The Urban Atlas' Top DC Activities

Among all the activities there are to do in Washington, the Urban Atlas team has distilled its most highly recommended activities for first timers.

 
 
Explore the National Mall at dawn, dusk, and while it is dark.

DC does not have a traditional skyline; the city's height limit means that there is significant uniformity in the height and general look of many of the tallest buildings. Instead, DC has the Mall, a collection of open spaces and beautifully scenic monuments and memorials that stretch over 2.5 miles from the U.S. Capitol on the east to the Lincoln Memorial on the West, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial on the South and the White House on the North. And at no time is the mall more beautiful then when lit up at night.

Especially in the hot summer months, the mall at night becomes the perfect place to spend an evening, as one can wander throughout the beautifully lit monuments and memorials. It is also significantly less crowded than during the day, and the lack of shade in many places one faces during the day is not a problem.

Tour the U.S. Capitol

Washington is filled with many important and sometimes scenic buildings (and other times not so scenic - I am looking at you J. Edgar Hoover Building, aka the FBI headquarters, in all of your Brutalist terribleness). The building that combines the most scenic, the most important, the most historical, and the best access, is the U.S. Capitol. It is of course one of the most iconic buildings in the country, and houses one of the three branches of the U.S. government, but also was built with a crypt to bury George Washington, the original Supreme Court, the rotunda and it's notable art, and of course, the chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Tours have become much more formalized than in previous years, but still offers great access to many impressive sites. 

Eat at an Ethiopian Restaurant

The D.C. metropolitan area houses the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Africa, and unsurprisingly, affords a unique access to all things Ethiopian, but most importantly, offers a large number of Ethiopian restaurants. Eating Ethiopian food is more than a unique set of flavors, instead it is a unique experience. The food ordered is served on injera, a sourdough-risen flatbread made of mostly from teff, a gluten-free grass (although double check with your restaurant, as many now include wheat in their recipes.) You don't use utensils when eating Ethiopain, instead using the injera to collect and transport the food to your mouth.

See the Giant Pandas

Giant pandas are one of the most sought after, but hard to see animals in the world. There are only 12 pandas in the United States, all on loan from China. They are spread out across 4 zoos, the others being in Atlanta, Memphis, and San Diego. The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington has 3 Pandas, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Bei Bei, who was born in 2015. Best of all, access to the National Zoo is free, so even if all you want to do is quickly stop by to see some pandas, you won't feel the financial pressure to stay their all day.