The central esplanade stretches 3 km between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. On foot, allow half a day to string together the Washington Monument (free timed-ticket climb), the World War II, Korea and Vietnam memorials, then the loop of the Tidal Basin past the Jefferson, Roosevelt and Martin Luther King memorials. The best light is late in the day, and the monuments stay open and lit until late in the evening.
Eleven of the seventeen Smithsonian museums line the Mall, all free: Air and Space, Natural History, American History, African Art, Asian Art, the National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery of Art, independent but also free, holds the only Vermeer in the United States outside New York. You cannot do it all: pick two museums a day, arrive at the 10am opening, and note that most close at 5:30pm.
East of the Mall, Capitol Hill gathers the seat of Congress, the Library of Congress (the world's largest, with its ornate reading room) and the Supreme Court, all free but with a reservation needed for the Capitol. The residential quarter beyond lines up colourful terraced houses, the Eastern Market hall open Tuesday to Sunday, and the bar-and-restaurant street of Barracks Row.
The White House is seen from outside from Lafayette Square to the north or the Ellipse to the south; the free interior tour must be requested weeks ahead through the embassy and is granted to a minority. The neighbouring Penn Quarter holds Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated, the National Portrait Gallery and a Chinatown reduced to a few streets under a monumental arch.
The city's oldest quarter, older than the capital itself, lines up its cobbles and federal houses along the C&O canal and the Potomac. Not served by the metro, it is reached on foot from Foggy Bottom in 20 minutes or by the DC Circulator. You come for the towpath walk, the shops of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, and the Dumbarton Oaks gardens.
North of the centre, U Street was the heart of the capital's Black life, nicknamed Black Broadway, with Ben's Chili Bowl open since 1958. The neighbouring Shaw and Logan Circle areas now hold restaurants, music venues and cafes. This is the Washington where people go out at night, fifteen minutes by metro from the Mall, very different from the monumental esplanade.
In Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery (the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the hourly changing of the guard, the John Kennedy grave) is one metro stop away. Old Town Alexandria, a colonial port with cobbled streets, is 20 minutes away. George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, on the Potomac, is reached by car or seasonal boat from the Wharf and needs half a day.
