28 Best Sights in Washington, D.C., USA

April 14, 1865, shocked the nation: during a performance of Our American Cousin, John Wilkes Booth entered the Presidential Box at Ford's Theatre and shot Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head; the president died later that night. This block-long, Lincoln-centered, cultural campus encompasses four sites. In the Museum, you'll explore Lincoln's presidency and Civil War milestones and learn about Booth and those who joined his conspiracy to topple the government. Artifacts include Lincoln's clothing and weapons used by Booth. The Theatre, which stages performances throughout the year, is restored to look as it did when Lincoln attended, including the Presidential Box draped with flags as it was on the night he was shot. In the restored Petersen House, you can see the room where Lincoln died and the parlor where his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, waited in anguish through the night.

The centerpiece of the Aftermaths Exhibits at the Center for Education and Leadership is a jaw-dropping, three-story tower of 6,800 books written about Lincoln. Visitors take an immersive step back in time, entering a 19th-century street scene where they find a reproduction of Lincoln's funeral train car and see its route to Springfield, Illinois. Visitors also learn about the chase for John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators' trial, and they interact with an "escape map" to the tobacco barn where Booth was captured. Exhibits also explore the fate of Lincoln's family after his death, explain the milestones of Reconstruction, and describe Lincoln's legacy and enduring impact on U.S. and world leaders. A visit ends with a multiscreen video wall that shows how Lincoln's ideas resonate today.

Visits to Ford's Theatre require a free, timed-entry ticket. Same-day tickets are available at the theater box office beginning at 8:30 am on a first-come, first-served basis. You can also reserve tickets in advance at  www.fords.org with a $3 fee per ticket.

Monument, museum, and the nation's memory, the National Archives, headquartered in a grand marble edifice on Constitution Avenue, preserves more than 13 billion paper records dating from as far back as 1774, more than 40 million photographs, and billions of recent electronic records. The National Archives and Records Administration is charged with preserving and archiving the most historically significant U.S. government records at its centers nationwide and in presidential libraries. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended during the busy summer months and cost a nonrefundable $1. Head to recreation.gov at least six weeks in advance of your visit.

Charters of Freedom—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—are the star attractions. They are housed in the archives' cathedral-like rotunda, each on a marble platform and surrounded by argon gas within cases that have gold-plated titanium frames and bulletproof protective glass.

On display at the entrance to the David M. Rubenstein Gallery's Records of Rights exhibit is a 1297 Magna Carta, the document of English common law whose language inspired the Constitution. This Magna Carta, one of four remaining originals, sets the stage for interactive exhibits that trace the civil rights struggles of African Americans, women, and immigrants. Highlights include the discharge papers of an enslaved person who fought in the Revolutionary War to gain his freedom; the mark-up copy of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; and letters to the president from children who questioned segregation.

The Public Vaults convey the sense of going deep into the stacks. You can find records that give a glimpse into federal investigations, from the Lincoln assassination to Watergate. Watch films of flying saucers, used as evidence in congressional UFO hearings, and listen to the Nuremberg trials or Congress debating Prohibition. Reservations to visit the archives are highly recommended; those for guided tours or timed-visit entries should be made at least six weeks in advance.

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is best known for its magazine, and entering this welcoming, 13,000-square-foot exhibition space feels like stepping into its pages. The compact museum offers family-friendly interactive exhibitions delving into the historical, cultural, and scientific research that distinguishes National Geographic magazine. There are items from the permanent collections—cultural, historical, and scientific—and traveling exhibitions. It also has a virtual-reality theater experience. Nat Geo Nights—presentations by explorers with interactive activities, music, and food and drink specials—are held on the third Thursday of every month. The M Street Lobby photography exhibit, as well as the outdoor photo display around the perimeter of the museum, are free.

Visually and conceptually, the National Museum of the American Indian stands apart from the other cultural institutions on the Mall. The exterior, clad in Minnesota limestone, evokes a sense that wind and water carved the building. Inside, four floors of galleries cover 10,000 years of history of the western hemisphere's indigenous tribes. Nevertheless, only a small portion of the museum's holdings are on display at any time. Live music, dance, theater, and storytelling are central to experiencing this museum. Tribal groups stage performances in the Rasmuson Theater and sunlit Potomac atrium. Americans, a permanent exhibition, reveals how Native Americans exist in unexpected ways in the history, pop culture, and identity of the United States. Other rotating exhibits explore the many indigenous groups throughout the Americas.

Visit between 11 and 2 on a sunny day to see the Potomac atrium awash in rainbows created by the light refracted through the southern wall's prisms, which are aligned to show the passage of time with specific patterns marking the equinoxes and solstices. The museum's family-friendly imagiNATIONS Activity Center includes hands-on activities throughout the year. For those looking for a quick bite, check out their award-winning restaurant, whose menu takes you from Canada to South America, exploring the diverse cuisine of the indigenous groups. It's a favorite lunch spot for many locals working in the area.

The intersection of art, biography, and history is illustrated here through images of people who have shaped U.S. history. There are prints, paintings, photos, and sculptures of subjects from George Washington to Madonna.

This museum shares the National Historic Landmark building Old Patent Office with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Built between 1836 and 1863 and praised by Walt Whitman as the "noblest of Washington buildings," it is deemed one of the country's best examples of Greek Revival architecture.

America's Presidents gallery, offering insights into the leaders---from George Washington until the present---is one of the most popular exhibitions. In this gallery, you'll see the only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House. Highlights include Gilbert Stuart's 1796 "Landsdowne" portrait of George Washington, Alexander Gardner's "cracked-plate" image of Abraham Lincoln from Lincoln's last formal portrait session before his assassination in 1865, a sculpture of Andrew Jackson on a horse, and political cartoonist Pat Oliphant's sculpture of George H.W. Bush playing horseshoes.

From portraits of World War II generals Eisenhower and Patton to Andy Warhol's Time magazine cover of Michael Jackson, the third-floor gallery, Twentieth-Century Americans, offers a vibrant tour of the people who shaped the country and culture of today. If seeing former first lady Michelle Obama is on your list, get to the gallery early, as this is a sought-after portrait. 

There are free docent-led tours Saturdays and Sundays at noon and 2:30 pm. Check the website to confirm the times. At the Lunder Conservation Center on the third and fourth floors, you can watch conservators at work.

The 1,754 acres surrounding Rock Creek have provided a cool oasis for visitors and D.C. residents ever since Congress set them aside for recreational use in 1890. The bubbling, rocky stream draws nature lovers to the miles of paved walkways. Bicycle routes, jogging and hiking paths, and equestrian trails wind through the groves of dogwoods, beeches, oaks, and cedars, and picnic areas are scattered about. An asphalt bike path running through the park has a few challenging hills but is mostly flat, and it's possible to bike several miles without having to stop for cars (Beach Drive is closed entirely to cars on weekends). The most popular run in Rock Creek Park is along a trail that follows the creek from Georgetown to the National Zoo, about 4 miles round-trip. Rangers at the Nature Center and Planetarium introduce visitors to the park and keep track of daily events; guided nature walks leave from the center. The park is open only during daylight hours.

This is one of the country's most visited museums. Between its two buildings, it attracts 6 to 8 million people annually to the world's largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. More than 20 galleries tell the story of aviation—from the earliest human attempts at flight to supersonic jets and spacecraft. The museum reopened in late 2022 after undergoing a series of renovations, and more are currently in the works. The renovated museum features hundreds of new artifacts to the building, such as the WR-3 air racer built by Neal Loving, the first African American certified to race airplanes; a T-38 flown by Jackie Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier; and Sean Tucker's custom-built aerobatic biplane, and the Aviation Specialties Unlimited Challenger III.

Buy IMAX theater and planetarium tickets up to two weeks in advance or as soon as you arrive (times and prices vary); then tour the museum. Museum tickets are free, but visitors must reserve tickets in advance for every member of their group, regardless of age.

The three-story museum store is the largest (and one of the best) in all the Smithsonian museums. You'll find souvenirs, clothing, books and movies, kites, and many collector items. It is closed during construction, but two satellite stores are available.

The 3 million artifacts and archival materials in the country's largest American history museum explore America's cultural, political, and scientific past. The centerpiece of the Star-Spangled Banner gallery is the banner that in 1814 was hoisted to show that Fort McHenry had survived 25 hours of British rocket attacks and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics that became the national anthem. Exhibits also explore food history, innovation, and the different cultural groups in the United States.

The Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute features 1,800 animals representing 360 species, as close as you can get to their native surroundings. Arrive between 11 and 2 (weather permitting), and you can catch orangutans traversing the "O" line, a series of cables and towers near the Great Ape House that allow the primates to swing hand over hand about 50 feet above your head. The famous pandas are leaving at the end of 2023, but there are plenty of other animals that beguile. The multigenerational herd of elephants—part of the zoo's conservation campaign to save this endangered species from extinction—is a perennial favorite. Along the Claws and Paws Pathway, the binturongs (also known as bearcats) smell like buttered popcorn, and petite Pallas's cats hide in plain sight. The zoo was designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park. Try visiting early morning or late afternoon, since many animals sleep midday. Nighttime visits are especially fun during the Christmas holiday as the zoo sparkles with the annual ZooLights event.

Designed as a living memorial to the environmentally minded 26th U.S. President, this wildlife sanctuary is off the George Washington Parkway near the Virginia side of the Potomac—close to Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, East Potomac Park, and the Kennedy Center. Hikers and bicyclists can reach the island by crossing the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge or walking for 15 minutes from the Rosslyn Metro. But bikes are not allowed on the island and must be docked near the footbridge. Take a ranger-led Island Safari to admire the many birds and other animals in the island's marsh and forests. 

The Tidal Basin, a partially man-made reservoir between the Potomac and the Washington Channel, is part of West Potomac Park, adjacent to the Mall. It's the setting for memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and George Mason. Two gargoyles on the sides of the Inlet Bridge can be seen as you walk along the sidewalk hugging the basin. The inside walls of the bridge also feature two other sculptures: bronze, human-headed fish that once spouted water from their mouths. Sculptor Constantin Sephralis, who also worked on the National Cathedral, made them in honor of John Fish, the park's chief, who was retiring at the time. Once you cross the bridge, continue along the Tidal Basin to the right. This route is incredibly scenic when the famous cherry trees are in bloom. The trees, a gift from the Japanese during the administration of William Howard Taft, are the Tidal Basin's most iconic feature beyond the memorials.

Established by Congress in 1820, this is the oldest continually operating public garden in the United States. The conservatory sits at the foot of Capitol Hill and offers an escape from the stone-and-marble federal office buildings surrounding it. Inside are exotic rain-forest species, desert flora, a room full of orchids, and plants from all parts of the world. Walkways suspended 24 feet above the ground in the Tropics house provide a fascinating view of the plants. Established in 2006, the National Garden is an outdoor gardening laboratory featuring a Rose Garden, Pollinator Garden, First Ladies' Water Garden, and Regional Garden of Mid-Atlantic plants. Across Independence Avenue, Bartholdi Fountain and Gardens is a peaceful spot with shaded benches around the historic 30-foot fountain by the sculpture of the Statue of Liberty.

The top of the Washington Monument is perhaps the best, most breathtaking place to see the city and get a good idea of its layout.

The 555-foot, 5⅛-inch monument, which punctuates the capital like a huge exclamation point, was part of Pierre L'Enfant's plan for Washington, but his intended location proved to be so marshy that the structure was moved 100 yards southeast. Construction began in 1848 and continued until 1884. Upon completion, the monument was the world's tallest structure and weighed more than 81,000 tons. Six years into construction, members of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing Party stole and smashed a block of marble donated by Pope Pius IX. This action, combined with funding shortages and the onset of the Civil War, brought construction to a halt. After the war, building finally resumed, and though the new marble came from the same Maryland quarry as the old, it was taken from a different stratum with a slightly different shade. Inserted into the walls of the monument are 193 memorial stones from around the world. The monument reopened in spring 2019 after an elevator modernization project. Up to six tickets can be requested for just $1 per person at  recreation.gov.

Bureau of Engraving and Printing has printed paper money since 1914 when the bureau relocated from the redbrick-towered Auditors Building at the corner of 14th Street and Independence Avenue. They also print military certificates and presidential invitations. Unfortunately, visits are impossible as the building canceled tours in 2020 and has no definite date to resume them. Check the website for updates on the reopening of tours.

George Washington was one of the first to advance the idea of a canal linking the Potomac with the Ohio River across the Appalachians. Work started on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in 1828. When it opened in 1850, its 74 locks linked Georgetown with Cumberland, Maryland, 185 miles to the northwest (still short of its intended destination). Lumber, coal, iron, wheat, and flour moved up and down the canal, but it was never as successful as its planners had hoped, due to damaging floods and competition from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Today the canal is part of the National Park System; walkers and cyclists follow the towpath once used by mules, while canoeists paddle the canal's calm waters. During the summer months, visitors can go on a boat tour of the canal at the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center (a 30-minute drive from Georgetown), where tour guides share the canal's history and operate the canal locks and boat just as they would have in the 1870s. Tours are free, but visitors must reserve one hour beforehand.

The Beaux Arts Memorial Continental Hall, built in 1929 as the headquarters for the Daughters of the Revolution (DAR), is home to Washington, D.C.'s only decorative arts museum. The enormous collection encompasses furniture, textiles, quilts, silver, china, porcelain, stoneware, earthenware, glass, and other items made and used in the daily lives of Americans from the Colonial era through the early 20th century. Thirty-one period rooms reflect more than two centuries of American interiors, including a 1690s New England hall, an 1860s Texas bedroom, and a 1920s Ohio parlor. Two galleries feature changing exhibitions of decorative arts, and a study gallery allows researchers close access to the collection. Docent tours of the period rooms are available on weekdays, depending on docent availability. You can also take a self-guided tour. The museum also hosts special events for children and adults; check the website for details.

This 328-acre finger of land extends south of the Jefferson Memorial from the Tidal Basin, between the Washington Channel and the new Southwest Waterfront redevelopment neighborhood to the east and the Potomac River to the west. Locals consider the park a retreat with playgrounds, picnic tables, tennis courts, swimming pools, a driving range, one 18-hole and two 9-hole golf courses, and miniature golf. There's also a scenic riverfront trail that winds around the park's perimeter. It's a fantastic spot for bird-watching, with more than 250 species identified at the park. If you're lucky, you may spot a bald eagle. Double-blossoming Japanese cherry trees line Ohio Drive and bloom about two weeks after the single-blossoming variety that attracts crowds to the Tidal Basin each spring.

Architecture, design, landscaping, and urban planning are the themes of this museum, the nation's premier cultural organization devoted to the built environment. The open interior of the mammoth redbrick building is one of the city's great spaces and has been the site of many presidential inaugural balls. The eight central Corinthian columns are among the largest in the world, rising to a height of 75 feet. Although they resemble Siena marble, each comprises 70,000 bricks covered with plaster and painted. The long-term exhibition House and Home features a kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models, and films that takes visitors on a tour of houses both surprising and familiar, through past and present, exploring American domestic life and residential architecture. The museum also offers a series of temporary hands-on exhibitions focusing on construction. Although geared towards children, people of all ages enjoy the experience.

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is best known for its magazine, and entering this welcoming 13,000-square-foot exhibition space feels like stepping into its pages. The small museum has child-friendly interactives and is home to a rotating display of objects from the society's permanent collections—cultural, historical, and scientific—as well as traveling exhibitions. It also has weekend showings in its 3-D movie theater. The M Street Lobby photography exhibit, as well as the outdoor photo display around the perimeter of the museum, are free.

Washington's oldest surviving building, this fieldstone house in the heart of Georgetown, was built in 1765 by a cabinetmaker named Christopher Layman. A succession of occupants used the house as a residence and business place until 1953 when the National Park Service purchased it. Over the next seven years, it underwent an extensive restoration that has preserved the building's Revolutionary War–era architecture and design. The furnishings of several of the rooms reflect the times, with the simple, sturdy artifacts—plain tables, spinning wheels, and so forth—of 18th-century middle-class life. You can take a self-guided tour of the house and its lovely English-style gardens.

This unique underground building houses stunning galleries, a library, photographic archives, and educational facilities dedicated to collecting, conserving, and studying Africa's arts and culture from different perspectives. The rotating exhibits illuminate African visual arts, including sculpture, textiles, photography, archaeology, and modern art. Currents: Water in African Art showcases the power of art through pieces like intricately carved wooden masks and figures paying tribute to water spirits and deities. The museum's educational programs for children and adults include films with contemporary perspectives on African life, storytelling programs, and festivals, including Community Day. The hands-on workshops, such as traditional basket weaving, bring Africa's oral and cultural traditions to life. Workshops and demonstrations by African and African American artists offer a chance to meet and talk to practicing artists.

One of the world's great natural history museums offers 20 exhibition halls—including a fully renovated Dinosaur and Fossil Hall, filled with not only fossils, but also glittering gems, creepy-crawly insects, and other natural wonders. There are more than 145 million specimens in the collection. Marvel at the enormous African bush elephant, which greets you in the rotunda, and learn about elephant behavior and conservation efforts. Discover Q?rius, a state-of-the-art discovery space for all ages featuring 6,000 objects, on-site experts, and an array of digital tools that focus on the natural world. Walk among hundreds of live butterflies in the Butterfly Pavilion ($8 adults, $7 children/seniors). Check out giant millipedes and furry tarantulas in the O. Orkin Insect Zoo (don't miss the daily live tarantula feedings). See perfectly preserved giant squids, a jaw-dropping replica of a whale, and the ecosystem of a living coral reef in the Sant Ocean Hall. Watch as paleobiologists study some of the museum's collection of 46 million fossils, which includes the nation's T. rex found in Montana in 1988.

The National Museum of Natural History has the Hope Diamond, but the National Postal Museum has the envelope wrapping used to mail the gem to the Smithsonian—part of a collection that consists of nearly 6 million postal and philatelic objects. Exhibits, underscoring the important part the mail has played in America's development, include horse-drawn mail coaches, a railroad mail car, airmail planes, and a collection of philatelic rarities. Learn about stamp collecting, and tour Systems at Work, an exhibit that demonstrates how mail has gone from the mailbox to its destination for the past 200 years and features a high-def film highlighting amazing technologies. The William H. Gross Stamp Gallery, the largest of its kind in the world, has an additional 20,000 objects never before on public display, showing how closely stamps have intertwined with American history. The museum is next to Union Station in the old Washington City Post Office, designed by Daniel Burnham and completed in 1914.

This is D.C.’s funkiest museum. A reimagining of your grandma’s attic by surreal filmmaker Federico Fellini, it has dozens of secret doors and passageways, as well as rooms overflowing with antiques, pictures, figures of medieval angels, and memorabilia, including 60 signed Gibson guitars, stuffed animals, chandeliers, and books. The museum, housed in five interconnecting town houses, also doubles as an inn, where rooms pay homage to notables such as John Lennon, Winston Churchill, and Rosa Parks, once a frequent visitor. You can get a peek at the themed rooms when they're not occupied by rock stars or CEOs, who value the mansion’s privacy and security.

Designed by Dr. William Thornton (original architect of the U.S. Capitol), the Octagon House was built by enslaved workers for John Tayloe III, a wealthy plantation owner, and completed in 1801. Thornton chose the unusual shape to conform to the acute angle formed by L'Enfant's intersection of New York Avenue and 18th Street. After the British burned the White House in 1814, Thornton convinced the Tayloes to allow James and Dolley Madison to stay in the Octagon. From September 1814 until March 1815, the Octagon became the temporary White House. In the second-floor study, the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, was ratified. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) established its national headquarters at the Octagon in 1898 and renovated the building as one of the country's first preservation projects. AIA stayed there for 70 years before moving into new modern headquarters directly behind. Self-guided tours take in historically furnished rooms; second-floor gallery spaces hold rotating exhibits on architecture, design, and history.

Between the Potomac and the Tidal Basin, this park is known for its flowering cherry trees, which bloom for two weeks in late March or early April. It also includes a slew of memorials, including those honoring Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason, as well as the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War Veterans memorials. It's a nice place to play ball, picnic, or just relax while admiring the water views.

The White House Visitor Center is a fantastic way to get an orientation before visiting the White House and an excellent alternative for those who could not get tickets. Displays, artifacts, photos, videos, and interactive exhibits recount the life and times of America's most famous house, providing behind-the-scenes insight into the workings of the White House. Afterward, go for a walk around the grounds of the President's park for the iconic views of the White House.