Washington D.C. in 10 Hours 19 Minutes

Washington, D.C. is a rather unique city to visit. As the capital of the United States, nothing is standard about the district. From urban design to the nature of business and recreation available, many things about DC set it apart from other cities. The metro area is large, spanning multiple states, in addition to the federal district the city acquires its name from and is part of the larger Northeast Megapolis. Despite this, the central historic district centered on the National Mall is relatively small and can easily be navigated on foot.
I have visited this city twice in February 2023. Although rather cold and rainy on the first visit, this didn’t put too much of a damper on the trip as I was visiting for business inside. The second trip, however, was a beautiful day and was purely for pleasure. This city has impressed me with its accessible nature for tourists, a requirement given that it welcomes just under 2 million visitors annually.

City Highlights

• City: Washington D.C., United States

• Population (metro): 6.36 million

• Known for: Capital of the United States, Smithsonian Institutes, National Mall

• Distance travelled (on foot): Approx. 18.2 km (11.3 mi)

• Weather during visit: Between 8º and 12º C (46º - 54º F)

• Time in Place: 10 hours and 19 minutes

Additional Photos by Jessica Bissa

Arriving in DC

Airports

I entered the city through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), the smallest but most centrally located airport. The DC metro is home to two (or three) airports, though no airports are in the city proper and are found in neighboring municipalities instead. Also available to bring passengers to the city is Washington-Dulles International Airport IAD), and relatively close by is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

DCA is a unique airport, much like the city that it serves. The airport lies on a peninsula jutting into the Potomac and is home to two terminals serving eight airlines. When the airport lands to the south, an approach to National will treat passengers on the left side of the aircraft to an aerial tour of the National Mall on the other side of the Potomac River. On the day of my visit, the airport was landing to the north.
My flight arrived at terminal two at the D gates. While relatively nice, the terminal was extremely crowded, and each time I have flown through DCA, it has been challenging to find a quiet spot to sit and wait for my flight. Since the pandemic, DCA has shifted its focus from a destination-focused airport to one allowing passengers to connect onward, a role the airport was not designed for.

While the piers are more cramped, they eventually meet in the central hall of the terminal, a wide and airy central hub that connects the various piers of Terminal 2 to the rest of the airport. There isn’t much seating in this portion of the airport, a disappointing fact given both the nature of the piers as well as the beautiful design of the hall. There are, however, several shops, restaurants, and services in this area. The airport offers two American Admirals Clubs, a Delta SkyLounge, and a United Club. After a short walk through the terminal, we arrived at the exit to the ticketing concourse and ground transportation area, where we quickly followed signs to the Metro, our first stop on the trip, and how we got from the airport into town.

Getting into Town

The easiest way to get from both DCA and IAD to the center of DC is by the Metro. A relatively modern system, the WMATA Metro is by far newer than New York’s subways and Chicago’s L, and there are many benefits the system has because of this. The walk from the terminal to the metro is straightforward, no more than 10 minutes from gate to gate. At the time of my visit, National was only connected to the Blue Line, which we took into town. However, the Yellow Line is undergoing improvement projects and will also provide service to DCA upon competition. The recent Silver Line extension services Dulles Airport and takes just shy of an hour from the airport station to Metro Center station; there is no direct rail link between BWI and downtown DC, although Amtrak services easily connect downtown Baltimore with DC’s Union Station.
Getting around on the Metro is relatively easy, thanks to clear wayfinding. From National, look for the signs that say “Trains toward Downtown from this platform.” A single tie on the metro from the airport to the city center is typically around $2.50 on weekdays and $2 on weekends, not including the one-time $2 charge for a SmarTrip card which is easily purchased from vending machines next to the fare gates. You can also load a digital card to a phone using the WMATA SmarTrip app, which I did. The app also allows you to manage physical cards.

One side note about the Metro is that I love the system's physical design. All stations carry a common design language, including in-platform lighting to warn of approaching trains. The underground stations feature an excellent design, including elements of brutalism and neoclassicism. After about a half hour on the line, we arrived at Smithsonian Station on the National Mall.

Monuments & Malls

Upon leaving the Metro station at Smithsonian, my travel partner and I were treated to the most glorious bluebird sky and picturesque views. Before us were some of the world-famous Smithsonian Museums, along with the United States Capital Building. A quick 180 left us looking down the National Mall towards the Washington Monument, our monument of the trip.
The obelisk was a 10-15 minute walk from the Metro station at a leisurely pace, and there was only one road to cross to get there. Much of the Mall space in DC is incredibly pedestrian-friendly and car-free, though not all walkways are paved, which may pose issues for those using assistive devices.
As if having the city named after him wasn’t enough, our first president also has a monument. We arrived at the Washington Monument too early, and everything around it was still shuttered. A sign announced that tickets to go into the monument would be available only in a single batch for the day, with each party limited to six tickets. Not wanting to wait for the possibility of being turned away, we decided to continue up the hill and walk around the monument instead.

The Washington Monument is impressive and is still one of the tallest structures in the city (a fact helped by DC’s notoriously strict city planning policies). Situated on a hill in the middle of the mall, about halfway between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capital Building, the plaza containing the monument offers spectacular views of the surrounding areas. You can easily walk up and touch the monument (my travel partner pictured for scale).

After the Washington Monument, we continued West down the mall towards the World War II memorial. This was the quietest memorial we encountered during the day, a surprising feat considering its prime location along the mall and the memorial's impressive size. The monument was winterized when we visited, meaning none of the water features were turned on. Despite this, the memorial does a beautiful job showing the scale of the conflict, including 56 pillars for each of the US states at the time, along with the territories of Alaska, Hawai’i, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, America Samoa, the Philippines (which was a US territory at the time), and the District of Columbia. Another impressive component of the monument was the Wall of Stars, which has 4,048 golden stars, each marking 100 Americans who died during the war. Below the wall is a message,

"Here we mark the price of freedom"

After the World War II memorial, we continued towards the Lincoln Memorial. As with the previous memorial, the reflecting pool had been drained for the winter. Despite being unable to look at the reflections of the monuments, the open space helped share the scope of the city. While Washington, D.C. is easily walkable, its size can be deceiving. You’re never more than a short walk from something of historical significance, but that is not hard to say with the sheer number of sites within the district.
The Lincoln Memorial is impressively grand and surprisingly small at the same time. Sat atop an artificial hill with steps leading to the memorial, you can get great views of the National Mall from this westernmost point. Walking inside the cavern, which houses the 16th president, we noticed there was little inside aside from the central statue (which did not start walking around like Night at the Museum II, much to our disappointment) and two inscriptions. The Northern inscription is Lincoln’s second inauguration speech, which speaks to welcoming the Southern states back into the union. The Southern inscription is the Gettysburg Address, declaring that the work of the living must carry out that of the dead in maintaining the ideas of equality and freedom within the nation. On our way back down the steps, we noticed a plaque on one of the landings designating the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. had delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. This set us up perfectly for our next destination, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

The walk between the Lincoln Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is about a half mile direct and cuts through the Korean War Memorial. The Korean War Memorial is more understated than many other memorials along the Mall but was more impactful in showing the war's human scale. Comprised primarily of three components, the memorial has a field of American soldiers on patrol. The second component is a memorial wall showing 38 soldiers during the 38 months they spent fighting along the 38th parallel. The final part is a reflection pool surrounded by (some of) the names of those who died during the conflict.

Next, we continued to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, one of the newer monuments along the mall. This design was my other favorite of the day. Mirror a quote from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the central position of the monument bears MLK standing firm while facing the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial. The wall from which MLK’s stone is pulled has 14 quotes from his life that explain the core principles of his work: justice, democracy, hope, and love.

“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

We walked along the Tidal Basin Loop Trail from the MLK Memorial to the Jefferson Memorial. A relatively wide and paved trail, one side is lined with the famous Cherry Trees given to the city by Japan in 1912, while the other side is open to the namesake basin. While visiting, the cherry trees were not in bloom but still provided a lovely backdrop for the walk between memorials. About a third of the way along, we crossed the Kutz Bridge, which carries Independence Ave across the northernmost point of the Tidal Basin, just south of the John Paul Jones Memorial.
After crossing the bridge, we were greeted by the Floral Library (not in bloom), a small cafe (not open), and a place to rent paddle boats for use in the Tidal Basin (closed for the season). Here, we realized that while there are benefits to visiting DC out of season, there were also downsides.
As soon as we got closer to the Jefferson Memorial, another problem became apparent; the memorial was under some significant restoration work. While this limited our time and current enjoyment of the memorial, this will improve access for future visitors, with more exhibit space and improved ramps for easier access to those with limited mobility. The central portion of the memorial under the Pantheon-inspired dome contains a statue of Jefferson and several quotes from the former president about his ideas relating to democracy, religious freedoms, and individual rights.

Museums and Musings

By the time we finished at the Jefferson Memorial, it was around 10:30 am. We had been in DC for about three hours and awake for seven hours without eating anything other than a cookie on the flight. It was decidedly time for a lunch break. We agreed on a lovely looking cafe nearby, though it was, unfortunately, neither of those things as we should have realized it was a further walk than expected, as well as a chain restaurant with pretty poor service. At least it was food and allowed us to walk by the National Holocaust Museum, the Ronald Reagan Building, and Freedom Plaza. We also walked by the White House, though we did not get close enough to get a good glimpse at it, and our afternoon plans took us further from the presidential residence.
After lunch, it was time to visit one of my travel partner’s goal locations, Ford’s Theatre. The location of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the theatre is still active and performing various shows. At the time of our visit, it was preparing for a run of Shout Sister Shout!, a musical about the history of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The theatre also offers historic tours. Across the street from the theatre, you can find the house where Lincoln died, a gift shop, and Lincoln’s Waffle House (because the 16th president enjoyed waffles, apparently).
Continuing to the next block south, we saw one of my choices, the J Edgar Hoover Building. Home to the headquarters of the FBI, the building is a prime example of Brutalist architecture (of which I am a fan, as previously mentioned about the Metro stations).

The next major building we happened upon was the Federal Archives. A separate entity from the Smithsonian Institute but still located near the National Mall, the Archives are home to some of the original copies of America’s founding documents. As this was the only museum along the mall that did not require a reservation during our visit (the Smithsonian museums, while free, did require timed entry), we decided to peek inside. No photography is allowed inside the building, and even regular cellphone use is restricted (my travel partner claimed they jammed the cell frequency). While the main draw was seeing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights inside the rotunda, we were pleasantly surprised to find a host of other exhibits within the archives. It is a labyrinth inside, filled with the unique history of the United States and original documents from every facet of American life. Also, the gift shop still sells replica Declaration of Independence copies if you are a “National Treasure” fan.

After finishing at the National Archives, our next stop was the Capital Building. A short walk along Constitution and Pennsylvanian Ave led us to the reflecting pool and Ulysses S Grant Memorial. A rather relaxing spot, the (filled!) reflecting pool offered a great view of the (under restoration) Capital Building while we rested our feet for a bit. Being up so early and doing so much walking was starting to get to us, and it was starting to get a bit closer to our flight home, so we pushed on to Capital Hill.
A brisk walk along the south side of Capital Hill (no bills were spotted) brought us to the Library of Congress. My travel partner and I wanted to get our library cards inside, but the library also required timed entry. We settled for a few photographs and the excuse to return. Before continuing back down Capital Hill, we decided to play tourist even more and snap a few photos at the Supreme Court and the steps of the Capital Building. Although there were plenty of people at both buildings, we had no problem getting some good shots of the buildings and ourselves. When in Rome, after all.

After walking the entire length of the mall (twice) and up Capital Hill, we were exhausted. The rest of our trip consisted of walking back down the hill, past a few Smithsonian Museums, and into the Metro station. While we didn’t visit any of the Smithsonian Museums on this trip, I saw the Air and Space Museum earlier in the month and thoroughly enjoyed it, and the National Museum of the American Indian looks fascinating for a future visit. Much like the ride from National in the morning, the Metro ride back to the airport was uneventful, and it was pretty easy to find where to go in the station and which stop to get off at, thanks to the system’s great wayfinding.
Returning through DCA security took slightly longer than expected but not an unreasonable amount of time. This is where I need to plug TSA Precheck for anyone who does not already have it. It took me about 10 minutes to clear security in the Precheck line, while my travel partner took more than double that time to get through the regular security line. The same was confirmed earlier in the morning from our departure airport and on later trips (until I convinced them actually to get Precheck). If nothing else, the service saves you from taking off your shoes at airport security.

With security completed, we had about an hour to get to our gate, grab a quick bite, and rest before our flight home. The walk from security to the furthest E gates that our flight was leaving from took about 10 minutes, proving that DCA is a relatively compact airport that fits a lot in. There were various options available for us to eat at before our flight, and we settled on the burger restaurant in the E pier. Although it was nothing exceptional, the food was quite satisfying and reasonably priced after the long day of trekking around the city. One nice feature of the E gate pier is that most of the seating has built-in wireless Qi charging pads, standard sockets, and USB ports.

Overall, this power trip was a roaring success. Getting to experience a significant portion of the nation’s capital in a single day was incredible, and the fact that we had many of the monuments to ourselves made it even more special. Traveling out of season has downsides, with some shops and experiences closed along the way, but if you prefer cooler weather and smaller crowds, late February is a great time to visit DC. We didn’t get to see plenty of things on our visit, but that’s in the nature of a power trip; you aren’t going to see everything. It just gives us more excuses to revisit this incredible city in the future.