Do's + Don'ts of DC
Our DC travel crew at the National Mall.
I recently returned from a short but amazing trip to Washington DC with my husband, mother-in-law + sister-in-law. If you’ve been to DC you know there’s A LOT to see so I spent a ton of time researching and preparing for our trip, more than I ever have for a trip before. I thought it might be helpful to summarize what I’ve learned in this post so that others don’t have to spend the same ridiculous amount of time researching as I did — so here’s my list of Do’s + Don’ts!
DO
1. TRAVEL VIA METRO – This was a little scary to me, as this was my first experience travel VIA Metro in any city, but it was SO EASY! Seriously, I just looked up what station was closest to the place we were going on the map and then plugged in our departing station and our destination station and it gave me 3 different trip itineraries leaving at different time. Towards the end of our trip I also figured out that I could type in our destination in my iPhone Maps app and select public transportation and that would literally give me directions from the exact spot I was standing to the destination we were heading. The Metro was honestly pretty clean, so so convenient and quick, and saved us so much money/time!
2. CHOOSE YOUR HOTEL LOCATION CAREFULLY – I highly recommend selecting a hotel near the metro for added convenience. We stayed at the Marriott at Metro Center and I will absolutely stay there again the next time I’m in DC. It was reasonably priced, clean, and conveniently located near great restaurants + metro center (4 different lines run through there, so convenient!) + bike rentals AND had a Starbucks in the lobby. Literally everything we needed was within a block.
Marriott at Metro Center, Washington DC
3. RENT BIKES TO SEE MEMORIALS – If you don’t know this already, there is SO MUCH to see in DC and it’s nearly impossible through all of it in a reasonable amount of time. I’ve walked the memorials before and saw a handful over the course of several hours. This time we decided we’d rent bikes and bike from our hotel (roughly 4-5 blocks) to the National Mall and then bike between Memorials – we LOVED this experience. For one, we were able to see all the monuments we wanted to see even though we only had about 2.5 hours, and we also got some exercise in while we did it! The rate to rent the bikes for a 24-hour period was $8. The only down side to this was that you can only rent bikes in 30 minute increments so you needed to know where your stations were to dock, BUT you could simply dock for 15 seconds and then unlock your bike again AND the docking stations are located all around the National Mall/Downtown DC so it’s not hard to find one. Do yourself a favor and DOWNLOAD THE CAPITOL BIKESHARE APP; it makes it easier to unlock bikes when you plan to rent for the day, and you can locate docking stations on the app and track your time that you’ve had the bike out.
4. VISIT OLD TOWN ALEXANDRIA – This place is so beautiful! The history here is just incredible, as well as their quaint little downtown area. We stopped here on our way back from Mt. Vernon and had dinner at the Fish Market – highly recommend! – The food was reasonably priced + delicious and the service was great. Unfortunately, it was raining while we were there, but if it’s not it’s such a cute little area with restaurants + ice cream shops + little boutiques and totally worth spending an evening there. You can also walk down to the marina on the Potomac for a great view! If you have time to spare and like the water, take the Water Taxi from the District Wharf to Alexandria!
5. VISIT MT. VERNON – We almost skipped over this one since it’s located so far outside of DC, but I’m SO GLAD we didn’t! Mt. Vernon is the home of George Washington and it is incredibly beautiful and full of so much history, not to mention the view off of his back porch is AMAZING! We did opt to take an Uber to Mt. Vernon as the Metro was shut-down for maintenance south of the Airport so we couldn’t get anywhere near Mt. Vernon. At the time we left (be sure this is not during rush hour) it was an easy 40 minute Uber ride and cost us about $25. The drive is beautiful and, if you’re fortunate to have a great Uber driver like we did, it’s quick and painless. We didn’t get tickets in advance, it’s fairly easy to get in even during high tourist times. Take the ½ day and put this on your itinerary!!
6. SEE MORE THAN JUST THE MONUMENTS – while it’s a lot to just get all of the monuments + museums in, DC has SO MUCH MORE to offer than just site seeing. We spent our first evening down at the District Wharf and, while it was rainy, we still had so much fun exploring down there. It’s beautiful with so many waterfront restaurants to enjoy the views of the Potomac River. We dined at Kirwan’s Irish Pub and enjoyed some comfort food + followed dinner up with a cocktail at 12 Stories which has a really great view! We spent our last evening visiting a handful of Speakeasies... if you’re a fan you definitely need to check out what DC has to offer in this department. We found some online before we went with really different/fun ways to enter and had so much fun exploring and trying the different cocktails. We visited Sidecar in the basement of PJ Clarke’s, The Mirror + Denson Liquor Bar. That was more than enough, as we were already exhausted, but there are so many more to see!
DON’T
1. TRAVEL VIA UBER/TAXI – If you didn’t already know, traffic is terrible in DC! Most of the site seeing is pretty close together so taking an Uber or Lyft ride between each place would really add up. If possible; rely on the Metro, Bikeshare or Electric scooters to get around. We had such a great time when we rented the scooters and it’s quite convenient because you can pretty much park them anywhere. The only downfall is that you may not be able to find a scooter within several blocks so you cannot depend on them to get you to & from all of your destinations.
One of the Capitol Bikeshare docking stations that can be found all around the city.
2. RENT A CAR – Again, DC traffic is terrible. While I didn’t have a vehicle and have to worry about parking, I don’t recall seeing a parking lot and I do recall seeing that the parking overnight at the hotel was a bit ridiculous. Don’t rent a car, it will cost you SO MUCH money and so much headache trying to figure out where/how to park.
3. GET TICKETS/RESERVATIONS TO EVERYTHING – While some places need a reservation in order to have any chance of getting in or getting in without waiting in line forever (The White House, Pentagon, US Capitol, National Archives, Ford’s Theater + the Holocaust Museum) the majority of the memorials/museums do not require advanced tickets. For the sake of time + planning, I would recommend not getting tickets to more places than you absolutely NEED to so that you’re not so tied to your schedule. Like I said previously, your day does not always go as planned and some things just take more time than you anticipate. Not booking everything in advance gives you the flexibility to enjoy each site at your own pace and not stress over needing to be somewhere on time.
My mother-in-law, myself and my husband during our pre-scheduled tour of the US Capitol.
We also made reservations in advance at Ford’s Theater; we all enjoyed this tour much more than we originally anticipated — I highly recommend adding this to your itinerary!
4. SCHEDULE OUT EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY – While you do need to schedule some things ahead of time and I do recommend having a rough itinerary, so you get to see all the places on your list, do not try to plan out every second of every day. The days are long, busy and exhausting and you just don’t know what you’re going to feel like. It’s also incredibly hard to predict how much time everything will take. We went to the Museum of American History one morning and had planned to spend 1.5-2 hours there and were there for over 3. You don’t want to be rushing out of one place just to get to the next if you’re thoroughly enjoying your time where you’re at. Do a rough itinerary and be sure to leave at least a half a day with nothing planned (if not more) so that you can circle back to anything you may have had to skip on your itinerary. Plans change, be prepared so that it doesn’t ruin your whole trip.
Stay tuned for a follow up post including our itinerary and how we managed to see a good portion of DC in just 3 days!
