First time visitors to DC-7 days
 

Hello all,I am planning a week long visit to DC.This will be our first visit.
I plan to look at as many of the Smithsonian exhibits as I can(The Freer and the Uter Hazey are on my must do list)but a week is a long visit.
We will have a single hotel as our base,so side day trips are a definate possibility.
Any recomendations you have are welcome.
We are two able bodied early middle aged guys.

Big Guy,

I'd recommend doing one of the hop-on hop-off tour buses on your first day. That will give you a good idea of the layout of the city. On the other days, you can ride the Metro, which is very easy to figure out and use.

You can easily spend a few days at the Smithsonians (The American History Museum is closed for renovations, but reopens Nov. 21, 2008). The Air and Space museum is the most popular of them all and could easily take up a whole day by itself. The Udvar Hazy center is an annex of the Air and Space museum, but is actually located adjacent to Dulles Airport, about 50-60 mins away. There is no shuttle bus from DC, so you'll need to drive there. The new Newseum also just opened a few months ago.

Don't forget things such as Washington Monument tickets and Capitol tours must be booked in advance. White House tours must be booked through your congressman.

My other recommendations: Do a tour of the monuments at night (Iwo Jima, Lincoln, Vietnam, Jefferson, ect...) they all look better at night, and much less crowds to deal with. Spend one night bar hopping/walking along M St. in Georgetown. Also, if you are looking for a day trip, take the MARC train (regional rail) up to Baltimore (Camden Yards station) for the day and walk around the inner harbor. The National Aquarium is also there.

Also, if you can (and you're into aviation), try to make one trip to Gravelly Point park in Arlington. This offers one of, if not the best, places in the U.S. for planespotting. The park is located less than a 1/2 mile from the end of runway 19 at DCA and the planes fly about 150 ft. overhead. Nothing bigger than a 737 flies in there, but exciting none the less! You can access this park via car on the GW Parkway or you can walk there on the Mount Vernon bike trail after crossing the Potomac over either the Memorial or 14th St. bridge. (Check flightaware.com to make sure the planes are landing to the south on runway 19, not runway 1, before you go!)

Alan

I agree about it being possible to spend all day at Air and Space; one could
do likewise at Natural History or the NGA. The newly renovated Portrait
Gallery is worth a visit for those interested in history.

Daytrips: Annapolis and Mt. Vernon, both historically and esthetically
interesting, the former also the site of some pretty fine seafood restaurants.

You should have no problem filling up a week.

Finally, if you're interested in getting to meet local FTers, why not post on
this thread?

all good points in the posts, above. I'd add the International Spy Museum (not part of Smithsonian, but cool if you like Cold War/Espionage) and the FDR and WWII memorials to the suggested night tour. Also consider, based on your preferences, the Holocaust Museum.

There is a brand new crime & punishment museum in town, as well. The Spy Museum and C&P are both kind of pricey - not sure about the newseum. I am intrigued by the crime & punishment one, but haven't made it there just yet. I do recommend you pick up a Washington Flyer magazine when you arrive at the DC airport - it has a local map, but better yet has the list of all the museum exhibits going on at the time.

There is a memorial for 9/11 near the Pentagon, Iwo Jima, Arlington National Cemetery, etc, etc just outside the city but all accessible via metro one way or the other. You will get your walking time in during your visit.

Tell us more of the type of things you want to do and we can provide better information. Also, where are you staying - will you have a car for any portion of your stay? There is a ton to do right in DC, and plenty in the surrounding areas, as well - just a matter of what you're looking for.

One other comment for the one above re: M Street in Georgetown - Adams Morgan, Old Town Alexandria across the water might be better as I have found Georgetown to be a lot of college at times.

the mt vernon visit on the boat ride is nice.

Pompeii exhibit is at natl gallery

phillips gallery has some nice stuff.

Some great suggestions. I will point out that the Newseum (across Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues from the National Gallery of Art) runs about $20 a head. Spy Museum is similarly priced. In a town where most of the museums are free, the fee is a bit jolting.

Rent bikes and ride the route recommended by Alan747 (the access to the bike trail on 14th Street Bridge is right by the Jefferson Memorial, to Memorial Bridge by the Lincoln Memorial). Gravelly Point is a fun spot if you like planes, and you can follow the trail past National Airport and Daingerfield Island to Old Town Alexandria. If you're really energetic, you can continue on further to Mount Vernon, but it's about a 26-mile roundtrip from the 14th Street Bridge.

You can also rent Segways (not cheap) at the Old Post Office Building (you can't miss the clock Tower and it's across Pennsylvania Avenue from the hideous FBI Building), although I think they may close up shop when the cold weather hits. I think they look ridiculous, but the tourists seem to love 'em.

As I recently recommended in another thread, the Washington Post's Visitors Guide is an excellent resource.

Be sure to get to some of the more neighborhoody type places in the city that are lots of fun: Dupont obviously, Adams Morgan for good ethnic restaurants and nightlife, Woodley Park for the zoo/good restaurants, Capital Hill, etc.

Although I spent many years working in DC and know the city well, on a recent trip to visit my son who is working as a House page, we took the Segway tour. It really was fun and very easy to get the hang of it (we'd done them in Paris, so I'm not a complete novice). Our 2 hour tour was $65 per person and I thought it was worth it.

I second the advice about doing an evening stroll through the monuments area. It is very striking at night.

If you want a fun way to spend a weekend morning, I suggest Eastern Market in the Capitol Hill area. Local vendors, farmers market, flea market... a nice slow morning to break up the "touristy" stuff.

I'm kind of a geek, so I very much enjoyed the National Archives - never visited in all my DC years. The wait is very very long unless you're there first thing in the morning, so I recommend checking on the times and making that your first stop of the day if you're into that kind of thing. If you get there and the line is so long that you don't want to wait, sculpture garden is lovely and right across the street.

I'm jealous - I'd love to be back there.

I was excited to visit the Spy Museum but left disappointed. Thought it was boring, and it wasn't worth the $17 entrance fee. YMMV.

Also, if you're able to visit the Pentagon, it's worth checking out the brand new Pentagon Memorial that just opened - and if you're over there, you could swing by the new Air Force Memorial too.

Interested in the Civil War?
 

If you want to day trip from DC, there is a lot of Civil War history available in Virginia and Maryland. For example Manassas, Bull Run is in day trip distance plus there are many more battlegrounds etc in this area, here is a reference for VA:

http://www.civilwar-va.com/EAST/VA/index.html

In addition to Mt Vernon, Woodlawn is in very close proximity to MV and was the home of Nellie Custis. I enjoyed visiting both.
Have fun.

Actually, one week in D.C. is not a long time at all. You will have to prioritize what you visit. One could *easily* spend a full week just in the Smithsonian Institution.

In addition to previous posts, there are:

Military/firearms theme: Marine Corps Museum (Quantico), new and quite good. NRA has a museum in Fairfax, VA. Museum in the Navy Yard in D.C.; medical museum at Walter Reed

Arts: Corcoran, Hillwood, Kreeger,

Other government: Library of Congress, Bureau of Engraving, many agencies (Dept of Interior; can get tours of some buildings such as Old Executive Office (Eisenhower) Building on Saturdays...

Other museums in institutions: American Red Cross, Daughters of the American Revolution, National Academy of Sciences, National Building Museum...

Historical homes...

There are also a lot of events in the various embassies. For example, see www.embassyevents.com and www.embassyseries.com

It is virtually endless

If interested in Civil War history you could visit Harpers Ferry http://www.nps.gov/hafe/ and Antietam http://www.nps.gov/anti/ in a single day trip.

If you make a trip up to Baltimore, make sure you visit Fort McHenry http://www.nps.gov/fomc/ - if you want you can take a water taxi right from the inner harbor to the Fort.

Having my apartment in DC helps to see things in DC :)

I would echo Eastern Market. Go for breakfast but get there early. It's off of the Eastern Market metro.

Georgetown is always great and I would also recommend stopping by the National Zoo if you have a leisurely afternoon. It's free and a great place to walk. The Zoo was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead so it's wonderfully meandering. See the famous pandas if they're out. They're very finicky with the weather.

If you're a news guru, I would recommend the Newseum but it's pricey.

Another great stop in VA is Olde Town Alexandria. Great waterfront. Take the Metro to Court & there's a trolley.

If you're into music, you HAVE to check out 9:30 Club. Great, nationally known bands, at great prices. NPR might even be there to record for All Songs Considered.

Glad I am not the only one who thinks this. I went a few years ago and vowed never again.

Another idea is to visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to see money getting printed. The tour guides aren't very exciting but the tour is actually very interesting and only takes 30-45 minutes. You have to pick up time stamped tickets the day you want to go but you can call in the morning and they will tell if they have a lot tickets available. From what I understand they are not that busy during the week outside of the holidays.