6 Days Around DC: Day Trip Plan
Washington DC rewards a traveler who treats it as a launchpad, not just a checklist. This 6-day plan spends one day on the DC core and five days riding outward: Old Town Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Annapolis and the Naval Academy, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and the Great Falls gorge with an optional Harpers Ferry add-on. Four of those five legs run on Metro, a direct bus, or MARC/Amtrak. Great Falls does not, so plan on a car or a rideshare for that one day rather than assuming transit will get you there.
Short on time? The 2-day plan covers the anchor day plus Alexandria, the 4-day plan works in Annapolis, and the 5-day plan adds Baltimore. Got a full week instead? The 7-day plan tacks on the long push to Gettysburg or Shenandoah.
Book these before you go
- A base near a Metro stop for six nights: check rates on Booking.com
- Mount Vernon entry, or a guided Potomac day trip: book via GetYourGuide
- An Old Town Alexandria walking tour: reserve on Viator
- National Aquarium Baltimore timed entry, don’t wing this one: via Viator
| Day | Focus | Travel Time | Rough Daily Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DC core anchor: Mall, Capitol exterior, one Smithsonian | none, you’re already downtown | $40-70 |
| 2 | Old Town Alexandria | 20-30 min Metro (Blue/Yellow to King St) | $30-55 |
| 3 | Mount Vernon | 30-40 min by car or tour bus | $60-90 |
| 4 | Annapolis and the Naval Academy | ~1h10 direct bus, or 45-60 min by car | $70-115 |
| 5 | Baltimore: Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium | ~40 min MARC or Amtrak | $90-135 |
| 6 | Great Falls, plus optional Harpers Ferry | 30-40 min car/rideshare (Great Falls); ~1h15 car or one daily Amtrak (Harpers Ferry) | $40-100 |
Which Day Trip Should You Cut on a Shorter Visit?
Drop Great Falls and Harpers Ferry first if four or five days is your ceiling: both need a car or a paid rideshare leg, while Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Annapolis, and Baltimore all run on transit or a direct bus. If a car genuinely isn’t an option at all, Baltimore is the next one to cut, since Annapolis at least has a once-daily direct bus.
Day 1: The DC Core, Fast
Spend the morning on the National Mall: walk from the Capitol end toward the Lincoln Memorial and duck into one free Smithsonian along the way. Natural History and American History are the easiest walk-ins; the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Air and Space Museum’s Mall building both require a free timed pass booked ahead, so check availability before you land rather than assuming a walk-up. Skip trying to cover all 17-odd Smithsonians in a morning, that’s the mistake first-timers make on day one.
In the afternoon, walk the Tidal Basin and swing past the Jefferson and MLK memorials. Come back after dark if you can: the memorial cluster is free, unticketed, and open 24 hours, and the lit version at night with a fraction of the daytime crowd is genuinely the better visit, not just a scheduling trick. For dinner, Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street serves the half-smoke that’s been a neighborhood fixture since 1958, including through the 1968 riots. Base yourself near the Red, Blue, or Orange/Silver line; tomorrow you leave the Mall behind.
Day 2: Old Town Alexandria
Ride the Blue or Yellow Line to King Street-Old Town, or, between March and December, take the seasonal Potomac water taxi from The Wharf instead (roughly a 30-minute crossing, about $22 one-way, weather and season dependent). Either route lands you in a walkable cobblestone waterfront district: colonial-era row houses, the Torpedo Factory Art Center on the river, and King Street’s restaurant strip running downhill to the water. Of the six day trips in this plan, Alexandria is the one built for a car-free visit, no rental needed.
Spend the afternoon in the shops and museums along King Street, then have dinner on the waterfront before heading back into the city on the same Metro line.
Day 3: Mount Vernon
George Washington’s actual home, not a monument named after him, sits about 16 miles south of the city. Admission runs $30 for adults and $16 for kids 6 to 11, and the estate is open 9am-5pm April through October (9am-4pm the rest of the year). Plan on driving, joining a tour bus, or, in warmer months, catching the seasonal Potomac riverboat cruise down from Alexandria or the Wharf.
Budget a half day for the mansion tour, the working farm, and Washington’s tomb on the grounds, plus the museum galleries if you want the fuller picture. This is a paid historic-house museum, not a free National Park Service site: don’t confuse it with the (also separately run, also paid) Washington Monument back on the Mall.
Day 4: Annapolis and the Naval Academy
Maryland’s state capital plus a working military academy is genuinely awkward without a car: there’s no direct train. A once-daily direct bus (roughly $4-12, about 1h10) is the cheapest car-free route; rideshare runs $60-135 one-way depending on demand. Once there, the Naval Academy allows pedestrian public access only, no vehicle entry, and every visitor 18 and over needs a REAL-ID-compliant photo ID or a passport. Guided campus tours run about $12 for adults, roughly 9am-5pm March through December with shorter winter hours.
Pair the academy tour with the compact historic district around it: State Circle and the Maryland State House, among the oldest state capitols still in legislative use, then a crab-cake lunch by the city dock before heading back to DC.
Day 5: Baltimore
Baltimore is a genuinely different city, not just another small day-trip town like Alexandria or Annapolis, and it’s the easiest big city to reach from DC. MARC or Amtrak from Union Station gets you there in around 40 minutes: MARC is cheaper and slower, built around commuter schedules, while Amtrak costs more but runs faster and more flexibly. Spend the day at the Inner Harbor and book timed entry to the National Aquarium ahead of time, adult tickets run $49.95 (youth/senior $39.95), and weekends do sell out. If you can swing a Friday after 5pm, walk-up tickets run half price instead.
Day 6: Great Falls, Plus an Optional Harpers Ferry Run
Great Falls is the one day trip on this itinerary that genuinely needs a car. The Virginia side, Great Falls Park, run by the National Park Service, charges $20 per vehicle, with entry free for anyone under 16. Effectively no public transit reaches either the Virginia or Maryland side of the gorge.
Do You Need a Car for Great Falls?
Yes, or at minimum a rideshare. No transit route runs from downtown DC into Great Falls Park; a Metro ride to the Silver Line’s western end followed by a taxi or rideshare costs roughly $21-29 each way, and that’s the realistic car-free floor, not a free option the way Alexandria or Baltimore are.
If you’d rather add a second stop than turn Day 6 into a full rest day, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia sits at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, about 1h15 by car, with a single overlook where three states are genuinely visible at once.
Is Harpers Ferry Doable Without a Car on a Weekend?
Barely, and only by train. Amtrak’s Capitol Limited runs once a day, seven days a week, and does stop at Harpers Ferry, so build the whole day around its single departure and return time. MARC’s Brunswick Line also reaches the town, but it’s a weekday-commuter schedule only (morning into DC, evening out) and doesn’t run on Saturdays or Sundays at all.
Before you book anything for this day: National Park Service entrance fees for non-US residents rose on 1 January 2026, which affects the Great Falls admission above if you’re traveling from outside the country, so check the current tiered rate on nps.gov before you go. For the rest of the week’s logistics, wmata.com covers current Metro fares, mountvernon.org has Mount Vernon’s hours, visitalexandriava.com covers Alexandria, and aqua.org has the Aquarium’s current timed-entry slots.