Best Things To Do in Washington DC 2024

What's going on everybody, this is IslandHopperTV coming to you from Washington, D.C. We're going to show you the best things to do. Alright, IslandHopper's coming to you from the nation's capital. We have 28 things to see and do. We're now here at the D.C. Wharf. Now there's several areas around the Potomac River here in D.C. that are going to be like this, where they're going to have restaurants, bars, and just a walking experience outside. But this one's special because they have that seafood market that's been there since 1939, where you can get live lobsters, jumbo crab legs, scallops, you name it. But this place right here has really undergone a transformation over the years. Billions of dollars have been invested into the real estate down here. And if you wanted to wrap it up and head over to the Georgetown Wharf, you can hop on the water taxi and it would take about 15 minutes to get here. So you've got the Georgetown Wharf, you've got the D.C. Wharf. All of them are connected. You can even get down to Alexandria or National Harbor from here. So that's the really cool thing about these wharfs. They're all like these little micro cities inside of Washington, D.C. Good vibes, water sports and activities, and food. And then from Georgetown Wharf, you can just walk up the hill a bit and you're in Georgetown. And just walking around Georgetown, you're going to feel like you're taking a step back in time because it's still very old school down here. And while in Georgetown here, you can go to Tudor Place. You can also take a canal boat up and down. You can get a relaxing massage, enjoy some restaurants. Lots to do out here. Or you can go check out the Exorcist Steps. By the way, we will be showing you around the nation's capital and the National Mall here in a little bit. I just wanted to highlight these places first. So let's talk about the rooftop bars. This is a thing across D.C., whether you're in Georgetown or downtown around the capital. Try to get out to one of these rooftop bars and try some of the local cuisine and brew. Some of those local restaurants are Michelin star restaurants, which means they're highly rated internationally. And Washington, D.C. is known for its international cuisine, whether you're looking for Thai food, Chinese food, Italian food. They really have it all here, so it's a totally international cuisine-friendly foodie place. But let's go explore some more of Washington, D.C. We've now arrived at National Harbor. Again, right along the Potomac, this area here has undergone a great development over the years, as with many places in D.C. You'd be surprised. If you came to D.C. 20 years ago, you wouldn't even recognize the place with the amount of investment and development that's taking place here. And National Harbor is one of the premier areas that you'll want to explore or possibly stay. Lots to see and do here. They also have the big Ferris wheel and many different statues, a good place to do some bar hopping. This is more of a modern area than Alexandria, which is right across the river from here. Both National Harbor and Alexandria are on the southern part of Washington, D.C. The area we're at now is called King Street here in Old Town Alexandria. Now, there's a few ways to get down here. Number one is you could try and stay in Alexandria in an Airbnb or one of the hotels. But the benefit of being down here is it's definitely an older feeling of Virginia and D.C., but also great nightlife. Now, this is where you want to be for probably some of my favorite nightlife in all of D.C. I just want to put that out there. But it's a nice place to walk around and hang out for brunch in the afternoon, beautiful weather. This place is really nice, but it's a lot more laid back, more of a locals type feel. You're not really going to get that nation's capital type feeling down here because it's about 20 to 30 minutes by car to get to the capital area. And what we're actually going to get ready to do is take a ferry up to the capital area and do some exploring. This here Potomac Water Taxi is affordable, and it's a nice way to get views of both Maryland side and the Virginia side. So I would suggest trying to ride some water taxis, as you can see. But now we're here in the nation's capital area, and we're actually going to ride the Big Bus. So I suggest doing the Big Bus because that's going to help take care of most of the long trekking around the National Mall area, riding around in the Old Town Trolley, heading out to Arlington. So Arlington is on the Virginia side nearby the Pentagon. Arlington here has many different sites, but four in particular. It's got the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It's got many different grave sites of fallen service members or people who actually have just lived out their time on Earth, and they've chosen to be buried here. We're actually running out of space at Arlington. They also have JFK's tomb here, and then they have the house where George Washington Custis grew up, which eventually became Robert E. Lee's house before he was evicted and kicked off the land. So they have a lot going on out here in Arlington. Now this here is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and every 30 minutes they do a changing of the guard. That is quite an experience to take in. If you've never seen a changing of the guard, this one here will give you goosebumps, make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It truly is one of those moments where you feel patriotic watching this. Currently, this is actually the grave of three unidentified service members who are gone but not forgotten, and that's the significance of this changing of the guard. Now while here in Arlington, you will get the best views of Washington, D.C. This here is at the old home of Robert E. Lee. Well, we have arrived at the U.S. Capitol. Now I personally have been to Washington, D.C. four times, but this was my first time doing a Capitol tour, and I was blown away by this. If you get the chance, there's not a long line, definitely do this. It is free, and you go in there, and you'll see just how beautiful the Capitol building is. But then they have the big rotunda where George Washington is at the top, seen ascending into the heavens. So George Washington, he was a very humble man. I don't know if he would have approved of this, but he is at the top of the rotunda ascending into the heavens. There's also many different statues in here, two from each state, and there's 50 states, so there's 100 statues of different men and women representing the United States. So each state gets two of them. Right next to the Capitol is actually the United States Botanic Garden. They have an indoor biosphere with multiple microclimates, and yeah, it's a nice place to walk around. On the outside, they also have a beautiful garden, lots of flowering trees in the springtime, which was when I was there, and flowers, so check it out. And as we continue to show you around Washington, D.C., I just want to give you some quick facts. The total metropolitan population is 5.4 million, and that includes the Maryland and Virginia side. So both states are divided by the Potomac River, so Virginia to the south, Maryland to the northeast. Washington, D.C. is its own administrative zone known as District of Columbia. Now we're here at the National Archives Museum Inside the rotunda for the Charters of Freedom, you're going to find the Declaration of Independence original copy, the original Constitution, and the original Bill of Rights. So all of that is here, as well as the 1297 document Magna Carta. So lots of stuff in this National Archives Museum. These are the founding principles and documents for the United States' freedom and liberty that has been spreading across the world since inception. We've arrived at the Natural History Museum. Here at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, you're going to find everything from dinosaurs, minerals and rocks, learn about earthquakes and volcanoes, the planet's gems, and so much more. I really found this to be an amazing museum, and remember, it's free. So lots of free museums around D.C. that you're not going to get this kind of value anywhere else in the country, and I would even go so far as to say you're not going to get this kind of value for museums anywhere else in the world. I've seen a little bit of free museums in London, but nothing quite like what you see in volume and scale in Washington, D.C. And this particular museum is great for kids because it's just going to show them so much, get them thinking about a lot of different varieties of geology. The ocean exhibit is really impressive. They have big jaws from the megalodon that used to roam the waters of the ocean many moons ago. The animals exhibit also is really amazing. It feels like you're in a zoo of taxidermy. Here at the Smithsonian for American History, we have the Star Spangled Banner, the original flag. Just can't take pictures. So as you can see, there's a lot of information and historical relevance here in the National Mall area. You do need a bit of time to read all of the exhibits. I was doing speed reading because I've been here a few times, but to really take in all of the exhibits and the museums, I would say plan for around three days exploring all of the museums. That's going to include the Aviation Museum and so much more. Since all of these museums are world-class. By the way, if you're enjoying this video, please give it a like and consider subscribing to the channel as we continue to show you around. Now we're going to go to the African American Smithsonian Museum, highlighting all of the contributions from African Americans. This here is the Washington Monument. So the National Mall is a two-mile long open space that extends from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial and then from the White House to the Jefferson Memorial. So it's kind of in this unique pattern of shape. And right in the middle of it is the actual Washington Monument. The cool thing is you can actually take an elevator to go to the top of the Washington Monument. That takes you up 500 feet to the observation deck in about 60 to 70 seconds. You will need a reservation for that because it does book fast. The U.S. Capitol is about a 20-minute walk from the Washington Monument and then you can go to the White House from the Washington Monument and that's another 15 to 20 minutes walking. You can't really get too close to the White House, obviously, for security reasons. They do set up several different layers of barricades. But it's cool to see the White House. And as you're walking around the National Mall, you're probably going to work up an appetite and you're going to notice there's no restaurants. But the good news is they have plenty of food trucks. In between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial is the World War II Memorial. And this is a nice fountain area. People like to walk around and just kind of take in the feeling and vibes of what the World War II Memorial really symbolizes and the sacrifice that went into winning that war for the Allied countries. Now, from here, it's about a 15 to 20-minute walk to the Lincoln Memorial. When I was there right now here in 2024, in the springtime, it was undergoing a renovation. It looked like they were redoing some of the steps. But it's still cool to go there. You can still see Abraham Lincoln inside the actual memorial. But be aware that they are renovating this actual attraction. And I don't know how long it's going to take, but it's probably going to be a big job taking more than one or two years. The best part about this memorial is reading the inscriptions on the wall. They are quite long, so take the time to read them, though, and you will feel enriched because of it. And now from the Lincoln Memorial, we head over to the Korean War Memorial. Now, this one's really cool because they have these larger-than-life-size statues of soldiers which appear to be walking in cold weather. And, yeah, this is a really interesting memorial just because of that feeling that you get. It almost feels like you're there with those soldiers. This is like a four-minute walk away from the World War II Memorial and probably a 15 to 20-minute walk away from the Lincoln Memorial. It just depends on how fast you move. And then we head over to the Martin Luther King Memorial, which is a really cool memorial where they have more inscriptions on these rocks. And if you take the time to read each one of them, you'll really get a strong feeling of just who Martin Luther King was. After the Martin Luther King Memorial, then you can head over to the Jefferson Memorial. Now, this one is a bit of a trek. I would say it takes around 25 to 30 minutes. It's a bit longer. It's kind of out there on its own. But it is worth coming out here because they're going to have more inscriptions on the wall. They just got done renovating it. They're almost done. It's still got a little bit of scaffolding around. But this one has really come around, and it's going to be one of the best memorials, I would say, out here. So you just walk along the lakeside where the cherry blossoms are. Now, just to give you an idea of how much time it took me to do this, I did all of this right here with the National Mall that you just saw in one day. But I've been here before, and I moved quite quickly. I got an early start. So it is possible to do all of the National Mall in one day. It just depends on what museums you really want to see. Anyways, so now what we're going to do is go to Union Station and then head over to Baltimore for a day trip because I think if you come to Washington, D.C., you can also do Baltimore. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on which Amtrak train you take. And you get good seafood for lunch, and you can do a day trip, go and come back. And then that's Baltimore. You get two cool cities for one. I think Baltimore is underrated, actually. And on that note, that's going to conclude this episode of Island Hopper TV. You can watch New York City or Philadelphia next.