Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. holds the National Mall, which the National Park Service calls "America's Front Yard": more than a dozen park units and more than 100 monuments and memorials. The Lincoln Memorial alone counted 7,743,295 recreation visits in 2025, the fifth most in the whole National Park System.

Almost everything a visitor lines up for in the city is free but rationed by timed tickets. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, Recreation.gov, whitehouse.gov, the Capitol's and the Library of Congress's sites, the Air and Space Museum's, WMATA's, the airports' and DDOT's, the Office of Tax and Revenue's, Amtrak's timetable and NOAA's normals.

Do the National Mall memorials charge an entrance fee?

The National Mall's memorials charge no entrance fee: "There are no fees to enter National Mall and Memorial Parks", in the Park Service's words. No park unit in Washington is on the 2026 list of eleven parks that add $100 for every non-resident aged 16 or over. The memorials are open 24 hours a day, and rangers are on duty from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Park Service counts each memorial separately, and one walk along the Mall is counted at several of them. The figures therefore cannot be added into a total for the Mall. The Washington Monument, Ford's Theatre and the White House all recorded zero visits in some autumn months of 2025, and no Park Service page we read says why.

Two adults from abroad pay $2 for two Washington Monument tickets booked ahead, or nothing at the walk-up window. A Lincoln Memorial undercroft booking adds $1 per reservation, or nothing on the day. The $250 non-resident annual pass buys nothing here, and the Park Service's fee-free days now apply only to US residents. Parking or transport fees may still apply, the fees page warns. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where the pass does pay off.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial's lift to the chamber "may be intermittently out of order", an undated alert says. On 27 October 2026 the Park Service also still listed the Old Post Office Tower as closed to the public.

How do you get a Washington Monument ticket?

The Washington Monument, a 555-foot marble obelisk, is free to enter, but every visitor aged 2 and over needs a timed ticket. Recreation.gov releases tickets daily at 10 a.m. Eastern Time for visits 30 days ahead. Each ticket booked ahead carries a non-refundable $1.00 service charge, and the Park Service warns that tickets "often sell out immediately after being released".

A second batch goes on sale on Recreation.gov at 3 p.m. Eastern the day before each visit. Free same-day tickets are given out at the Washington Monument Lodge, on 15th Street between Madison and Jefferson Drives, from 8:45 a.m. One person aged 16 or over may collect up to six, first come, first served, and the Park Service says they "typically run out".

The monument opens daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the last tour starts at 4:30. A lift reaches the observation deck at 500 feet in about 70 seconds. The monument has no restrooms or drinking fountains inside, and strollers and pocketknives are not allowed through security.

The monument closes on Independence Day, Christmas Day and one day a month for maintenance. Three of the Park Service's own pages give different November 2026 dates for that closure, so check the monument's hours page on the morning you go. High wind and thunderstorms can close it too.

What opened under the Lincoln Memorial in 2026?

The Lincoln Memorial opened a museum in its undercroft on 25 June 2026: a 15,000-square-foot exhibit area beneath the memorial. It shows the concrete foundations hidden since the memorial opened in 1922. The chamber with the statue and the outside of the memorial stay free and open with no ticket.

The undercroft needs a timed ticket for every visitor aged 2 and over. Advance tickets go on Recreation.gov 30 days ahead at 11 a.m., up to six per reservation, with a $1.00 service fee per reservation. Same-day tickets are free from 8:45 a.m. at the kiosk by the Korean War Veterans Memorial, on Daniel Chester French Drive.

The statue inside is made of 28 pieces of Georgia marble, in the Park Service's description. April was the memorial's busiest month of 2025: it counted 943,189 visits in April 2025, against 348,917 in January.

Can a visitor from abroad tour the White House?

A visitor from abroad can tour the White House by asking their embassy, in the National Park Service's words: "for international visitors, contact your embassy for assistance." The White House's own visit page names only one route, a Member of Congress, and says nothing about embassies. Tours are free and self-guided, and take about 45 minutes.

The White House asks for requests 7 to 90 days ahead. The Park Service's page says up to three months ahead and no less than 21 days, the safer figure to plan by. Tours run from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to Thursday and from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. They cover the State Floor, among them the Blue, Red and Green Rooms and the State Dining Room, and can be cancelled at the last minute.

Foreign nationals of all ages, children included, must show valid government ID: a passport, or one of the few other documents on the White House's list. The White House refuses foreign driving licences, expired passports, photocopies and digital copies. The tour entrance is at the north-east corner of Lafayette Square, at H Street NW and Madison Place NW, five minutes from McPherson Square Metro station.

The White House Visitor Center, at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, charges no admission. It shows about 100 artefacts and a 14-minute film, behind airport-style security, and bags larger than 18 by 16 by 8 inches are not allowed. From 1 to 31 October 2026, designated areas of President's Park were closed at the Secret Service's request. The Park Service also planned to close the parkland on 29 October from about 2 to 11 p.m. for the White House Halloween event.

Do the U.S. Capitol and the Library of Congress need a timed pass?

The U.S. Capitol and the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building both need a free timed pass, and neither opens on a Sunday. The Capitol shows its historic rooms only on guided tours, booked on visitthecapitol.gov or through a senator's or representative's office. "We do not offer self-guided tours," its visit page says.

The Capitol Visitor Center, beneath the East Front plaza at First Street and East Capitol Street, opens Monday to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It closes on Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Inauguration Day. The last tour starts at 3:20 p.m. Same-day passes are usually available at the information desk on the lower level, and walk-in visitors should arrive by 2:30 p.m.

Capitol tours visit the Crypt, the Rotunda and National Statuary Hall, not the galleries of the Senate and the House. Tours in Mandarin and Spanish are offered, and every visitor goes through security screening.

The Library of Congress releases its free timed-entry tickets 30 days ahead, and same-day tickets online at 9 a.m. Eastern each day. The Thomas Jefferson Building opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and closes on Sunday and Monday. The Main Reading Room can be viewed from Tuesday to Friday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m., and on Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m.

Which Smithsonian museums need a timed pass?

The National Air and Space Museum on the Mall is the one Smithsonian museum whose pass rule we could confirm: "Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC." Its admission is free, and it opens every day except 25 December from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Part of the building is still closed for renovation.

The museum's second site, the Udvar-Hazy Center at Chantilly in Virginia, needs no pass and keeps the same hours. It holds the Space Shuttle Discovery and an SR-71.

The Smithsonian's main site, si.edu, refused our requests on 27 October 2026. So did the sites of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of Natural History. This guide therefore prints no pass rule, opening hours or admission line for any Smithsonian museum other than Air and Space. Check each museum's page before planning a day around it.

What does Metro cost from Dulles and Reagan National?

Metro from Dulles to Metro Center, downtown, costs $6.75 on weekdays, by Dulles airport's own figures. Fares across the network run from $2.25 to $6.75 on weekdays from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and from $2.25 to $2.50 in the evenings and at weekends. A contactless bank card or phone tapped at the faregate pays, with "no need to sign up, register, or purchase a Smart Trip card", in WMATA's words.

Tap the same card or phone at the faregates at both the start and the end of the trip. Passes cost $13.50 for one day of rail and bus, $33.75 for three days and $60.75 for seven.

A pass needs a SmarTrip card, physical or in a phone wallet, and a new card costs $2. Buses cost $2.25, and a change between bus and rail within two hours earns a $2.25 discount by card or SmarTrip. Up to two children aged 4 and under ride free with each paying adult.

Dulles's Silver Line station is about 600 feet from the terminal, a five-minute walk through an indoor tunnel. The airport gives 50 to 55 minutes from there to Rosslyn, just across the river, but no official page we read gives the time to downtown. Reagan National's elevated station is joined to Terminal 2 by two enclosed bridges. From Terminal 1, the Airport Shuttle bus runs to it.

By the hours printed on Dulles airport's site, Metro runs from 5 a.m. to midnight Monday to Thursday, to 2 a.m. on Friday, from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday and to midnight on Sunday. The DC Circulator bus no longer exists: DDOT ended it on 31 December 2024 and sent its riders to Metrobus.

Our guide to Virginia explains why long-haul flights land at Dulles rather than Reagan National. BWI, the third airport, gives about 30 minutes by train from its rail station to Union Station; our Maryland guide covers the shuttle, MARC and Amtrak.

How far is Washington from Baltimore, New York and Shenandoah?

Washington's Union Station, at 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, is 31 to 38 minutes from Baltimore by Acela, by Amtrak's timetable for 27 October 2026. The same timetable gives 2 hours 56 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes northbound to New York's Moynihan Train Hall.

We did not read any Amtrak fares, and the Northeast Regional's journey times are missing because Amtrak's route page gives none for single legs. Our guides to New York City and Pennsylvania continue the trip north.

The road distances are our own routing from the White House, without traffic. Shenandoah National Park puts itself 75 miles from Washington on its own home page and charges $30 a car for seven days.

When do the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin flower?

The cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, a gift from Japan in 1912, reached peak bloom on 26 March 2026, the Park Service recorded. Peak bloom is the day when 70% of the Yoshino blossoms are open. The Park Service gives the last week of March to the first week of April as the likeliest time, and the bloom lasts several days.

Peak bloom has come as early as 15 March, in 1990, and as late as 18 April, in 1958. No date for 2027 exists: "Forecasting peak bloom is almost impossible more than 10 days in advance," the Park Service says. The Lincoln, Jefferson, Vietnam and Korean War memorials all counted their busiest month of 2025 in April.

How much colder is Dulles than downtown Washington at night?

Dulles airport averages 101.7 nights a year at or below freezing, against 60.1 at Reagan National, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. Reagan is the city's reference station, on the Virginia bank. Dulles, 26 miles out and 290 feet up, also averages 21.0 inches of snow a year against Reagan's 13.7.

The table gives NOAA's average highs and lows at the two airports, both of which stand in Virginia. Reagan National averages 40 days a year at or above 90°F, 15.4 of them in July, and Dulles 32.7. Reagan's July nights average a low of 72°F, and the airport gets 41.82 inches of rain and melted snow a year.

Washington is on Eastern Time. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on 1 November 2026, when clocks went back an hour.

Why does a Washington hotel bill carry 15.95% tax?

A Washington hotel room carries 15.95% tax, the rate the Office of Tax and Revenue lists for "rooms, lodgings, or accommodations". The rate rose from 14.95% for the period from 1 April 2023 to 30 March 2027, under an OTR notice of February 2023. No OTR page we read says what applies to a stay after 30 March 2027.

The general sales tax of 6% was due to rise to 7%, but the rise "has been postponed". OTR says the 6% rate stays through 30 September 2027. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why the price on the tag is not what you pay.