Washington Travel Guide
Weather, best time to visit, and the best food, culture, nature and activities.
Typical prices
- Budget meal$16.00
- Mid-range meal$38.00
- Cappuccino$4.00
- Domestic beer$7.50
- Taxi (per km)$2.50
- Public transport ticket$2.50
- Museum entry$0.00
- Mid-range hotel (night)$230.00
Food & Drink
- Ben's Chili BowlAmerican Diner · $
U Street institution open since 1958, famous for its half-smoke hot dog topped with chili, a favorite of Barack Obama.
- Old Ebbitt GrillAmerican · $$$
Washington's oldest saloon-style restaurant, near the White House, known for its raw bar and power-lunch crowd.
- Rose's LuxuryContemporary American · $$$
Barracks Row restaurant known for its pork sausage with lychee and habanero salad, long a hard-to-book favorite.
- The Diner (Adams Morgan)American Diner · $
24-hour Adams Morgan diner popular for late-night pancakes after the neighborhood's bars close.
- RasikaIndian · $$$
Penn Quarter Indian restaurant known for its crispy spinach chaat, a favorite of the DC political and diplomatic crowd.
- The Gibson
Unmarked U Street speakeasy-style cocktail bar behind an inconspicuous door.
- Blues Alley
Georgetown jazz supper club open since 1965, hosting national touring jazz acts in an intimate brick room.
- Songbyrd Music House
Union Market-area music venue and record shop hosting indie and touring bands.
Culture & History
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
National Mall museum with the Wright Flyer and Apollo 11 command module, one of the most visited museums in the world.
- National Gallery of Art
Free National Mall museum spanning West and East Buildings, holding the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas.
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Sobering museum near the National Mall documenting the Holocaust through survivor testimony and artifacts.
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
Bronze-latticed Smithsonian museum tracing African American history from slavery through the civil rights era.
- The Phillips Collection
Dupont Circle museum, America's first museum of modern art, home to Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party.
- AFI Silver Theatre
American Film Institute's restored 1938 Art Deco cinema in Silver Spring, screening classic and independent films.
- National Cherry Blossom Festival
Weeks-long celebration around the Tidal Basin's Japanese cherry trees, gifted to DC by Tokyo in 1912.
- Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Annual outdoor festival on the National Mall celebrating a different world culture or theme each year with music, crafts, and food.
Nature & Outdoors
- Great Falls of the Potomac
Dramatic set of rapids and cascades on the Potomac River, viewable from trails on both the Virginia and Maryland sides.