Washington Area Attractions
Sightseeing Tours
Attractions
Museums and Fine Arts
Performing Arts
Local Sports
All information and images come from the Official Tourism Site of Washington, D.C.
To find out more, go to www.washington.org.
Sightseeing Tours
Bike the Sites - www.bikethesites.com
Discover Washington D.C.'s history and architecture with a professionally guided bike tour. All equipment provided.
Capitol River Cruises - www.capitolrivercruises.com
Discover the most spectacular views of Washington aboard Georgetown's only hourly sightseeing cruise.
Dandy Restaurant Cruise Ships - www.dandydinnerboat.com
Offering dining while viewing monuments at night aboard the Dandy or the newly-built Nina's Dandy.
DC Duck Tours - www.dcducks.com
Climb aboard an authentic, fully restored WWII amphibious vessel for a whole new sightseeing experience. From Union Station
through D.C., enjoy a fully narrated, 90-minute land and water tour.
Easy Travel Tours - www.easytraveltours.com
Personalized tours of the city in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Georgetown & Dupont Circle Walking Tours - www.tourdc.com
Offering insider's walking tours of Georgetown and the Dupont Circle area that feature the past homes of notable figures,
scandals and spies, Civil War and Underground Railroad lore, architectural gems, and World War II in Washington.
Martz Grayline of Washington, D.C. - www.graylinedc.com
Specializing in daily, lectured sightseeing tours of Washington, D.C., including a multilingual city tour, trolley tour,
and historic daytrips to Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, and Gettysburg, P.A.
Odyssey Washington, D.C. Cruises - www.odysseycruises.com/dc/indy/
Experience the all-new Odyssey and enoy a two- or three-hour escape cruising the Potomac River.
Old Town Trolley Tours of Washington, D.C. - www.trolleytours.com
Daily, 2-hour, narrated tours every 30 minutes, starting at 9:00 AM. Free reboarding from 19 sites around the city.
Spirit Cruises - www.spiritofwashington.com
Daily lunch and dinner harbor cruise onboard the Spirit of Washington II, featuring a live cabaret show. Also enjoy
a visit to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate Gardens onboard the Potomac Spirit Tuesday through Sunday.
Tourmobile Sightseeing - www.tourmobile.com
Tourmobile's narrated shuttle tours take you right where you want to go with unlimited free reboarding.
Washington Photo Safari - www.washingtonphotosafari.com
Washington, D.C.'s only regularly scheduled photo safari giving instruction in landmark photography by professional
photographer E. David Luria.
Washington Walks - www.washingtonwalks.com
Two-hour, professionally guided walking tours, commencing from designated Metro stops. No reservations required, rain or shine.
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Attractions
Bureau of Engraving & Printing - www.moneyfactory.com
See currency printed at the rate of 8,000 sheets per hour on the guided, 35-minute tour.
FDR Memorial - www.nps.gov/fdrm/
7.5-acre site depicting the twelve pivotal years of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency through a series of four outdoor gallery rooms.
Korean War Veterans Memorial - www.nps.gov/kwvm/
2.2-acre site featuring a sculptured column of nineteen foot soldiers arrayed for combat with the American flag as their symbolic objective and a 164-foot
mural wall, inscribed with the words, "Freedom Is Not Free," and etched with 2,500 photographic images of military support personnel.
Library of Congress - www.loc.gov/loc/visit/
The world's largest library with almost 119 million items in three buildings.
Lincoln Memorial - www.nps.gov/linc/
Grand monument overlooking the Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol, with a 19-foot marble statue of the 16th president inside,
flanked by inscriptions of his Second Inaugural Address and the famous Gettysburg Address.
National Aquarium - www.nationalaquarium.com
Showing over 250 different species of fish, invertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians, this unique aquarium is housed in the Department of Commerce
Building.
National Archives - www.archives.gov/facilities/dc/archives_1.html
Houses the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and more than three billion records.
National Mall - www.nps.gov/nama/
Two-mile-long beautiful, green park area extending from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument.
National Zoological Park - www.nationalzoo.si.edu
Exhibits include thousands of exotic animals, including two giant pandas, and Amazonia, a re-created microcosm of the world's largest rain forest.
The Supreme Court - www.supremecourtus.gov/visiting/visiting.html
Offering a variety of educational programs, including changing exhibits, a film theater, and daily lectures.
Theodore Roosevelt Island - www.nps.gov/this/index.htm
Designated as a memorial to President Theodore Roosevelt, early champion of conservation, this serene island is accessible by footbridge and includes a
memorial plaza with a 17-foot statue of Roosevelt, as well as nearly two miles of trails through forest and wetlands.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial - www.nps.gov/thje/
Marble rotunda housing a 19-foot statue of the third U.S. president, surrounded by passages from the Declaration of Independence and his other famous
writings.
U.S. Capitol - www.aoc.gov/visit/visit_overview.htm
Where senators and representatives meet to shape U.S. legislative policy, guided tours of the complex include the Statuary Hall, the original Supreme Court
chamber, and the Crypt, intended burial place of George and Martha Washington.
U.S. Navy Memorial & Naval Heritage Center - www.lonesailor.org
Outdoor Navy Memorial plaza honoring all sea service personnel. The adjacent Heritage Center offers videos, exhibits, a Ship's Store and the wide-screen film, At Sea.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial - www.nps.gov/vive/
Three-part memorial, consisting of the V-shaped, black granite walls inscribed with the names of the 58,209 Americans missing or killed in the Vietnam conflict
and statues depicting three young servicemen and the women in service to the Vietnam War.
Washington Monument - www.nps.gov/wamo
Offering a spectacular view of the city, this majestic obelisk was dedicated in 1885 to the memory of the first U.S. President and remains one of the tallest
masonry structures in the world.
Washington National Cathedral - www.nationalcathedral.org
World's sixth largest cathedral, offering worship, tours, gardens, views from the towers, magnificent stained glass, carvings, and dramatic Gothic
architecture.
White House - www.whitehouse.gov/history/tours/
Public tours are not available, but requests can be made through a citizen's Member of Congress up to six months in advance, with tours being typically scheduled
one month ahead of time. The White House Visitor Center is open to the public.
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Museums and Fine Arts
Corcoran Museum of Art - www.corcoran.org
Washington's oldest art museum, featuring Dutch and Flemish masterpieces, French impressionists and Post-impressionists, and American art from colonial times
to the present.
International Spy Museum - www.spymuseum.org
Featuring the largest collection of international espionage-related artifacts open to the public.
National Air and Space Museum - www.nasm.si.edu
The world's most visited museum, housing the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 lunar command module, and an incredible
collection of aviation and space technology treasures, as well as an IMAX theater and planetarium.
National Gallery of Art - www.nga.gov
Permanent collection of European and American paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and works on paper, plus changing exhibitions of art from around the
world.
National Geographic Museum - www.nationalgeographic.com/explorer/
Explorers Hall, the Society's museum, offers free educational, interactive, and visually stimulating changing exhibits on a broad variety of topics.
National Museum of African Art - www.nmafa.si.edu
Devoted to the collection and study of African art.
National Museum of American History - www.americanhistory.si.edu
Home to all forms of Americana, from the flag that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner (now being restored) to selected First Ladies' inaugural gowns and quilts
to Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, as well as popular exhibitions, including Information Age, Field to Factory, American Presidency: A Glorious Burden,
and American Encounters.
National Museum of Natural History - www.mnh.si.edu
Houses the 45.5-carat Hope Diamond, dinosaur fossils, the Insect Zoo, and the world's largest African bush elephant, as well as an IMAX theater.
Navy Museum - www.history.navy.mil
Housed in the old Naval Gun Factory, featuring the foremast fighting top from the USS Constitution, the bathyscaphe Trieste, ship models, medals, uniforms,
photographs, and related fine art.
Smithsonian American Art Museum - www.americanart.si.edu
Currently, the Renwick Gallery is the only part of the museum not undergoing renovation. Dedicated to exhibiting American crafts from the 19th to the 21st
century, the museum is also housing special exhibitions of American art while the renovation of the museum's main building continues.
Smithsonian Institution Information Center - www.si.edu/visit/
Known as The Castle, the oldest of the fourteen Smithsonian museums in Washington houses the crypt of founder James Smithson, two orientation theaters,
scale models of Washington's monumental core, an interactive touch-screen program in six languages, two electronic wall maps, plus multilingual information and
assistance
Smithsonian National Postal Museum - www.postalmuseum.si.edu
Unique collection of airmail planes, stagecoaches, rare stamps and letters, Owney the Postal Dog, Pony Express exhibit, and rare postage and revenue stamps.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - www.ushmm.org
Internationally acclaimed museum that tells the story of the Holocaust through artifacts, films, photos, and oral histories.
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Performing Arts
Arena Stage - www.arena-stage.org
Nationally acclaimed, 3-theatre complex presenting an entertaining mix of classics, comedies, and musicals.
Capitol Steps - www.capsteps.com
Musical, political satire troupe, made up of Congressional staffers-turned comedians, performing Friday and Saturday evenings.
Folger Shakespeare Library - www.folger.edu
250-seat replica of the innyard theatres popular in Shakespeare's time, presenting plays as well as early music concerts, poetry and fiction readings,
lectures, and family programs.
Ford's Theatre - www.fordstheatre.org
Site of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, serving as both a working theatre and historical monument open to the public.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - www.kennedy-center.org
National performing arts center, presenting the best music, dance, theatre, international, and children's' programs in six theatres.
National Theatre - www.nationaltheatre.org
One of America's oldest, continually operating theatres, featuring national tours of Broadway favorites, pre-Broadway shows, and American premiers.
The Shakespeare Theatre - www.shakespearetheatre.org
Home of the nation's foremost Shakespeare company, presenting Shakespeare and other exciting classics.
Warner Theatre - www.warnertheatre.com
Host to a variety of Broadway productions, comedy, dance, film, and music concerts.
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Local Sports
DC United Soccer - www.dcunited.com
Major League Soccer, playing at RFK Stadium.
Washington Capitals - www.washingtoncaps.com
National Hockey League, playing at the MCI Center.
Washington Mystics - www.wnba.com/mystics/
Women's National Basketball Association, playing at the MCI Center.
Washington Nationals - www.nationals.com
Major League Baseball, playing at RFK Stadium
Washington Redskins - www.redskins.com
National Football League, playing at FedExField.
Washington Wizards - www.nba.com/wizards/
National Basketball Association, playing at the MCI Center.
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