Places to Visit in Washington

Washington D.C. is a fascinating city, but -- how you see Washington D.C is as important (if not more important) than what you’ll see: choosing what to see is relatively easy. The hard part is to travel and sightsee stress free.

This article is packed full of references to online Washington resources and places to visit in Washington. We will have a resources section at the end of this article with tons of useful links that we reference in this article with italic printing and a number. For now, let’s get back to planning your stress free trip to Washington, D.C.

So – first: try to pick a mild sunny day. The founders (perhaps foreseeing the present political environment) erected Washington D.C. on top of a swap, and it can be hot and sticky in the summer. Check out the 7 day local forecast in Washington, D.C¹. before setting out on your trip. Prepare in case the weather becomes hotter or colder than expected.

Second: stay in the tourist areas -- especially at night.  Washington D.C. can be dangerous outside of the tourist areas. If you want to know which areas are dicey, check out the web site Crime in DC^2.

Third: don’t’ drive in the city. Take public transportation³ and wear comfortable shoes. If you don’t spend a lot of time in the museums, you can see most of the popular places in a single day of walking. 

If you’re driving into the city, find a parking place near a metro station and pay for the day.  It’s money well spent.  If you’re going to visit for more than one day and you’re planning to stay in a hotel, find one that is out of town, in a safe area, and close to a metro stop. 

Forth: Plan. Be the man (or the woman) with a plan (ignore Lao Tzu’s⁴ otherwise good advice about how “a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving”).  Lao had lots of time on his hands – you (probably) don’t.  

Fast trips to big cities require plans. Planning is NOT fun for most people -- so do it before you leave, not after. The up-front work will pay off in terms of seeing what you want in the most stress-free manner possible because it will help you stay “in the moment:” you won’t be thinking about where to go and how to get there while you’re actually trying to go and get there. 

Start by getting a map of the city (try entering the address or name of the place you want to visit in Google, e.g., (Smithsonian Institution: National Museum of African Art⁵).  Critically important – get a metro map⁶, and then like the allies before D-day, plan your invasion of Washington DC. 

Once the big day arrives and you’re in the city, get an all day metro card. Pay close attention to the metro locations and closing times as the transit authority might make a last minute change to its schedule⁷.

A Simple Plan

Start on The National Mall⁸: take the Metro to The Mall, stop near any monument, and then stroll until you’ve seen what you want. On the mall, you’ll also have your choice of three museums: the Smithsonian⁹, the Natural History¹⁰, and the American History Museum¹¹. The National Mall has some of the most moving memorials in the country if not the world: be sure to check out the WWII¹² and Vietnam¹³ memorials.

If you only have one day to visit Washington D.C., pick one museum. This will limit your time in the museums -- unless that’s what you came to do. You’d be surprised by how much time you can spend in a museum. If you have two or more days to visit, a good strategy is to spend one day on the mall and the others in the museums.

If you’ve started your visit in the morning on the National Mall, by noon, you’ll be hungry. Plan to have a picnic on the mall. If you’re not into picnics, or the weather turns bad, head inside to one of the museums. Try the Air & Space Museum and eat lunch like an astronaut -- try the freeze-dried ice cream.

To walk off lunch, head back to the mall -- or for a change of scenery and pace, take the Metro out to the Arlington National Cemetery¹⁴.

By late afternoon, it’ll be time for dinner. Take the Metro back to Georgetown or Chinatown. Again, locate areas to eat before you go, and then make a final decision after you arrive.

After the sun sets, metro back to The Mall to see everything at night – at the Lincoln Memorial¹⁵ you'll see everything lit up and reflecting nicely in the appropriately named pool (the “Reflecting Pool”).

So, in sum: Make a plan (and plan to walk and ride the Metro), but -- be sure to heed John Steinbeck’s happy advice:

 “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
~ John Steinbeck¹⁶

P.S. As some final advice, try to avoid visiting Washington D.C. on a day of massive protest.  Visit the Official Tourism Site of Washington D.C¹⁷. and call them to ask if there are any upcoming protest planned in the city.

For a list of online resources related to anything mentioned in this article, please check out our Washington DC Resources section.

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