Simple And Fun Ways To Avoid The Crowds During Your Washington D.C. Vacation

Washington D.C. may be among America's best cities to visit, but it can get busy, especially during the high season from mid-March to July. For instance, approximately 26 million people flocked to the capital in 2023, so navigating popular sites like the National Mall, Smithsonian museums, and other iconic monuments can be overwhelming. If you want to sidestep the brunt of D.C.'s growing tourist industry, start by going out of season, namely fall and winter. 

Once you've chosen some dates, consider the practicalities. If you're driving, consider parking it somewhere safe on the outskirts and using D.C.'s public transportation network, which ranks as the best in the nation. Wear your most comfortable shoes, too, because D.C. is an excellent walking city. With the basics covered, you can get a thoughtful itinerary together for a fun, simple, stress-lite trip to the capital. 

The biggest monuments should be part of any trip regardless of season, just make sure you go early morning or late evening — that should avoid the majority of any day's tourist footfall. Outside of that, look for the city's smaller curiosities, as Washington D.C. has many green spaces beyond the National Mall, as well as plenty of museums outside of the Smithsonian's busiest institutions, too.

The National Air and Space Museum along the National Mall is one of the best museums in the city. It is home to many artifacts including the 1903 Wright Flyer, the first plane to achieve flight; the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, the living quarters of the 1969 moon landing mission; and the spacesuit of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. With some luck, you will visit the museum away from the many tourists and school groups in the Mall's Smithsonian institutions. But if that's not possible, head to nearby Virginia to explore historic planes and spacecraft at the Steven F. Uvdar-Hazy Center.

A branch of the National Air and Space Museum, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center received 1.2 million visitors in 2023, some 700,000 fewer than its parent establishment, which welcomed 1.9 million. This is especially noticeable in a space as large as the Udvar-Hazy Center, which boasts 760,000-square-feet compared to the original museum's 161,145-square-feet of exhibition space. This huge area accommodates dozens of planes, aircraft, and rockets too big for the National Mall premises, including an Air France Concorde, Space Shuttle Discovery, Blackbird SR-71, and the Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress, which dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima during the Second World War.

Washington D.C. has many pleasant green spaces, the most obvious of which is the National Mall that stretches from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. Picnics are a favorite pastime here and perhaps a rite of passage for many families from around the country converging on their nation's capital. There are tables and benches available for picnics throughout the National Mall. 

For a patriotic round of golf, head to the East Potomac Park Golf Course on Hains Island. There are three courses here catering to a wide audience. Most will hit the Blue Course, a flat and forgiving 18-hole stretch that overlooks the Washington Monument and the country's first cherry blossoms. There are also two 9-hole courses as well as miniature golf, foot golf, three practice holes, a driving range, and a bar and restaurant at the Potomac Grille.

East Potomac Park itself is a peaceful retreat from the D.C. buzz. Crisscrossed with trails and cycling paths, the island space is especially beautiful in late March and early April, when cherry blossoms flood the park with stunning pastel hues.

Many tourists cross the border into Virginia to visit Arlington Cemetery, a somber, 639-acre landscape home to the graves of some 14,000 veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present day. It's a sobering trip far removed from the crowds of Washington D.C. For those seeking a different kind of reflection in nature, 75 miles west of Arlington and D.C. lies Shenandoah National Park, a tranquil haven with 500 miles of hiking trails passing waterfalls, meadows, forests, and scores of animals including deer, bobcats, bears, woodpeckers, box turtles, timber rattlesnakes, and the scarlet tanager, a radiant bird known for its elusive nature.

Driving and parking may be difficult in Washington D.C., but not along Shenandoah's Skyline Drive, a 105-mile scenic route providing awesome views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with plenty of overlooks to stop and appreciate the surroundings. The summer peak is a beautiful time to visit, but fall may be even better with fewer people to distract you from the brilliant shades of red, orange, and gold that blanket the landscape.

Further beauty exists at the Carderock Recreation Area and Great Falls Park, spread across the Potomac River along the border with Virginia and Maryland. Hikes abound in this verdant space just 18 miles from the White House and so do rock climbing and watersports for novices, intermediates, and thrill-seeking experts.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is far from the only alternative museum in the Washington D.C. metro area. If you can't face the buzz of the National Museum of Natural History — which received 4.4 million visitors in 2023 — try the city's less frequented institutions. For example, the National Museum of the American Indian, a collection of Native objects, photographs, and archives from across the Western Hemisphere, attracted 704,074 visitors during the same period — and that was among the most popular of the city's least visited museums.

D.C. is a great city for art lovers. Craft enthusiasts should head for Renwick Gallery, an offshoot of the Smithsonian American Art Museum housed in a Second Empire style building dating to 1859. 281,035 people viewed Its eclectic collection in 2023, which features everything from wicker crafts and elaborate jewelry to political art, symbolic textiles, and loopy furniture. The Textile Museum proves an interesting peer to the Renwick, displaying an international gallery of rugs, clothing, and other artworks, including paintings and photographs.

Neighborhoods like Georgetown and Capitol Hill help make Washington D.C. one of the best American cities to visit, but they are firmly on the tourist trail. If you're along the Mall looking for something quieter and more "local" feeling, head northwest on Connecticut Avenue to Dupont Circle, where you will find numerous bars, restaurants, cafes, book shops, and dozens of quiet back streets with historic architecture. There are numerous landmarks in the Dupont area, including many embassies along Massachusetts Avenue — known as Embassy Row — and a series of small museums, including the former home of President Woodrow Wilson, the Brewmaster's Castle at Huerich House, and the Phillips Collection, America's first museum of modern art.

Another option is Bloomingdale, a neighborhood northeast of downtown. In recent years, strong real estate appreciation has seen Bloomingdale improve its image, especially around a fashionable, 12-block area with eateries, bars, venues, and striking Victorian row houses. Eckington Hall, for example, is an events space so popular with locals that when owner David Ross announced he was shutting it down, fervent community support caused him to recommit to the establishment's flea market, vintage stalls, food pop-ups, and rotation of comedians, musicians, and artists.