Washington

Worth seeing in and around Washington

10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

1. 01
   Library of Congress

   The Library of Congress is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the de facto national library of the United States. It also administers copyright law through the United States Copyright Office, and it houses the Congressional Research Service.

   2.8 km · (de facto) national library of the United States of America · Wikipedia
2. 02
   Washington Monument

   The Washington Monument is a 555-foot tall obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Father of the United States and the nation's first president. Standing east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial, the monument is made of bluestone gneiss for the foundation and of granite for the construction.

   600 m · obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. · Wikipedia
3. 03
   Arlington National Cemetery

   Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres in Arlington County, Virginia.

   3.4 km · national cemetery in Virginia, United States · Wikipedia
4. 04
   Q214867

   The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. Andrew W. Mellon donated a substantial art collection and funds for construction.

   1.5 km · national art museum in Washington, D.C. · Wikipedia
5. 05
   Georgetown University

   Georgetown University is a private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic institution of higher education in the United States, the oldest university in Washington, D.C., and the nation's first federally chartered university.

   3.4 km · private university in Washington, D.C., United States · Wikipedia
6. 06
   Lincoln Memorial

   The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, located on the western end of the National Mall of Washington, D.C. The memorial is built in a neoclassical style in the form of a classical temple. The memorial's architect was Henry Bacon.

   1.4 km · memorial in Washington, D.C., United States · Wikipedia
7. 07
   George Washington University

   The George Washington University is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress as the Columbian College, it is the first university founded under Washington, D.C.'s jurisdiction and one of six federally chartered universities in the United States.

   1.4 km · private university in Washington, D.C., USA · Wikipedia
8. 08
   National Mall

   The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and memorials, sculptures, and statues.

   1.3 km · park in Washington, D.C. · Wikipedia
9. 09
   National Museum of Natural History

   The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year.

   1 km · natural history museum in Washington, D.C. · Wikipedia
10. 10
    Washington National Cathedral

    The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Episcopal Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral or National Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church. It is located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.

    4.9 km · Neo-Gothic cathedral located in Washington, D.C. · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Getting to Washington

Airports

Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA), 5 km · Washington Dulles (IAD), 37 km · Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI), 45 km

Stations

2025 Potomac River mid-air collision, 5.6 km · Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, 4.6 km

• Baltimore → Washington

  57 km · quickest by road, 1h 28m · $5–7
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• Richmond → Washington

  154 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · $14–19
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• Philadelphia → Washington

  199 km · quickest by road, 3h 50m · $18–24
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• From anywhere

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Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

No local-transport research exists yet for Washington

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Washington. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

If you know how people move in Washington – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.