Washington DC - 4 Days

The smithsonian museums are overrated and horribly overcrowded. Avoid them.

Do go to the national art gallery. They have Van Gogh, davinci, others. Not crowded.

See the national archives. Not too large a crowd.

Holocaust museum is sobering but should be seen

The library of congress is excellent.

Do the monuments at night. Much more beautiful.

Changing of the guard at Arlington cemetery.

The Washington monument is closed for repairs.

That's just off the top of my head.

You need to contact your congressman and senator now and ask for a White House tour if interested. The earlier the better. They can also set you up with a Capitol tour, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and a few other things.

Wherever you decide to stay look on a map to see how close it is to the metro for reasonable and easy transportation in the district. It opens up more areas to stay.

The Smithsonian museums are free. Air and Space, American History, Archives and National Gallery of Art are my favorites.

I have been to D.C. Countless times for work. The American history museum used to be really cool. They have taken out a ton of exhibits and replaced them with a bunch of garbage.

The American History museum still has many wonderful things...including the flag that flew over Fort McHenry, Abraham Lincoln's top hat, a lunch counter that was the site of one of the first sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement, Julia Child's kitchen, and a really cool collection of historic dresses worn by first ladies. I wouldn't term any of that stuff garbage. The museum rotates its collection & some of the changing exhibits are fascinating. Last time I was there, a forensic science exhibit on the Jamestown settlement documented potential evidence of famine and maybe even cannibalism among the initial settlers. Definitely go; even crowded, it's a must see place.

To me, Natural History is the one to skip, unless you're with dinosaur obsessed kids or fascinated by gemstones & minerals. Air & Space is impressive, but always overflowing with middle schoolers. The Native American museum's cafeteria has easily the best food of any Mall museums.

A tier 2 sleeper is the Botanical Garden/conservatory at the foot of Capitol Hill, nearest to Air & Space. It's rarely crowded & has a cool collection of tropical edible plants: vanilla orchids, black pepper vines, cacao trees, coffee trees, and similar.

Metro and your feet will get you everywhere.

If you have your walking shoes ready you can do a lot in 4 days. A lot of stuff is close.

We did major monuments, toured White House, Smithsonian museums, Holocaust museum, Arlington cemetery and changing of the guard, and made it out to Mt Vernon in a similar time period.

I will say it was less impressive last time I went a couple of years ago. It was by far my favorite stop when I went as a kid/teenager. Still, it's an interesting place to spend a morning or afternoon. Definitely don't spend all day there. Read up on the exhibits, pick out some you want to see, then head somewhere else.

I think the Air & Space is vastly overrated, but I've never been into planes, jets, space travel, etc.

I've found uber to be super cheap in D.C., from my hotel near the capitol to virginia was 7$, across town was maybe a 2.50$ ride

Nationals play Atlanta the Thursday I plan to arrive and then have a weekend series against the Dodgers - all in DC.

Will probably go to either the Thursday night game or Sunday afternoon game. Hate to waste a Friday night or Saturday afternoon on a sport I only casually care about.

I stayed at the grand Hyatt that was in a pretty good location. only 15k Hyatt points per night.

monuments at night is a must. I really enjoyed the tour of Congress as well. my wife dragged me to the tour of the bureau of printing (I think thats what it's called, it's where they print our money), it was pretty lame. Smithsonian natural history museum is awesome. National archives building has the declaration of independence and the constitution.