter with a selection of food and drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.  The car usually has a number of tables and seating which are all unassigned.  This is the area of the train where it is often a little louder.  The train cars typically are quiet, so if you have a group that wants to hang out this is the best place to do so.  

The final reason you may want to take the Washington DC to Richmond VA Amtrak rather than the DC to Richmond bus is the bathroom.  Some coach buses do have bathrooms on board, but they are basically the same as an airplane lavatory, and that’s if they are working.  Train bathrooms aren’t much better, but they are at least larger and more frequent.  So if one is out of service, or occupied, you can quickly find another. 

You can read more about what it’s like to take the train in my post below which goes deeper into the DC to Richmond train schedule, station information, routes and more. 

Flying between DC and Richmond

Unless you are flying into Washington DC, then continuing on to Richmond, there is no reason to fly between the two cities.  It’s a waste of time, energy and money.  

DCA (or Reagan Airport) is the closest airport to the city, at a 20 minute metro ride, but there are no flights from here to Richmond.  

Dulles offers a D.C. to Richmond flight, however this airport is significantly farther away from the city than DCA.  The drive alone is around 45 minutes, and the train is over an hour.  The only airline with a non-stop flight is United, and their flights cost $250 for a one way ticket.

Southwest offers direct flights from Baltimore starting at $85, but the Baltimore Airport, much like Dulles, is not close to DC and requires quite a bit more transportation time. 

When you add up the amount of time to travel to the airport, go through security, wait at the gate, board, fly and exit, you are spending a lot of time on a 25 minute flight.  With the bus or train, you can literally roll up 5 minutes before departure, jump right on, find your seat and then they’re off.  

Then you compare the cost of an airline ticket at $85 (or worse $250) versus a coach class train ticket, which you can get for as low as $13. It becomes very clear which option makes more sense. 

How to save money traveling to Richmond

If, like me, you do not live in the mid-Atlantic, or elsewhere on the East Coast, there aren’t a ton of direct flight options into Richmond, Virginia.  However, even with a layover flights into Richmond can be pretty expensive.  I found it was at least $200 cheaper to fly to DC then take the train down to Richmond.  

Here’s why this worked out well.  With a layover, you will have probably an hour, maybe more hanging out at the airport and then you still have to fly to Richmond.  This will likely be at least 2 hours in total, and possibly longer.  The train typically takes 2-2.5 hours with very little time needed at the station.  This puts the total travel time around equal for the flight vs train.

But the cost is where you really win.  If you book your train ticket early enough in advance, you can get a great deal.  My flexible ticket was only $15 – less than my Lyft from the Richmond station to my hotel.  So even with that extra expense of one train ticket and a metro ticket to the train station, I still saved around $200 for my trip.  I only purchased a one way ticket as I had a ride back to DCA from Richmond, however if I found the same deal I would still have only paid $30 for round trip tickets. 

Also to note, if you fly into DCA, it is easier and faster to take the metro to the Alexandria, VA station, then jump on the train to Richmond.  However, I decided to spend some extra time by heading into DC so I could have lunch with one of my oldest friends.  All the train routes to Richmond stop in Alexandria so nothing else changes. 

FAQs

Additional posts on Richmond & Colonial Heights, VA