6 Days in Washington DC: First-Timer Plan
Six days keeps the full 5-day city-and-Mount-Vernon plan intact and adds a second day trip, Annapolis, Maryland’s state capital and the US Naval Academy. Only want one day trip? Drop to 5 days . Want a third? Step up to 7 days .
Book these before you go
- Hotel: check Mall-adjacent or Dupont Circle availability on Booking.com
- NMAAHC timed pass: reserve free at nmaahc.si.edu
- Washington Monument ticket: the $1 booking-fee ticket on recreation.gov
- A Mount Vernon day trip: book current tour options on Viator
- International Spy Museum: check current pricing on GetYourGuide
| Day | Focus | Distance / travel time |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Arrival, West Mall memorials by day and by night | - |
| Day 2 | Air and Space or Natural History, Washington Monument | - |
| Day 3 | US Capitol tour, National Gallery of Art, Georgetown | - |
| Day 4 | NMAAHC, Arlington National Cemetery, U Street | - |
| Day 5 | Day trip: Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria | 16 miles, 30-45 min by car |
| Day 6 | Day trip: Annapolis and the Naval Academy | 33 miles, ~40 min by car |
Day 1: Arrival And The West Mall At Night
- Fly into Reagan National (DCA) if you can, it’s the only DC airport directly on Metro, the Blue and Yellow lines connect via a covered walkway straight to Terminal 2, no shuttle needed. Dulles (IAD) works too, on the Silver Line now, about an hour into downtown; BWI is really a Baltimore airport, reach it by MARC or Amtrak into Union Station, not Metro
- Check in, grab a SmarTrip card or tap a contactless bank card at the faregate, then head straight for the Mall’s west end
- Start at the Lincoln Memorial, walk to the World War II Memorial, then the Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans, and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorials around the Tidal Basin, all free, unticketed, and open 24 hours
- Dinner near Penn Quarter or Capitol Hill
- Walk the same monuments again after dark, lit and nearly empty past 8pm, genuinely the better version of this walk, not just a scheduling trick
Day 2: Smithsonian Museums And The Timed-Pass Reality
- Morning at the National Air and Space Museum’s Mall building, free but it needs a timed-entry pass booked at airandspace.si.edu , walk-up only allowed weekdays after 1pm (peak season) or 10am (rest of year)
- No pass? The National Museum of Natural History next door is still genuine walk-up, no booking needed, ever
- Lunch at a museum cafe or a food truck along Madison Drive
- Afternoon at the Washington Monument, technically free but booked as a timed ticket with a $1 service fee through recreation.gov , tickets release 30 days out at 10am plus a smaller 3pm batch the day before
- Dinner in Penn Quarter, walkable back to most Mall-adjacent hotels
Day 3: Capitol Hill And Georgetown
- Morning tour of the US Capitol, free, booked at visitthecapitol.gov (not recreation.gov, a genuinely common mix-up), tours run 8:40am-3:20pm Monday through Saturday
- Afternoon at the National Gallery of Art, free, and worth remembering it’s not actually a Smithsonian despite sitting right on the Mall
- Early evening in Georgetown, no Metro station here by design, walk in from Foggy Bottom or cross the Key Bridge from Rosslyn
- Dinner along M Street, then a stroll on the C&O Canal towpath if the weather cooperates
Day 4: NMAAHC, Arlington, And U Street
- Morning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, free but a timed pass is mandatory, book weeks ahead at nmaahc.si.edu or try the same-day release around 8:15am
- Afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery across the river (Metro Blue Line to Arlington Cemetery station), free, 8am-5pm, catch the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
- Evening on U Street, half-smoke at Ben’s Chili Bowl, open since 1958 and still worth the wait
- Round out the night with an International Spy Museum evening ticket, book ahead on GetYourGuide
Day 5: Mount Vernon And Old Town Alexandria
- Morning at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s working estate and tomb, $30 adult admission, roughly 16 miles/30-45 minutes south by car, tour bus, or the seasonal Potomac riverboat, book ahead on Viator
- Remember this is a paid historic estate, not the free NPS Washington Monument sharing his name, don’t confuse the two when budgeting tickets
- Afternoon in Old Town Alexandria, a short Metro ride further (Blue/Yellow to King St-Old Town), cobblestone streets and the King Street waterfront
- Dinner back in Old Town or return to DC for the evening
Do you need a car for the Annapolis day trip? Genuinely helpful, since there’s no direct train. A once-daily direct bus is the cheapest car-free option at roughly $4-12 one-way, rideshare runs $60-135, and driving yourself is the most flexible if your six days already include a rental for Mount Vernon.
Day 6: Annapolis And The Naval Academy
- Full day in Annapolis, Maryland’s state capital, roughly 33 miles/40 minutes east, no direct train, the cheapest car-free option is a once-daily direct bus, otherwise rideshare or a rental car
- Tour the US Naval Academy (roughly $12 adult guided tour), all visitors 18+ need a REAL ID-compliant photo ID or passport, pedestrian access only, no vehicles on campus
- Walk the City Dock and the Maryland State House, then a crab feast, this is Chesapeake country even though crab isn’t uniquely a DC dish
- Back in DC by evening, or stay in Annapolis and return the next morning before departure
Book the Naval Academy tour and the Mount Vernon trip in the same sitting once your dates are set. Neither is a same-day walk-up you want to gamble on, and both day trips run better with a plan than a decision made over breakfast.