Recommendations What To Do In Washington, D.c.

I wish you had more time there! My favorite was probably the Smithsonian, but you could spend a week there and not see it all.

Beside all the Smithsonian art galleries, don't miss the National Gallery of Art. Like Donna indicates, you'll never run out of things to see in such a small space of time. Have Fun :)

My favorites are the Smithsonian and the Capital.

I was fortunate enough to go there several times. My favorite thing was to wander with my camera, and I prefer being outdoors. Check out the main monuments - Vietnam, WWII, Washington, Lincoln, reflecting pool, National Cemetery, etc. Beyond that, be open to whatever you stumble across (I came across a tulip garden surrounding a statue that was given with gratitude from the Armenian people). There's so much to see and do. As far as the museums, pick what interests you, whether it be art or science or holocaust, or ? and put it on your list. My first time I was a true country bumpkin and had never been on a subway, so that in itself was a treat, lol!

Enjoy!

The Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe at the Smithsonian is very good! There are so many interesting places to see in DC, so you can't really choose poorly!

So much to do, so little time. All of the museums have merit, the big ones on the Mall are world class.

If you get a subway pass, you can get around to a lot of other areas without expensive parking and difficult driving. The National Cathedral is amazing, as is the Arboretum, as are the monuments along along the Mall and waterfront. Check out Union Station, go out to Georgetown, Chinatown, go across the river to Alexandria, visit the Capitol and Supreme Court, go up the monument. Don't miss the Library of Congress, which has one of the most spectacular lobbies you'll ever see. I've spent lots of time there over the years, attended lots of meetings there and feel lucky to have it as a nearly local destination, and it's always a great place to visit. It merits buying one of those tourist guides.

Living in Virginia in the 1970’s across the river from D.C, I worked for a company that had the contract to construct the WW I gallery in the, then, under construction, “new” Air & Space museum of the Smithsonian Institute. For a number of weeks I spent my work days there.
So I’m a bit biased in recommending you find time to visit this very wonderful place of aviation and space history.

What blows my mind (70’s talk kids) is that the “new” museum is now almost 50 years old!

Just goes to show… Time flies like the wind, but fruit flies like the bananas.🤪

@Bill you reminded me of the time when I went on a class trip as a kid and visited the Air & Space museum of the Smithsonian Institute for the first time and I was in awe over those huge planes suspended above. All of it was so cool. :)

Robert, I recommend visiting the gems and minerals collections at the Smithsonian Museum. The Hope diamond is there and a whole wall of raw gold. You might be amazed at what is found in nature.

D.C. is a great place to visit. I've been once as a child and twice as an adult. It's on my list for repeat visits.

Everything is pretty close by, and FREE. Well, we pay with our tax dollars, but you don't have any admission fees at the door. All the museums and monuments are located around the National Mall so it's very easy to get from one attraction to another. Plan on doing a good deal of walking. We like to buy a pass for one of the hop-on hop-off doubledecker bus tours that take you around different attractions. The bus will even get you to Arlington Cemetery, the National Cathedral and over to Georgetown.

I think this is the one we have used. https://www.bigbustours.com/en/washington-dc/washington-dc-tour-tickets-and-passes?cjevent=e6450f60ca3e11ed805b004f0a82b824

I think all of the monuments are must see, and beyond that visit whatever museums represent what you are most interested in first. There is so much to see, and it's all worthy.

Other than the hop on/hop off bus...
The DC Circulator is a good mode of transportation around the National Mall area. It's only $1 per person per trip. I usually walk myself to death and then ride it back to the stop nearest my car... https://dccirculator.com/circulator-map-and-information-guide/

Donna, Mike, Angie, Mary Lee, Christi, Doug, Bill, Angie, Dylyce, Andrew, and Susan, thank you very much for sharing!

well I live there so happy to make additional suggestions!

If you are coming soon, check out the cherry blossoms as they are amazing.

When people say the "Smithsonian" there are actually quite a number of separate (and huge!) museums they actually mean. You've had recommendations already to go to Air & Space, but if you do, make sure you TOUCH THE MOON. Most people walk right past it! There is a piece of the moon on display that can be touched. And get freeze dried ice cream in the gift shop, that's what the astronauts eat!

If you have enough lead time, you can ask your congressperson or senator for a Capitol tour.

The National Cathedral is amazing, love that suggestion above. One of my favorite places on earth (my sons went to school on the grounds).

Depending upon where you are staying, how mobile you are, you could eat at Union market. It is like a food court for adults with some amazing places, some chefs getting their starts in smaller stalls before they go full blown restaurant. Try and get to one of Jose Andres amazing restaurants. The Bazaar, newly opened in the old Post office Building is amazing (but pricey). You will need a reservation. Some of his places are more affordable and he is a national treasure. There are many fantastic restaurants, lots of ethnic choices too depending on what you like, your budget and where you are staying I can make more recs.

The zoo is also part of the Smithsonian, but you have to get there by subway or pay for parking in the lots. The pandas are not to be missed as they are only supposed to be there till 2023 I think.

The Holocaust Museum is also an excellent rec, as there is nothing else like it unless you go to Poland or Israel. It is very interactive and so well done.

There are great sports to see, the Nats are starting soon and the Ballpark is great (and you can get cheap last minute tickets). The Caps/Wizards still have a few weeks left in their seasons...

There are great concerts and comedy venues if that is something interesting to you...

If you like hiking and are mobile, there are many trails and pathways along the Canal, and the Billy goat trail is very cool.

There are scooters and bikes you can rent all around town to get around too.

Ask away if you have any specific questions.

Here's a link to one of the newer museums in DC.
https://americanindian.si.edu/
It has been about 6 years since the last time visiting DC and there's so much to see.
There's a lot of photo opportunities in Alexandria as well.

Visit the Capitol building, go in with the tourists and see the observation gallery, watch our government in action for a few minutes. It's part of a big walkable quadrangle that includes the Library of Congress (behind the Capitol Building), the Supreme Court and Union Station, all at that end of the Mall, adjacent to Capitol Gardens. Somebody is always protesting at the capitol, reporters are reporting and you're in the center of the government universe. As an American, it's worth seeing all of that just for your general store of information.

The White House is down at the other end of the Mall, most of the way to the Washington Monument. It's fairly minimally interesting since it's heavily guarded and whatever happens in there is inside the building. Some people do protest there and it's minimally worth walking by there just so you can say you were there.

You can use the subway to get to all of those very easily....parking is difficult and expensive. Like New York, be prepared with comfortable shoes since you will do a lot of walking.

Here's a bit of a tour

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/doug-swanson?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=637789

If you must park in DC, you will save money by pre-purchasing your parking. It makes everything easier, and you receive a discount over drive-up prices. Read the information carefully. If you drive an oversized truck or SUV as I do, there could be an additional charge, and some garages have height and/or length restrictions.

https://parking.com/washington-dc/

https://spothero.com/

Off topic
@Angie about those planes suspended from the ceiling. I remember when I was back at the company shop, where I regularly worked, and one of our employees came back from the Smithsonian Air & Space museum and said, “They dropped the DC- 3 while hoisting it into position.”

"If you must park in DC, you will save money by pre-purchasing your parking. "

Parking is expensive. If you're going to a central location, park in one of the suburban subway stops and take the train downtown. Take it from a lifetime veteran of many DC days both for work and pleasure. You don't want to park in downtown DC unless you seriously know where you are going (you probably don't). Garages are expensive, or, you can park on the Mall for free, but only after you circle the place for an hour, hoping to catch a spot someone is leaving and then finding out that it's only a two hour space and that the Park Police cruise all the time, writing tickets.

Parking in the 'burbs and taking the train is the easy way. Be prepared to walk.

Do some plumbing at the Watergate?

Ha! Had to pass on the plumbing opportunity!

Fantastic trip. Definitely too short to see everything, but it was just long enough to make me want to return.

If you are headed to DC, prepare yourself, because a lot of walking is required.
My daily miles walked averaged around 6 miles/ (~10 kilometers) day.
The subway system is good, quick, inexpensive. It is a great way to get around, but you still need to walk a bit to get to your destinations.
I found the Circulator Bus to be a great way to get around "the mall"($1 per ride, and you can use your subway "metro" ticket. Some drivers did not charge anything)

Museums are FREE - which is so great, and there seems to be something for everyone!

The trip occurred toward the end of March, everyone and their grandmother seemed to be in town on Sunday to see the (truly beautiful) Cherry Blossom trees in bloom. Traffic jams and crowded sidewalks were the flavor of the day, but made for some good photo ops! Oh, and there was a Kite Festival on "the mall" between the Washington Monument and the US Capitol. Pretty cool.

The first photo I remember taking as a child was a picture of the White House. Very happy to be able to re-create that experience.
I will be adding photos to my Washington DC gallery. If you are interested, stop by and take a look.

Food - such a range and so many choices. Relatively expensive overall, but there are weekday happy hours at many restaurants, which reduce the cost of eating out.

All for now. Thanks to each of you for contributing to this thread!

I was there on Sunday too. It was a mad house! I spent 3 hours at the Tidal Basin and 3 hours in the traffic jam trying to get out of DC.

You couldn't have timed your trip better. Peak bloom was called last Thursday. Everything I read said two to three days after that the blooms were usually the prettiest.

Susan, seeing the traffic jams during the daymade me feel better about having the freedom to walk back to the hotel!
Everything cleared up at night. Experiencing the monuments at night was well worth another visit!

I'm less than 4 hours away from DC until at least the end of July. I intend to make one of two more trips before I leave the area but I'm holding out, hoping the Lincoln Memorial reflection pool gets filled for the summer. They have been working on it since before covid shut everything down. If it's not filled by June, then, I'll make plans for another visit.

For this trip, I has originally planned to do night shooting on Saturday evening and sunrise Sunday, but when I heard the pool still wasn't filled, and Saturday was going to be ugly, I cut the trip back to just one night.

I'm in motels on an average of 3 weekends a month, so I try to travel as cheaply as possible. I couldn't find anything in the city I thought was cheap/clean, and safe, so I stayed about 15 miles outside and drove in. I knew traffic was going to be a PITA but was a little shocked it was that bad at 9 am going out of town. I mistakenly thought everyone would be coming in at that time of the morning.

Susan,
The reflection pool has some water in it, which is still good for night photography, but probably not so much during daylight.
Link to night photo I took:
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/reflection-of-the-washington-monument-robert-yaeger.html

Good luck trying to find something closer in!

Beautiful reflection!

Here's my favorite Sunday sunrise shot of the Washington Monument.... https://fineartamerica.com/featured/tidal-basin-cherry-blossoms-sunrise-washington-monument-washington-dc-susan-rissi-tregoning.html

The last I read, they did not plan to fill it in time for the cherry blossoms festival. Do you think that's rain from Saturday?

I still think I'll wait for spring showers to lessen so I have better luck catching a pretty blue night sky.

We had 65 mph wind gusts yesterday from WV to DC. I'm sure all the blossoms are gone now.

For what it's worth, cherry blossom moment really is a moment. It's hard to plan if you're doing a trip from afar because the exact timing depends on the weather and, if it's "time" and it rains or gets windy, you're out of luck. There are soooooo many pictures of cherry blossoms.

I have to admit to thinking that you go to DC for yourself and the experience or to attend an event, or go to museums and less for art or photos. Everybody has seen those millions of pictures and it's complicated by the fact that half of the population has some sort of axe to grind about politics, so putting a picture of the identifiable DC icons on the wall or the mug seems to be something that not many people do.

Just to to Google or FAA and search for DC Cherry Tree and see how much competition there is.

Doug, maybe so. That was one of the reasons I refused to spend $300 plus a night for the weekend. But, at this same time, this was something I have wanted to experience ever since I was a child. I have visited DC many times in the past but never for the blossoms. I also happen to be a photographer, so I would never consider going with just my cell phone. I did that one time for Halloween in Salem, and I have never forgiven myself! If I never sell a single image from that morning, I don't care. It's another cherished memory. Something I got to experience, and these photos are for me.

Saying that it's all about how you promote to make yourself stand out from everyone else. This is an annual event that many people dream about visiting, just like I did. They enjoy looking at the pretty pictures and sharing them. Since I watermark with my name and website address, some people get curious about what else I shoot. They visit my website and read my blog, which carries over to FAA and does create sales in my other collections. Half the work is getting them there, and this works better for me than blasting advertisements day in and day out. People hate to be sold to all the time!

In just one FB group alone ( I don't use the FAA groups), that image I linked above has already received 1.2K likes and 59 shares. It's making the rounds, they may not buy one of my DC images, but I guarantee the amount of exposure will sell something because it always does eventually.

I am also in the process of creating a blog post with cherry blossom images. It's funny, but the images I blog are things I never really expect to sell, but I've managed to sell one or two images from almost every post I've ever done. That post will be the history of how they came to be here and a little travel info, not an ad for my cherry blossoms images but something people want to share and refer back to for their own trip.

By the way, before this trip for the Cherry Blossoms, I only had 13 Washington DC images up on my website, four of which I have sold in the past.

After watching many Kennedy Center Honors award shows on television, I wanted to see the Kennedy Center. It is definitely worth a visit. They have a new John F. Kennedy exhibit, which is excellent. Aside from the many, main performances in one of the three main performance venues on the second level, they also offer a free performance at 6pm(didn't see this), and a relatively inexpensive (~$58/ticket) (long running) play called "Shear Madness" that is in the cozy Actor's Theater on the top level (it was hilarious).

I'm currently reading "Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot," which has been fascinating since that was a little before my time and there are a lot of tidbits I didn't know. It has made me more curious about JFK, so I'd love to see that exhibit. Thanks for the tip.

I stumbled over an image of the Chinatown friendship gate the other night, and now I'm wanting to visit that neighborhood too. When I lived just outside of San Francisco, Chinatown was one of my favorite places to visit.

The Chinatown friendship gate is very cool, and the neighborhood has a lot to offer.
The National Portrait Gallery is close by. It was great to spend some time there.

All of the big museums in the Smithsonian universe are worth visiting. They get millions of visitors, but it's because they are arguably the best in their category. They are also free, which is hard to beat. It's best to go when schools are open (though spring field trips can complicate that) and weather is sketchy so the crowds are less. Summer, cherry tree time, spring break and winter break draw huge crowds of families with kids....not a bad thing, but you have to deal with the crowds that you don't see in a rainy Wednesday in February.

I never visited but if I will visit it, I would like to see the piece of the moon which has been put in a window, right in Washington Dc

There's a little piece in the National Cathedral in one of the stained glass windows. Aside from being impressed as to what it is (a little piece of rock, but from the moon), the cathedral itself is the big draw there. It's a spectacular full-gothic stone cathedral worth giving some hours for a long, relaxed tour. Sometimes the organist or chorus is rehearsing and you really get the full effect of this amazing space.

More close up, there's one in the Air and Space Museum that you can touch. Be aware, however, that the line is often quite long for that one. In the museum, however, an actual lunar lander is right up on the display floor. It's a large area and no touching, so crowds are irrelevant, but it's quite an impressive gadget.

A place NOT to be missed - the lobby of the Library of Congress. Hint - They won't let you handle the Gutenberg Bible. It's under lock and key, guarded, but you can look at one open page.

Thanks a lot Doug! I saw that a photographer made a collection of people's hands touching a piece of the moon, I thought to add this link.
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/touching-piece-moon

Anything more to add to this thread?

Get one of those tour guides. There's so much, not just in DC proper, but around there in the MD and VA 'burbs, that it's too much for a brief note in a web forum. I've lived around this area (the Baltimore-DC-Northern Virginia corridor) all my life, have done uncountable events in the DC-MD metro area and never seem to run out. It's probably the second best urban visitor destination after New York.

If I were to name just one, aside from the marble monuments tour, it might be Chinatown, but Georgetown, Alexandria and the New York Avenue retail corridor are worth seeing too.