WASHINGTON — You could spend a whole visit to Washington exploring museums, galleries and monuments along the National Mall.
But you’d miss out on all the energy, night life, parks, culture, sports and interesting food and drink in D.C.’s thriving neighborhoods.
Be forewarned: Washington is under construction. A large swath of the grassy National Mall is torn up for a turf restoration project that won’t end until January 2017. The Capitol dome is encased in scaffolding, and there are renovations underway inside the Capitol. There’s more construction near the Washington Monument, where the National Museum of African American History and Culture is rising. It’s scheduled to open in 2016.
Important Lesson One: The Smithsonian is not one building. It’s 19 museums, 12 public gardens, nine research centers and the National Zoo. Would you rather see the giant pandas (National Zoo) or the Hope Diamond (Natural History Museum) or the Star-Spangled Banner (American History Museum) or Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis (Air and Space Museum)? si.edu.
Important Lesson Two: You probably won’t get inside the White House if you don’t plan months in advance and line up tickets through a congressional office — whitehouse.gov/about/tours-and-events. You’re also better off booking advance tickets for the Washington Monument and/or the Capitol — tinyurl.com/pckg35w and tinyurl.com/pk4v5cg.
TIPS
When using Metro escalators: Stand on the right side, walk ahead on the left side. Clogging the escalators is the biggest peeve locals have with out-of-towners.
Pick up the Smithsonian’s 35-page Visitor Survival Guide for a $1 donation.
Park your car and use other ways to get around. The Metro, wmata.com. Rent a bike at Capital Bikeshare, capitalbikeshare.com. Take the red Circulator buses that loop through different sections of the city; one loop makes 15 stops around the Mall., dccirculator.com. Check out monuments from a new vantage point by kayaking the Potomac. Try hop-on, hop-off tour options, including Old Town Trolley Tours, D.C. Ducks and Big Bus double-deckers.
Visit the monuments at night or book an evening tour. It will be cooler and less crowded.
Washington.org, the go-to site for tourists, has a long freebies list: washington.org/100-free-and-almost-free-things-do-dc.
HANGING OUT
Born to shop? Check out the high-end retailers in the new CityCenterDC development.
Have weekend brunch on Capitol Hill at Eastern Market, the city’s oldest continually operated fresh food public market, or in the restaurant mecca along Barracks Row on Eighth Street SE.
Spend Sunday afternoon at the Dacha Beer Garden in the newly cool Shaw neighborhood. Grab dinner along Maine Avenue at the fish market on the Southwest waterfront.
Rent a kayak from Fletcher’s Cove boathouse — fletcherscove.com — and paddle the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Enjoy a free Friday night concert or other activities at Yards Park — yardspark.org — in the emerging Navy Yard area.