Hey there everyone!
My mum and I are going to the capital that is WASHINGTON DC!!!
This is our first time to this great city and was wondering if there is any *MUST DO's* in terms of sightseeing/restaurants?! (Apart from all the political banter that will be happening! )

We are staying for 5 nights in may and would like some insiders advise!

Thanks for your help!!

B52

1. The Washington Mall.
--war memorials, Washington memorial, lincoln memorial, White House, Capitol, Library of Congress
--Smithsonian museums Natural history, American History, Air and Apce, Art Gallery, National Archives, Native american
--paid museums---Newseum, Holocost, Spy museum a few blocks off the mall.
--tours---bureau of printing and ingraving, unsure of the status of the washington memorial and going inside there, tour of the Capitol, and white House.

2. Arlington National Cemetary

3. Ford Theater

4. National Zoo

5. Dupont Circle Area/Embassy Row/Gergetown

Outisde of DC:

1. Mt Vernon --George Washington home

2. Various Civil War battle sites--big ones are Gettysburgh, Antetum, and Fredericksburg

3. Baltimore inner harbor area.

4. Dulles airport grounds there is the other Smithsonian Air and Space museum(Udvar-Hazy) which has a bunch of aircraft and one of the space shuttles on display.

5. Trip to the beach in Delaware or Ocean City, MD

6. Harpers Ferry , WV

7. Charlottesville/Univ of Virginia, Jefferson home of Monticello, Virginia winery area


If you are traveling over our holiday weekend (memorial Day) in May (last Monday of May. The National Symphony does a free concert on the Saturday night of that weekend on the steps of the Capitol.

Some thoughts -

Definitely visit the Mall - you may want to dedicate a full day to this to check out all the monuments.

I would take a walking tour - I'm sure the DC tourist people can recommend some authorized providers. I actually lived in DC for years but never did this, so unfortunately I can't suggest any options.

Check out some of the Smithsonian museums (Air & Space, Freer, etc.) - they're free. The National Gallery (not a Smithsonian institution, but also free) is excellent and has very good special exhibits. The Phillips Collection in Dupont has an entry charge but is also a very good art museum and worth a visit.

Wander around some of the prettier neighborhoods - Georgetown and Dupont, in particular - to admire the architecture and gardens, check out the shops, and grab a bite to eat.

Take a walk up Mass Ave, NW - Embassy Row - to see the embassies. Some of the buildings are really grand, and it's interesting from a political perspective.

Grab a copy of the City Paper (free) to get a view of local goings-on, special events, and the like. There are loads of lectures, concerts, free movie screenings, and the like going on all the time, particularly in the warmer months.

Any special interests you have? As to restaurants and entertainment, is there anything in particular you're looking for?

One thing to keep in mind - DC is a rather small but spread-out city, and it definitely lacks the vibrancy associated with a large capital like London. You may find it rather sleepy.

Washington Monument is closed for repairs after the earthquake. You can see it from the Mall, but not get close or go up.

All good ideas posted above . . . it really depends on what types of things intrigue you.

For food, what types and what budget? There are loads of restaurants but I would say few are uniquely DC.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

In terms of restaurants something seafood/meaty. Want to find somewhere unique, quirky American etc places that make me go 'wow want to come back here again' Budget medium priced not too expensive!

Battle sites are they easy to get to? Any war memorial grounds would be good to visit!

One thing I forgot to mention---IF you are planning on being in DC only for your trip and are flying into DCA you do not need a rental car.

If you fly into dulles/IAD it will be cheaper just to take a shuttle/taxi rather than rent.

If you fly into BWI depending on the day you can easily transfer to MARC or the Greenbelt station bus from BWI so no care is needed.

Parking in DC is an utter PITA. Any hotel you stay at will charge you $25+ per day just to park your car. Then if you drive around the city you likely will have to pay for parking somewhere.

If you plan on doing something outsie of DC do it at the start or end of your trip. the days in DC you dont need to have a car.

Did you look in this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/washi...dining-dc.html or this one http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/washi...ington-dc.html

Old Town Alexandria

If you / mum are into antiques then try and book a tour of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the State Department - you need to pre book though.

Ditto for the Capitol - try and pre book

Also remember the Smithsonian is not a museum in itself more an umbrella for a number of others but check it's website and do some research to target what you want to see

See if your local library has any travel guides for DC and borrow them. It always helps to do some planning - especially as some US museums close one day a week and it varies from museum to museum.

May not qualify on price, but:
Prime Rib
BlackSalt

Also, for a lunch, Luke's Lobster for lobster rolls.

BTW, unfortunately a lot of the more "memorable" dining in DC is on the expensive side because a lot of people get to eat on expense account. Although, having myself eaten in London, the prices may not be shocking at all and seem downright affordable to someone from there.

There are of course the more modest places - Ben's Chili Bowl is a relatively famous local place known for "half-smokes", a type of sausage - that are reasonably priced, but not exactly fine dining.

This is just the beginning of course.

The battle sites are easy to get to.

Fredericksbug down I-95 has 4 separate sites joined into one park. The most well known is Chancellorsville where stonewall jackson died. There has been alot of publicity with this site because of walmart wanting to build near it.

In Manassas there were 2 battles at Bull Run. this is right of I-66 when you get to Manassas


About an hr and half north is Gettysburgh. This is easy to get to via I-270/US 15.

About an 75 min away there is Antetium which was the first really big battle in the war and then nearby there is Harpers Ferry where John Brown armed slave revolt occured just prior to the civil war begining.

As for Restaurants----

In DC itself things can be overpriced. There are areas you can find some stuff. Focus more on Dupont Circle/Adam-Morgan , U-district, Friendhip heights, Chinatown.

Think of it this way if you are closer to the metro the place may be more tourist driven but if you walk a few blocks away from the station you find a more local place.

Ben's Chili Bowl.

If in DC for five days, unless one is a huge war buff, I'd skip burning a whole day to visit any of the battlefields.

For interesting 'meaty' places to eat, I'd hop the Orange Line and hit Ray's the Steaks or Retro Rays for a meal!

http://raysthesteaks.com/

There's another outpost (and perhaps less expensive/less formal) in Silver Spring, which is right on the Red Line. Ray's the Classics:

http://raystheclassics.com/

There are other good places to eat in downtown Silver Spring as well. There's a delicious and reasonably priced Burmese place called Mandalay. Excellent Indian/Nepali at a place called Ghar-E-Kebab. The Quarry House is a wonderfully grotty underground bar with delicious, greasy burgers, an excellent juke box and frequent live music.

In the District, the restaurant scene tends to skew expensive, and many of the restaurants are mediocre or worse. One notable exception to this rule is Ethiopian - there are some excellent places. My personal favorite is Dukem on U St, NW.

Somemore interesting places: the Pentagon tour, US Supreme Court tour, Bureau of Engraving museum.

http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publiccho...de2012_aug.htm

this is up to date, and extremely extensive. probably close to 1000 entries. runs from very expensive to very cheap.steak and burgers to end of earth stuff. the entries here appear about a year before the wash post or zagat find them.

his only prejudice that i see is he really likes hot Korean food.