United States · District of Columbia · Washington
West End, Washington — Area Guide & Where to Stay
West End is a compact neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, set between Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and Foggy Bottom. Hotels define it. Along M Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the quarter fills with apartment blocks, restaurants, and the traffic funnelling toward Washington Circle at its southern corner. Its western edge falls away toward Rock Creek.
About West End
Where to stay in West End
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
West End holds an unusual density of hotels for its size. The area leans upscale and residential, quieter after dark than Georgetown or Dupont Circle next door, which suits a traveller who wants calm near the centre. A short walk reaches the Foggy Bottom Metro station and the western end of the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.
The Phillips Collection sits a few blocks northeast, in Dupont Circle. Stay here for the quiet, not the nightlife.
About West End
What are the main landmarks in West End?
West End keeps few marquee sights of its own. That changes a short walk out. The nearest draw is The Phillips Collection, a museum of modern art a few blocks northeast, over the line into Dupont Circle.
Southeast toward the city centre stand the Renwick Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, while the Lincoln Memorial closes the western end of the National Mall down through Foggy Bottom. Number One Observatory Circle, the vice president's residence, sits off to the northwest.
What is the history of West End?
West End sits inside the grid Pierre L'Enfant drew for the young capital. It was never a monumental quarter. For most of its history the area stayed a modest, workaday fringe on the western side of the city, kept apart from Georgetown by the low ground of Rock Creek.
The older port town of Georgetown lay just across the water. In the last third of the twentieth century, hotels, offices, and apartment towers rose over the low-rise streets, giving West End the residential-and-hotel character it keeps.
Where is West End?
The neighborhood occupies a wedge of Northwest Washington between Rock Creek on the west and the K Street corridor on the east. Pennsylvania Avenue cuts across its southern flank, meeting New Hampshire Avenue and 23rd Street at Washington Circle. To the north, M Street carries it toward Dupont Circle; to the south lies Foggy Bottom.
Georgetown sits just across the creek.
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Updated July 2026