Washington, DC

The domed home of Congress stands at the east end of the Mall. Free guided tours start in the underground Capitol Visitor Center on the east side and take in the Crypt, the Rotunda and National Statuary Hall; the House and Senate galleries are not part of the tour.

TipReserve a tour time online at visitthecapitol.gov. Walk-ups are placed on the next available tour, but arrive early in the day and allow time for airport-style security.

The Thomas Jefferson Building, across the street from the Capitol, is one of the most lavishly decorated buildings in the country, with a Great Hall of marble, mosaics and murals. Look down into the domed Main Reading Room from the overlook, see a Gutenberg Bible, and browse the new Treasures gallery. Free timed-entry tickets are required; it opens Tuesday to Saturday, with late opening on Thursdays.

The marble temple of the nation's highest court is next to the Library. The building is open to visitors on weekdays, free of charge, with exhibits and lectures in the courtroom on days when the Court is not sitting. Seats for oral arguments are limited and first-come, first-served.

A free gallery in two very different buildings: the neoclassical West Building, with European and American art from the Middle Ages onwards, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas, and I. M. Pei's angular East Building for modern and contemporary art. Between them, the Sculpture Garden has a fountain that becomes an ice rink in winter.

The Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module are among the treasures of this hugely popular Smithsonian museum. A renovation lasting most of a decade is almost complete, with most galleries reopened by mid-2026 and the last ones due to follow by the end of the year. Free timed-entry passes are required.

TipThe museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport, with the Space Shuttle Discovery, needs no passes, though there is a parking fee.

Pass the elephant in the rotunda to find the Hope Diamond, the dinosaur skeletons of the fossil hall, the Ocean Hall and an insect zoo. It's free and needs no pass, which makes it one of the busiest museums in the world; come at opening time.

The museum of the nation's story keeps the original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the national anthem, alongside the Greensboro lunch counter from the civil rights sit-ins, the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and Julia Child's kitchen.

Wrapped in a bronze-coloured lattice, the Smithsonian's newest museum opened in 2016. Its history galleries start deep underground with the transatlantic slave trade and rise through emancipation, segregation and the civil rights movement, while the upper floors celebrate music, sport and culture. Plan at least half a day.

TipFree timed-entry passes are required. They are released online thirty days ahead, with a limited number of same-day passes released online each morning.

The 169-metre marble obelisk to George Washington, completed in 1884, is visible from almost everywhere in the city. Look for the change in the colour of the stone about a third of the way up, where construction paused for more than twenty years. A lift takes visitors to the observation level for the best view of the city's plan.

TipTimed tickets are needed for the lift. Book on recreation.gov, where tickets are released thirty days ahead and sell out fast, with a small service charge; a limited number of free same-day tickets are handed out at the lodge on 15th Street from 8.45 am.

The president's home since 1800 can be seen from Lafayette Square to the north and from the Ellipse to the south. The National Park Service's White House Visitor Center nearby has exhibits on the building and its occupants. Public tours must be requested through a member of Congress, seven to ninety days ahead; international visitors should ask their embassy. Construction on the East Wing side has changed the tour route, and schedules can change at short notice.

Opened in 2004 at the end of the Reflecting Pool, the memorial honours the sixteen million Americans who served in the war, with fifty-six granite pillars for the states and territories, two arches for the Atlantic and Pacific, and a wall of gold stars for those who died.

Maya Lin's black granite wall, dedicated in 1982, cuts into the ground and lists more than 58,000 names of those killed or missing, in the order they died. Its simplicity makes it one of the most moving places in the city. Visitors often leave flowers and letters, and make rubbings of names.

A Greek temple with a seated Abraham Lincoln, dedicated in 1922 and looking down the Reflecting Pool towards the Washington Monument. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech from its steps in 1963; an inscription marks the spot. A new museum in the undercroft beneath the memorial opened in June 2026, telling the story of its construction and the protests and gatherings held here; it needs a free timed ticket.

TipCome at sunrise or after dark, when the memorials are lit and much quieter. The Mall's memorials are open around the clock.

Nineteen stainless-steel soldiers on patrol advance through juniper bushes, reflected in a polished granite wall etched with faces. A Wall of Remembrance listing the names of the American and Korean soldiers who died was added in 2022.

Dr King emerges from a "Stone of Hope" cut from a mountain of granite, beside a curved wall of his quotations, facing across the Tidal Basin towards the Jefferson Memorial. It opened in 2011, the first memorial on the Mall to honour an African American.

The round, domed memorial to Thomas Jefferson, dedicated in 1943, sits across the water from the White House, with his words on the walls around a bronze statue. The walk around the Tidal Basin, lined with Japanese cherry trees, is the city's classic spring stroll; its rebuilt seawall now has wider paths and newly planted trees. Paddle boats can be hired in season.

A redeveloped stretch of the Washington Channel with restaurants, music venues, piers and water taxis. The Municipal Fish Market at its northern end is one of the oldest continuously operating open-air fish markets in the country, still selling steamed crabs and oysters.

Across the Potomac in Virginia, rows of white headstones cover the hills of the nation's most famous military cemetery. Visit the eternal flame at the grave of President John F. Kennedy, Arlington House with its view across the river, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where sentinels keep watch around the clock and the Changing of the Guard is held through the day. It's open daily from 8 am to 5 pm, and the Arlington Cemetery Metro stop is a short walk from the entrance.

TipThis is an active cemetery with funerals most days. Keep your voice down, stay on paths, and give funeral processions room.

Older than the capital itself, Georgetown is a neighbourhood of Federal-style houses, brick pavements and shops along M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Walk the towpath of the C&O Canal, climb the steep steps from M Street made famous by a horror film, and finish in the waterfront park by the Potomac.

A Gothic cathedral of the twentieth century, begun in 1907 and finished in 1990, with flying buttresses, stained glass including a window holding a piece of moon rock, and gargoyles that include, high on the northwest tower, Darth Vader. There's an admission fee for sightseeing outside services; check the cathedral's website for opening days.

Dupont Circle, with its fountain and grand mansions, leads onto Embassy Row and the Phillips Collection, an intimate museum of modern art. A short walk east, U Street was once known as "Black Broadway", where Duke Ellington grew up and jazz clubs thrived. Today it's one of DC's liveliest areas for music and nightlife, with the historic Lincoln Theatre and the African American Civil War Memorial nearby.

A former wholesale market district in Northeast DC, now home to a busy food hall with dozens of stalls and restaurants, especially good for weekend brunch and Korean, Ethiopian and Latin American food. Gallaudet University, the world's leading university for deaf students, is next door.