Must-see attractions in Washington, DC

  • Glen Echo, Maryland, United States-July 22, 2021 1921 era Carousel in Glen Echo Park, Maryland; Shutterstock ID 2013394772; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Glen Echo Park

    Washington, DC

    This beautiful park 9 miles northwest of downtown has a huge carousel (per ride $1.25, operating May through September) and children’s shows by the Puppet…

  • Franciscan Monastery

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Also known as Mt St Sepulchre, the monastery offers serene grounds with 42 acres of tulips, dogwoods, cherry trees, roses – and some peculiar re-creations…

  • National Building Museum

    Washington, DC

    Devoted to architecture and urban design, the museum is housed in a magnificent 1887 edifice modeled after the Renaissance-era Palazzo Farnese in Rome…

  • Scottish Rite Temple

    Washington, DC

    The regional headquarters of the Scottish Rite Freemasons, also known as the House of the Temple, is one of the most eye-catching buildings in the…

  • National Museum of Health and Medicine

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Macabre exhibits galore pack this Department of Defense–run museum. The stomach-shaped hairball leaves a lasting impression (a 12-year-old girl ate THAT?)…

  • Oak Hill Cemetery

    Georgetown

    This 24-acre, obelisk-studded cemetery contains winding walks and 19th-century gravestones set into the hillsides of Rock Creek. It’s a fantastic spot for…

  • Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

    Washington, DC

    Escaped slave, abolitionist, author and statesman Frederick Douglass occupied this beautifully sited hilltop house from 1878 until his death in 1895…

  • Bureau of Engraving & Printing

    Washington, DC

    Cha-ching! The nation's paper currency is designed and printed here. Guides lead 40-minute tours during which you peer down onto the work floor where…

  • Daughters of the American Revolution Museum

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    This neoclassical behemoth is supposedly the largest complex of buildings in the world owned exclusively by women. They own the entire city block! Enter…

  • National Museum of African Art

    Washington, DC

    Enter the museum’s ground-level pavilion through the Enid A Haupt Garden, then descend into the dim underground exhibit space. Devoted to ancient and…

  • President Lincoln's Cottage

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    History buffs can make the trek to President Lincoln's summer house tucked away on the grounds of the Soldiers' Retirement Home. Abe came here to beat the…

  • Textile Museum

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    This gem is the country’s only textile museum. Galleries spread over two floors hold exquisite fabrics and carpets. Exhibits revolve around a theme – say…

  • Marine Barracks

    Washington, DC

    The ‘Eighth and Eye Marines’ are on largely ceremonial duty at the nation’s oldest Marine Corps post. Most famously, this is the home barracks of the…

  • Department of the Interior Museum

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Responsible for managing the nation’s natural resources, the Department of the Interior operates this small museum to educate the public about its current…

  • Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    DC was built on a marsh, a beautiful, brackish, low-lying ripple of saw grass and steel-blue water, wind-coaxed and tide touched by the inflow of the…

  • Constitution Gardens

    Washington, DC

    Constitution Gardens is a bit of a locals’ secret. Quiet, shady and serene, it’s a reminder of the size of the Mall – how can such isolation exist amid so…

  • Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle

    Washington, DC

    The sturdy redbrick exterior doesn’t hint at the marvelous mosaics and gilding within this 1893 Catholic cathedral, where JFK was laid in state and his…

  • Mexican Cultural Institute

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    The Mexican Cultural Institute looks locked up and imposing, but don't be deterred. The gilded beaux-arts mansion is open to the public and hosts…

  • National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

    Washington, DC

    This 6-acre garden is studded with whimsical sculptures such as Roy Lichtenstein’s House I (1998), a giant Claes Oldenburg typewriter eraser (1999) and…

  • East Potomac Park

    Washington, DC

    Although only a stone’s throw from the National Mall, for tourists, East Potomac Park may as well be in Siberia. The pleasant, green, cherry-blossom-lined…

  • Hirshhorn Museum

    Washington, DC

    The Smithsonian’s cylindrical art museum shows works from modernism’s early days to today's most cutting-edge practitioners. Exhibitions of works drawn…

  • Old Stone House

    Georgetown

    Built in 1766 in what was then the British colony of Maryland, the capital's oldest surviving building has been a tavern, a brothel and a boardinghouse …

  • African American Civil War Museum

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Set in an old schoolhouse behind the African American Civil War Memorial, the museum makes the point that for some, the Civil War was about secession…

  • Woodrow Wilson House

    Washington, DC

    This Georgian-revival mansion offers guided hour-long tours focusing on the 28th president’s life and legacy. Genteel docents discuss highlights of Wilson…

  • Georgetown University

    Georgetown

    Georgetown is one of the nation's top universities, with a student body that's equally hard-working and hard-partying. Founded in 1789, it was America’s…

  • Renwick Gallery

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Part of the Smithsonian group, the Renwick Gallery is set in a stately 1859 mansion on the same block of Pennsylvania as the White House. It's emerged as…

  • White House Visitor Center

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Getting inside the White House can be difficult, so here is your back-up plan. Housed in the splendiferous 1932 Patent Search Room of the Department of…

  • Petersen House

    Washington, DC

    After being shot at Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln was carried across the street to Petersen House. Its three tiny, unassuming rooms create a moving personal…

  • State Department

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    The headquarters of the American diplomatic corps is a forbidding, well-guarded edifice – modernist, monolithic and unfriendly. In stark contrast are the…

  • National Academy of Sciences

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Made up of approximately 2000 members, including almost 200 Nobel Prize winners, these are the folks the government hits up for scientific advice (whether…

  • Ellipse

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    The expansive, oval-shaped park on the White House's south side is known as the Ellipse. It's studded with a random collection of monuments, such as the…

  • St Mary’s Episcopal Church

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Built in 1887, St Mary’s was home to the first black Episcopal congregation in DC, which was established in 1867. James Renwick, designer of the…

  • Decatur House

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Designed in 1818 by Benjamin Latrobe for naval hero Stephen Decatur and his wife Susan, this brick building holds the honor of being the first and last…

  • National Public Radio

    Washington, DC

    Fans of Morning Edition and All Things Considered can see where the magic happens at National Public Radio's ecofriendly headquarters. Hour-long tours…

  • National Geographic Museum

    Washington, DC

    The museum at National Geographic Society headquarters can’t compete with the Smithsonian’s more extensive offerings, but it can be worth a stop,…

  • Tudor Place

    Georgetown

    This 1816 neoclassical mansion was owned by Thomas Peter and Martha Custis Peter, the granddaughter of Martha Washington, and lived in by six generations…

  • 11th Street Bridge Park

    Washington, DC

    It won't come to fruition until late 2019 or so, but keep an eye on the space at 11th St SE and the Anacostia River. The city is converting the piers from…

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