Tell me about Washington?

[Flowertot]

Booked for 8 days in Washington, staying in DuPont Circle.
Any advice on what to do, where to go? Are there any games we would go and try to see? Any advice would be great
Thanks

[Lizzim]

We went in December - I wrote a trip report which might give you some ideas.

Highly recommend visiting the Capitol building and doing the tour (it’s free but you might want to book in advance).

Lots of things to do in DC

[shack69]

Museums, They have some really good ones. They even have a shuttle in the national air and space museum.
A walk around George town
Arlington cemetery
a trip out to alexandria on the metro.

[sparklegirl]

You are staying in a lovely location with easy access to all over. If you have time i would recommend a trip to National Harbour combined with a walk through Alexandria to catch water taxi there. It has things on at night and weekends and you can either take a picnic or buy food and sit and watch everything. Its really quite lovely and a bit different from all the museums.
nationalharbor/
In terms of museums I would recommend The Holocaust Museum and also the Natural History one. Just walk around and soak in the atmosphere. There are all the memorials in easy walking distance at National Mall. There is also the Darth Vader Gargoyle at the Cathedral and the pandas at the Zoo all of which are free.

My absolute favourite city in the world! Eight weeks before i head back.

[neilhd]

Loved Washington when we went last year.

There's the National Mall of course, the White House, and we really enjoyed the Spy Museum.

[disney332]

Arlington Cemetary is worth a visit, albeit a somewhat sombre experience

Disney332

[Puddle5]

Absolutely love Washington been three times so far!

Lovely city to stay in, if you are near a metro station incredibly easy to use. Walking around the museums and monuments again is very easy.

Recommend you do all the war monuments on the National Mall and walk around the Tidal Basin to visit FDR monument MLK and Thomas Jefferson memorials.

The Smithsonian museums are superb and you could easily spend half a day or more at each. I really enjoyed the National Archives

As said above visit Capital Hill you can go on a guided tour if you book in advance and then go under tunnel to library of congress.

The National Botanic Gardens are also worth a quick visit, easily done in a couple of hours (Capital Hill end of the Mall).

We went to Mount Vernon (home of George Washington) one day, a short trip to end of metro line and then a 10 minute bus ride. This is a beautiful place, lots of history and lovely walks around the grounds.
We combined this with time in Alexandria as you go through this on the metro.

We went to a Washington Wizards Vs Orlando Magics (basketball) game one evening a really unique experience. I'm not really a sports lover but watching our cousins across the sea's behaviour was really fun!

Second Arlington Cemetery, really moving, especially the JFK flame.
Whilst at the cemetery take a walk over to the Imo Jima (Marine Corp) Memorial it is really impressive.

Lastly recommend going on a night time tour. The monuments take on a completely new look at night.

Have a fantastic time!

[YorkshireT]

I prefer Washington to NYC by some margin. I love it there if you like museums etc. Must do Capitol building, book online months in advance. Make sure you go to space museum up near the airport as well as the one on the mall. The Enola Gay and Space shuttle are at the one near the airport.
Some good restaurants. Founding Farmers is pretty cool.

[Puddle5]

Agree with Yorkshire T. Much prefer Washington to New York. That said off to New York in Nov with DH as he hasn't been yet!

[Puddle5]

Loved Filomena Ristorante - Georgetown. Huge portions and lovely Italian food.
Also if you go to the spy museum or Capital One Arena call in at Pizza PI (spelt with
PI symbol) for a lovely Pizza and a bit of fun. Admittedly husband and family are maths geeks!