4 hours in DCA
 

Apologies if I missed some previous threads on this subject. I will be flying out of DCA 10/21 and will be dropped off early at the airport, so I have about 4 to maybe 5 hours free to see some sites. I won't have a car or any other transportation besides the Metro. I was in the same situation a year ago and saw some of the Smithsonian facilities.

I certainly wouldn't mind doing that again, but can any FT'ers suggest other places on the Metro that I could see in that short time frame? I would appreciate anyone's ideas.

Thanks!
Dan

The website below has info on taking Metro to various sights......

http://www.wmata.com/getting_around/...visitorkit.cfm


My vote is for Yellow Line to Gallery Place/Chinatown station for the relatively new Smithsonian American Art museum and some Asian food.......

enjoy!

or Archives for the National Gallery of Art, L'Enfant for the Air & Space Museum, or Arlington Cemetery with a walk to the Lincoln Memorial if you need to stroll. The National Building Museum makes a nice architectural contrast to the American Art/Portrait Gallery, and both are along the Yellow Line.

The ride is only about 10 minutes and the longest you'll wait for a train on a weekday should be about 10 minutes.

Gallery Place Chinatown for National Portrait Gallery and the aforementioned food (there's all styles, flavors, price points, etc. in and around Chinatown).

Good suggestions so far. ^

If the weather is nice (likely in October) you can take the Blue Line Metro to Rosslyn and walk across the Key Bridge into Georgetown. Great views of the river and parts of the city. Have a meal or do some shopping and return...

Will you be able to check in for your flight that early? Should be, but you might want to confirm. Then you'd have just your carry-on bag(s) with you; hopefully small. Look at any guide to DC and see where you want to go, then look at www.wmata.com for Metro schedules. Remember that the trains can get crowded at rush hour, and you should be back at the airport an hour before your flight, since security lines can be long. Really not a lot of time.

Another idea is to take the train in the opposite direction to King St. (only 2 stops from DCA), and have a stroll through Old Town Alexandria, VA.