Washington DC 3 Day Itinerary (No Traps)

Three days adds Arlington Cemetery and Georgetown to the two-day core, still entirely in the city. Book the NMAAHC or Air and Space timed pass before you land, since it shapes day two. Drop back to our 2-day version if you’re tighter on time, or add a day trip with our 5-day itinerary if you have more.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus
1 National Mall west end, the memorials, Washington Monument
2 Smithsonian timed-pass museum, US Capitol tour
3 Tidal Basin, Arlington National Cemetery, Georgetown

Day 1: The National Mall and the memorials

Land at Reagan National (DCA) if you can; it’s directly on the Blue and Yellow Metro lines, 15-20 minutes to downtown. Dulles (IAD) reaches the Silver Line Metro in about an hour. Check into a hotel near the Mall or Dupont Circle first.

Walk the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial; this stretch alone runs a genuine 2.2 miles from the Capitol end, so budget three to four hours.

Do you need to book the Washington Monument ahead? Yes. The interior is free but requires a timed ticket on recreation.gov plus a non-refundable $1 fee, released 30 days out at 10am with a smaller next-day batch at 3pm. Walk-up tickets are currently suspended, so this isn’t a same-day call.

Dinner on U Street at Ben’s Chili Bowl, open since 1958 and a genuine civil-rights-era institution. After dark, the lit memorial circuit (Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam Veterans) runs 24 hours and is genuinely better with the daytime crowds gone.

Day 2: Smithsonian and the Capitol

Your timed pass runs this morning. NMAAHC deserves a full three hours; the lower-floor galleries are dense, and the Sweet Home Cafe on the concourse is worth the break. Without a pass, the Air and Space Museum’s Mall building (also pass-required, airandspace.si.edu ) or the always-open National Gallery of Art both work.

Book the Capitol tour at visitthecapitol.gov , not recreation.gov, a genuinely easy mix-up. Tours are free, the Capitol Visitor Center runs 8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Saturday, and the last tour starts at 3:20pm. Dinner near Capitol Hill or Eastern Market afterward.

Day 3: Tidal Basin, Arlington, and Georgetown

Morning belongs to the Tidal Basin loop: the Jefferson and MLK memorials sit on its far bank, quieter than the main Mall axis. Is peak cherry blossom weekend worth planning around? No. The 2026 festival runs March 20 to April 12 with confirmed peak bloom around March 26, and weekend crowds circle the Tidal Basin by mid-morning with parking gone within hours. A weekday dawn visit inside the wider window gets the same blossoms with better light.

Midday, cross to Arlington National Cemetery , one Metro stop from Foggy Bottom, free to enter, 8am-5pm. Time it around the Changing of the Guard, every 30 minutes April through September, hourly otherwise.

Afternoon in Georgetown: no Metro station reaches it directly, a deliberate 1960s-70s planning gap, so walk in from Foggy Bottom (about 15 minutes) or take the 32/36/38B Metrobus. M Street and the C&O Canal towpath are worth the extra effort. Dinner at the Georgetown waterfront before heading back.

Getting around

Metro (WMATA) covers this entire itinerary; fares run $2.25 up to a $6.75 max depending on distance, and SmarTrip or a contactless card both work at the faregates. There’s no DC Circulator bus to fall back on; it shut down permanently 31 December 2024, and Metrobus absorbed its routes.

Before you go

Restaurant checks add roughly 10 percent DC sales tax plus an expected 18-20% tip; budget accordingly. Carry water regardless of season; DC summer humidity is a genuine physical strain, not just discomfort. The Metro closes around midnight weekdays, 1am weekends.