# Touring Washington DC - getting around
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 13, 2017, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372 "2017-04-13T11:42:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/1 "2017-04-13T11:42:46Z")
Hi all,
I’m planning on taking a couple days (Friday and part of Saturday) after a business trip to go down to DC and visit some sights there. I’m staying in Silver Springs MD, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on getting to and around DC?
I have a car, but is it feasible or even desirable to drive down? Is there parking? I see there is a Red line from Silver Spring station, so that looks like it would be a better option, but what about getting around to the various sights? Uber/Taxi? I don’t mind walking much but time might be a factor.
I’d like to see the Air and Space museum, National Mall, Holocaust Memorial Museum, the memorials, and perhaps the Smithsonian. Other recommendations welcome.
Thanks for any insight!
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/2 "2017-04-13T11:53:23Z")
From Silver Spring I’d just take the Metro train into the Mall area, where most of what you want to see is gathered. Don’t take a car: traffic is bad, and parking difficult. Once you get to the Mall, most things are within easy walking distance.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/3 "2017-04-13T12:00:04Z")
All the major sites you mention are easily accessible by metro. I would highly discourage tourists trying to drive and park.
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### Author:  [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/4 "2017-04-13T12:07:11Z")
I concur with the above; I’ll be in DC 20-24 April and do not plan to get a rental car, but use the Metro. All the things you want to see are within walking distance (albeit they are a fair hike so wear your most comfortable walking shoes), and there is other transportation available for other sites (Marine Corps monument, Air and Space at Dulles). But there is more than enough to see in downtown DC to keep your interest for a day and a half, IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/5 "2017-04-13T12:08:14Z")
And just to give my reasons for that — you’ll lose a lot of time navigating traffic and looking for parking and then find out you will just have to leave your car in one place and walk anyway. It won’t make sense to try to drive from one destination to another. You won’t find closer parking anyway.
And on the Holocaust Museum, be sure to check on the ticket situation in advance. Tickets are free but they control how many people can enter at any particular time of day. On heavy tourist days, they will run out of tickets for the full day by 9 or 10 in the morning.
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### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/6 "2017-04-13T12:12:58Z")
Metro, definitely. Parking is always a nightmare, and traffic is usually a nightmare. Just about everything you’d like to see is Metro-accessible. Bring a book to read while you sit on the train!
Source – I live in the metro area, and come to work in DC every day.
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### Author:  [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/7 "2017-04-13T12:31:19Z")
You might consider using the bike sharing program, assuming you ride, to get between sites that are farther apart than you’d like to walk but not so far that it makes sense to wait for the train or the bus (esp if you’d have to transfer). I’ve done this in DC and a couple of other cities and it works out well. Cheap too, and fun.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/8 "2017-04-13T12:40:40Z")
You should realize that you can’t see everything you want in the short amount of time you’ve allotted yourself. It takes two weeks to see everything in the Smithsonian, for instance. You’ll be able to see a lot of things in two days, but you won’t have time to see everything.
Also, sweepkick and The Stainless Steel Rat, if you want us to put together a Dopefest for some evening at a restaurant so you can meet some other Straight Dopers, let us know.
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/9 "2017-04-13T13:45:21Z")
Metro definitely. And for GOD’S SAKE, if you take a rollie bag, LIFT IT UP AND CARRY IT as you enter and leave the Metro cars!!!
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/10 "2017-04-13T14:25:14Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> All the major sites you mention are easily accessible by metro.
And for the most part, conveniently concentrated together in a single (fairly large) area. Venturing out into the city is unnecessary (although much, much safer than it used to be). If you’re capable of walking a few miles, all you have to do is get yourself downtown.
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/11 "2017-04-13T17:59:30Z")
Yep, my family and I toured DC a couple of years ago and exclusively used the Metro, walking and bike share. Very easy (although we walked ALOT), efficient and exactly where the stuff is.
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### Author:  [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/12 "2017-04-13T19:27:28Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> Also, sweepkick and The Stainless Steel Rat, if you want us to put together a Dopefest for some evening at a restaurant so you can meet some other Straight Dopers, let us know.
Depending on the day, I’d be up for that - I’m in G’burg three days a week - Wed-Fri - every week.
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### Author:  [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/13 "2017-04-13T20:28:54Z")
> [@sweepkick](#):
>
> I’d like to see the Air and Space museum, National Mall, Holocaust Memorial Museum, the memorials, and perhaps the Smithsonian. Other recommendations welcome.
“The Smithsonian” could use some clarification, since air and space is already part of the Smithsonian Institute.
> **[List of Smithsonian museums](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Smithsonian_museums)**
>
> The Smithsonian museums are the most widely visible part of the United States' Smithsonian Institution and consist of 20 museums and galleries as well as the National Zoological Park. 17 of these collections are located in Washington D.C., with 11 of those located on the National Mall. The remaining ones are in New York City and Chantilly, Virginia. The Arts and Industries Building is only open for special events.
> The birth of the Smithsonian Institution can be traced to the acceptance of Jam...
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### Author:  [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/14 "2017-04-13T20:39:39Z")
Google Maps knows the subway routes. You can punch in your starting point and destination and tell it to route you via public transit.
Since you only have a day and a half, and most of the stuff you mentioned is on the Mall, I recommend just looping around that by foot.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/15 "2017-04-13T21:49:37Z")
> [@Ruken](#):
>
> “The Smithsonian” could use some clarification, since air and space is already part of the Smithsonian Institute.
This is an odd thing I’ve encountered personally and my wife encounters daily (she works at the Botanic Garden); many tourists, most of them Americans, don’t seem to realize “The Smithsonian” is ALL of those gigantic buildings lining The Mall.
On an unrelated note, she’s been asked on more than one occasion for directions to the Capitol :smack: (for those of you unfamiliar with the US Botanic Garden, the main conservatory is _right next_ to the Capitol reflecting pool, grounds, and the Capitol itself, which is difficult, if not impossible to miss from there).
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/16 "2017-04-13T21:56:54Z")
> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> Metro definitely. And for GOD’S SAKE, if you take a rollie bag, LIFT IT UP AND CARRY IT as you enter and leave the Metro cars!!!
And if you’re standing, please take OFF your backpack, rather than hitting people with it every time you turn your body.
Also, yes, the Red Line is your simplest bet from Silver Spring. Assuming Metro is actually running decently that day, it’s not remotely a close call between that and driving.
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### Author:  [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/17 "2017-04-14T02:01:34Z")
Thanks for the great information everyone, I’m looking forward to tomorrow!
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/18 "2017-04-14T02:59:14Z")
You’ll want to exit the Red Line at the Smithsonian station. That stop puts you in the Mall near the Air and Space Museum.
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### Author:  [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/19 "2017-04-14T03:14:29Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> You should realize that you can’t see everything you want in the short amount of time you’ve allotted yourself. It takes two weeks to see everything in the Smithsonian, for instance. You’ll be able to see a lot of things in two days, but you won’t have time to see everything.
>
> Also, sweepkick and The Stainless Steel Rat, if you want us to put together a Dopefest for some evening at a restaurant so you can meet some other Straight Dopers, let us know.
Can’t speak for sweepkick, but I’m interested…staying out near National airport, but any place close to the Metro is in my reach. Up to you folks.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2017, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-washington-dc-getting-around/784372/20 "2017-04-14T03:15:42Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> This is an odd thing I’ve encountered personally and my wife encounters daily (she works at the Botanic Garden); many tourists, most of them Americans, don’t seem to realize “The Smithsonian” is ALL of those gigantic buildings lining The Mall.
Not quite: the National Gallery of Art (two gigantic buildings, one for older art and one for modern art) is not part of the Smithsonian. But there are about a dozen components of the Smithsonian on the Mall.
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