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My wife and I will be visiting Washington DC this summer and want to make the most of it! We are staying at the Fairfax at Embassy Row, so we're fairly close to the National Mall. What do you recommend? There's all sorts of tours for sale for varying amounts of money and I don't want to get bent over in tourist traps. What things are not heavily advertised that are worth seeing? Is there public transport we can take or should we count on taxis? Any other advice or recommendations? Thanks for any and all recommendations!
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Jan 29, 2017 06:49
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 09:34 |
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Mach 30 posted:My wife and I will be visiting Washington DC this summer and want to make the most of it! We are staying at the Fairfax at Embassy Row, so we're fairly close to the National Mall. What do you recommend? There's all sorts of tours for sale for varying amounts of money and I don't want to get bent over in tourist traps. What things are not heavily advertised that are worth seeing? Is there public transport we can take or should we count on taxis? Any other advice or recommendations? Thanks for any and all recommendations! How long are you going to be in DC? What are your interests? Public transport is widely available, pick up a SmarTrip card at any metro station, also works on buses. There is no entrance fee for museums along the mall and places like Arlington National Cemetery.
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Jan 29, 2017 13:42
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There are tons of things to do in D.C...I lived there for two years, so let me run down the list of things I used to enjoy doing. The best, and perhaps only way to travel, is the Metro. The classic thing to do is to see the museums and monuments on or near the national Mall. Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington Monuments, Vietnam and WWII memorials, Holocaust and Black History Museums...all great things to check out. Go see "Chinatown" which is not really a Chinatown at all, but is worth it in order to go to the one Chinese restaurant near the large gate which is tasty and authentic-ish. Also worth it for Ford's theater and Lincoln's deathbed across the street from Ford's theater. Sit a spell and reflect on our nation's greatest president. On the lighter side, the National Zoo is great. See the animals and then get blasted in nearby Adams Morgan (Dan's was the best bar, not sure if it is still there, open only at night). National Symphony is good, near the Watergate which is worth seeing for historical reasons but they don't give tours. If you can get out on the red line, go to the massive used book warehouse near the Grosvenor stop. Edit: also go see the Nats play if you're going in the summer. Centrist Dad fucked around with this message at 15:10 on Jan 29, 2017 |
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Jan 29, 2017 14:48
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I was there for a few days recently. The Metro was good -- I flew into DCA and it was maybe 15-20 min to get downtown, very convenient. You shouldn't need a taxi most of the time, unless you're out very late/early. As far as things to do, there a lot of great museums on the Mall -- and they're free, which is incredible. If the weather is nice, it also makes for a nice stroll. You'll be able to see a lot of historical sites all lined up in a row from the Supreme Court all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. I was able to fill my time without going on any official "tours" since it's easy enough to navigate yourself. I would've liked to try to see the inside of the White House and get a tour of the Capitol, but I believe you have to organize that in advance by calling your congressman or something. If that's something you're interested in doing, look up what you need to do ahead of time.
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Jan 29, 2017 17:44
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grellgraxer posted:How long are you going to be in DC? What are your interests? Public transport is widely available, pick up a SmarTrip card at any metro station, also works on buses. There is no entrance fee for museums along the mall and places like Arlington National Cemetery. We will be arriving mid-day Saturday and leaving the following Sunday, so roughly seven and a half days. We're into history, culture, art, and politics. We want to see the national mall and all the usual stuff, but are there any nontraditional things? Never heard of SmarTrip, so thank you for that lead! Glad to hear the museums and such have no admission. Thank you! Oyak posted:There are tons of things to do in D.C...I lived there for two years, so let me run down the list of things I used to enjoy doing. The best, and perhaps only way to travel, is the Metro. Thank you for the museum recommendations and advice for the Metro! We'll definitely be going to those museums and it sounds like public transit is the way to go. We wanted to check out Ford's and Lincoln's deathbed. Good to hear it's near Chinatown. My wife and I love Chinese! We will definitely have to check out the used bookstore. We're both huge bookworms! Thank you! FPS_Sage posted:I was there for a few days recently. The Metro was good -- I flew into DCA and it was maybe 15-20 min to get downtown, very convenient. You shouldn't need a taxi most of the time, unless you're out very late/early. I didn't know that! I'll have to contact my Congressman. Thanks!
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Jan 30, 2017 05:36
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For your interest in history, if you want to get out of town for a half day, I would suggest taking a trip to old town Alexandria then touring the estate at Mount Vernon, home of ya boy George Washington. You can take yellow or blue line metro to King Street to get to Alexandria. If you go by road from Alexandria to Mount Vernon (you can also take a water taxi), you can stop by the site of PO Box 1142, an old timey Spanish American War fort and WW II interrogation camp.
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Feb 1, 2017 04:19
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Mach 30 posted:My wife and I will be visiting Washington DC this summer and want to make the most of it! We are staying at the Fairfax at Embassy Row, so we're fairly close to the National Mall. What do you recommend? There's all sorts of tours for sale for varying amounts of money and I don't want to get bent over in tourist traps. What things are not heavily advertised that are worth seeing? Is there public transport we can take or should we count on taxis? Any other advice or recommendations? Thanks for any and all recommendations! Go to a protest! Just kidding, unless that's your thing. Anyway, you could spend a whole week exploring the Smithsonian Museums and monuments all along the mall. If you are into parks, Rock Creek Park is great for a stroll if it's not too hot. And there is some good history there too! https://www.nps.gov/rocr/index.htm Looking for nightlife? Dupont is where the "club scene" is at. Avoid Adams Morgan unless you like partying with drunk 20-somethings. U street is amazing if you like music clubs, check out Black Cat and U street music hall. Also if you are on U street go to Ben's Chili Bowl. I personally think the food there is average, but it's a DC staple rich in history so it's worth checking out if you are in the area. If you have an abundance of time. Head to Virginia! You can get a shuttle to the Udvar-Hazy museum and see some really awesome planes. If you are renting a car, head to Annandale for some good Korean Food. Eden Center is one of the largest collection of Vietnamese shops and restaurants on the east coast: http://edencenter.com/ I'll post more as I think of them. I've lived in the DC area for 16 years now,
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Feb 3, 2017 14:06
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Solaris 2.0 posted:Go to a protest! We will definitely keep all of this in mind! Even the protests, haha. We're both politically-inclined and who knows where the current clusterfuck will be in a few months. Thank you!
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Feb 5, 2017 10:28
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"Chinatown" isn't a Chinatown like other cities. It consists of a couple blocks with chain stores and restaurants with their names in Chinese. The people who the area is named after are almost entirely gone. It's not free, but I *highly* recommend the Newseum.
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Feb 7, 2017 22:24
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two pay museums I like Newseum - $25 The museum of modern news, I'd give this a glowing review because it's so dang cool. Parts of the 9/11 planes/tower, A huge part of the berlin wall with guard tower, the unibombers actual cabin, newspapers from basically every historical event preserved under glass back to the very early days of america, it's got a lot of really awesome stuff in it. Spy museum - $22 not as historic as a lot of other museums and some people probably don't like it but I enjoyed it a lot. Maybe when you compare it to every other museum you might be museum'd out, but this has a rad rear end James Bond exhibit where it has things like the original Moonraker minatures used in the film, some of the OG cars, it's pretty cool. Plus spies and all that, if that's your thing check it out e: fukkin newseum sniped
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Feb 7, 2017 22:26
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the anderson house on mass ave NW is cool as hell; it's got all kinda revolutionary era stuffz I forget what their hours are and I think they encourage donations instead of outright charging but it's been a while.
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Feb 7, 2017 22:49
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It'll eat an entire day, but Mount Vernon is worth going to if you want an intimate look at George Washington's life and lodgings. The National Arboretum is kind of a pain to get to, but it's really nice in the summer. Not crowded, beautiful, and the bonsai display has some really cool pieces some of which are from before the founding of the country. I really enjoy the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens as well, but they're even more of a pain, you basically take the metro and then walk half an hour. Still, the lotus are breathtaking.
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Feb 7, 2017 22:55
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Buy some weed on CL and go to the Tidal Basin and catch like a huge catfish with hotdogs, a hook, and some string.
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Feb 8, 2017 00:21
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Head up to Silver Spring and catch a movie at the AFI theater - I think that Count Gore de Vol (DC-local creature feature host from the 70's/80's) is hosting a screening of Alien at some point this summer.
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Feb 8, 2017 01:33
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As you get closer to your visit, pop in the DC thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3032543 There are about a bajillion goons in DC/Baltimore and we'd be happy to give you advice/ show you around. Keep in mind that you could easily spend all day every day of your trip in the museums in DC and not see everything, so pick maybe two that you'd most like to see and go to those, budgeting a full day per museum. Just walking from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial can take half a day and there's a shitton to gawk at. There's an absolute TON of awesome places to eat in DC, so think of some stuff you'd like to try and then hit up the DC thread for recommendations, or check the "Where to eat in Washington DC" thread in Goons with Spoons. There's fantastic stuff from hole in the wall places to $500 per person fancy dining, anything you'd like.
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Feb 8, 2017 02:03
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you can come to my house and we can drink mad dog and throw rocks at amtrak trains
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Feb 8, 2017 16:08
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Mach 30 posted:What things are not heavily advertised that are worth seeing? Is there public transport we can take or should we count on taxis? Any other advice or recommendations? Thanks for any and all recommendations! Museums are cool as hell. Go do that. Whatever floats your boat. The U-street corridor is a good night out. There's a TON of venues and food. Georgetown is fun *dodges rocks thrown by DC natives* -ish. There's a lot of stuff there but there's no good way to get there or get around. I don't know what kinda of food you're into, but we've got it. Unfortunately all the good dim sum and soup dumplings is out in Rockville. If you're looking for off the radar, H-street corridor is about as far from 'tourist trap' as you can get. Hit up Little Miss Whiskeys and prepare to be mocked. Toki Underground is phenomenal. H-street country club is lame, but go anyway because they have games that might keep you entertained, and Maketto is nearby. Things that aren't museums or food? You're likely to stumble upon some fun stuff along H-street but this article gives some interesting suggestions: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/washington-dc/travel-tips-and-articles/offbeat-dc-20-unusual-things-to-do-in-washington-dc
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Feb 8, 2017 16:32
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Jamwad Hilder posted:you can come to my house and we can drink mad dog and throw rocks at amtrak trains A perfect way to pass the time while we wait for the heavy metal catfish to finish cooking.
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Feb 8, 2017 16:39
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:Museums are cool as hell. Go do that. Whatever floats your boat.
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Feb 8, 2017 17:12
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Oyak posted:If you can get out on the red line, go to the massive used book warehouse near the Grosvenor stop. Which one? The Friends of the Library one? Definitely recommend checking out Udvar-Hazy if you can make it out there. I also agree that the Newseum is worth checking out despite having a paid admission.
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Feb 8, 2017 17:59
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Handsome Ralph posted:Which one? The Friends of the Library one? There is a bus service available from the Air & Space Museum to the Udvar-Hazy center. Makes getting out there real easy from DC with no need for a rental car or planning metro/transit bus routes.
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Feb 8, 2017 20:48
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Endless Mike posted:This is not true at all. You take the Metro to Foggy Bottom then take a bus or walk. It's a shorter walk than from the Capitol to the Washington Monument or White House, which tourists do every day. Foggy Bottom and Farragut are convenient to tons of places if you like walking.
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Feb 8, 2017 21:19
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Solaris 2.0 posted:Looking for nightlife? Dupont is where the "club scene" is at. Avoid Adams Morgan unless you like partying with drunk 20-somethings. U street is amazing if you like music clubs, check out Black Cat and U street music hall. Also if you are on U street go to Ben's Chili Bowl. I personally think the food there is average, but it's a DC staple rich in history so it's worth checking out if you are in the area. I feel like you haven't been part of the "club scene" in DC for awhile.  I haven't heard of anyone going clubbing in Dupont since the early 2000s. Granted clubbing in DC is terrible, so this is not a bad thing.My two cents is that if you like jazz and want a local's experience, go to Columbia Station for their Sunday night jam session. It's about the shittiest bar you can imagine from a service and drinks perspective, but the jazz is second to none in the area. It's a bunch of old dudes who played with the jazz greats of yesteryear combined with young, talented, local musicians. If you go, there will be approximately four other people in the bar besides you and the band. Don't order a drink that has more than two ingredients, three if you include ice. It's a whiskey neat/beer kind of bar. I enjoy ordering a dirty martini every time I go because the results are hilarious and never a dirty martini.
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Feb 8, 2017 22:22
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^^^ agree with all of this. The only place in Dupont is call a club is 18th Street Lounge and that's barely in Dupont. The big actual clubs are a bit further south. I do agree with U Hall and Black Cat being with checking out for music, but they buy cater to their own types. U Hall is mostly electronic stuff and Black Cat is rock/indie/metal/punk stuff. There's also a bunch of restaurant/bars that have live jazz. I'd also suggest Madam's Organ of you're into blues at all.
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Feb 9, 2017 03:09
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Oh hey and also, no one has said it yet, summer is baseball season too if that's your thing at all. Nats park is easy to get to, and the area around the park has some ok restaurant options. I'd recommend Bluejacket for some local beers. Tickets are easy to get so it could be a nice way to kill an afternoon/evening if you have a slow day.
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Feb 9, 2017 03:36
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kedo posted:I feel like you haven't been part of the "club scene" in DC for awhile. I mean I am 33 so...perhaps I am showing my age a bit as I don't get into DC all that often anymore  That said if you are in Dupont Big Hunt is a nice dive bar with good happy hours. I personally really enjoy Kramerbooks & Afterwords cafe. It's a hipster bookstore next to a cafe that serves delicious cake and pie with wine, and often has live music. I've heard some people think its over-priced. To which I say, It's in DC so yea of course it is, but still worth checking out. I also really, really want to recommend H street to the OP. I've only been there twice, but had a fantastic experience both times(Dangerous Delicious Pies is worth a journey itself, I think another Goon mentioned Toki) however H street is a bit of hike if you are reliant on metro.
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Feb 9, 2017 14:06
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But now there's the streetcar on H Street!  If you have time, I'd crawl on up to 3 Stars Brewery on a Saturday. It is a bit of a schlep if you're just relying on Metro, though. The beers are pretty good, they have a decent variety of them, and they have a decent food truck parked outside that serves good bratwurst. Other places that are cool and good to go to include the Library of Congress. With regards to jazz, my wife and I go to Twins Jazz on U Street when we want a nice date night. They have some decent acts passing through, and the food is pretty OK Ethiopian food. Which reminds me - DC has really, really good Ethiopian food thanks to having a very active base of Ethiopian expats. If you're feeling adventurous regarding food, it's definitely worth trying. If you must go to a place with a decent beer selection, Churchkey on 14th Street is a solid bet.
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Feb 9, 2017 16:27
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LuiCypher posted:But now there's the streetcar on H Street! unf I love Churchkey.
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Feb 9, 2017 16:38
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Head to the Pug on H St and drink until you forget how hot it is outside/you're called up to eat at Toki Underground  I think everyone covered museums, but I would totally rent a car from DCA or something for a day and take a trip to Shenandoah National Park. It's a beautiful park, and has plenty of WPA history if you're into that sort of thing. If you're into Chinese, imo Sichuan Pavilion is probably the best place in DC that's easily transit accessible. Otherwise, off to the Maryland suburbs/Peter Chang's in Arlington. If you're into Indian food, DC possibly has the best Indian restaurant in the US in Rasika. Super recommended, along with the suggestions for Ethiopian. For culture stuff, check the Kennedy Center calendar. Yo-Yo Ma is coming through in May and we're seeing him, but I dunno what the rest of the summer looks like. Also it will start to get really goddamned hot sometime in June, so keep that in mind. Those big bus tours with the open top decks are actually a dumb fun way to spend a night and see some stuff when it's 85 degrees outside at 8pm.
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Mar 9, 2017 07:32
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Nthing the recommendation to try Ethiopian food. If you're new to it, get one of the combo platters (meat, veg, or mixed). Bear in mind it's really filling, so sharing a platter for two should be plenty of chow. Anecdotally, I have *never* run out of Ethiopian food regardless of group size, it's magical like that. It can be kinda spicy but the server should be able to tell you what to try/avoid and/or can make you some milder stuff. If you like raw beef, kitfo is awesome, and doro wat (chicken and hardboiled eggs in a pepper-tomato sauce) is the utter classic, and all the veggie dishes are good. You absolutely do not want to drive in DC proper; traffic sucks, drivers are terrible, roads are confusing. If you want to drive outside of DC, get a rental or a zipcar out in the 'burbs so you don't need to go in and out of the city with it. Mostly worth doing if you want to visit any national parks/forests in the area, but if you're mostly a city person you can keep pretty occupied in DC. If you want some variety, you can also take the train up to Baltimore for a day trip, or rent a car and go up to Annapolis which is a painfully cute little brick-street town about 45min from DC. Aside from Metro, if you like bicycling DC has a great bikeshare system. Tons of racks all over town, and the bikes are functional (albeit more durable than graceful) and there's tons of bike lanes around. You can download the Capital Bikeshare app on your phone, and buy a 1-week pass when you get there, so as you walk out of your hotel you just look at the app and say "oh look, there's a rack with at least two available bikes on the next block, and we can peddle down the Natural History museum and park them at a rack a block away and walk in" (the app shows how many bikes/slots there are at each location). Once you park the bike in a rack, it's no longer your problem so you can wander freely and just use bikes for whatever legs you like, I used it a ton when I lived there. EDIT: Uber is pretty strong in DC, and last I was there the "carpool" option was crazy cheap. I wouldn't mess with the local taxis unless you can't get an Uber; they aren't terrible but aren't great. Also supporting the vote for Black Cat and U Street Music Hall (same neighborhood) and there's good Ethiopian around there. Adams Morgan and Dupont (right by your hotel) have famous bookshops. East H Street has good food and entertainment. Personally I don't find Chinatown that exciting except for people-watching and a few good restaurants (RFD for craft beer, Jaleo for tapas). Churchkey is walking distance from you and is probably the best craft-beer place in town, but it's the living embodiment of "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" so try to go at a slow time so you can sample a bunch of small glasses of cool stuff. There are also some really good craft-cocktail places, though I defer to others since I've been gone a year. The National Zoo is kinda small but good quality, can be knocked out in a few hours and is right by the Metro. Aside from the Smithsonian Museums (and you could honestly go to pretty much all of them and be busy for a week) there are a couple really good private art museums too. You can also book a tour at the Pentagon if you find that interesting (if you're not a US citizen you have to book through your embassy). EDIT: the cliche/classic DC/area foods to try: half-smoke (like a bratwurst, chili optional), Ethiopian food, Jamaican food, moules frites (Belgian mussels and fries), chicken wings with "mumbo sauce" (in sketchy neighborhoods), crab cakes (more a Baltimore thing that spills over). Vietnamese food is huge and amazing but mostly in the Virginia suburbs, limited Vietnamese in DC proper. The old-school classic DC drink is a gin rickey (although that's surprisingly uncommon knowledge), and there are now several local breweries for suds. The Smithsonian Museums, you kinda have to triage, and either linger in some and rush through others, or cut out some and spend quality time in others, etc. It's worth trying to plan a little. Personally I like the Hirshhorn (modern art), Sackler/Freer/African complex (museums linked by underground tunnels with Asian and African art), and American Indian museum (which not everyone likes). I'll go against the grain and say that I find the American History museum just so-so (not bad though), Natural History is good but not crazy better than a nat hist museum in any other big city, and Air and Space I just duck into to go to one or two specific exhibits (I love the WWI exhibit), but those three are huge with tourists and full of gits gawking. National Portrait Gallery is open latest, and the portraits are decently cool but they have a wide variety of other stuff rotate through and an amazing interior plaza. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Mar 27, 2017 |
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Mar 27, 2017 04:22
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If you like money maybe check out the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and watch them make dollar bills.
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Mar 27, 2017 13:55
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I'm a cheap backpacker, so I'm here to tell you that all the Smithsonian museums are free, and amazing. The National Gallery of Art and National Museum of Natural History are really good. Air & Space is a great accounting of all the cool stuff we used to do in space (RIP shuttle!) Both are on the mall itself, which is very nice and worth a walk through. Some of the monuments are underwhelming, but I think it's worth checking out the Lincoln Memorial. I'd reccomend getting off the metro at Farragut, checking out the White House (they keep adding security so see it while you can), walking down past the Washington monument. You'll pass the Vietnam war memorial (which is more impressive in person), can hit museums if you'd like, and then end at the Lincoln memorial.
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May 1, 2017 03:15
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