ONE day in Washington DC - help me plan this out

[cjzimmer1]

So I've been reading all the Washington DC threads since I've spent a whopping 3 hours in the city before and am trying to plan a short visit.

 

It will be DH, myself and 3 oldest kids (12, 15, 18), none of us have been here before (excluding my 3 hours late at night).  We will be traveling to/from Newark, DE so will have about 2 hours of travel on each end of things.  We literally have just one day.

 

Right now we are debating on the Air and Space Musuem (either is fine although it sounds like the one is VA is better) or the zoo (only because we have never seen pandas).  I'd love to do both but don't don't if that is even feasible. 

 

I'm overwhelmed trying to figure out where we should park, metro lines etc (I've never been on any form of public transportation other than 1 airplane ride in my life).  Also do we need cash for this or is credit card fine?  I'm really clueless.

 

Can anyone help me craft a plan for parking/travel for this? 

 

Also if there is a really great restaurant near of these places that isn't outrageously expensive, I'd like some ideas there as well.  We will be there the last Thursday of February we are not adverse to walking a few miles but want to have a backup plan in case of bad weather when we are there.

[Farrar]

Not the zoo. It's just a zoo, if that makes sense. Do Air and Space. But if you're going to do the Dulles one, it's nearly an hour from DC, and more of a day trip.

[sassenach]

One time DH and I only had a few hours to spend in DC. We went to the White House. I had never been to DC and that was the top thing I could think of seeing. 

[Daria]

I agree that the zoo is just a zoo.  

 

If I had one day in DC, especially with kids old enough to do a lot in one day, I'd want to see the places where history is made.  The archives, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Capitol, the White House, the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King spoke, the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington . . . 

 

I might do Air and Space, because you can fit it in as a stop on the tour, but I wouldn't do Dulles.  Is the Dulles museum better?  Yes.  Is it so much better to make it worth not seeing DC itself?  No.  The only exception would be if airplanes were absolutely your passion, but then I assume you wouldn't be debating that or the zoo.  

[Pink and Green Mom]

I used to live 2 blocks from the zoo when I was in school.  I would honestly skip the zoo.  There is nothing really that spectacular about it.  If you do decide to go, there are a bunch of cafes and eating places right there on Connecticut Avenue. 

 

As Farrar mentioned, the VA air and space museum is out by Dulles Airport and not really convenient to downtown.  It is out of the way from where you will be coming from, though.  If it were me, I would skip it on a day trip.

 

I would probably just stick to the National Mall area. Wander in and out of the Smithsonian museums that interest you, walk the steps of the Capitol, walk around the Washington monument, pause to see the White House, go to the archives building and see the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, etc.  That is all centered around the mall and walkable (albeit a lot of walking) for the ages you are talking about. 

 

I am not sure how expensive or even convenient it is, but there might be a train from Wilmington, DE into Union Station so you could avoid driving.  It would be an Amtrak train.  Just throwing that out there in case it is a possibility for you.  Union Station is a cool place to see in its own right.  And only a few blocks from the Capitol so again centrally located to the mall.  Traffic on the Route 95 corridor is never fun, so a train, if not too expensive, may be worth it.

[Amira]

With that little time, I'd just go near the Mall, park the car, and see museums and memorials or whatever else interests your family.  There's so much to see and you wouldn't have to spend time driving around.  If you want to go to the zoo for the pandas, remember that you can't even be sure you'd see them if you went- we've been to the zoo many times and they're not always out.  

 

People always recommend the Mitisam Cafe in the Museum of the American Indian.  It's next to the Air and Space Museum so it would be convenient.  It's fairly expensive, but there really aren't a lot of eating options in that part of the city.  There are many more if you want to walk or ride a bit.

 

A Thursday in February likely wouldn't be crowded, but I'd go to the Air and Space Museum first because that one can get more crowded than the others.  Personally, I prefer the exhibits at the DC Air and Space Museum, but my dad and my teenage sons prefer Dulles.

 

It's almost certainly too late to get White House tickets, but the new White House Visitor Center is interesting.

 

Parking near L'Enfant Plaza can be a convenient location near most Metro lines. You can use a credit card for parking and Metro. I never need cash in DC.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Amira

[bettyandbob]

Stay around the mall. Go to Air and Space. Eat at Museum of the American Indian expensive, but best cafeteria). Then hit either National Gallery, American History, or Natural History. Or if its a nice day pack a picnic eat on the mall and hike around the monuments.

 

Unless you gave specific interests that would be the general way I'd go.

[Luckymama]

Ahem, Stephanie, I live in Newark ;)

 

You can take a train from the Newark DE station (it's just south of the main portion of the UD campus) to DC but I don't know how the times would work. Check Amtrak if interested. We have lots of commuters both south and north in town.

 

What day of the week? You need to be concerned about Baltimore and DC rush hours. We either leave here before 5:30 am or at/after 8:30 am to drive to DC. I like to be out of DC proper and onto the Beltway by 3:30 or after 7.

 

You will have one toll southbound at the tunnel in Baltimore ($4?) and that plus the bridge over the Susquehanna north of Havre de Grace northbound. That assumes you enter 95 in Maryland, not in Delaware. Pm me for specifics re driving :)

[Spryte]

Agreeing that skipping the zoo is your best bet. The pandas can be hard to catch anyway.

 

We prefer the A & S on the mall. Love eating at the Native museum.

 

I'd hang out on the mall. There's so much to do.

 

We recently had friends come in, and did a night tour of the monuments - that was fun and worthwhile. You might consider that, even a day tour could be fun.

[TechWife]

Concentrate on the Air & Space Museum on the mall. It's really great! There is a lot to see there and they also have an IMAX theater with some good films. There is a hands on area for kids, too. They have restaurants as well (McDonalds, Boston Market and Pizza, I think). Truly, if you do this you will maximize your time. Also if you finish there earlier than you think you will, there are other museums on the mall that you can go to for a short visit. 

 

Skip the zoo. It isn't worth making a special trip just for that. 

 

From National Airport, take the yellow line on the metro to L'Enfant Plaza. You will be able to purchase tickets with a credit card - there are ticket vending machines as you enter the station. Follow the signs in the airport to get to the station, it's clearly marked. You put the ticket (called a farcard, I think), into the turnstile, the turnstile will open and your card will shoot out the other side for you to retrieve. You do this both when you enter and exit the station. 

 

Here is a map of the National Mall so you can orient yourself. The black boxes with a white "M" are metro stations. 

 

Here is a map of the metro system. 

 

Here is a trip planner for the metro so you can find out how much the metro will cost - it looks like it will be about $2 per person each way, but put in the time of day so that you can get the most accurate pricing. 

 

Here is a floor plan of the Air & Space Museum. If you follow the links on the page you can find lots of other info as well. 

 

Here is the educator link for the museum, lots of info here.  Check the special event calendar, too. There's a link on this page. 

 

 

ETA: Forget the airport info, I just realized you're probably driving. I'll leave it here in case it helps someone else down the line, though. 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by TechWife

[wendy not in HI]

I would do a drive by of the monuments, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Capital, White House, etc.  Then I would park under the Reagan Financial building and walk to see the Constitution (skip the rest of the museum stuff there - not worth it), a Smithsonian or two (I really like the American History Museum and the Natural History and they are both close to Archives and Art Gallery, but you could go to the National Air and Space which is across the mall) and the National Gallery of Art.  

 

I'd pack a lunch - I'm always dismayed by the cost of food downtown - it is easy to spend $20 on a mediocre sandwich. And though I see food trucks when I'm not hungry, it never fails that when I am hungry, all we can find are hotdog trucks...  

 

If your crew is still game, then I'd go walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln memorial, and head back to your car by way of the White House.  

 

Most of the museums open at 10am.  But traffic heading downtown is pretty terrible between 7am and 9:30am.  You might want to schedule your arrival time to get down there right at 10am.  Don't waste time riding the metro.  Pay for parking downtown - you can usually find something.  If you want to "see it all" you will have to be really strict about not reading too many museum displays...

 

10am - drive around

10:30 - park, walk to Archives - Constitution, Bill of Rights

11:30 - American History

1:00 - lunch at Sculpture Gallery - either picnic or buy

2:00 - National Gallery of Art - look up your favorites and just go see those, catching a glimpse of others on the way

     - or wak to Air and Space Museum - I love the Wright Brothers Exhibit and Amelia Earhart and...

4:00 - Natural History 

6:00 - picnic #2 at Washington Monument near the really cool tree

walk the monuments:  Washington, WWII, Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam

swing past White House on the way back to the car

If it's dark when you leave, drive around the monuments and capital again - they are lovely in the dark

Drive by the Marine Corps War Memorial on your way out!

 

ps - Just seeing the monuments and ONE museum would probably fill your day.  Enjoy!

 

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by wendy in HI

[Twigs]

Another vote to skip the zoo. I've been to DC once and it was a great trip. We went to the zoo, tried to see the pandas, but they weren't visible.

 

For a one day trip, I'd probably stick to the mall with all the museums. Do some research beforehand and pick some items you want to see (Dorothy's red slippers, The Star Spangled Banner, the Hope Diamond, space craft, etc.) and plan your day around that. I liked the National Archives, too, (also close the The Mall).

 

We went to the White House and I won't do that again. The line was looooong, with no room to pass other people by. We stood in the rooms for what seemed like forever and there is no one giving a talk about the history, etc. 

 

We went to the Capitol building and got to sit in the balcony of the House of Representatives, even though the House was not in session. I would do that again.

 

Hope you have a great trip.

[shawthorne44]

One hint for maximizing any rushed museum experience.   Buy the museum book online before you go and have everyone at least skim it before hand.  That way you will have your list of Things_You_Really_Want_To_See beforehand, and you'll spend less time reading the text, which is really small font at the Air and Space Museum.   Well, maybe it is normal font but it is small for the number of people there when I was there.  I love reading those things, but by the time I got close enough to read, I no longer cared.   Also, sometimes I don't pay attention to a thing because it isn't pretty or sparkly.   Then on the way out I buy the book and then read the history of the ignored thing which turns it into Really Cool Thing.   Then I regret not studying it.  

[Zinnia]

We did DC for one day this fall.  We rode overnight on the Megabus both ways, so we had from 9:45 in the morning until 9:30 at night.  I researched the snot out of everything.  and we had the best time!  I took just one child (and my dh took another on a different weekend).  We are going back in May for the same 1 day trip, with all 4 of us.  Can't wait.  The things we hit;

 

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

Air and Space

Smithsoian Castle (actually a nice overview for such a short trip; we really liked this)

Museum of Natural history

ate lunch at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building (good for dreaming of what all those government employees do; something completely out of our norm)

White House museum (and saw the WH from the outside)

Museum of American History

 

There is a bus (public transportation) called the Circulator that has a National Mall route.  It's only $1, and it's well worth it.  It is a nice tour of the national mall/tourist area, and is a nice break for tired feet.  I wear a fit bit, and on our day in DC, we walked over 21,000 steps.

[Alessandra]

Agreeing with everyone else that the Mall area has the greatest concentration of museums, monuments, sights. I have taken tour busses that let you hop on, hop off. distances on the Mall can be longer than they appear on the map, so a bus can be convenient when you are tired -- or if the weather is bad. Or set up an Uber account for emergencies.

 

Also check websites, as some places offer (or require) ticketed admission. Admission could be free, but the free ticket will mean that you don't waste as much time in lines. Some exhibits within museums may require tickets. The monuments on the Mall are well worth some time and can be quite moving. I can't think of another city that has so many monuments close together in a park like setting.

 

This may seem like an odd recommendation, but I would rise the Metro at least once, as some stations are spectacular.

[MistyMountain]

Is guess I take the opposite strategy as everyone else. We went to DC this fall and we did not squeeze in as much as possible but took our time and read things and took in everything at the museum. We hit the Dulles Space museum first. It is harder to squeeze more in but it was full of things ds is fascinated with and read about. We did not get there until afternoon so we only did that. The next day we went into DC and separated into two different museums and walked around a bit. We did not see everything we wanted in DC but we will go back in the future. We did not have a full day because we just took a detour there on a east coast trip. We were visiting people in Baltimore.

Edited February 9, 2016 by MistyMountain

[Farrar]

I don't think you have to squeeze in a million things, but if you want to hit the most things in the shortest time and have the most options, you really do just want to do to the Mall, park your car in a garage, walk until you can't take it, eat something, walk some more, drive away. There's no way to do everything, but even just walking around leisurely you'll see a ton and wear yourselves out.

 

You can easily use credit cards for the metro, but you don't need the metro for a single day trip.

[StephanieZ]

You can do both. No problem. 

 

BUT, IMHO, although the zoo is great, it is just a zoo. There are zoos all over the place.

 

I'd aim for the museums or federal buildings, whichever float your boat. (Personally, I'm not that into monuments, so I'd go to a few museums.)

[bettyandbob]

since you are trying to cram as much in as possible in one day, I wouldn't fool with mass transit. Since there are 5 of you, it will probably be cheapest and fastest to drive into to DC and park near the mall. I don't go into DC from your direction so, I won't try to give you a route, but you probably want to plan that out and maybe scout parking garages closest to the mall online before you come. Since you will be driving by Baltimore and DC in the morning I'd plan driving to add time due to morning congestion. 

 

All day parking in garages is around $20 I think. I've parked very close to Air and Space, but not recently. If you can stay until 6 or 7. Walk around the monuments if the museums close before you leave. 

 

I don't think you need to buy the museum guide. You can go online and look at the maps of each museum and get a schedule of events at each museum that day. You can plan out your schedule that way. 

 

 

ETA like everyone else, skip the zoo. I love the zoo, but skip it. 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Diana P.

[bettyandbob]

One more thing, try not to overcram. Take time to enjoy what you are seeing and drop things from your schedule if you need to. For me a good pace is two of the Smithsonian museums in a full day. 

[cjzimmer1]

Thank you all for the helpful information.  Since it's sounds like seeing the pandas is a luck of the draw thing, we will skip the zoo.  My kids are not big history fans, no one has any interest in the White House or anything related to politics and art is considered positively boring so there isn't a lot of places that makes them go Yeah I want to see that.  But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us so we figured we'd see what we could just so they could say they have been there.  My kids are more STEM oriented so Air and Space is a bit more in their line of interest.  I'm also hoping seeing a museum will spark their interest more than reading things in books, I personally love museums.  Oldest did think Engraving (sorry I've spaced out the name but where they print the money) would be interesting, younger son thought the spy museum sounded good.  DD was more interested in the zoo.  I did find an app that lists where the food carts are each day so I think we will try to use that to find a meal.

 

So when you talk about crazy traffic.  Is it worse than Chicago?  DH and I can both drive in Chicago although he gets stressed. If it's significantly worse than that, I may have to drive for my own sanity but then that leaves me without a navigator (well technically our van has GPS but I've never used it so I have no idea how good or bad it is)

[mom2att]

We've taken two trips to DC with the kids. We always stay outside the city and drive in each day. Of course the traffic is bad at peak times, but if you avoid those, it's very do-able. I agree with others who say find a garage and park for the day (L'Enfant Plaza was mentioned--good, relatively central place). Then just walk and see as much as you can. Bureau of Engraving and Printing is great--my kids really enjoyed this. Obviously Air & Space is on your list with STEM-interested kids, but also do the Museum of Natural History. And everyone should do the Washington Monument at least once, plus the Lincoln Memorial. These are just too iconic to miss. But it's a deceptively long walk from one to the other--your one day, see as much as we can will wear you out. In our two, week-long trips we still haven't seen everything.

 

Since YOU love museums, read about the various places to visit on the mall and pick the one that interests YOU. The thing about the museums is while you could spend all day in one (we spent 5 hours at the National Gallery this last visit), you don't have to. Go to the Museum of American History with the plan to spend one hour there, and then move on to Natural History, which is right next door. Get familiar with what is on the mall and what you're most interested in and where it is located so you can have a plan and not be wandering around from one end of the mall to the other. This is the best way to maximize your visit without totally wearing yourself out.

 

Have fun. Before kids we lived just a few hours drive from DC and would take day trips just to hang out there for the day. Such a great place to visit!

[wendy not in HI]

Traffic won't be crazy downtown after about 10am, it's the freeway heading in to DC that will be jam packed.  It will be very sloooooow between 7am and 9am.  If you are comfortable in traffic, you will be fine.  I don't think of it as crazy with people weaving in at out, but crazy as in not moving.  I only have GPS on my phone, but I use it all the time in DC. Maybe use your van's GPS a few times to get used to her voice? You might need it.

 

There is interesting science stuff in many of the museums - the American History museum has a really interested section on transportation - sounds silly, but it is really a neat exhibit. Also, the Natural History Museum is less technology, but really interesting animal and gem exhibits.  (maybe your zoo enthusiast would enjoy - the "stuffed" animals and bones are really interesting.  Also a mummy!) The spy museum is really great (but not free).  It is right next door to Shake Shack - yum! and though we walked there once from the monuments, it was a really really long walk.  I'd recommend an Uber or take your chances with finding a variety of parking around town.   The Bureau of Engraving is close-ish to the Washington monument and Jefferson Memorial. A pretty good walk from Air and Space.  But we have usually been able to find parking near there at the Tidal Basin.

 

So to sum up - Air and Space, Spy Museum, and Engraving all make a huge triangle across DC.  Spy museum may not be on a hop on hop off route, though the others will be - and that is a neat way to see the city and hear some history.  Parking garages or lucky street parking might work, or some good shoes, or Uber, or a parent willing to drive around for a couple hours during each stop....

 

There are good food carts near the downtown Air and Space Museum.  

 

If our family was just going for one day, I would probably not try to make each of them happy with their personal museum choice, but instead choose the things that say "DC" to me.  No need to go to the White House museum, but you really should at least drive by and look at it, even if no one is interested in politics.  

 

Our very first trip to DC when we moved here 2 years ago was to the Air and Space Museum downtown (we found street parking near the museum, then drove and parked near the Tidal Basin). And a nice walk around the monuments.  We had a frisbee and played on the lawn near the Washington Monument.  That's all.  It was a great day.  

[bettyandbob]

If you are OK with Chicago traffic you should be fine in DC. After Air and Space, your STEM boys should find something in either Natural History or American History. Look online at the collections and schedule of both and pick one.

[J-rap]

I'd definitely stay in the mall area as well.  Climb up the Capitol steps, stop into a Smithsonian museum or two (at that age, our kids would rather see two museums in a shorter amount of time rather than one long afternoon at the same museum), pass the Washington Monument, maybe have a picnic on the mall too, if the weather is nice.  Our favorite building of all was the Library of Congress, though you can't actually go into the library part itself anymore (but you can look at it).  (We used to study in it!)  Go to the Lincoln Memorial.  The Vietnam Memorial too.  Pass by the Whitehouse as well. 

 

It has been so long since we lived there, that I can't remember what all is in the Mall area anymore, and what is walkable.  I'd walk to as much as possible.