Just a mile away from our Washington DC bed and breakfast is our nation’s most historical stretch of land – the National Mall. The National Mall is packed with monuments, historical sites, memorials, and museums, and deciding how to see it all can be overwhelming. To make your traveling easier, we’ve compiled some tips for you take with you next time you visit the nation’s capital and venture into the National Mall. The National Mall is open 24/7 for you to visit and the Smithsonian museums are open daily from 10 am to 5 pm (mostly), and they’re all free to visit!
- Take the Metro – Parking can be extremely difficult in downtown Washington, DC, and especially at the epicenter of tourism. Wherever you are in the city try to hop on the Metro and the Federal Triangle, Metro Center, L’Enfant Plaza and Capitol South will all put you just steps away from the sites.
- Rent a bike – Capital Bikeshare has spots all over the city with bikes for you to rent at anytime. A single trip is only $2 and a 24-hour pass is $8. The National Mall is much longer than it looks and walking the whole thing, especially in one day, can be exhausting, so hopping on a bike can make sightseeing easier and more fun.
- Take your time – With monuments abound, it can be easy to spend your whole day at only a couple places, or rushing through everything to see it all. Try to separate tour into a couple of days to thoroughly visit the must-sees. Also, from a distance it looks like the National Mall primarily consists of just the Capitol building, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington monument, but once you get down there you’ll find a memorial or Smithsonian museum around every corner with hours’ worth of history to explore.
Shannon Stiles, Innkeeper at American Guest House
