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My boyfriend and I are planning on making a day trip to DC this weekend as he has never been. He's from the middle of nowhere and he thinks Richmond is a "big city" lol. I've been many times but usually for some specific purpose and not just to tour around. Where should we go/what should we do? Cheap or free activities are ideal.
On weekends, generally traffic should not be as horrendous (barring special events). The great majority of sights in Washington have free admission. Exceptions off the top of my head, are Mount Vernon, the International Spy Museum, Tussaud's Wax Museum, Crime and Punishment Museum, and Capitol building tour which all charge admission. The great many Smithsonian museums, most of them close together in the "National Mall" area are free, and open 10 am to 530 pm (or later) daily - for a full description, click here Smithsonian . The many national monuments are also there, including the Vietnam "Wall". The U.S. Capitol building has a new visitors center, and nearby to it is the Botanical Gardens (greenhouse conservatory) National Gallery of Art, Holocaust Museum, and beautifully-decorated Library of Congress. These places are all free, you just walk-in. Other outlying sights include Arlington Cemetery, the enormous Washington Cathedral, the enormous National Catholic Shrine, the Kennedy Center tour, beautiful, ornate Union Station, elegant Embassy Row, trendy Georgetown, charming Old Town Alexandria, the Dupont Circle area, and the popular bustling Chinatown - Penn Quarter area which people have started calling "mini Times Square". A particularly outstanding and innovative Cafeteria is in the Smithsonian American Indian Museum. Due to security concerns since 9/11, your purse may be searched as you enter all buildings. For a great view overlooking the city, take a free elevator ride up the tower of the "Old Post Office" building on Penn. Avenue at 11th Street N.W.
You may choose to drive in and park in a garage (Union Station's is cheaper than most), or park on the street (pay very careful attention to the parking restriction signs which differ from one street to the other), or you can park in a suburban metrorail lot, and ride the subway into town. Suburban metrorail parking lots do not fill-up on weekends, as they do on weekdays. You can get TONS of information about the city, here Reviews of Hotels, Flights and Vacation Rentals - TripAdvisor and click on "District of Columbia" for (positive and negative) customer reviews and recommendations on hundreds of specific HOTELS, restaurants, and sights (which are ranked there in top-down order of popularity). Hope this helps you with figuring out a sophisticated, bustling and complicated city - my hometown.
Last edited by slowlane3; 03-09-2012 at 09:33 PM..
For a first timer and just one day, I'd walk the mall - starting at the Lincoln all the way to the Capitol. You'll see monuments and memorials, will pass the white house, and can visit any of the museums that appeal to you. If you have the energy, the Library of Congress is also worth a visit and is right behind the Capitol building. You can grab a hot dog from a street vendor or sit at a museum cafe for lunch and then head to Dupont, Georgetown or whatever neighborhood you want for dinner.
Starting at the Lincoln means you won't have time for a tour of the Capitol or LoC - but you'll still be able to see the buildings and can plan for a tour on a subsequent visit.
Staying in one pedestrian area like that, where you can see a ton of famous and interesting sites, should feel less intimidating and less stressful than navigating multiple locations in a city that's more complicated and heavily trafficked than Richmond is (for most people). That should mean it's more likely he'll want to return!
If you can only be there for 1 day I'd recommend getting there as early as you can. The head over to the mall area and just decide which museums you'd like to see. You can go online and get a ticket for the monument which is basically free but since you're going this weekend it's probably too late for that :/ It's really hard to do so much with just 1 day because there is so much to do in DC. I've gone on 3 seperate vacations in the last 4 years and I can finally say I've done most of the stuff I want to do but there are still a few things I'd be interested in.
The museums that might interest you guys are the Air and Space, Natural History and American History. I like the American History the most. You might not have time to do all 3 but I'd pick the Air and Space and the American history as the top 2.
As stated the best idea is to walk around the mall area, see musuems and monuments for free during the day, then head to an area like dupont or georgetown (or any downtown area) for dinner ... so you can see a tiny bit of the rest of the city.
^^^^ Hit the nail on the head and took the words out of my mouth. Oh and give him that big city experience and take the metro. Whenever I have out of town guests I always take them for one ride on the metro just to remind them they're not in Georgia anymore (yes yes I know one could ride the MARTA in Atlanta but the metro is superior).
thanks everyone for the input! we may or may not end up going this weekend, but we definitely are going soon.
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