Washington D.C. November itinerary help

Just a quick restaurant recommendation. The Old Ebbitt Grill on 15th St near the White House. Been there several times. It has some history and a great convenient location while you're in the White House / Mall area.

I will say the Air & Space Museum is hard to do in 2-3 hours. I will say that the tour trolley (dont remember the name) thats essentially a Hop On / Hop Off worked pretty well for us last time. Although the Metro works fine but sometimes a bit more of a walk.

Thanks for the restaurant suggestion. I've read about it a lot and wondered if it's really good or a tourist trap with high prices and mediocre food.

I could spend all day long at any of the Smithsonian Museums I think but, we have such a short time in the city and so many want-to-do things on our list.

I'm hoping to arrange things so that we don't waste time traveling back and forth between and can maximize our time.

Sent you a private message. Also, visiting all the memorials in a day entails a lot of walking, especially getting over to the Jefferson and FDR memorials on the far side of the tidal basin. As a guide, from the Lincoln memorial to the Washington monument is a mile, then over to the Jefferson memorial is about another mile. The air & space museum is undergoing renovations now, so some exhibits may not be on display, and by November, I believe there will only be one entrance to it.

I don't see a problem with your tentative schedule, but I haven't taken any of the tours except one at the White House ages ago. The State Dept. building is a fair walk from Metro, as are most of the monuments (as mentioned upthread).

The entrance to the Metro station at Arlington Cemetery closes at 7 PM at this time of year. I think you'll be fine, but just keep an eye on the time.

Monitor the WMATA website for notifications of line closures due to maintenance and other issues. WMATA seems to be pretty good about slapping a pop-up on the website quickly when there's a problem. Information about maintenance-related closures (more likely on weekends) is available here. There are some notifications posted for November.

Near the Vietnam Memorial is the less-often-mentioned Korean War Memorial. It's expecially evocative if you see it at dusk or later, or in the rain. To me it's one of the most visually interesting monuments.

The Hirshhorn Museum is across 7th Street from the Air and Space Museum. It's modern art, which I know doesn't appeal to everyone (fair's fair; I find Air and Space monumentally boring), but the easily-accessible sculpture garden has some Rodins. I noticed chains across the entry ways on one occasion, but I don't know whether that's standard practice when the museum isn't open. The museum's hours are 10 AM - 5:30 PM.

I haven't eaten in Chinatown in ages so don't have any particular place to suggest. If you happen to enjoy Indian food, I think the modern-Indian Rasika on D Street NW is special--almost certainly one of the best Indian restaurants in the country. It's not cheap, and a reservation is normally required, though I once wandered in at 2 PM or 2:30 PM and got a table. There are some other interesting places nearby along 7th St NW, and I enjoy the casual (order-at-counter) pan-Asian Teaism on 8th Street. Teaism has a large seating area in the basement, so assuming no mobility impairments (there's no elevator), there's no reason to turn away if the upstairs tables look full.

aimeelsabio, I got the PM, thanks. We're neither military though.

acraven, Neither of us have mobility issues. My traveling companion for this trip is a 20-something that's like a daughter to me. She's never been to the city and I went about 3 years ago for 3 days.

We're trying to cram in a lot! She's not really an art appreciator, so I've tried to stay light on that. We both have different interests and we're trying to have a compromising itinerary that's fun, doable, cheap and well rounded.

As for Arlington, I told her we at least need to go see the Changing of the Guards ceremony--she's not super interested in seeing the whole cemetery ( I found it fascinating and so moving when I visited 3 years ago though).

I wondered if it might be a better idea time-wise to do this instead of our original Saturday plan (switching Arlington and American History museum since it's open until 5:30 and it would better situate us for dinner then?):
SATURDAY

--Sunset 6 pm

Ford’s Theater (9:00 am-4:40 pm)

Old Post Office Tower (9 am - 5 pm)

Arlington Cemetery (Changing of the Guards on the hour) short visit

Smithsonian museum--Museum of American History (10 am-5:30 pm) (maybe 3 hour highlights visit)

Dinner

Our hotel will have daily breakfast, so we're only planning 1 meal out /day.

Indian food is the ONLY ethnic food I've tried (more than once) that I didn't like and my friend isn't much of an adventurous eater. Although, I want her to try some mildly different things food-wise so she can experience them. I just need to slowly introduce them to her I think :)

Teaism looks nice. I know she eats some Asian foods.

Once we have a definite itinerary set, I'lll start on restaurants:) We won't know for a week or two whether we get the WH tour. If so, it will be either Friday or Saturday from 7:30 am-1:30 pm. I'd like to possibly have a Plan B for the itinerary if we get a WH tour.

I appreciate the input!

I'd tend to prefer the original plan because it's a relatively short walk from the Old Post Office Building to the National Museum of American History. However, there's no particular reason not to insert Arlington Cemetery between them. You can hop on the Metro Blue Line toward Franconia-Springfield (not the Orange or Silver Line) at Federal Triangle, very close to the OPOB, and then get off at the Smithsonian Station (also Blue Line) on the way back. The position of the Metro stations is such that you'll save a little bit of walking by putting the cemetery in the middle.

Another question regarding transportation--

From our hotel to the State Dept. WMAT planner says to take BUS S1 (22 minutes). Are the buses fairly timely or would the Metro be better even though it's more walking?

Except for my beloved express bus to Dulles Airport, I haven't used a bus within DC for a very, very long time. I have no idea how reliable they are, but DC traffic gets worse every day. And bus frequency tends to be rather low. On the other hand, the Metro is barely of any help on that trip. Google Maps says it's 1.1 miles if you just walk the whole way. I bet it will be at least 0.8 miles of walking if you take Metro--most of it on the State Dept. end. I'd walk it without pausing to consider other options, but that's just me. As someone in town for just a few days, I think you'd be justified in hopping in a taxi for this trip if you don't choose to walk.

If for some reason you decide to use the Metro, it might be helpful to know that there's a Whole Foods on I Street just east of the Foggy Bottom Metro station. Also a bunch of fast-food restaurants, but you won't need those so early in the day.

This is really helpful info, acraven :)

I'm also thinking/hoping that we can substitute walking the memorials with the Smithsonian's we want to visit in case of really bad weather? So, if it's raining, instead of walking to the Memorials we'll go to a museum and then when it clears up we'll swap out the museum time for Memorial time. Sound reasonable?

I just talked with my friend and she said---
she would rather spend more time at the American History Museum than the Space Museum.

Food-wise she won't eat Indian or seafood (:, not big on burgers, LOVES a good pizza, chicken, ok with-- pasta, Mexican and Asian. She's picky but hopefully we'll find places that are a little bit of a reach for her to try and will broaden her tastebuds :)

Think I might switch the itinerary up just a little to look like this now:

FRIDAY

--Sunset 6 pm

Early morning --Arrive DCA Washington

Metro to Capital Hilton hotel

Drop bags at hotel

mid morning State Department tour (45 min tour)

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

mid afternoon Capitol building private tour

Chinatown dinner

** (White House tours--7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays-- applied for already) May throw a wrench into this itinerary?

SATURDAY

--Sunset 6 pm

Ford’s Theater (9:00 am-4:40 pm)

Old Post Office Tower (9 am - 5 pm)

Arlington Cemetery (Changing of the Guards on the hour) short visit

Smithsonian museum--Museum of Air & Space (10 am-5:30 pm) (maybe 1 1/2 hours highlights?)

Dinner

SUNDAY

--Sunset 5 pm

--Time change turn back 1 hour

Mass

Holocaust Museum (10 am-5:30 pm)

Monuments at night-- on own

Washington Monument, WW II memorial, Lincoln memorial, MLK memorial, FDR memorial, Jefferson memorial

Dinner

MONDAY

--Sunset 5 pm

Supreme Court

mid morning Library of Congress tour private (Jefferson Bldg)

Smithsonian Museum-- Museum of American History (maybe have 3 hours?)

Late lunch

Pick up bags at hotel

Mid-evening flight leaves DCA

Will the Metro--Circulator--walking work for most of this itinerary? Should we just purchase a SmarTrip card for the Metro ($2 card and $8 loaded on it)?

Thanks so much for the advice here :)

I think subbing in parts of the Smithsonian for outdoor sights in the event of bad weather is a good plan. The Natural History Museum has a spectacular collection of gems and minerals.

Just about any place with "Monument" or "Memorial" as part of its name will involve some walking. That's just the way it is. I'm not even sure how close a taxi or hop-on/hop-off bus can get you, though it will usually be closer than the nearest Metro station. WMATA used to have a leaflet listing the major tourist destinations and how to get to them; if it's still published, it will either be displayed in a rack on the side of the attendant's booth, or you can try asking for it. I don't remember whether it mentions how much residual walking there will be. You could see whether Google Maps will help with that. I'm not up on the Circulator routes; they may help.

I think it's unlikely you'll escape without needing to use the Metro a few times; Arlington Cemeter is two trips, obviously. It's very easy to add money to a Smart Trip card (though the signage is rather discombobulating), so don't over-load yours at the time of initial purchase. There are signs at each of the vending machines showing the rush-hour and non-rush-hour fares. You can also find them on the WMATA website if you want to spend time doing that in advance.

Washington is not known for its pizza (we are not Philly or Chicago). I assume there are some good places, but I don't know where they are. Just one or 2 blocks south of the Air and Space Museum on 7th Street is a Pizza Autentica chain location. It's on the east side of the street. But how bad does a place have to be to have a rating of 3.2 out of 5? I live in the neighborhood but have never eaten there because, not long after it opened (10+ years ago, I guess), I read that it used canned mushrooms on its pizzas. With that, I decided it couldn't be very good, and I can find decent pizza in Europe from time to time (or at the drop of a hat in Italy), so why would I want to eat there?

On 7th St NW, just north of D Street, is the upscale, small-plate, Mexican spot called "Oyamel". I've always enjoyed it and the food isn't overwhelmingly spicy or anything, but the restaurant doesn't have all the plain-vanilla Mexican dishes we're used to, so take a look at the menu; it isn't a cheap place, either. Lunch menu; dinner menu. A reservation might be needed at peak times.

On the other side of the street in the same block is a China Chilcano, a "creative Peruvian" place described as having Asian accents. I haven't been there yet, but the people behind it are good (same as Oyamel). A reservation might be needed at peak times. I suspect this is at least one bridge too far for your travel companion.

If you happen to stumble on a farmer's market, take a look at the prepared-food stalls. They are usually reliably good. I've seen pizza stalls sometimes. But farmer's markets are usually a week-day phenomenon, and most stop operating on some date in October. Food trucks are a year-round thing. Some are very good (CrepesParfait is equivalent to what you'd get in France; DC Taco is also recommendable); many are mediocre, but they're quick and inexpensive. The problem with sightseeing in Washington is that there aren't a lot of food options really close to the museums and monuments.

I've been warned off the restaurant at the Holocaust Memorial Museum by someone in a position to know.

Although the Museum of the American Indian hasn't exactly gotten rave reviews, its restaurant is supposedly quite good. The Smithsonian website describes the food options at the various museums. I think you probably have to sort of read between the lines; some of the places are probably the equivalent of McDonalds.

As for the WMATA buses, they generally run pretty close to schedule (especially on Fridays/weekends because traffic is less of a concern). There are a number of apps that you can download should you want track buses real-time, and there is also a mechanism on the WMATA website to do that as well.

While DC's pizza really isn't something to proverbially write home about, as acraven pointed out, there are a couple of places that aren't too bad. Matchbox is a small local chain that specializes in what I call "fancy pizza." There are a few locations - Chinatown, Logan Circle, Barracks Row. Also in Chinatown is Ella's Woodfire Pizza, which is okay.

I'm not sure how you and your dining companion feel about barbeque, but there is a pretty reasonable and casual spot in Chinatown - Hill Country. It's a "cafeteria-style" set up which would make things easier for a pickier eater. If she likes Mexican food, I might try to get her to expand to Spanish food because Jaleo is also in that neighborhood for tapas.

One of my personal favorites is Central Michel Richard, which is right across from the Old Post Office. It's slightly upscale, but also reliably good food. They have a great fried chicken.

On weekends especially, food trucks line the streets on the Mall so you'll have no problem finding a quick lunch. However, if you do want to sit down, I do recommend the Museum of the American Indian. It's a step up from what I've seen in any other museum in terms of choice and quality.

Thank you, rmf109, for giving me places to check out in my own hometown! I have been negligent in doing that for the last few years, ever since a food-truck location was set up near my apartment. I now have French crepes 1/2 mile away at least once a week.

I wish I could give advice about specific good food trucks that might be hanging out near the museums. 7th Street SW has a lot of them, but except for a few that show up near the Metro entrance at 7th and Maryland Avenue--who get their spots monthly in a lottery--I've been disappointed. There's a good bit of variety, but it's best not to expect better than a mall food court (and I avoid eating at those in the US). Again, CrepesParfait (especially) and DC Taco are exceptions. Red Hook Lobster Pound used to be on the street with lobster rolls (over $15 but worth it since you didn't have to travel to Maine), but I haven't seen them in my area for over a year. I think most of the good trucks use Twitter to announce their floating locations.

I have thought of a possibility near the White House, though, in case you're hungry before or after the 1:30 PM tour on Friday; the place is only open on weekdays. Breadline is at 1751 Pennsylvania Avenue, 1 - 2 blocks west of the White House and about the same distance from the Farragut West Metro Station. It's primarily a breakfast/lunch spot, closing at 5 PM. You order at the counter; generally seating is available because a lot of people take the food back to their offices to eat. The menu (I've linked to Friday's) is bread-focused--mainly sandwiches, but there are 3 or 4 salads a day (may run out as the day goes on) and I think two soups. Also a few baked goodies. It is very, very good at what it does.

Love the info you've both posted! Thanks so much! I'll look them up later today when I have some time.

As much as I would like to try so many of the great ethnic restaurants in DC, it's just not going to be on this trip :)

It looks like this is going to be a workable and decent itinerary then?

With the proviso that I haven't played tourist in DC for a very long time, except for popping into a museum from time to time: Yes, the plan seems workable.

I’ll throw out a couple of restaurant ideas. For fast casual I like &Pizza, it’s like a Chipotle for pizza. District Taco is a local version of Chipotle and quite good. For a fast food burger, Zburger is quite good. You can find all three of these local chains all over the city.

For sit down Mexican, Tortilla Coast is next to the Capitol, you may spot a politician or two there. The happy hour is great for drinks and quick bites as well. There’s also a local chain called Guapo’s.

For sit down pizza, I like All Purpose Shaw. There’s also 2Amys pizza.

Oh, and for general DC information, I suggest the Trip Hacks D.C. YouTube channel, they cover just about everything related to D.C. tourism in short, under ten minutes, videos

There have been a lot of good ideas posted. Here are a few other thoughts.

The dccirculator is handy to get around to many of the sites. The Red Line stops at the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorial for example and then goes along the Mall to Union Station. The Yellow Line goes to Georgetown. The bus is just a dollar. https://www.dccirculator.com/

You could spend the entire trip at the various Smithsonian Museums. It's often best to pick a few exhibits at a museum and don't try to race through everything. Also, be aware that there are museums beneath the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials that it seems many people don't know are there.

Metro is a great way to get around, but rush hour trains can be crowded and a little overwhelming if you are not used to crowds. One tip to keep you in the good grace of the locals is to always stand on the right of the escalators and walk on the left. Be sure your farecard has enough value on it to the exit the system.

One of my favorite restaurants is China Chilcan, a Asian Peruvian fusion place by chef Jose Andres. It's in the Chinatown/Penn Quarter neighborhood. https://www.chinachilcano.com/ The best Chinese in Chinatown is Eat First, an informal restaurant on G Street.

My favorites at Smithsonian, the Air and Space and the Museum of Natural History.
Also, if you are interested there is a Pentagon tour.

If you are a US citizen, your could stop by and see your Congressperson.

Thanks for the additional tips!

I think some of these restaurant ideas may work for us. It looks like Eat First is closed now?

You have all been so helpful :)

We had a great trip and perfect weather!!!

We ate at District Taco, Hill Country BBQ, Breadline, &pizza...all were good.

Our itinerary went pretty much as planned, we swapped out the State Department tour for a White House tour on Friday. We even got to see the Washington Nationals parade! What a great time we had. Our hotel, Capital Hilton worked out well too.

Thanks so much for your help.

Joby, I'm so glad it worked well for you.