In addition to the tourist places that you visited on your eighth-grade trip to Washington, DC, the city has a lot of great attractions, restaurants, and watering holes. Here are some of our favorites. Most are easily accessible by Metro (get a Washington, DC, Metro map here).
Select the name of the attraction to see its website (if there is one); select the address to see its whereabouts on Google Maps. If you’d like more information about Washington, DC, check out Lonely Planet’s Washington, DC, guide book and the Gridskipper website.
Museums
Monuments and memorials
Cultural calendars
Outdoor activities
Restaurants
Bars
Museums
Obviously the Smithsonians are the main attractions in Washington, DC. Here is a list of all 16 of them (all are free). We recommend
- the recently renovated National Portrait Gallery (750 9th St. NW)
- the National Museum of Natural History (10th St. and Constitution Ave. NW)
- the National Air and Space Museum (Independence Ave at 4th St. SW)
As for other museums, here’s a list of DC museums that are worth the price of admission (yes, Zach wrote the post).
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Monuments and memorials
The National Mall features a plethora of monuments and memorials (it seems that a new one opens every year). Here are some we suggest visiting.
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
- World War II Memorial (Zach says it’s like Stonehenge, only 5,200 years later it’s a step back in design and functionality. Margaret likes it, especially at night. For more information about the controversy surrounding its design and location, read the Wikipedia article about the memorial.)
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Calendars
Here are a few of the calendars we peruse to see what’s happening.
- Busboys and Poets: where leftist guerrillas listen to Che Guevara-inspired poetry readings whilst plotting the revolution over lattes and tofu with jasmine sauce
- Politics and Prose: a less flamingly liberal version of above
- Olsson’s Books and Records: another local bookstore with regular guest speakers
- Pollstar: a schedule of area concerts
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Outdoors activities
If you maxed out on DC’s museums and monuments on your 8th grade trip here (you know, the one where you got wired on Mountain Dew and hide an ex-lax in the dorky kid’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup), her are some great outdoor options.
- DC race calendar: For those of you with more ambitious plans for a weekend morning than sleeping it off and starting it up again, there are many area road races on Saturday and Sunday.
- Great Falls Park (9200 Old Dominion Dr., McLean, VA): Just a few miles from DC (you will need a car), this park features excellent hiking, kayaking, and biking. Pack a picnic, some water, and your camera.
- Kayaking on the Potomac (2900 Virginia Ave. NW): Thompson Boat Center, one of the few places we’d recommend in Georgetown, has affordable kayak, canoe, and bike rentals. It’s a great—and different—way to see DC.
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Restaurants
- Jaleo (480 7th St. NW): José Andrés’s restaurant features Spanish tapas, small appetizer-like plates that are shared. The Pulpo a la Gallega “Maestro Alfonso” (boiled octopus with paprika and virgin olive oil) is Zach’s favorite meal anywhere. If you go with a group, try the paella. Whatever you order, wash it down with a pitcher or six of sangria. (The Crystal City location was the site of our
firstsecond date.) - Palena’s bar/cafe (3529 Connecticut Ave. NW): Palena is a few Metro stops from downtown, but the $10 cheeseburger is worth the trek. Yes, a $10 burger merits a trip: it’s made with Kobe beef and truffle cheese. (Zagat rates it as the top hamburger in the city.)
- Teatro Goldoni (1909 K St. NW): A short walk from the Hamilton Crowne Plaza, this Venetian restaurant has a great lunchtime special: $12.50 for an entrée and glass of wine. But you need to sit at the bar to order the special.
- Zorba’s Cafe (1612 20th St. NW): Located in Dupont Circle, Zorba’s has great authentic, cheap, and quick Greek fare and sidewalk dining. Zach suggests the pork souvlaki Margaret prefers the falafel (which is vegetarian).
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Bars
- The Willard’s Round Robin Bar (1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW): A mainstay of old school, political DC, this classic bar features traditional cocktails and an interesting mix of tourists and pols. (The last time Zach was here he sat in between former Secretary of State James Baker and tourists taking pictures of former Secretary of State James Baker with their cell-phone cameras.) It was a few minutes after Margaret took Zach and his dad here that Zach’s dad declared Margaret “a gem. And that’s a fact!”
- Cafe Citron (1343 Connecticut Ave. NW): This two-level Latin lounge in Dupont features great mojitos. It also serves good Portuguese beer. It’s best to go in the afternoon or early evening, however, before the patrons get Euro-trash trendy and the music gets boom-diddy-boom-diddy WAH WAH WAH.
- Grand Slam Sports Bar in the Grand Hyatt Hotel (1000 H St. NW): A decent sports bar downtown that doesn’t seem to focus on one particular team or sport. (Zach used to work at a building adjacent to the Grand Hyatt and would sneak over to Grand Slam to watch mid-day NCAA Tournament games.)
