Three Days in Washington DC
When to Visit?
Anytime of year is great for DC! BUT if you want to see the famous cherry blossoms in bloom around the Tidal Basin, mid march will be your best bet. Summers can be pretty warm and it is a lot of walking, so spring and fall may be the sweet spot for you. Our most recent trip was this past June (during a heat wave 🥵 and the Washington monument was closing early each day).
How long should I stay?
We found 3 days to be a great amount of time BUT you could absolutely spend so much more time here! You could quite literally spend days in the museums! Before planning I would suggest deciding on which Smithsonian’s you want to see and go from there.
Transportation?
Know before you go!
While most of the museums and monuments offer free entry some do require booking a timed entry slot in advance. The Washington Monument opens up ticketing 30 days in advance and they tend to go quick, if you miss them don’t stress though. Each morning at 10am they release a limited amount online for the next day AND you can also pick up tickets day of from the office in front of the monument, they are first come first serve so I recommend getting there when they open around 8:45-9am. Most museums you can book more last minute but if it’s something you really want to see I would just book the slots!
Day One
On our first day we walked to Tatte for a quick breakfast and coffee before heading out for the day. We reserved a 10am entry for the National Air & Space Museum, it is currently undergoing some restorations but highly recommend! We really enjoyed the exhibits available and could easily see how someone could stay a whole day when the entire museum is open. I would set aside at least 2 hours for this. While in the area we took a walk to the National Mall and check out a few of the monuments while we were there. Since we had found ourselves in the middle of a heat wave we we decided to rearrange some of our plans and enjoyed a few hours by the rooftop pool at our hotel. For dinner we chose Oyamel, which came highly recommended, and it absolutely did not disappoint. It was easily one of the best meals we’ve had all year!
Day Two
Our hotel was not far from the Capitol so first thing in the morning we took a walk to check it out before the crowds rolled in. The grounds are beautiful and it really was great to see when you have the area almost to yourself. While in the area we also got to see the Supreme Courthouse and walked over to admire Union Station.
We stopped at Coffee Republic for a caffeine fix, while it’s a chain it’s always kind of nice to live like a local when traveling. Then we were off to visit all the must sees! We headed to the White House first, and then hit all the monuments, starting at the Lincoln and working our way down. This can take as much or as little time as you’d like. There’s quite a bit of walking but if you’re trying to do it a bit faster there are plenty of bikes and scooters to rent spanning the entire National Mall area. The WWII Memorial offers a great spot to take a break and dip your feet in the water when it’s hot and man was it hot! Unfortunately due to the heat the Washington Memorial was closed early for the day.
Our next stop was the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This museum was very well done, especially for those who may have never been to any like it or traveled to places like Poland or Germany. This museum also requires timed entry slots, I would highly recommend either early in the day, especially during the summer so you’re not i the crowd trying to beat the heat. It did feel a bit congested first walking in but as soon as you really get into the exhibit the crowd dissipates pretty quickly.
Day Three
This morning we would have taken a ride up to the top of the Washington Monument, but was canceled due to extreme heat. So, instead we decided to catch a ride to Georgetown to check out the area. First we stopped at Call Your Mother for some bagels and coffee, if you’re planning on trying on of their locations definitely get there early or order ahead to avoid the line. Make sure to walk around and admire all the beautifully colored houses!! We took our food to the Georgetown U campus and found a great spot to sit before taking a look around. After that we found the infamous stairs from The Exorcist, walked along M & Wisconsin Streets check out some shops and ended our time in the area by the water. There is some great space to spend outside in the area & if you grab a bike there’s plenty to of trail to ride!
Once we finished up in Georgetown we were off on our way back to the city. We decided to check out one more Smithsonian while we were down there and landed on the Museum of Natural History. This one is huge and could definitely spend hours in there, warning it was definitely the most crowded of the three we visited, but again we went midday on a weekend in the middle of a heatwave.
We still had plenty of time before our flight home so we took some time to go check out the Eastern Market, where we got to see some live music and check out all the local vendors. After that we grabbed a bite to eat near our hotel and it was time to grab our bags and heat to the airport!
We could have definitely squeezed in more for this trip but all-in-all, we found we got to see almost everything we planned and left just enough to come back again! We’ll pin everything below!
Accommodations
Things to See
Coffee & Breakfast
Food & Drink
The home for unique & authentic travel
