Sample Itinerary: DC Insider: Get to Know the Neighborhoods If you’ve been to DC before, or if you want to get to know DC from a local’s point of view, follow this insiders’ tour.
DAY 1
Start your morning by jogging or cycling around the scenic monuments or memorials. The Mount Vernon and Capital Crescent Trails take you past some of the city’s most familiar websites. On your way back to the hotel, refuel with coffee or tea and a pastry or sandwich at a neighborhood café.
Spend your day purchasing for funky house furnishings and vintage clothing in the Logan Circle/U Street neighborhood. Indulge in a chocolate milkshake and chili half-smoke at Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street, Washington, DC’s historic Black Broadway. A neighborhood heritage trail guides visitors past the historic Lincoln Theatre, the boyhood home of Duke Ellington, the African-American Civil War Memorial and other points of interest.
DAY 2
Have breakfast in Georgetown, where you will find casual bistros and cafes situated on and around M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Try on clothing and jewelry by neighborhood designers, increasing names in fashion and international retailers in upscale boutiques in this neighborhood-one particular of the city’s most renowned buying districts. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, head to the Georgetown Waterfront. Rent a kayak or canoe for a view of the city from the water, or hop on a bike and travel on the scenic C&O Canal Towpath.
In the afternoon, venture over to Dupont Circle and explore a fascinating collection of art galleries and book shops. In the circle itself, locals mix and mingle above choose-up games of chess. Take in an exhibition at The Phillips Collection, the nation’s authentic contemporary art museum, residence to some of the world’s most prized paintings by Cezanne, Renoir and other noted artists.
DAY 3
Begin your day in Anacostia, exactly where you can discover DC’s African-American heritage at the Anacostia Community Museum, tour the Frederick Douglass House at Cedar Hill and take advantage of a magnificent view of the DC skyline. As you cross the Anacostia River and return to downtown DC, quit at the Southwest Waterfront to lunch on seafood delicacies fresh from the Chesapeake Bay like oysters or steamed crabs at the boisterous Maine Avenue Fish Market.
In the afternoon, discover Penn Quarter, DC’s new revitalized downtown district. Go to the high-tech, interactive International Spy Museum or the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Art and Portraiture, house to the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum-the newest additions to the DC art scene.
To experience yet another up-and-coming neighborhood, wander more than to Barracks Row along 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE, in which new restaurants, specialty shops and boutiques are continuously opening. On the weekend, browse the arts, crafts and antiques for sale at nearby Eastern Marketplace.
