Washington, D.C.

Understand

History Washington, D.C., is a city born of politics, by politics, and for politics. It wasn't the first national capital: Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Annapolis, Trenton, and even New York City all tried their hand at hosting the national government. For a time, it seemed like Philadelphia would stake a claim as home to the federal government. However, Congress soured on the "Cradle of Liberty" after disaffected American soldiers, with the tacit sanction of the Pennsylvania government, chased the legislators out of the city to Princeton. That incident made clear that the nation's capital would need to be independent from the then-powerful state governments and that the southern states would refuse to accept a northern capital. Three of the nation's founding fathers, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, agreed in 1790 to a compromise location for a new national capital on largely uninhabited land along the Potomac River in the Mid-Atlantic. This was made famous in the musical Hamilton with the song The Room Where It Happened. The exact location was left up to George Washington, who carved a diamond-shaped federal district out of land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, which happened to be near his plantation at Mount Vernon. The new territory also included two existing settlements: Georgetown, on the Maryland side of the Potomac, and Alexandria, Virginia, at the district's southern tip.

The French-born architect Pierre L'Enfant was charged with planning a new federal city on the north side of the Potomac, next to Georgetown. L'Enfant's plan, modeled after some of the leading cities in Europe, envisioned large parks and wide streets, including a grand boulevard connecting the "President's House" to the Capitol building. However, L'Enfant was an eccentric and fought bitterly with the commissioners appointed to supervise the capital's construction. President Washington eventually dismissed L'Enfant, but the problems didn't end there. Issues with financing and a lack of skilled craftsmen slowed the construction of the city. The commissioners relied on African slaves lent from nearby plantations to complete construction. The federal government finally moved to the new capital in 1800, which by then had been named Washington in honor of its founder, though he still preferred to call it the "Federal City." British forces invaded the city during the War of 1812, burning and gutting the Capitol Building, Treasury, and White House, although they were all rebuilt shortly thereafter. Things didn't get much better for the new nation

Getting there

By plane

Washington, D.C. (WAS IATA for all airports) is served by three major airports. All three airports offer unlimited free Wi-Fi.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA IATA) is the closest and most convenient airport to D.C., 3 mi (4.8 km) south of the city in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River. However, there are no customs clearance facilities and therefore it can only serve destinations in the United States or airports in Canada and the Caribbean that allow U.S. customs pre-clearance. Moreover, due to the noise created by planes flying directly over a heavily populated area, the number of non-stop long-haul flights is limited. At Gravelly Point Park, directly north of the runway, you can watch planes takeoff and land, providing some great photo opportunities. To get to D.C. from the airport:

WMATA operates Metrorail service to/from the airport via the Blue and Yellow lines. The trip to the East End takes approximately 15 minutes and costs approximately $3. Hours of operation are generally M-Th 5AM-11:30PM, F 5AM-1AM, Sa 7AM-1AM, and Su 7AM-11PM Uber, Lyft, DCAcar and Taxis take approximately 10 minutes to Washington, D.C.

Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD IATA) is 26 miles (42 km) west of D.C. in Sterling, Virginia and serves as D.C.'s primary international and intercontinental airport. The main terminal is an architectural masterpiece, with a curved roof that arcs gracefully into air, suspended over a huge open ticketing and check-in area. Unfortunately some functionality was scrapped in pursuit of aesthetics—the layout includes lengthy corridors and long escalators and you will have to take a train between the main building and the concourses, so expect that you will need some extra time to get to the gate. Many carriers serve the airport, which serves as an East Coast hub for United Airlines. If you have extra time in the area, consider taking Fairfax Connector Bus #983 to the free Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, which includes an unrivaled collection of spacecraft and aircraft, most famously the space shuttle Discovery. The bus departs from the airport every 20 minutes daily, costing $2.00 and taking 12 minutes to reach the museum. To get to D.C. from the airport:

WMATA operates Metrorail service to/from the airport via the Silver line. The trip to the East End takes approximately 55 minutes and costs approximately $6. Hours of operation are generally M-Th 5AM-11:30PM, F 5AM-1AM, Sa 7AM-1AM, and Su 7AM-11PM Uber, Lyft, and Washington Flyer Taxi, the exclusive taxi pro

Getting around

Be prepared to walk until your feet hurt! It's no surprise that D.C. has been cited as the fittest city in the country; residents and visitors get a lot of exercise simply getting around the city! Even if you plan on taking public transportation or driving, you will often find yourself walking or biking for a large portion of the day. Most of the city's attractions, such as the museums and monuments along the National Mall, are located near each other, which makes driving or taking Metrorail between the sights either impractical or impossible. Therefore, make sure to wear good walking shoes and, especially during the spring and summer, wear comfortable and light clothing, a wide-brimmed hat, apply sunscreen, and carry a bottle of water. Also, when it comes to shoes, lots of government buildings have metal detectors at the entrances, and if your shoes have any kind of metal reinforcement they will set off the metal detectors, forcing you to take them off, have them inspected, and just generally take more time getting in and out of the building than you had to spend. During the summer, visit air-conditioned museums during the day, and save the monuments, neighborhood tours, and other outdoor attractions for the cooler early morning and evening hours.

City layout The city is split into four quadrants of unequal size, which radiate out from the Capitol Building: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE), and Southwest (SW). The NW quadrant is by far the largest and SW the smallest. Addresses in the city always include the quadrant abbreviation, e.g., 1000 H Street NE. Take note of the quadrant, otherwise you may find yourself on the exact opposite side of town from your destination! City streets are generally laid out in a grid, with east-west streets primarily named with letters (A–W) and north-south streets named with numbers. The street numbers and letters increase as the distance from the Capitol building increases, and sometimes letters are skipped. The numerous diagonal avenues, many named after states, serve as the city's principal arteries. The grid has a few peculiarities that are a legacy from the city's foundation. The City of Washington originally occupied only a portion of the total area of the District. As a result, outside of what is now often called the "L'Enfant City", streets do not strictly adhere to the grid system. However, you will find that many street names were simply extended where practical and, past the letter "W", for east-west streets, two-syllable street names (e.g., Irving Street, Lamont Street) follow the single-lette

See

Most of the attractions in D.C. are on the National Mall, the West End, and Capitol Hill. While there are many maps on display throughout the city, the official National Mall map and the Library of Congress map are great to have handy. The National Mall is a unique park, filled with an intense concentration of monuments, memorials, museums, and monumental government buildings instantly recognizable to people all over the world. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of American History, and the Holocaust Museum, are just a few of the top attractions on the National Mall. To walk down the National Mall is to thread the halls of world power in the modern era. Here the world's most powerful politicians and their staffs fill the grand neo-classical buildings of the three branches of US Government, making decisions that reverberate in the remotest corners of the world. The National Mall is larger than it looks, and a walk from one end of the National Mall to the other will take a while and may wear you down a bit. Plan ahead what you want to see and concentrate your activities in one section of the National Mall each day. The East End, just north of the National Mall, includes many more museums and attractions, including the National Portrait Gallery, the American Art Museum, and the National Archives, which houses original copies of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. The White House, as well as The George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum and the Kennedy Center, are in the West End. The Capitol Building and the Supreme Court are on Capitol Hill. Another attraction here that shouldn't be missed is the Library of Congress, which has some of the most beautiful architecture that can be seen in the city. The free National Zoo in Upper Northwest is one of the nation's most prestigious zoos, and the National Cathedral is an awe-inspiring mammoth. Dupont Circle is home to much of Embassy Row, an impressive stretch of some 50 foreign-owned historic and modernist mansions along Massachusetts Ave, as well as several brilliant small museums, such as the Phillips Collection and the Woodrow Wilson House. The historic neighborhood of Georgetown is the oldest part of the city, full of beautiful old colonial buildings, the 200+ year-old Jesuit campus of Georgetow

Do

Outdoor activities and parks

D.C. has the highest ratio of parkland to population in the country for a city its size. Many of these parks are crowded with soccer, football, rugby, kickball, baseball, and ultimate frisbee players. The National Mall may be the most famous park, but there are several other large beautiful parks in the city. The 2,000 acre Rock Creek Park, a national park, bisects the city north of the Anacostia River. The park is full of deer (who overpopulate, due to lack of predators), squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, birds, and even a few coyotes. The park includes paved biking/running trails that extend from Maryland to the Lincoln Memorial and connecting with the Mount Vernon trail in Northern Virginia. There are also plenty of hiking trails, picnic spots, a golf course, a variety of Ranger-led/educational programs, and kayaks, canoes, and SUPs can be rented for $22-$32/hour at the Thompson Boat Center on the Potomac River. There are plenty of nice outdoor spaces just beyond the park. South of Massachusetts Ave, you can take a path west out to the beautiful Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, and then on to enormous Archibald-Glover Park, where the trails can lead you as far south and west as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and Palisades Park. Following the main trail along the creek all the way south will take you under the Whitehurst Freeway and down to the National Mall, where joggers avail themselves of the incredible path right along the Potomac beneath the monuments. Roosevelt Island is one of those gems just far enough out of the way that it is missed by most tourists. The Teddy Roosevelt Memorial is at the center of the island, which includes a couple fountains and several stone obelisks inscribed with his quotes. The rest of the island is a nice natural park of woods and swamp with a boardwalk in the center of the Potomac, with great views of Georgetown University on the northwest side and of the Kennedy Center on the east. What could be better befitting the "conservationist president" than an island park memorial? To reach the island, walk down the stairs at the Rosslyn side of the Key Bridge—which connects Rosslyn with Georgetown—then head east on the trail (the Mount Vernon Trail) to the footbridge to the island. Rosslyn is the nearest Metro stop. By car, you can access the parking lot just north of the Roosevelt Bridge from the northbound lanes of the George Washington Pkwy only. There are several other parks worth visiting, including the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Anacostia, the National Arboretum in N

Buy

Souvenirs are easy to find at stands and stores near the National Mall and East End. However, these offerings tend to be tacky (shot glasses, magnets, t-shirts, etc.) The gift shops of the Smithsonian museums have unique but more expensive offerings and are great places to buy gifts. Eastern Market in Capitol Hill is a favorite Saturday or Sunday afternoon shopping destination for locally produced food and artwork. Even if you're not buying, it's a great time. Eclectic boutiques and vintage stores abound in Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Upper Northwest, and Shaw. However, prices are high; you are not likely to find many bargains. Art galleries are plentiful throughout the city and make for great browsing, although the prices are on the high side. Specialty book stores such as Politics & Prose, Kramers, and Second Story Books in Dupont Circle carry a nice selection of political humor-themed accessories.

Clothing and household items Popular stores within the D.C. borders include Macy's, H&M, Urban Outfitters, Zara, and Guess, while Marshalls is the best bet for discounts. Upscale shopping dominates in Washington, D.C./Georgetown, the East End, and Friendship Heights. Expect boutiques from the all the big name international brands here as well as the smaller American designers. More unique and vintage shopping is available in Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, and Columbia Heights. Walmart and Target are the best bets for cheap groceries and household items.

Leesburg Premium Outlets in Leesburg, 17 mi (27 km) northwest of Dulles Airport and 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Washington D.C., has the best bargains in the area. Getting there by public transport requires taking 2 buses from the Innovation Center Metrorail station; however, it is a 1-hour drive from D.C. Potomac Mills is a humongous shopping mall in Woodbridge that contains over 200 stores. It is a 25 minute bus ride (Free) from the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station. Tanger Outlet Mall at National Harbor is accessible by Metrobus from the Southern Ave Metrorail station. Fashion Centre at Pentagon City has over 170 generally high-end stores is adjacent to the Pentagon City Metrorail station in Arlington. Tysons Corner Center contains over 300 stores and is adjacent to the Tysons Corner Metrorail station in Tysons. Tysons Galleria is an upscale mall in Tysons. Fashion Centre at Pentagon City has over 170 generally high-end stores and is adjacent to the Pentagon City Metrorail station.

Eat

Washington has a little bit of everything, from really good ethnic takeout to lobbyist-fueled places that can run over $1,000 for a meal for two.

Fine dining cuisine Most of the high end cuisine is available in the West End, the East End, Georgetown, and Dupont Circle—offering dining experiences ranging from steakhouses packed with powerful suits to Minibar by Jose Andres, a 12-seat restaurant offering a 30-course meal for $350 (excluding beverages, tax and 22% service charge). As a general rule, expect higher prices in popular tourist haunts such as Georgetown, Penn Quarter and Dupont Circle, while more exciting and innovative cuisine can be found to the east in Logan Circle, Adams Morgan and H Street.

Ethnic food D.C.'s international might draws representatives from all over the world, and they all need ex-pat cafes and restaurants to haunt. Salvadoran cuisine such as the pupusa is common in Columbia Heights. Pupusas are thick corn tortillas stuffed with cheese, optionally fried pork, refried beans, or all sorts of other things, then topped with a tart cabbage salad and an Italianesque red sauce. Ethiopian food is a D.C. staple due to the city's large Ethiopian community. Ethiopian food is a wild ride of spicy stewed and sautéed meats and vegetables served atop a plate covered with a spongy bread called injera. You eat the dishes with your hands, using an extra plate of injera (similar to bread) as your sole "utensil"—rip off a piece of the injera and use it to pick up your food. It's proper in Ethiopia to use only the tips of your fingers in this exercise, and with good reason: you'll have a messy meal otherwise. It's also perfectly proper to feed your date, making this a fun cuisine if you know your date well. The best places to try Ethiopian food are in Shaw, which includes Little Ethiopia. Asian food is extremely popular in D.C. Generally more affordable than other cuisines, it is led by the flavors of Southeast Asia, especially Thailand. Cuisines less well known in other parts of the country such as Laotian, Burmese and Filipino are in abundance here. Popular places include Ramen bars and Korean BBQ places (which sometimes feature Karaoke and offer you the chance to grill your own meats tableside). Cheaper eats are available in the suburbs, notably Wheaton, Rockville and Silver Spring in Maryland and Annandale and Falls Church's Eden Center in Northern Virginia. Chinese food can still be found in D.C., though with much of the ethnic Chinese community having moved to the suburbs, most of the restaurants in Chinatown are tourist traps. While g

Drink & nightlife

The legal drinking/purchasing age is 21 and it is strictly enforced in D.C. Be prepared to have your identification checked, even if you appear to be well over 21. Last call can be as late as 3AM, although many establishments will let you stay beyond that, especially downtown. It is rare but not unknown for nightclubs to stay open beyond 3AM though they may lock you in or stop serving alcohol. As in most American cities, drinking alcoholic beverages on the street is illegal. The law is flouted openly in many areas but bars will not generally let you take your drink even a step off-premise.

Bars and dance clubs Near downtown, Dupont and Logan Circle are probably the best neighborhoods to go if you are in town for just a brief period, full of locals of all ages, especially D.C. young professionals. U Street has lots of clubs and a thriving nightlife scene, and if you are European and looking for a good club, this is where you want to be. The larger Shaw neighborhood is well gentrified, though attracts a well to do, good-looking African American crowd, particularly at many of the city's brunch places which often double as nightlife venues as the evening progresses. Georgetown has classier bars and clubs and some very expensive restaurants, but is shunned by the hip, cool crowd. The nearby West End has some interesting locales close to its border with Dupont Circle. Adams Morgan, formerly the dingy alternative to Dupont, has become hipper, cooler and trendier today, especially with young residents and visiting cool kids. You'll find many of the city's best bars and new restaurants here. Columbia Heights also has lots of bars, as well as a sizeable cluster of Asian, African and Hispanic bars and restaurants. Nearby, Mount Pleasant is home to most of the city's Salvadoran population and its signature comfort food, the pupusa. Woodley Park, Cleveland Park and Van Ness (aka Forest Hills) attract a wealthier older crowd, with many decent restaurants and plenty of watering holes, including a couple of bars and pubs. Nearby is upscale Tenleytown, which is surprisingly sedate for a student area but remains popular with middle aged residents. Takoma Park lives up to its nickname as the 'Berkeley of the East' and is home to many bohemian, alternative haunts, albeit aimed at an increasingly mature crowd. Penn Quarter/Chinatown is a very touristy area with a plenty of good but pricey restaurants, many of which seem to be New York imports, although very few hip locals would be caught dead in this part of town. In Northeast, H Street and Petworth are the capitals of D

Sleep

Hotels of all classes and price ranges can be found in many neighborhoods of D.C., as well as in the nearby suburbs. If you are coming by car, be sure to factor the cost of parking, which can be free in hotels outside the city limits but can cost over $35 per day in hotels in the downtown area. The hotel tax in D.C. is 15.95%, while the tax is 14.25% in the nearby suburb of Arlington, 13.00% in Bethesda and Reston, and 12.00% in Tysons Corner and most of Herndon. Hotels in the D.C. area are generally most expensive on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, when business travel reaches its peak, and cheapest on the weekend. The hotels of the East End, the business-centric West End, and charming Georgetown (which features many boutique choices) are the most popular accommodation options due to their proximity to the tourist attractions and top dining spots. Naturally, these areas have many brand-name options to choose from. If booking in these areas, be aware that the West End consists mainly of office buildings and is generally dead after dark. Georgetown is not accessible by Metrorail, although it is easy to travel to/from Georgetown by bus or a ride-hailing service. Better bargains may be had in the nightlife-centered districts of Dupont Circle, Shaw, Near Northeast, and Capitol Hill, all of which are a short metro or bus ride to, or, when the weather is nice, a nice walk to, the National Mall. These areas may actually be preferable because their nightlife options make a late night out more convenient. Moreover, it is easier to find street parking on the weekend. There are also many hotels of all classes located close to metro stations just outside the city limits in Arlington and Alexandria, Bethesda, and Silver Spring. If you are flying into or out of Dulles or Reagan, you may want to look into hotels in the nearby areas of Tysons, Reston, or Herndon, although the ride to D.C. via public transport can take up to an hour. These hotels are generally much cheaper than hotels in D.C., especially on the weekends. There are also many hostels in D.C.

Go next

Virginia

Alexandria is south of Arlington, along the Potomac River, and a short metro ride away from DC. Old Town Alexandria features cobblestone streets, nearly 4,000 buildings dating as far back as the 1600s, and shops and good restaurants. The George Washington Masonic Memorial, dedicated to George Washington, is a must-see. Alexandria also includes Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, the first President of the United States. The mansion overlooks the Potomac River and includes a huge museum dedicated to the life of America's first president. Annandale and Centreville are the D.C. area's Koreatowns, with some of the best Korean BBQ you'll find anywhere outside Seoul, many of which are open 24 hours per day! Arlington is directly across the Potomac River from D.C. and includes attractions such as the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, the Iwo Jima Memorial, as well as Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, an indoor shopping mall. Accessible by Metro. Charlottesville, 114 mi (183 km) southwest of D.C., is home to the University of Virginia, as well as Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate and vineyard, Ash Lawn-Highland, the former home of President James Monroe. Falls Church is home to the largest Vietnamese community on the East Coast, and the food is magnificent! Fredericksburg, roughly halfway between D.C. and Richmond and accessible via Amtrak, was founded in colonial era as a "port city". The town was heavily contested in the Civil War and has a historic district with galleries, music venues, and fine dining. The downtown area and battlefields have been well preserved due to strong local commitment to historic preservation, providing a unique blend of old and new culture. George Washington Memorial Parkway is a scenic road that runs along the Virginia side of the Potomac River between Mount Vernon and Great Falls. Two trail networks for running/walking/cycling intersect the parkway: the 18-mile Mount Vernon Trail and the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, which runs between Theodore Roosevelt Island and Mount Vernon. Great Falls includes Great Falls Park, an 800-acre park along the Potomac River, 14 mi (23 km) northwest from Washington, DC. The park includes many beautiful hiking trails and the area's largest waterfall. Great Falls also has the area's most beautiful homes and is compared to Beverly Hills. Hampton Roads has the Norfolk Navy Station, Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Virginia Beach, all about a 4-hour drive away. Leesburg is a historic city that includes Simon's Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets. Manassas is a quaint