Washington DC 6 Day Itinerary (No Traps)

Six days nests the 5-day plan exactly, then swaps in a genuinely different city for day six: Baltimore, 40 miles up the MARC line, not another quaint Virginia town. Drop back to the 5-day itinerary without it, or keep going with the 7-day version , which adds Harpers Ferry.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus Distance / travel time
1 National Mall west end, the memorials, Washington Monument -
2 Smithsonian timed-pass museum, US Capitol tour -
3 Tidal Basin, Arlington National Cemetery, Georgetown -
4 Dupont Circle, Spy Museum, U Street -
5 Day trip: Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria Mount Vernon 16 mi / 30-45 min; Alexandria 7 mi / 20-25 min Metro
6 Day trip: Baltimore’s Inner Harbor 40 mi / 35-45 min by MARC or Amtrak from Union Station

Day 1: The National Mall and the memorials

Land at Reagan National (DCA) if possible, directly on the Blue and Yellow Metro lines, 15-20 minutes downtown. Dulles (IAD) reaches the Silver Line 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, a genuine 2.2-mile stretch worth three to four hours.

Do you need to book the Washington Monument ahead? Yes. Entry 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.

Dinner on U Street at Ben’s Chili Bowl. After dark, the lit memorial circuit runs 24 hours and beats the daytime crowds.

Day 2: Smithsonian and the Capitol

Your timed pass runs the morning; NMAAHC deserves a full three hours, with the Sweet Home Cafe worth the break. Without a pass, the Air and Space Museum’s Mall building (airandspace.si.edu ) or the always-open National Gallery of Art both work.

Book the Capitol tour at visitthecapitol.gov , not recreation.gov. Tours are free, the Capitol Visitor Center runs 8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Saturday, last tour 3:20pm.

Day 3: Tidal Basin, Arlington, and Georgetown

Morning on the Tidal Basin loop, past the Jefferson and MLK memorials. 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 basin by mid-morning. A weekday dawn visit gets the same blossoms without the logistics.

Midday, Arlington National Cemetery , free, 8am-5pm, timed around the Changing of the Guard. Afternoon in Georgetown, reached on foot or by Metrobus since no Metro station serves it directly.

Day 4: Dupont Circle, the Spy Museum, and U Street

Morning in Dupont Circle and the Phillips Collection , around $16-20. Afternoon at the International Spy Museum , $25-36 for adults, the best paid museum in the city. Evening in U Street and Shaw.

Day 5: Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria

Mount Vernon sits 16 miles south, roughly 30-45 minutes by car, tour bus, or a seasonal Potomac riverboat; $30 adult admission, 9am-5pm April through October, covering the mansion, the working farm, and Washington’s tomb in a genuine three hours. Book a Mount Vernon trip on GetYourGuide if you’d rather skip arranging transit.

Old Town Alexandria needs no car at all, just the Blue or Yellow Metro line to King St-Old Town, about 20-25 minutes. Spend the afternoon on the cobblestone waterfront and King Street before heading back for dinner.

Day 6: Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

Is Baltimore worth a full day from DC? Yes, and it’s a genuinely different trip from the small-town Virginia and Maryland options, a full city in its own right, not another quaint add-on. MARC or Amtrak from Union Station runs about 35-45 minutes (MARC cheaper, Amtrak faster); pick based on the day’s schedule since MARC service leans weekday-commuter-oriented.

Spend the day at the Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium , $49.95 adult with required timed entry; a Friday-after-5pm half-price walk-up deal is worth checking if your schedule allows it. Head back to DC by early evening on the same MARC or Amtrak line.

Getting around

Metro (WMATA) covers days one through four; fares run $2.25 to a $6.75 max by distance. The DC Circulator bus no longer exists; it shut down permanently 31 December 2024. Days five and six run on Metro plus a car or riverboat, and MARC or Amtrak, respectively.

Before you go

DC sales tax runs about 10 percent on restaurant checks, plus an expected 18-20% tip. Carry water regardless of season, and check MARC’s weekday-oriented schedule before building day six around a weekend departure time.