Washington D.C. ONE night, need advice!

Hi! So my cousin lives in Fairfax, VA. Its her sons 1st birthday on a sunday so we decided to make a little trip out of it.

We are leaving Queens, NY after my Dh gets home from work on a friday. Get to the hotel in Fairfax, VA and sleep there.

Saturday we have all day to spend in D.C. But just that one day. What do you recommend seeing and skipping? Where should we eat lunch/dinner? Anything MUST see. Fill me in on everything!! This is my DH's 1st time ever in D.C., my 2nd.

THANK YOU!!

Re: Washington D.C. ONE night, need advice!

I think it really depends on what you like/what you want to see as opposed to what you don't really care about. I've never been disappointed in any of the museums, but there are things I've skipped, like the White House tour, simply because I'm not that interested in. If it's a nice day you should definitely take some time to walk around the monuments. You can even rent a paddle boat. The only things I will say are to see if there are any events going on in DC that day. There might be something you are interested in or may want to avoid. You can also get advanced tickets for some of the museums, which may be a good idea. Let me know if you have any specific questions or need any help. DH went to school down there and SIL lives in VA.

ETA: not exactly typical DC, but if you are interested in doing any shopping you can check out Tysons Corner in McLean. Great stores and great restaurants in that area.

Message edited 6/1/2011 6:06:28 PM.

Re: Washington D.C. ONE night, need advice!

I would hit some of the Smithsonians, they are all free. My favorite is Air and Space. Georgetown is a great neighborhood for shopping and eating. Since it's a first, I think you have to at least see the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial, Holocaust Museum and National Building Museum are good spots too. Oh and the zoo is great!
NoVa is a big old mess to me, but I know the Newseum in Arlington is pretty cool.

Re: Washington D.C. ONE night, need advice!

Our Personal Faves:

*National Cathedral - OMG
*Lincoln Memorial
*Vietnam Memorial (SO beyond moving)
*Botanic Gardens
*The Harry Winston Collection, Hope Diamond, and Royal Jewels at The Museum of Natural History
*The First Lady dresses at the American History Museum
*World War II Memorial
*Union Station
*Woodley Park Zoo
*The Holocaust Museum (Warning - EXTREMELY SAD - upset me for days)
*Arlington / Tomb of the Unknown Soldier / Iwo Jima / Kennedy's grave -- There's nothing on earth like Arlington, nothing.

Eat at Bobby Van's kind of near the White House - great restaurant!!

I think, if you want to try to get the most bang for your buck in one day you are best to do the hop on / hop off tour bus. There are several companies - I prefer the trolly and I'll try to get the exact name and post it here after but this particular one basically runs on a loop with several trollies -- picking up and dropping off at all the different landmarks every 15 - 20 minutes. So, you can spend 15 minutes at one place OR you can spend as much as an hour at one place - your choice - you just hop on and off as you wish. You are able to see the most in a short amount of time and it allows you to choose what you want to spend the most time at - I can do the Botanic garden in 30 minutes, KWIM? And then I can spend 2 hours at Arlington. Everyone is different.

But make sure you get the one that does the 15 - 20 minute loop. Because it's hard with just one day -- things like Jefferson, Air and Space, Korean, FDR's memorial, Ford's theatre -- just off the top of my head, get missed and that's hard because DC is an amazing place - one of my fave places to go, I'm so patriotic I just love it.

HTH!

GOT IT...

http://www.trolleytours.com/Washington-DC/

The Old Town Trolley

We do that every single time we do DC. GL!

Message edited 6/1/2011 10:13:31 PM.