Originally Posted by
Will Fly Småland
Great, that's actually the answer I wanted to hear!
What about safety when walking around on foot? The usual big city precautions aside, should I be worried that I might accidentally get into areas where one shouldn't be walking around?
The touristy areas of DC are extremely safe by US standards. The worst you'll see are some random homeless folks shambling about. Unless you're going to any of the gentrifying neighbourhoods (Far side of H St NE, fringes of Eastern Market, Hill East, Petworth, etc...), you'd have to try quite hard to mistakenly wander into a sketchy area. Of the places you mentioned wanting to see, you'd have to wander miles before you end up anywhere even remotely objectionable.
I second the no car. Having a car in DC is a huge pain, as traffic is terrible and parking ranges from nonexistent to exorbitantly expensive. All of the places you mentioned are easily walkable from one another.