DC and Beyond 6 Day Itinerary

Six days of DC day trips is where the car question stops being optional. The first five days, Alexandria by Metro, Mount Vernon by tour bus, Annapolis by direct bus, Baltimore by MARC or Amtrak, all work car-free. Day six does not: Great Falls’ Virginia side charges $20 per vehicle and has no transit route in, full stop. No car, no rideshare budget, skip it and swap in Harpers Ferry, reachable car-free but only on Amtrak’s one daily Capitol Limited train, never on the weekday-only MARC line. Build the day around whichever schedule applies. Don’t wing it.

For less, our 5-day itinerary stops at Baltimore. For more, the 7-day version adds Gettysburg or Shenandoah.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus Travel time Rough daily cost
1 DC core anchor: Mall memorials, one Smithsonian On foot and Metro within DC $40-60
2 Old Town Alexandria Metro to King St, about 20-25 min, or seasonal water taxi $50-70
3 Mount Vernon About 16 miles, 30-45 min by car or tour bus $70-90
4 Annapolis and the Naval Academy About 33 miles, no train: direct bus about 1h10, or rideshare 40-50 min $45-65 by bus, $150+ by rideshare
5 Baltimore: Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium About 40 miles, MARC or Amtrak from Union Station, about 40 min $70-100
6 Great Falls, or Harpers Ferry by Amtrak instead Great Falls: car or rideshare only, 30-40 min; Harpers Ferry: about 1h15 by car, or the one daily Amtrak $30-50 by car, $60-90 with a rideshare leg

Day 1: The DC Core, Fast

Land at Reagan National (DCA), directly on the Blue and Yellow Metro lines, 15-20 minutes to downtown; Dulles (IAD) reaches the Silver Line in about an hour. Check into a hotel near a Metro station, since five of the next six days leave DC in a different direction.

Keep the sightseeing to the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, and one timed-pass Smithsonian, booked ahead if it’s the National Museum of African American History and Culture or the Air and Space Museum’s Mall building. This is an anchor day, not a full city tour; five day trips are already spoken for. Ignore any leftover mention of the DC Circulator in an older guide, it stopped running at the end of 2024.

Day 2: Old Town Alexandria, No Car Needed

Take the Blue or Yellow Line to King St-Old Town, then walk or ride the free King Street Trolley down to the waterfront. March through December, the Potomac water taxi from The Wharf is the scenic alternative, about a 30-minute crossing for roughly $22 one way, but it’s seasonal, not a year-round substitute for the Metro.

This is the gentlest day of the trip on purpose, cobblestone streets and a genuine walkable waterfront, before the transport logistics start getting real on Day 4 and Day 6.

Day 3: Mount Vernon, the $30 Estate

Mount Vernon is George Washington’s working estate, farm, and tomb, not a free National Park Service site like the Mall memorials that carry his name. Admission runs $30 for an adult and $16 for a child, 9am-5pm April through October (9am-4pm the rest of the year, confirm both on mountvernon.org before you go). It sits about 16 miles south of downtown, reached by car, tour bus, or a seasonal Potomac riverboat.

Go early if you’re driving; parking and the first tour groups both fill by mid-morning on weekends.

Day 4: Annapolis and the Naval Academy, the One Without a Train

Annapolis is Maryland’s state capital and home to the US Naval Academy, and it’s the first day on this trip with no direct train. About 33 miles from DC, the cheapest car-free route is a once-daily direct bus, roughly $4 to $12 for about 1h10; a rideshare covers the same distance in under an hour but can run $60 to $135.

The Naval Academy allows pedestrian public access only, no vehicles through the gates, and every visitor 18 and over needs a REAL-ID-compliant photo ID or a passport. Guided tours run $12 for an adult, 9am-5pm March through December.

Day 5: Baltimore, Fully Car-Free

Baltimore is 40 miles north, and it’s the easiest day of the whole trip to reach without a car: MARC or Amtrak from Union Station, both under an hour. Spend the day at the Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium , $49.95 for an adult with timed entry required, half-price at the walk-up window after 5pm on Fridays if you can shift the day that way.

Treat Baltimore as a genuine second city, not a smaller echo of DC, and give it the full day rather than rushing back for dinner.

Day 6: Great Falls, or the Harpers Ferry Trade-Off

Great Falls is the Potomac’s dramatic gorge and rapids, about 15 miles upriver. The Virginia side, run by the National Park Service, charges $20 per vehicle (under 16 free) and has no public transit route in at all; the workaround is Metro to the Silver Line then a taxi, roughly $21 to $29 each way, still not cheap and still not simple. If you have a car or don’t mind that rideshare math, this is the pick: real whitewater scenery, nothing else near DC looks like it.

If you don’t have a car, swap in Harpers Ferry instead. This West Virginia town at the Potomac-Shenandoah confluence is about 1h15 by car, but also reachable by Amtrak’s Capitol Limited, which runs once a day, 7 days a week, and does stop there. The MARC Brunswick Line also reaches Harpers Ferry but is strictly weekday-commuter-scheduled; it does not run weekends at all, a genuinely common planning trap. Build the whole day around Amtrak’s single departure and return window rather than assuming Metro-style frequency.

Do You Need a Car for Great Falls?

Yes. There is no bus or rail line to either side of the park, and that isn’t a gap in this guide, it’s the actual state of transit there. A car or a paid rideshare (Metro-to-Silver-Line plus a taxi leg, $21-29 each way) are the only realistic options. Don’t plan Great Falls as a casual add-on to a car-free week; it’s the one day this itinerary genuinely requires wheels.

Can Harpers Ferry Really Be a Car-Free Day?

Yes, but only around one train. Amtrak’s Capitol Limited runs daily, both directions, and stops at Harpers Ferry, which makes it one of the better car-free day trips near DC despite the distance. The trap is MARC’s Brunswick Line: it also serves the town, but on a weekday-commuter timetable only, useless for a weekend trip. Confirm the current Capitol Limited schedule before you commit the day to it, since a single daily train leaves no room for error.

Great Falls or Harpers Ferry: Which One?

Pick based on whether you have a car, not on which sounds more appealing. With a car, Great Falls wins on scenery for the time invested, an hour or less round trip from downtown. Without one, Harpers Ferry wins by default, since Amtrak actually gets you there and Great Falls’ taxi combo is both pricier and less reliable. Don’t try to squeeze both into a single day; the geography and the schedules don’t cooperate.

Things to Know

National Park Service entrance fees for non-US residents rose under a new tiered system starting 1 January 2026, worth checking against Great Falls’ posted rate before you go if you’re visiting from abroad. Contactless bank cards work directly at Metro faregates, so a SmarTrip card is convenient but not required. Casual meals run $12 to $20 across all six days, a mid-range dinner $30 to $55, tipping 18 to 20 percent everywhere.

Pack for the swing in days: comfortable shoes for Alexandria’s cobblestones and Mount Vernon’s grounds, ID ready before the Naval Academy gates, and either a car booked or an Amtrak timetable checked the night before Day 6, not that morning.

Authority references: Mount Vernon for current hours and pricing, Visit Alexandria for Old Town listings, the Naval Academy for tour details, the National Aquarium for Baltimore ticketing, the National Park Service for Great Falls fees, and WMATA for current Metro fares.