For someone who will be car-less?
Somewhere young, vibrant, convenient (for everyone if you know what I mean LOL), SAFE, and within walking distance to a whole foods would be a BIG plus... and the metro

You cannot go wrong with the DuPont Circle area.  It has all the items you list as criteria.

I live within two blocks of Dupont Circle.  It has some of the best restaurants, bars and clubs in town.  Two Whole Foods and a Trader Joes within an easy walk.  On weekends it has the busiest Metro station in the system, lots of hotels all with a big busy lobby.  It also has circulaters to get to Georgetown and the Westend.    

....other parts of downtown (Metro Center/Gallery Place/McPherson Sq/Farragut West and the like).

-- Modified on 4/12/2015 2:46:27 PM

With some comfortable sneakers, you can walk to Georgetown from the Dupont Circle area. Just take M street and head west, it will take you right to the heart. Georgetown is worth the five or ten block walk for it's old colonial charm, the vibrancy of the shops, bars, restaurants, and the student nightlife from Georgetown U. Jack and Jackie Kennedy lived in a house there for a time.

Georgetown is my favorite

but Dupont is good too.

-- Modified on 4/12/2015 9:53:35 PM

heart of everything IMO. been known to walk to NY AVE to Wisconsin Ave

I will be in DC for the month of June and will be staying in the Virginia Square area.  There is a whole foods, Trader Joe's and Goods gym (my favorites) located at the Claredon metro Stop which is the stop prior to Virginia Square.  The better lodging is probably located at the Rosslyn area.

Cageyboy is right, it is not a bad walk.  If the weather is bad or you don't feel like walking, there is a Circulator that runs between the Dupont South station and the Rosslyn station.  They are small new comfortable buses.   They run every 10 to 15 minutes going down M Street stopping New Hampshire, 24th, 28th, Thomas Jefferson, 31st, Wisconsin, 34th.  Service starts around 5/6 am and goes to midnight; 2 am on weekends.
 
 

....within a few blocks of the Metro, on K Street.  It officially opens a week from tomorrow!

an alternate, for a dif clientele would be Tysons on the new Silver metro line.  Trendy shops, plenty of nice hotels, metro access, great car access for clients... but its in the burbs, not a funky happening urban location.    BUT, Dupont has suck parking for clients dropping by for a 1 hour stop, and DC has arguably more LEO activity?

Tyson's Corner isn't really pedestrian friendly, but I hear they're working on it. Has anyone tried walking around the Tysons Corner area? The streets have 3 or 4 lanes on each side, making it a challenge to cross intersections, even for a fit, young person. The main roads there are always heavy with traffic. Everywhere you gaze it's a sea of vehicles going in all directions. Parts of the area have no sidewalks so one has to walk on grassy areas along the street curbs.

....well around Spring Hill is a little better than around the Tysons Corner metro area but still a bit of a nightmare depending on where i'm trying to cross.