Location: East Capitol and 1st Street SE
Metro stops: Capitol South, Union Station
The Capitol Guide Service offers 40-minute tours of the Capitol Building from 8:50 am to 3:20 pm Monday through Saturday. Guided tours depart from the Capitol Visitors Center and begin every 20 minutes. Closed Christmas, New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving. See floor debates from the House and Senate Galleries; passes available through your member of Congress.
Location: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Metro stops: McPherson Square, Metro Center
Home to every president since John Adams, the White House is open for tours from 7:30 am-11:30 am Tuesday through Thursday; 7:30 am-1:30 pm Friday through Saturday (excluding federal holidays). Tour requests must be made through your member of Congress and can be submitted up to six months in advance but no less than 21 days before the tour date.
Location: 1st Street and Independence Avenue SE
Metro stops: Capitol South, Union Station
One-hour public tours of the Jefferson Building, the oldest of the three Library of Congress buildings, are offered without reservations for individuals and groups of no more than 10 people Monday through Saturday at 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm, and 3:30 pm. There are no 3:30 pm tours Saturdays. Special collections include movies, music and manuscripts.
Location: East Capital and 1st Street NE
Metro stops: Capitol South, Union Station
Open Monday through Friday (except federal holidays) from 9:30 am-4:30 pm. When Court is not in session, courtroom lectures are scheduled every hour on the half hour from 9:30 am-3:30 pm. When the Court is in session, lectures begin only after the justices have adjourned for the day. Oral arguments in cases before the Court are open to the public.
Location: Memorial Drive and Hwy. 110, Arlington VA
Metro stop: Arlington Cemetery
Open daily October through March from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, and April through September from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. View the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns every hour on the hour, and every half hour during the summer months. Two presidents, John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft, are buried here.
Location: Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW
Metro stop: Tenleytown to “30” series Metro bus
The sixth largest cathedral in the world, National Cathedral is open from 10:00 am-5:30 pm Monday through Friday; Saturdays from 10:00 am-4:30 pm; and Sundays from 8:00 am-5:00 pm. Tour times vary. Tickets to visit the cathedral are $12 per adult and $8 for children 4-12; Sunday visits are free.
Location: 14th and C Streets SW
Metro stop: Smithsonian
The Visitors Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am-3:00 pm. Closed weekends, federal holidays and the week between Christmas and New Years Day. September through February, 40-minute tours are conducted every 15 minutes from 9:00 to 2:00 pm. Tickets are required for all tours March through August and may be purchased online.
Location: 511 10th Street NW
Metro stops: Metro Center and Gallery Place
Ford’s Theater is open daily between 9:00 am and 5:30 pm, except Christmas. Tickets for theater lectures, the Lincoln Education Center and the Petersen Boarding House, where President Lincoln died, are available online. A museum in the lower level of the theater is devoted to Washington during the Civil War and John Wilkes Booth’s plot to assassinate Lincoln.
Location: National Mall
Metro stop: Smithsonian
The world’s largest museum complex, the Smithsonian includes the Udvar-Hazy Center, the Air and Space Museum, the Arts and Industries Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of American History and the Museum of the American Indian. Open daily from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. Closed Christmas.
Location: 17th Street NW between Constitution and Independence Avenues
Metro stop: Smithsonian
Symbolic of the defining event of the 20th century, the memorial pays tribute to the 16 million men and women who served in the U.S. armed forces during the war, the more than 400,000 who died, and all those who supported the war effort at home. Open 24 hours daily.
Location: On the Mall at 15th Street NW
Metro stop: Smithsonian
The Washington Monument, a tribute to George Washington, the nation’s first president, is the city’s tallest building. The 555-foot monument opened to the public in 1888. But the Eiffel Tower at 1,063 feet replaced it one year later as the world’s tallest structure when it was unveiled at the 1889 Paris World’s Fair.
Location: 15th St., between F and G Streets, NW
Metro stops: Metro Center, McPherson Square
Tours cover the history of the Treasury Department. Visitors will see, among other things, the famed 1864 burglar-proof vault. Reservations must be made through your member of Congress. Tours are conducted on Saturday mornings.
Location: Between Army-Navy Drive and South Washington Boulevard, Arlington, VA.
Metro stop: Pentagon
Headquarters of the Defense Department, the Pentagon is the largest building in the Washington area. Guided tours are available Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Reservations required and must be made between 14 and 90 days prior to tour date.
Location: South side of the Tidal Basin at 14th Street SW
Metro stop: Smithsonian
The memorial honors Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the Untied States. Rent paddle boats at the nearby Swan Boathouse to view the memorial and Washington’s famous cherry trees from the Tidal Basin. Open 24 hours daily.
Location: Constitution Avenue and 7th Street NW
Metro stop: Archives/ Navy Memorial
The Archives contains millions of documents related to the history of the United States, many of them on display, including The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. Open daily from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm the day after Labor Day through March 14; 10:00 am to 7:00 pm March 15 through Labor Day.
Location: West end of the Mall at 23rd Street NW
Metro stop: Foggy Bottom
The memorial, one of the most visited in the world, pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States. Dedicated in 1922, it faces the Reflecting Pool, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol Building. Open 24 hours daily.
Location: 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place (15th Street) SW
Metro stop: Smithsonian
The Holocaust Museum is a repository of Holocaust and World War II-related artifacts. Permanent exhibitions are recommended for visitors over the age of 11. Open daily 10:00 am-5:30 pm, except Christmas and Yom Kippur. Admission is free, but a timed pass is required from March through August.
Location: Between the Potomac River and the Cherry Tree Walk around the Tidal Basin
Metro stop: Smithsonian
The memorial, a tribute to Franklin D. Roosevelt, thirty-second president of the United States, consists of four outdoor rooms, each representing one of FDR’s four terms in the White House. The memorial is open 24 hours daily.
Location: N. Meade Street and George Marshall Drive, Arlington, VA
Metro stop: Rosslyn
Adjacent to Arlington Cemetery, the Marine Corps Memorial depicts the raising of the U.S. flag by six Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The statue by Felix de Weldon is based on the 1945 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Joseph Rosenthal. Open 24 hours daily.
Location: Bacon Drive and Constitution Avenue NW
Metro stop: Foggy Bottom
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors over 58,000 U.S. combat dead in the Vietnam War. Nearby is a memorial to eight U.S. Army nurses who were killed in the war. Also see Frederick Hart’s stature of three U.S. Vietnam War soldiers.
Open 24 hours daily.
Location: National Mall between 3rd and 7th Streets. NW
Metro stops: Smithsonian, Archives/ Navy Memorial
The National Gallery of Art is home to one of the world’s great collections of paintings and sculptures. Open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm; and Sundays from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Closed Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Location: Along the Potomac River between M Street NW and Wisconsin Avenue NW
Metro stop: Foggy Bottom
Once a Maryland port city on the Potomac River, Georgetown became a part of the new Nation’s Capital in the late eighteenth century. Full of shops and restaurants, the community has been home to some of Washington’s most famous residents.
Location: Massachusetts Avenue, NW between Dupont Circle and Wisconsin Avenue
Metro stop: Dupont Circle
Washington has more than 175 foreign embassies, chanceries and diplomatic missions. Many are clustered around a section of Massachusetts Avenue known as Embassy Row, where the mood is international and architecture can vary from Victorian to modern.
Location: West Mall near Independence Avenue SE
Metro stop: Foggy Bottom
This memorial, dedicated to American and United Nations troops who fought in the Korean War (1950-1953), features the statues of 19 U.N. soldiers displayed next to a black marble wall depicting the images of more than 2,500 U.S. Korean War service man and women. Open 24 hours daily.
Location: Independence Avenue and 1st Street SW
Metro stops: Federal Center SW or Capitol South
The Botanic Gardens contains more than 8,000 different types of exotic plants and flowers and includes a tropical rain forest, desert and orchid garden. Open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm daily (including federal holidays). Free 45-minute tours are available.
Location: F Street between 7th and 9th Streets NW
Metro stop: Gallery Place
Formerly the 19th century Patent Office Building, the gallery features thousands of portraits of individuals who helped shape the nation’s history. In a section devoted to the presidency see portraits of every president. Open 11:30 am to 7:00 pm daily, closed Christmas.
Location: 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW
Metro stops: Woodley Park/ National Zoo
Visit the panda exhibit, or tour the heritage gardens and wetlands. Animal exhibits are open from 10:00 am-6:00 pm daily April through October, and from 10:00 am-4:30 am daily November through March. The Visitor Center and Panda Plaza open at 9 a.m. daily. Pay parking available.
Location: 1964 Independence Avenue, SW
Metro stop: Smithsonian
Slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King is depicted in a relief sculpture rising some 30 feet above the Tidal Basin. Winner of the 1964 Noble Peace Prize, King delivered what has come to be known as his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the nearby Lincoln Memorial in August 1963.
Location: 4155 Linnean Ave., NW
Metro stop: Van Ness/UDC
Marjorie Merriweather Post, the cereal heiress, bought Hillwood in 1955, and turned it into a museum. Today her Rock Creek Park estate contains the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and twenty-five acres of gardens and natural woodlands. Hillwood is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission: suggested donation $15 for adults.
Location: 31st and R Streets, NW
Metro stop: Foggy Bottom
Dumbarton Oaks was the scene of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944 that led to the creation of the United Nations. The gardens and museums (devoted to pre-Columbian and Byzantine art), are open to the public. During summer hours, March 15 through October 31, the gardens are open 2 pm to 6 pm, except Mondays and holidays; winter hours, November 1 through March 14, are 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, except Mondays and holidays.
Location: 3200 Mount Vernon Hwy., Mount Vernon VA
Mount Vernon was George Washington’s home from the early 1750s until his death in 1799. Overlooking the Potomac River, the estate is a perfectly preserved eighteenth-century Virginia plantation. In addition to the fully furnished mansion where George and Martha Washington lived, visitors can explore the grounds that include gardens, two museums, and the tomb of America’s first president and his wife.
Location: Five miles south of Washington
Metro Stop: King Street
Old Town Alexandria looks much as it did when it was busy colonial port on the Potomac River. Full of shops, restaurants and beautifully restored homes, Old Town is a favorite destination for sightseers and students of early American history. Robert E. Lee grew up at 614 Oronoco Street, and both the Lee and George Washington worshiped at Christ Church on 118 North Washington Street.
Go beyond Washington’s familiar landmarks to discover the stories, places and events that shaped the capital — from history and politics to intrigue, scandal and espionage.
The Battle of Gettysburg marked the turning point in a Civil War that threatened to destroy the United States. But the battlefield is also a symbol of what Abraham Lincoln called a “new birth of freedom.” See Gettysburg’s battlefield, from Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge with our expert guides, as you examine the history of the battle and its legacy.
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