We only had a weekend to explore this city so we tried to jam-pack everything in a couple of days. Here is what we did.
Friday
Get up early and take a bike ride around the National Mall and Memorial Parks, it’s not a mall, it’s a park with the most famous monuments and museums in the United States. We rented our bikes from Capital Bikeshare share with a 24-hour pass for only $8/day. You can find a kiosk, unlock the bike, ride it for as long as you want, and then return it to any bike station. Here are some of my stops
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Washington Monument
World War II Memorial
After your bike ride around the national mall, rest, and get tickets to one of the most fun museums in DC, the International Spy Museum.
There are so many fun exhibits that the whole family will enjoy in this museum. There are some interactive exhibits and lots of historical artifacts, and you can even test your spy skills out on some of the quizzes around the museum. Lines for this attraction can get long so we suggest buying tickets and reserving a time online before going.
At night, you have to take a ghost tour of one of the most haunted cities in America. We used Free Tours by Foot Washington DC Ghost Tours and Haunted Stories and took the Ghost of Georgetown Walking Tour. The tour is about 90 minutes and you walk about 1.5 miles. You’ll visit location around the city that is known for some strange encounters and learn a little bit of history too. One of the most interesting things you’ll see is the Exorcist steps. You can climb down the 75 steps but be careful the steps are pretty steep.
Saturday
Breakfast at one of the busiest restaurants in DC, Founding Farmers
Reservations are available online, if you can’t score reservations, get there when they open and put your name down on a waitlist. One of our favorites is the chicken and waffles.
This will be another filled day of things to do in DC. If you are lucky you can get a pass to visit The White House. Here is the process, you will have to request a tour through your Member of Congress. You can look up who is your representative on this website. You can request the tour three months in advance and no less than 21 days in advance. I would request a tour the earlier the better. Once you get the okay from your member of congress, you are assigned a time to go. Self-guided tours run from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. When you get there, no bags are allowed in the white house which means no purses, handbags, diaper bags, etc.; no cameras with detachable lenses, tablets, no food, or personal grooming items are no allowed as well. There are also no storage facilities at the white house, so if you have any of these items you will be turned away. Your assigned time to visit the white house, do not come early or later, come at your assigned time. If you do come early they will tell you to leave the area and come back. Once you get into the white house, it is a self-guided tour you will see a couple of different rooms and you are able to take pictures. I would budget about 1-1.5 hours for the whole experience. FYI, your tour can be canceled at any time if there is something going on at the white house.
Since you are by the white house, stop by Old Ebbitt Grill, a place where you can see political and business deals in the making. This restaurant is beautiful, and the mahogany bar and the old-school décor are other reasons another reason to visit this place. Reservation is highly encouraged, but there is some available walk-in seating at the bar. What to get? Anything with seafood… their raw seafood bar is what they are known for. We got some oysters and calamari for lunch and it was delicious.
After lunch, you have to go on the U.S Capitol Tour (U.S. Capitol Visitor Center). The tour is free and lasts a little under an hour. During the tour you’ll see a quick video then the guide will take you to see some iconic places, the Rotunda, the Crypt, and the Old Supreme Court Chamber Register in advance for these tours US Visitor Center for online reservations or you can ask your member of congress.
After the US Capitol tour head over to the Library of Congress, a beautiful library to spend some time wandering around looking at the artwork, it's beautiful there.
Finish off your trip with some ramen at Toki Underground. It is such a cool restaurant with cocktails, Japanese tapas, and good noodle soups. You can make reservations and try to get a seat upstairs by the window so you can people-watch. What to get? Fried Chicken steam buns and the Tonkotsu Tsukemen pork belly, scallions, fried shallots, capers, tonkotsu dipping broth, and soy egg. Not very kid-friendly, so I would save this spot for a date night.
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