Washington DC with a grumpy tween

Spy Museum is great. Get tix on line in advance. Booking last tour of the day makes it a bit less crowded.

Holocaust Museum is haunting. Depends on the maturity of your 12 year old, but my kids found the historical aspect fascinating and we’re ready for what they saw based on school work and prior discussion with us.

My kids loved most of the monuments - Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean where not far from one another and they enjoyed locating them on the map, like a treasure hunt. They also liked the Jefferson.

The following things were a bust - no interest from them:
Mount Vernon
Washington Monument
Smithsonian (they thought the exhibits seemed very outdated)

Of course I completely forgot the Holocaust Museum. It is so incredibly well-done and depending on their level of maturity and historical knowledge, very eye-opening and haunting.

I live in DC–Skip Georgetown Cupcake and go to Baked and Wired. Far, far better and less crowded!

Recommend: the Zoo, Kennedy Center performances/terrace, Georgetown (lots of fancy houses, Kennedy history, and shops), Embassy Row, and Eastern Market if you’re here on a Saturday. Also recommend Old Town Alexandria! Even if it’s pre-Cherry Blossom bloom, do the Tidal Basin walk (Jefferson, FDR, MLK memorials)–it’s quite pretty.

Skip: tour of Congress. It’s a snooze, quite frankly, if she’s not into history or politics.

What kind of food does she like? Is she a coffee drinker? Does she like books?

I heartily recommend taking the Library of Congress tour. It’s interesting. One exhibit is Jefferson’s library. (Jefferson’s library was the first collection of the Library of Congress. None of the original books still exist, but there is a replica of Jefferson’s library, arranged as Jefferson himself arranged his,) And, the material they chose for the ceiling is hilarious!

The National Archives tour is also interesting. Pay attention to the first group of amendments to the Constitution–a bit of a surprise there!

Nobody has mentioned the National Cathedral. Where else can you see a stained glass window with a moon rock in it and another with a John Deere tractor? (I don’t know if the Robin Williams’ list of 10 best things about being an Episcipalian is still for sale in the gift shop. It’s funny, so look for it.)There’s a tour here too. (ETA I see it’s on the original list for the gargoyles. Do the inside tour too.)

Your D might be the right age to appreciate visiting at least a few of the sites on the African-American Heritage Trail.http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/portal/african-american-heritage-trail

There’s a bus tour at night of the illuminated monuments. A nice, fairly relaxed end to a busy day. One company leaves from Union Station.

The thing our kids liked best about the zoo was when we went when it first opened in the morning and the keepers were shooting rats inthe prarie dog exhibit with air guns. I kid you not! Our kids begged for a turn but for liability reasons were denied. The keepers explained that the exhibit can get overrun with rats who steal the prarie dogs’ food. Once the rates are killed or at least wounded, the prarie dogs will seal the rats in, entombing them so to speak.

The kids made us return several days in hopes of seeing more activity at the prarie dog exhibit. It was an unexpected hit with all 4 of the kids–our two and two of our friends’ kids. Some of the kids were tween-age.

The Native American Museum cafe has interesting vegetarian selections as well as all kinds of other food, but as I said, it is a bit pricey.

It’s REALLY important NOT to overschedule and try to get your tween to select some of the activities with the promise, NO GRUMBLING. I got my picky kid to help plan the trip. He originally overscheduled (2-3 activities per day), but I reminded him of one trip we had where we tried to see a different national park every day and how miserable that was for all of us and he scaled it way back and prioritized his list. When the kids help select the attractions, they have a lot more buy in.

The White House tour was a HUGE time waster–had to get there very early and wait in huge line (even with reservations). Security made you give up everything–no purse, cell phone, camera. They rushed you through a very few rooms and your were back out of the tour in a very short time. (This was shortly after some nut had penetrated the White House, so perhaps that was part of the reason for the very disappointing tour.) Everyone with us agreed it was the shortest and most disappointing tour we had experienced of the White House–many of us had been on prior tours that were more extensive and allowed more discussion during the tour. It just felt pro forma and VERY rushed. Even the tour of Congress felt greatly shortened and rushed and you HAD to stay with your group at all times–no straggling or lagging.

We did enjoy Mt. Vernon more, as well as Montecello, but those were a drive to get to. Carter’s Plantation was not very exciting to any of us – 4 adults and 4 kids.

What everyone has said. The Spy Museum is a bit hokey and expensive, but it’s a lot of fun. Our kids enjoyed it more than most of the museums. I like the Portrait Museum. I still haven’t gone to the Holocaust Museum because dh doesn’t want to be depressed. He figures seeing Dachau in Germany is enough. Oddly enough, the museum I’ve enjoyed most on recent trips is the Textile Museum - I actually went there because it’s housed in a building by an architect that I’d recently attended a lecture about. My favorite DC museum is the Phillip’s Collection impressionist and modern art housed in an old mansion. If the weather is nice Dumbarton Oaks has very pretty gardens and a small collection of art. (Modern and pre-Columbian mostly.)

Another vote for the National Building Museum and Library of Congress. The buildings are amazing.

Archives, White House, Congress are all time-sucks with underwhelming viewing. There’s a White House museum in the old commerce building – cool, comfortable, nice bathrooms!

My sons love the sculpture garden on The Mall – it’s across from the Art museum and relatively near Air& Space (which is often crowded like crazy) Also big fans of Newseum (the patio view is awesome).

Wear comfy shoes. Don’t be married to your itinerary, you could viait DC hundreds of times and never see it all. So be content to just be there. If a museum is crowded, it’s okay to bail. And wear belts that are easy to get off for security stations (my menfolk learned this the hard way!)

We did DC when our kids were tweens, DS is our generally grumpy traveler (his interests and pace are much different than ours.) Totally concur about putting her in charge of the metro and the maps - it helps a lot. We did the hop on- hop off guided bus tour, and it worked GREAT for our family. Most of the speaking guides were great, very family friendly and included lots of humor which played well with my kids. IIRC, we even skipped a few jump-off points because my kids liked the guide so much they didn’t want to get off that bus! I don’t think anyone mentioned Arlington National Cemetary. We did it as part of the bus tour, and both DS and younger DD really enjoyed seeing it. We went to see the Jefferson Memorial on a clear, moonlit night - stunning! It’s hard for even the grumpiest not to be impressed. Museums don’t play as well with our family (again, it’s the differences in pace), but we all thoroughly enjoyed the Holocaust museum (much more than air and space.) Agree you don’t have to climb the Washington Monument.

I’m with Himom, not to over-schedule, since your trip is short. I lived there, too. And yup, still haven’t seen it all. You don’t have to stop and go into every site. It can be enough to drive past some buildings, eg, the White House, the Capitol. If you’re into Air & Space, maybe you save the Natural History for another time (or another city.) But don’t miss the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. You can go late at night. Lincoln is probably the only place anywhere where I love seeing the other tourists from all over.

Arlington Cem is interesting too. Georgetown is neat for the homes- and if you drive up to the Cathedral, you can drive past embassies and the Naval Observatory. (See if there is a night opening to view the telescope, maybe see something.)

Spring break time is as bad as summer for the crowds, so expect lines. You have to have bags checked at most buildings and some don’t allow food or water, even unopened.

The Postal Museum is next to Union Station, not the Library of Congress.

The dinosaur exhibit is closed for renovation, as is much of the Hirschorn and half of the American History. So are most of the galleries of the West Building of the American Art Museum.

The National Cathedral now charges if you go inside, except on Sundays.

Ford’s Theater is open only by tour and taking the tour was the only way to see the Peterson house. You can make reservations online.

You need tickets to go up the Washington Monument and can get them ahead of time via the National Parks webpage for a fee. Otherwise you have to be in line very early in the morning and beat the tour operators.

You also need tickets for the Bureau of Engraving & Printing and I believe you will for the Holocaust Museum at that time of year.

You need tour tickets for the Capitol building, except for the exhibits in the Visitor Center. You can get them at the Visitor Center or via your congressman.

White House tickets are available through your congressman on a limited basis and probably long gone for that week.

Lines at the Archives may be long, so be prepared for that.

You can go through the FDR Memorial while walking to/from the Jefferson Memorial and hit the LIncoln, Vietnam, Korean and MLK at the same time. The WW2 one is by the Washington Monument.

There are underground walkways between the two American Art museums, between the Capital and Supreme Court, and between the Freer Art Gallery and the gazebo outside it. There are underground galleries there.

There isn’t much in the Castle but it was the original building and worth a walk through.

Don’t try to drive down and park unless you know exactly where you can find parking. Meters are two hours and it’s a pain to have to run back and forth to your car. I live in the area and often park at the Pentagon City mall and ride a couple stops in.

Have fun!

It’s nice that so much is free in DC. Have enjoyed many things. I agree with not overscheduling , Library of Congress is very interesting, so is the Postal museum, zoo, Arlington Cemetery, WWll monument ( and all the walking around the monuments In general). There is so much to see that I would avoid anything that involved a long wait to get in. National Cathedral has a café now. Georgetown has a Sprinkles Cupcakes too. Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria are nice places to spend some time. Have fun.

D1 lives in DC, and we have done almost everything there is to do over the years (a lot of it more than once!). I like the Phillips and Dumbarton Oaks, but honestly think the average tween would not. I also think the National Portrait Gallery is amazing, but unless your tween is into US history, it may not be the best stop… I would save it for another visit when they are older. I am going to disagree with posters above, I did the postal museum last year and thought it really was not worth the stop. The wait to see the pandas at the zoo can be very long. Depending on when your break is, bike (and segway) tours may not have started for the spring. A couple of years ago we bought bike tour tickets online, and found out when we got there that they weren’t running the tours yet (not opening for another week, even though they sold us the tickets!). We never did get to do that, but I would think IF it is later in the spring and the tours are running, it might be good. Be sure to take some rain and cold weather gear. Our spring breaks in DC have had some rainy and even snowy moments.

My kids have loved the Newseum at every age when they have been in Washington (pricey ticket and it takes a while, but there is so much amazing stuff in there!). The Spy Museum has also been very popular with them. We had a nice walk in Arlington on a spring day a couple of years ago. We often eat lunch in the restaurant in the Native American Museum on the mall.

Also, if you want to do something your son would like, I agree that the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport is the better of the Air & Space Museums available (they have a Blackbird! :slight_smile: ). If it fits into your schedule, and you want to do something specifically for him, think about this. Obviously out of the way vs. the one on the mall, though.

The Spy museum was a favorite fun time for all of us. Get tix in advance. Totally different than most anything else.

If you can manage a segway tour of DC, do it. It was a GREAT time. When we went we may have had more daylight. It started after most things were closed so the streets were clear for the most part. We ran by all the memorials (lighting up), up on the Capitol steps (great in itself), up and down the mall. We had been to most of those places already but the experience and added tour info (we had audio from our guide) made it well worth it and we hit new places as well. Super fun that everyone remembers.

The Holocaust museum is wonderful. Again. Tix in advance. You’ll probably want to stay longer than your kids but that’s okay.

Newseum is very interesting for adults but not so great for kids. You can get lost in there with all the history but it won’t grab your kids necessarily. Better for older kids.

Printing and engraving–advance tix usually.
Just look up all these sites and see what they require in your time frame. Just don’t go unaware that you needed tix and stand in line forever.

Museum of Natural History is a fav–gems/minerals as someone mentioned above is great.

See the memorials at night–lit up is special. and the Viet Nam memorial. The VN memorial was something my older teen at the time thought was “boring”. Plus it was raining. And cold. And then a couple years later wrote an amazing essay about it expressing just about everything we experienced that day.

While some things may seem boring at the time as expressed by your kid, you never know as a parent what is really making the impression. Washington DC is an amazing place with tons of history. Don’t skip the archives, Capitol, memorials just because you think your kid will be bored. We’ve been to DC multiple times and those “boring” times are some of my kids best memories now. They are cultural opportunities that shouldn’'t be missed.

And the hot dog trucks parked along the mall are great for a picnic and a relaxing time.

I liked the Postal Museum because it was near where we were staying and had a special exhibit going on at the time and was free. Some suggestions will work better than others depending on where you are staying and how much you want to spend ( free for instance vs. paying for Newseum, International Spy Museum,etc). The National Building Museum is interesting and we went there because it was also very near where we were staying. I think there is a charge to see most of the exhibits if I recall correctly. Any of the Smithsonian museums are free and the good thing is that many are near each other , and since they are free, you can spend as little or as much time as you please in any of them. Both my kids live in DC and we have made many visits there. Still haven’t exhausted all there is to see.

My kids always want to walk around the Tidal Basin and monuments around sunset. Love the WWII monument in the evening.

I think you have to be 16 to do the Segway tour in DC - even though we had done Segways in other cities, it seems like my son wasn’t old enough in DC.

They loved the National Cathedral and Newseum.

Both kids really preferred the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space over the one on the mall - but it does take some time to get there. I think there’s a shuttle from the mall that will take you there (we drove).

Probably one of the least known things we found was the State Department tour. HIghly recommend! You have to make reservations well in advance. https://diplomaticrooms.state.gov/Pages/Tours.aspx

The Marine Barracks parade is great too - and a fun area to eat in. http://www.barracks.marines.mil/Parades/EveningParade.aspx

If you want to use the metro, buy your passes at the station. Though you can buy them online, sometimes they don’t work at first - something about the antiquated system from decades ago.

Have fun!

Museum of American History to see the flag if nothing else.
Get Capitol tour tix through your congressman. Worth it.

You can get from the Capitol Visitor Center to the Library of Congress via a tunnel. I really enjoyed the Library of Congress,

The National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Museum of American Art share a building right at the Chinatown Metro Stop. Charming cafe with seating in the building courtyard. Nice collections, and not as potentially overwhelming as some of the other museums and galleries.

With three people, you are right at the breaking point for is Metro cheaper or is driving and parking cheaper. The central part of DC near the mall is a nest of one-way streets, but there are a fair number of parking lots. Ask at your hotel or check with google if you are thinking of driving.

Georgetown is tricky to get to because the Metro doesn’t go there. You would need to drive, walk a loooong way, or take the bus. Check the routes and times for the Circulator bus http://www.dccirculator.com/ as well as for the Metro bus http://www.wmata.com/ You can use the Metro system Smartrip card on both of those buses.

They charge at the National Cathedral? :frowning: I used to give tours there.

We did the State Dept tour once. A lot of beautiful stuff, and I recommend it for adults, but not sure most tweens would find it interesting.