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If you’re planning a tour of Washington DC, there are a few things you should know before you go. After all, you want to have a great experience and see the things that are most important to you.
We call our area many names: the “DMV” – that’s the District, Maryland, and Virginia. Washington DC is not a state. Its name means “District of Columbia”. You may see references to “the District” or simply “Washington” or “DC” or, less frequently, our nation’s capital/national capital. These all mean the same and are used interchangeably in this travel guide.
The city covers 68 square miles, and its population has hovered around 700,000 for the past few years. About 6 million residents live in the “DMV”—the metropolitan national capital area.
Here are a few of our most important tips for first-time visitors to Washington DC.
For many visitors, just viewing the People’s House from the street and snapping a few photos is more than enough. But if your heart’s set on a tour, you’ll be disappointed if you just show up and expect to get in.
Once you know the dates you’ll be in D.C., it’s a good idea to put plans in motion if you hope to get inside the White House. You should submit a request to a member of Congress—not less than 21 days in advance of your proposed tour date. If you’re a citizen of another country, you will need to work with your embassy to get your request approved.
If, despite your efforts, you are unable to visit the inside of the White House, and yes, it happens frequently as events come up suddenly, causing the White House to limit or close to visitors, fear not. The new “The People’s House” is an alternative with great exhibits, state-of-the-art, and clever ways of showing people a peek inside the most famous home in the country!
Important Notes:
Give yourself extra time for security checks — they’re a big part of visiting DC. At places like the museums, National Archives, Capitol, Library of Congress, White House, and Arlington Cemetery, you’ll need to go through a metal detector and send your bags through an X-ray machine.
Leave the snacks behind — food isn’t allowed. You can bring water into most places (except the Capitol and White House), but your bottle needs to be empty when you arrive at the Capitol.
Having a ticket won’t get you to the front of the line, so wear comfy clothes, pack your patience, and eat a good meal before you go. Most sites have cafés if you get hungry later, but heads up: there’s no café at Arlington Cemetery, so plan ahead. (If you need food for medical reasons, that’s the one exception.)
On the other hand, if you book a guided tour, you’ll be in air-conditioned comfort for much of the adventure, which is a great bonus for summer travelers. This makes sightseeing enjoyable, no matter the season!
With school out and many on summer vacation, we have many guests in the summer, especially families, but DC summers are notoriously hot and very humid, so please consider your comfort and tolerance levels before you book a summer trip.
The nights are typically cooler, so we are happy to help you book a night tour in our breezy open-top sprinter vans or our closed-top buses with plenty of air conditioning. Our June/July sunset time is 8 pm, so you will have some daylight even on our dusk tours.
People from Arizona and the West Coast always remark about this to us. If you want to book a tour that takes place after sundown in the summer, our in-house concierge team can help you arrange a private tour experience for you, which allows you to customize your tour itinerary and start/end times.
Spring and fall are wonderful seasons to experience the city—and there’s nothing like the cherry blossoms in D.C.! Late October and early November is when our leaves peak, and it’s absolutely stunning! DC is, after all, the City of Trees with over 170,000 trees growing within city limits.
Winters are relatively quiet, visitor-wise, which makes it appealing to visit despite the often frosty weather. You can also see some amazing holiday lights and the national Christmas tree on our special Washington DC Holiday Lights Tour!
Washington DC is an exciting place with lots of monuments, memorials, museums, and historic neighborhoods.
If you’ve never been before, it’s hard to know where to start. A guided tour gives you a good overview of the city and helps you get oriented so you can better explore the places that interest you on your own later on.
Guided Tour is the Best Way to Explore DC
If you’d like a little more independence—without losing the advantages of a guided tour—a combination of a fully guided tour and hop-on/ hop-off tour is a great way to see the city.
Looking to organize a sightseeing trip for your family, perhaps a tour that’s kid-friendly. Check out some of our tips and recommendations.
If you’ve seen the National Mall in movies like Forrest Gump, it might seem like everything’s just a few blocks apart. But in reality, this iconic stretch runs about two miles from the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial—plenty of ground to cover, especially if you’re planning to visit multiple museums and monuments.
TV shows and film camera lenses make everything appear much closer than it actually is, so don’t be surprised when the walk feels a lot longer in person. That’s where our guided bus tours can really help! We take the guesswork (and the extra walking) out of your sightseeing by bringing you directly to the highlights along the National Mall.
Still, be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes—there’s a good amount of walking involved even with transportation. And when you’re ready for a break, many museums along the Mall have cafés where you can recharge. The Mitsitam Café at the National Museum of the American Indian is usually less crowded and offers a unique menu inspired by Indigenous cuisine. Or check out the USDA Cafeteria, a hidden gem that’s recently reopened to the public.
If you only have 24 hours in D.C., the Mall is definitely where to start. You could easily spend the whole day soaking in the sights—and no one would blame you if you did.
Like any international capital, D.C. is an expensive place to visit. The good news is, you can save a lot by spending your time doing all the free things. All the Smithsonian museums are free—including the National Zoo. Ditto all of the monuments and memorials.
Many of the art museums and galleries are also free, including the National Gallery, the Hirshhorn, and the Freer and Sackler Galleries. And you can spend hours enjoying the gorgeous parks and green spaces that dot the city. Pack a picnic lunch and plenty of water, and you really can enjoy an entire day in D.C. without spending a dime!
Want to avoid the crowds and get some amazing photographs to boot? Plan an evening monument tour. There’s nothing quite so spectacular as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the Washington Monument, and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial, brightly lit against the night sky.
Why spend $3, $4, or $5 for a bottle of water when you can refill your own for free at locations all over the city? Besides saving lots of money, you’re also helping to control the plastic pollution that plagues major cities.
D.C. has a TapIt program that partners with over 750 businesses and attractions around the District to provide free tap water to residents and visitors. No one will think you’re strange for refilling your water bottle—and D.C. tap water actually tastes pretty great. Buy yourself something to remember your visit by with all the money you save.
Don’t have a bottle? If you take our guided tour, you will get a free bottle of water on your bus.
SmarTrip cards are refillable cards you can use on just about every transit provider in the D.C. metro area—including the bus, light rail, subway, and even the transit lines to popular D.C. suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.
Download SmarTrip app and instantly add funds, buy money-saving passes, check balances, set up auto reload, and more, all from the palm of your hand.
A one-day unlimited pass is just $13.50, which is great value if you plan to see a lot of different parts of the city.
Washington DC is a waterfront city, and a Potomac Riverboat cruise is the perfect way to see a whole different side of the city.
You can also enjoy other water activities like kayaking the Potomac River or taking a paddle boat ride in the Tidal Basin.
Don’t miss some of the gorgeous harbors in the area, especially the Washington Harbour in Georgetown and the National Harbor in Maryland. Treat your family to a ride on the National Wheel for spectacular views of the city, or take a private boat tour!
Washington is an extremely walkable city—it’s probably the best way to explore the neighborhoods and charming districts. And even if you book a guided city tour, you’ll still have to walk a good bit to get from parking spaces to the attractions themselves.
Our best advice is to forget your stylish shoes and go for the ones that make your feet happy. You’ll be able to enjoy your trip so much more if your feet aren’t sore.
D.C. drivers are always in a hurry, and the traffic is pretty terrible, too. If you want to ruin a pleasant afternoon in the city, spend it behind the wheel of a car, all tangled up in traffic, or searching for a parking spot. Honestly, it’s such a great city for pedestrians, and public transportation is so good, there’s really no reason to bother with a car.
If you must drive, at least rest assured that parking in D.C. is free on Sundays. There are some parking apps that you can try to recommend good parking spaces. The Park Mobile app is convenient and helpful, but during our 4 and 6-hour day tours, we encourage you to use a garage instead of risking a parking ticket.
And if you want to see areas of interest outside D.C., like Old Town Alexandria or George Washington’s estate, Mount Vernon, you can book our fully guided Old Town Alexandria and Mount Vernon Bus Tour to take you there in comfort and style without ever needing your own car!
During the week especially, hotels in the city can be exorbitantly expensive—$400+ a night is not uncommon. But you can find some quality hotels in the areas around Washington DC for around $100 a night or so, pretty significant savings if you’re watching your budget.
Look for hotels near a metro station in places like Rosslyn, Crystal City, or Falls Church. You can hop on a train and be on the National Mall in 30 minutes or less, depending on where you stay.
Whether you’re looking for kid-friendly accommodations, luxurious amenities, or a hotel within walking distance of the city’s top attractions, finding the perfect place to stay is crucial for a memorable trip.
Booking a hotel that partners with USA Guided Tours offers added benefits, including special packages and discounts, and free pick-up and drop-off service for customers who book a tour. Here are the hotels we partner with:
You can read more about some of the finest hotels in DC that we recommend, catering to every type of traveler.
use tourdc10 promo code at check out
You’d expect a thriving, well-heeled metropolitan area like the District to have an equally thriving food scene – and it does! Washington DC’s rich food scene has every kind of ethnic cuisine and options to suit every budget. Adams Morgan is a great place to sample international fare (think Ethiopian, Lebanese, Nepalese, and Afghani, for example).
If you’re not sure where to start, check out this list of great things to eat in D.C. There are iconic local favorites, swanky bistros, and even world-class restaurants to try.
Overplanning your visit is a classic rookie mistake—you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to fit everything into one trip. A better way is to schedule just one activity per day and leave plenty of time for magic to happen. Sometimes the best vacation experiences happen when and where you least expect them!
We’d love to help you put together a great itinerary and find the tour that’s just right for you.
Get in touch today and we’ll put your plans in motion. If you’re not quite ready to plan your trip, sign up for our free email course with lots of useful information about visiting our nation’s capital.
USA Guided Tours Blogging Team
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