Washington, D.C., sits on the Potomac River near Maryland and Virginia. The city is made up of a number of neighborhoods including Capitol Hill, Foggy Bottom, and Georgetown, but most first-time visitors will make their way to the iconic National Mall, home to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.
With a myriad of free high-quality attractions and signature, iconic monuments and memorials, it’s a destination not to be missed.
Full of history and the seat of the U.S. government, Washington D.C. is also a very affordable family getaway.
In a small, concentrated and highly walkable area, visitors will find the center of American history, culture, politics, education and art.
If you visit in the spring and time your trip right, you can see the gorgeous cherry blossom trees that surround the picturesque Tidal Basin in full bloom and take part in parades and activities geared towards kids at the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Washington, D.C., is home to the best-of-the-best in the country, and much of it is offered free to the public.
The National Mall is the most visited National Park in the country and stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol Dome. The Mall contains some of the top attractions in DC. Not to be missed are the Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, FDR Memorial and Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. However, this is but a few of over 100 monuments and memorials studded throughout the Washington DC area. The majority of these sites are free and open to the public 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Washington Monument is impossible to miss, towering over the Mall at 555 ft. Although it is currently closed for renovations, beginning in 2019 visitors will once again be able to go to the top and get a birds-eye view of the city.
In addition to all the monuments and memorials, the National Mall boasts a number of world-class (and free) museums. A can’t miss museum for families includes the National Air & Space Museum with the world’s largest collection of historic air and spacecraft including Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Brothers’ 1903 flyer and the Apollo 11 lunar mission command module. If you have a car, future pilots and explorers will also love the separate Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex near Dulles Airport that covers the history of flight and features an observation deck overlooking the Dulles airport where kids can watch planes taking off. Another favorite museum is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History filled with dinosaurs, mummies and the infamously cursed Hope Diamond. Outside the National Mall area is the Smithsonian National Zoo in DC’s Woodley Park neighborhood with its giant pandas and 1,500 other animal residents from over 300 different species. Other popular Washington, D.C., museums include the National Museum of African American History & Culture, National Gallery of Art, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and National Museum of American History, where kids can find the original Kermit the frog and Dorothy’s sparkly red shoes.
This charming, cobblestoned neighborhood features some of the best shopping in the city. It also has some fantastic restaurants that range from Irish pubs with live music to upscale Italian. The waterfront here features fountains that kids can splash around in during the summer and you can also rent kayaks and paddleboards to take out on the Potomac. In the winter there’s an outdoor ice rink for skating. Older kids might also enjoy a spooky climb up the iconic, long staircase from The Exorcist movie. Don’t forget to stop at Georgetown Cupcake where seasonal flavors range from maple chocolate chip to lavender Earl Grey teacake to blue buttercream topped with a unicorn.
Washington, D.C., has 45 performing arts & theater venues with more than 27,000 total seats. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts sits on the banks of the Potomac near the National Mall and is one of the premier stages in the country. At 6 pm every night, the Kennedy Center hosts a free show that could be dance, music, theater, comedy and more. Other notable venues include Ford’s Theatre (the site of President Lincoln’s assassination is still a working theater), National Theatre, Warner Theatre, and Shakespeare Theatre Company.
If your family is into sports, you can catch a number of games from one of the eight major professional teams that call Washington, D.C., home. Professional baseball came back to D.C. in 2005, and the Washington Nationals play in a state of the art stadium that opened in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood in 2008. The Washington Redskins play football at FedEx Field and families can find both men’s (Wizards) and women’s (Mystics) basketball at Capital One Arena, along with hockey’s Washington Capitals. DC United of Major League Soccer are scheduled to open a brand new stadium on the southwest waterfront in 2018, but currently play at RFK Stadium, just two miles east of the Capitol building.
There are three major airports in the Washington, D.C. region: Ronald Reagan Washington National, Washington Dulles International and Baltimore/Washington Airport. Train service is also plentiful with Amtrak’s Northeast Regional train running every hour between D.C.’s Union Station and New York City’s Penn Station. Washington, D.C.’s streets are laid out on a grid and relatively easy to navigate. However, parking in the city may be a challenge for those driving. By far, the easiest way to get around Washington, D.C., is via the underground Metro system. The Washington D.C. Metro is one of the safest, cleanest and most efficient transportation systems in the country.
Dave Parfitt is a reformed academic with a PhD in neuroscience, who began writing about his family travel adventures after surviving a trip to Walt Disney World with his two budding princesses, now ages 19 and 16. As owner and editor of Adventures By Daddy, Dave offers family travel advice and escapist fun from Dad’s point of view.
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