ワシントンD.C. ツアー・チケット・観光アクティビティ

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) a National Mall monuments tour by trolley, bike or electric cart, 2) the monuments by night, 3) the US Capitol and Library of Congress, 4) the National Air and Space Museum, 5) the Natural History Museum with the Hope Diamond, 6) the National Archives, 7) Arlington National Cemetery and the Changing of the Guard, 8) a Potomac River cruise, 9) Georgetown and its waterfront, 10) a Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria day trip.

Three days: the Mall and monuments (return after dark) on day one, the Capitol, the Archives and two Smithsonian museums on day two, Arlington, Georgetown and a river cruise on day three. Add a fourth for Mount Vernon and Alexandria, or a fifth for Gettysburg or Annapolis. Museum lovers can stay a week.

Every Smithsonian museum (17 of them, including Air and Space and Natural History), the National Zoo, the National Gallery of Art, all the monuments and memorials, the US Capitol (free timed passes), the Library of Congress, the National Archives, Arlington National Cemetery, the Botanic Garden, the Kennedy Center’s daily free 6 p.m. performance, the Tidal Basin cherry blossoms in spring and the Georgetown waterfront. Guided tours cost money; the sights themselves almost never do.

Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria (30 minutes, the classic half-day combo), Annapolis and the Naval Academy (45 minutes), Gettysburg battlefield (90 minutes), Harpers Ferry (75 minutes), Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive (90 minutes) and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (an hour by train). See our day trips page for bookable tours.

A monuments-by-night tour is the single best evening in the city — the Lincoln, Jefferson, MLK and war memorials are lit, open 24 hours and far emptier. Also: the Kennedy Center’s free 6 p.m. Millennium Stage show and rooftop terrace, a dinner cruise on the Potomac, jazz at Blues Alley in Georgetown, the Wharf’s waterfront bars, a ghost tour of Lafayette Square, and Nationals baseball in summer.

Museum season — the Smithsonian, the Archives, the Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum are all indoor and quietest in January and February. Ice skate at the National Gallery Sculpture Garden, see the National Christmas Tree and Capitol tree in December, the ZooLights at the National Zoo (late November to early January) and the monuments under snow. Hotel prices are at their lowest.

The Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum’s dinosaurs and Hope Diamond, the National Zoo (free, with pandas), the International Spy Museum, a Big Bus or trolley loop of the monuments, the Lincoln Memorial steps, the carousel on the Mall, a Duck-style Potomac cruise, the Museum of American History’s Star-Spangled Banner and a paddle boat on the Tidal Basin in spring.

Late March to early April for the cherry blossoms (beautiful but packed), April to May and September to October for the best weather. Summer is hot, humid and busy with school groups; winter is cold but cheap and quiet. Book Capitol and Air and Space passes ahead in any season.

Yes — the Mall is two miles long and the memorials are spread across it, so a trolley, bike or electric-cart tour saves hours of walking and adds the stories. Do it once in daylight and once after dark; night tours are the top-rated experience in the city.