nobody asked but here is where I will drop the often-told story of my friend Liz realizing that the name of the Smithsonian Museum is not the "Aaron Space" museum.
Hi witches! I live in DC with my husband, 4.5yo, and 9mo, and I have some Additional Tips, particularly focused on younger kids.
1. Like many other locals, I also came here to recommend the Wonderplace, ImagiNations, the botanical garden, and Planet Word. They are all great! And free!
2. Closer to the center of downtown, the atrium at the National Portrait Gallery is a really beautiful indoor space with some room to run around, a beautiful orchid exhibit (through 4/28), and a little cafe.
3. The National Postal Museum (Smithsonian, free) is surprisingly cool and very close to the Union Station metro. You might not think it’s that interesting in theory, but there is a train car and a truck to climb on, and the exhibits are super interactive. I love it.
4. Union Market is a great food hall with lots of options; the roof, called the Hi-Lawn, is a fun place to run around. Metrobar is a beer garden with a train car bar and is super kid-friendly before, say, 7 p.m. You can bring in outside food, including Happy Meals from the McDonalds nearby.
5. The top of the Washington Monument is cool, but you have to get tickets way in advance or stand in line day-of. Instead, try the Old Post Office tower (now the Waldorf Astoria; formerly the infamous Trump hotel), which is not crowded and has a fantastic view—you don’t need to get up too high in a city that doesn’t have tall buildings.
6. Cherry blossoms are pretty done for the year, but we have azalea season to look forward to (the National Arboretum is a pain to get to but has an amazing collection, as well as an incredible bonsai collection), and, in the summer, the amazing Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.
My sources of family things to do are large on Instagram. Check out familytripguides, austinkgraff, md.kid.adventures, and kiddfriendlymaryland. https://www.kidfriendlydc.com is also great, especially for older kids.
I love this city and am really happy to answer additional questions! Ask away if you’d like!
apparently all the comments are DC residents chiming in and that's me too :)
I love all the government and civic pride content here AND I am contractually obligated to remind everyone that DC residents - who are more numerous than both Vermont residents and Wyoming residents - still do not have a vote in Congress. I humbly request that all out of state visitors tell their reps (in person, or in an email or whatever!!) that you support DC STATEHOOD and are appalled that your fellow Americans are still disenfranchised and taxed without representation and that you expect them to FIGHT.
/soapbox
and...
+1 to the Building Museum - in chinatown area, not free but totally worth the money. giant rooms filled with legos and building toys, cool exhibits, great atrium for running around or picnicking. make a decision ahead of time about whether you'll go to the gift shop, it's basically an amazing toy store, which can be awesome or torture (or both)
+1 to the Portrait Gallery (free), a beautiful atrium for lunch with good takeout options nearby for all
+1 to the Arboretum (free), totally worth the drive or just take a cab/rideshare, incredible bonsai collection and gorgeous old columns from the old portico of the Capitol - bring scooters/bikes if you can
+ similarly if you can bring a scooter or bike the area from the Lincoln Memorial to the WW2 memorial is really fun to be on wheels - long flat pathways, little ramps, etc. just to the north side of this area there is a very pleasant part of the Mall as well, with a little duck pond.
additions:
:: add the "Empower" rideshare app if you're going to summon any rides! the app is just like Uber/Lyft but the drivers get paid more and the cost to you is less because they pay a flat fee to the app rather than a % of every ride. just as many cars as the other apps but better.
:: we have so much good food here but one fave is Teaism, which is a charming tea shop with excellent food for a meal or snack. there's one by the White House, one by the National Archives sort of close to Chinatown, and one in Dupont. The Archives one is extra kid friendly, with a huge downstairs dining room. get the salty oat cookies and the scrambled eggs.
:: the Kennedy Center added a new building and complex a couple years back and it has both nice free or cheap artsy programs for kids, free concerts/shows at 6 every day, and a big outdoor area that's good for scooters/bikes and low key art appreciation. great views.
:: the Renwick, small gallery/museum (free) that's right across from the White House, very manageable and kid friendly with offbeat exhibits like a room filled with art made of real bugs
:: off the beaten track but there is an awesome INDOOR mini waterpark just over the line into MD - it's called Chillum-Rollingcrest and is county-run and cheap, good for toddlers on up to teens and has a large hot tub filled with friendly parents. check opening hours before you go. there's also a similar pool in Deanwood (in DC) and for a further adventure the close-in VA counties have these county-run outdoor (summer obvi) waterparks that are like $15 and not a long drive at all.
:: the Embassy Suites in Old Town is RIGHT on the metro, walking distance to good food, fun playgrounds, and to Old Town itself (though actually a bit of a hike), has a pool and big breakfast buffet and a free, quite lavish happy hour snack buffet (with free low-quality drinks for adults!) that somehow feels like the biggest treat to my kids. (yes I live in DC and have staycationed in VA.)
:: if your kids are middle and high school aged and interested, and you want to be wowed but also very very mad, go to oral arguments at the Supreme Court (check the schedule obvi). it's very "the room where it happens" but also fucking enraging. the interior design is Peak Rococo Nonsense.
DC resident here and it sounds like you had such a wonderful trip. Just adding to some of the suggestions you made here. One option to cheaply get around the Mall is the circulator bus. It runs roughly the same route as most of the DC trolley and it cost a dollar per person. No tour guide so you do miss out on that but if you're tired and want to get places cheaply, it's a good option. Museums that have good play places for kids are the American Indian Museum with their imaginations section, the American history has the Wegmans Wonder Place which has a great play area and a replication of Julia Child's kitchen, and the botanical gardens which have an outdoor garden for children spring through fall where they can dig and water plants. Finally, not on everyone's radar but Planet Word is a great museum dedicated to language and it's hard to explain but it's wonderful for kids with tons of interactive exhibits and if you plan ahead, it also is free. I'm big on free 😃
I grew up in Silver Spring, right outside of DC and my parents are still there, my kid is almost 4 and he's just now at the age where he's starting to get into some of the more fun museums and it's SO cool to do all this stuff that I loved to do as a kid with him. I took him down there to hang out with my parents in January and we spent 4 hours at the Natural History Museum, lol. The Museum of American History is also a fun one with kids. A trek for sure but the Udvar Hazy satellite site of Air & Space I think is A LOT more impressive for older kids. I live in the Boston area now and my god I did not know how good I had it as a child with unfettered access to the National Zoo. New England zoos are the worst.
If you're traveling with a kid who's into art, then my only suggestion would be the National Gallery of Art. Admission is still free, (according to the web site), the staff are friendly, and the place is incredibly chill. I spent the better part of two days in that museum with the kid just wandering about.
Hi, I'm a Wharf resident at the moment and sadly, I want to skip out on it too. We had been living in Maryland, and wanted to have all that sweet, sweet access to Metro and the waterfront and sometimes concerts at the Anthem...but, something is missing in this revamp.
Navy Yard is honestly a better version of what they were trying to do down here and they have a Residence Inn as well, which is perfect for also squeezing in a game at Nats Park or Audi Field, and a quick Metro ride to Capital One Arena and the MLK Library which has an amazing children's section and great exhibitions on local DC. Navy Yard also has all of the chain, kid-friendly restaurants clustered, along with better adult restaurants, IMO.
Also, I used to work with what is now Unlimited Biking, doing National Mall bike tours, mostly of school groups around middle school age and international tourists from bike-friendly countries and I recommend that for children who are at least 10, so they can ride on their own and not in a Burley trailer behind you or your co-parent/caregiver. Also, if you do the Capitol tour, arrange for an e-bike in lieu of the regular bikes, especially if nobody rides regularly.
I grew up in Maryland and field trips for school and day trips with my family to DC are among some of my most favorite childhood memories, especially when it was cherry blossom season!
Helpful comment I got emailed to me from a witch who said it was OK for me to share it here--
We were also in DC for spring break last week! I definitely had the thought that there were most likely fellow witches in the throngs with me. :)
We camped at Greenbelt Campground in Maryland, which was super affordable at $20/night (does not have electrical hookups at the sites, which is a big deterrent for many, but did have bathrooms and showers available) and located by the Greenbelt Metro station at the end of the Green line, so we parked there and took the train into and around town. We also managed to find a community recreation center with an indoor pool and $5/kid non-resident fees, so we made a few trips there for the much-needed post-touristy down time. Agree with all of your tips and also will add that if you DO have someone who is into planes/space and have a car, that the branch of the Air and Space museum that is out by Dulles airport is really awesome (the space shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay, and the Concord are all there!) and it is enormous, so even when it's a really busy day it doesn't feel claustrophobic. We braved the Tidal Basin trail to see the cherry blossoms. Was it really crowded? Yes. Did it still feel absolutely magical and lovely? YES. Totally worth it. Even with cheap lodging and free museum entry, it felt like we were hemorrhaging money on food costs! Sigh. My 10 and 12 year olds' favorite dining establishment was the cafeteria in the Hart Senate Office Building! lol. It was slightly less overpriced, quick, close to our scheduled tour of the Capitol, and didn't require any waiting, so those were bonuses for sure. All in all it was a really great week and we still feel like there is a lot left for us to explore on another trip!
DMV (local slang for District, Maryland & Virginia) local here! I am so glad you had fun. I'd add the National Cathedral which has a great view from the top spire, a gargoyle shaped like Darth Vader and a stained glass window with a piece of the moon. It's not metro accessible but very Uber-able. And I'm with your Dad haha, Mt. Vernon is great :-) They are not as up to date as Monticello is re discussing Washington's enslaved peoples, it brought up a lot of interesting conversations with the kids. Especially since we're Hamilton fans! Finally, Old Town Alexandria is a great day trip. A pretty waterfront, lots of ice cream/coffee/lunch/cocktail spots, shopping and cool historical stuff. And there is a trail from Old Town to Mt. Vernon, if you are into biking or ubran hiking. And statehood for DC, real people live here!!
We did our Spring Break DC trip last year with mixed results. My family enjoyed the trip, but will never let me plan our vacations ever again. I went to grad school in DC, and love the city so I was super excited to be back. However, I did not take into account my diminished stamina for walking (I used to walk from Foggy Bottom to Van Ness with no issues, now? Nope!) and my family’s distain for long urban hikes. Also, so much if the city has changed! Thank Goddess for the Circulator Bus and the Metro; they kept my family from beating me with my camelback.
A tip for those going to the Zoo. If you are taking the Metro, get off at The Cleveland Park station which is the next stop after Woodley Park on the red line. Connecticut Ave is built on an incline and the entrance to the zoo is equidistant from both stations. If you get off at CP you will be walking downhill. When leaving, walk downhill to Woodley.
This sounds like such a great trip! I love that simply participating in democracy the way it was originally intended— going and knocking on your representative’s door— is a cheat code to all the best VIP access. Reminds me of that scene in Lincoln where there’s a couple just barging into Lincoln’s office asking him to fix a toll booth.
If you are Catholic and/or into art and architecture, the National Basilica is extremely impressive and is at the CUA stop on the Metro. Free entry, lots of cheap places to eat nearby as it's a college neighborhood, and there is a cafeteria and two coffee shops in the basement.
I made a side trip to DC when I was in Baltimore for a work conference last October specifically to see the pandas before they went back to China. Even without them, though, the National Zoo is pretty awesome, free, and depending on where you are from, has a lot of animals that you might not have at your zoo (I'm in New Orleans, and the Audubon Zoo is fantastic, but because it's so damn hot here, we don't have a lot of cold-weather animals).
Also, there's a train from Union Station in D.C. direct to Camden Yards in Baltimore for about $10 as of last October, it takes less than an hour, and Camden Yards is walking distance to the fantastic National Aquarium in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.
nobody asked but here is where I will drop the often-told story of my friend Liz realizing that the name of the Smithsonian Museum is not the "Aaron Space" museum.
Hi witches! I live in DC with my husband, 4.5yo, and 9mo, and I have some Additional Tips, particularly focused on younger kids.
1. Like many other locals, I also came here to recommend the Wonderplace, ImagiNations, the botanical garden, and Planet Word. They are all great! And free!
2. Closer to the center of downtown, the atrium at the National Portrait Gallery is a really beautiful indoor space with some room to run around, a beautiful orchid exhibit (through 4/28), and a little cafe.
3. The National Postal Museum (Smithsonian, free) is surprisingly cool and very close to the Union Station metro. You might not think it’s that interesting in theory, but there is a train car and a truck to climb on, and the exhibits are super interactive. I love it.
4. Union Market is a great food hall with lots of options; the roof, called the Hi-Lawn, is a fun place to run around. Metrobar is a beer garden with a train car bar and is super kid-friendly before, say, 7 p.m. You can bring in outside food, including Happy Meals from the McDonalds nearby.
5. The top of the Washington Monument is cool, but you have to get tickets way in advance or stand in line day-of. Instead, try the Old Post Office tower (now the Waldorf Astoria; formerly the infamous Trump hotel), which is not crowded and has a fantastic view—you don’t need to get up too high in a city that doesn’t have tall buildings.
6. Cherry blossoms are pretty done for the year, but we have azalea season to look forward to (the National Arboretum is a pain to get to but has an amazing collection, as well as an incredible bonsai collection), and, in the summer, the amazing Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.
My sources of family things to do are large on Instagram. Check out familytripguides, austinkgraff, md.kid.adventures, and kiddfriendlymaryland. https://www.kidfriendlydc.com is also great, especially for older kids.
I love this city and am really happy to answer additional questions! Ask away if you’d like!
apparently all the comments are DC residents chiming in and that's me too :)
I love all the government and civic pride content here AND I am contractually obligated to remind everyone that DC residents - who are more numerous than both Vermont residents and Wyoming residents - still do not have a vote in Congress. I humbly request that all out of state visitors tell their reps (in person, or in an email or whatever!!) that you support DC STATEHOOD and are appalled that your fellow Americans are still disenfranchised and taxed without representation and that you expect them to FIGHT.
/soapbox
and...
+1 to the Building Museum - in chinatown area, not free but totally worth the money. giant rooms filled with legos and building toys, cool exhibits, great atrium for running around or picnicking. make a decision ahead of time about whether you'll go to the gift shop, it's basically an amazing toy store, which can be awesome or torture (or both)
+1 to the Portrait Gallery (free), a beautiful atrium for lunch with good takeout options nearby for all
+1 to the Arboretum (free), totally worth the drive or just take a cab/rideshare, incredible bonsai collection and gorgeous old columns from the old portico of the Capitol - bring scooters/bikes if you can
+ similarly if you can bring a scooter or bike the area from the Lincoln Memorial to the WW2 memorial is really fun to be on wheels - long flat pathways, little ramps, etc. just to the north side of this area there is a very pleasant part of the Mall as well, with a little duck pond.
additions:
:: add the "Empower" rideshare app if you're going to summon any rides! the app is just like Uber/Lyft but the drivers get paid more and the cost to you is less because they pay a flat fee to the app rather than a % of every ride. just as many cars as the other apps but better.
:: we have so much good food here but one fave is Teaism, which is a charming tea shop with excellent food for a meal or snack. there's one by the White House, one by the National Archives sort of close to Chinatown, and one in Dupont. The Archives one is extra kid friendly, with a huge downstairs dining room. get the salty oat cookies and the scrambled eggs.
:: the Kennedy Center added a new building and complex a couple years back and it has both nice free or cheap artsy programs for kids, free concerts/shows at 6 every day, and a big outdoor area that's good for scooters/bikes and low key art appreciation. great views.
:: the Renwick, small gallery/museum (free) that's right across from the White House, very manageable and kid friendly with offbeat exhibits like a room filled with art made of real bugs
:: off the beaten track but there is an awesome INDOOR mini waterpark just over the line into MD - it's called Chillum-Rollingcrest and is county-run and cheap, good for toddlers on up to teens and has a large hot tub filled with friendly parents. check opening hours before you go. there's also a similar pool in Deanwood (in DC) and for a further adventure the close-in VA counties have these county-run outdoor (summer obvi) waterparks that are like $15 and not a long drive at all.
:: the Embassy Suites in Old Town is RIGHT on the metro, walking distance to good food, fun playgrounds, and to Old Town itself (though actually a bit of a hike), has a pool and big breakfast buffet and a free, quite lavish happy hour snack buffet (with free low-quality drinks for adults!) that somehow feels like the biggest treat to my kids. (yes I live in DC and have staycationed in VA.)
:: if your kids are middle and high school aged and interested, and you want to be wowed but also very very mad, go to oral arguments at the Supreme Court (check the schedule obvi). it's very "the room where it happens" but also fucking enraging. the interior design is Peak Rococo Nonsense.
DC resident here and it sounds like you had such a wonderful trip. Just adding to some of the suggestions you made here. One option to cheaply get around the Mall is the circulator bus. It runs roughly the same route as most of the DC trolley and it cost a dollar per person. No tour guide so you do miss out on that but if you're tired and want to get places cheaply, it's a good option. Museums that have good play places for kids are the American Indian Museum with their imaginations section, the American history has the Wegmans Wonder Place which has a great play area and a replication of Julia Child's kitchen, and the botanical gardens which have an outdoor garden for children spring through fall where they can dig and water plants. Finally, not on everyone's radar but Planet Word is a great museum dedicated to language and it's hard to explain but it's wonderful for kids with tons of interactive exhibits and if you plan ahead, it also is free. I'm big on free 😃
I grew up in Silver Spring, right outside of DC and my parents are still there, my kid is almost 4 and he's just now at the age where he's starting to get into some of the more fun museums and it's SO cool to do all this stuff that I loved to do as a kid with him. I took him down there to hang out with my parents in January and we spent 4 hours at the Natural History Museum, lol. The Museum of American History is also a fun one with kids. A trek for sure but the Udvar Hazy satellite site of Air & Space I think is A LOT more impressive for older kids. I live in the Boston area now and my god I did not know how good I had it as a child with unfettered access to the National Zoo. New England zoos are the worst.
If you're traveling with a kid who's into art, then my only suggestion would be the National Gallery of Art. Admission is still free, (according to the web site), the staff are friendly, and the place is incredibly chill. I spent the better part of two days in that museum with the kid just wandering about.
Hi, I'm a Wharf resident at the moment and sadly, I want to skip out on it too. We had been living in Maryland, and wanted to have all that sweet, sweet access to Metro and the waterfront and sometimes concerts at the Anthem...but, something is missing in this revamp.
Navy Yard is honestly a better version of what they were trying to do down here and they have a Residence Inn as well, which is perfect for also squeezing in a game at Nats Park or Audi Field, and a quick Metro ride to Capital One Arena and the MLK Library which has an amazing children's section and great exhibitions on local DC. Navy Yard also has all of the chain, kid-friendly restaurants clustered, along with better adult restaurants, IMO.
Also, I used to work with what is now Unlimited Biking, doing National Mall bike tours, mostly of school groups around middle school age and international tourists from bike-friendly countries and I recommend that for children who are at least 10, so they can ride on their own and not in a Burley trailer behind you or your co-parent/caregiver. Also, if you do the Capitol tour, arrange for an e-bike in lieu of the regular bikes, especially if nobody rides regularly.
I go to DC any chance I get (sans kid) but my husband and I joke all the time that the peak parenting vacation is DC/Boston.
I grew up in Maryland and field trips for school and day trips with my family to DC are among some of my most favorite childhood memories, especially when it was cherry blossom season!
Helpful comment I got emailed to me from a witch who said it was OK for me to share it here--
We were also in DC for spring break last week! I definitely had the thought that there were most likely fellow witches in the throngs with me. :)
We camped at Greenbelt Campground in Maryland, which was super affordable at $20/night (does not have electrical hookups at the sites, which is a big deterrent for many, but did have bathrooms and showers available) and located by the Greenbelt Metro station at the end of the Green line, so we parked there and took the train into and around town. We also managed to find a community recreation center with an indoor pool and $5/kid non-resident fees, so we made a few trips there for the much-needed post-touristy down time. Agree with all of your tips and also will add that if you DO have someone who is into planes/space and have a car, that the branch of the Air and Space museum that is out by Dulles airport is really awesome (the space shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay, and the Concord are all there!) and it is enormous, so even when it's a really busy day it doesn't feel claustrophobic. We braved the Tidal Basin trail to see the cherry blossoms. Was it really crowded? Yes. Did it still feel absolutely magical and lovely? YES. Totally worth it. Even with cheap lodging and free museum entry, it felt like we were hemorrhaging money on food costs! Sigh. My 10 and 12 year olds' favorite dining establishment was the cafeteria in the Hart Senate Office Building! lol. It was slightly less overpriced, quick, close to our scheduled tour of the Capitol, and didn't require any waiting, so those were bonuses for sure. All in all it was a really great week and we still feel like there is a lot left for us to explore on another trip!
DMV (local slang for District, Maryland & Virginia) local here! I am so glad you had fun. I'd add the National Cathedral which has a great view from the top spire, a gargoyle shaped like Darth Vader and a stained glass window with a piece of the moon. It's not metro accessible but very Uber-able. And I'm with your Dad haha, Mt. Vernon is great :-) They are not as up to date as Monticello is re discussing Washington's enslaved peoples, it brought up a lot of interesting conversations with the kids. Especially since we're Hamilton fans! Finally, Old Town Alexandria is a great day trip. A pretty waterfront, lots of ice cream/coffee/lunch/cocktail spots, shopping and cool historical stuff. And there is a trail from Old Town to Mt. Vernon, if you are into biking or ubran hiking. And statehood for DC, real people live here!!
We did our Spring Break DC trip last year with mixed results. My family enjoyed the trip, but will never let me plan our vacations ever again. I went to grad school in DC, and love the city so I was super excited to be back. However, I did not take into account my diminished stamina for walking (I used to walk from Foggy Bottom to Van Ness with no issues, now? Nope!) and my family’s distain for long urban hikes. Also, so much if the city has changed! Thank Goddess for the Circulator Bus and the Metro; they kept my family from beating me with my camelback.
A tip for those going to the Zoo. If you are taking the Metro, get off at The Cleveland Park station which is the next stop after Woodley Park on the red line. Connecticut Ave is built on an incline and the entrance to the zoo is equidistant from both stations. If you get off at CP you will be walking downhill. When leaving, walk downhill to Woodley.
This sounds like such a great trip! I love that simply participating in democracy the way it was originally intended— going and knocking on your representative’s door— is a cheat code to all the best VIP access. Reminds me of that scene in Lincoln where there’s a couple just barging into Lincoln’s office asking him to fix a toll booth.
Now I want to go visit Jan Schakowsky’s office and see the dog. That would probably be the highlight of the entire trip to my kid.
If you are Catholic and/or into art and architecture, the National Basilica is extremely impressive and is at the CUA stop on the Metro. Free entry, lots of cheap places to eat nearby as it's a college neighborhood, and there is a cafeteria and two coffee shops in the basement.
I made a side trip to DC when I was in Baltimore for a work conference last October specifically to see the pandas before they went back to China. Even without them, though, the National Zoo is pretty awesome, free, and depending on where you are from, has a lot of animals that you might not have at your zoo (I'm in New Orleans, and the Audubon Zoo is fantastic, but because it's so damn hot here, we don't have a lot of cold-weather animals).
Also, there's a train from Union Station in D.C. direct to Camden Yards in Baltimore for about $10 as of last October, it takes less than an hour, and Camden Yards is walking distance to the fantastic National Aquarium in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.
Like nearly everything, it sounds like my son would hate it, so I am totally going to visit one day with a fellow museum-loving friend