Attractions

From the inauguration of our new president in January 2009, to the dedication of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial at the end of the year, one momentous event follows another in this city built on heroic American dreams and audacious hopes.

It's a good time to visit. So much is new: the Capitol Visitor Center beneath the U.S. Capitol Building, the National Museum of American History's sensational show-off gallery for the Star-Spangled Banner, the fabulous Newseum, a second location of the Textile Museum on 7th Street in the Penn Quarter (no worries: the original, in Dupont Circle, is still open), and, nearly right next door on 7th Street, the National Museum of Crime and Punishment.

But so much remains wonderfully the same, offering visitors a menu that includes the three houses of government, scores of museums, more than 100 memorials, an abundance of historic houses and federal buildings, acres and acres of gorgeous parkland, and numerous outdoor activities.

Come reconnect with your inner patriot, satisfy your hunger for art, and recreate on national parkland..

Heads Up -- Eight years after September 11, 2001, Washington, D.C., has a firm handle on workable security precautions, and for visitors that means standing in line at attractions. Security clearances, no matter how efficient, do take time. At many tourist sites, like the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of Natural History, and at most government buildings, staff search handbags, briefcases, and backpacks, and, at some sites, require you to walk past metal detectors. During the busy spring and summer seasons, you may be queuing outside as you wait your turn to pass through security. So pack your patience, but otherwise carry as little as possible, and certainly no sharp objects. Museums and public buildings rarely offer the use of lockers.

Call Ahead

Here's a crucial piece of advice: Call the places you plan to tour each day before you set out. Many of Washington's government buildings, museums, memorials, and monuments are open to the general public nearly all the time -- except when they're not.

Because buildings like the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the White House are offices as well as tourist destinations, the business of the day always poses the potential for closing one of those sites, or at least sections, to sightseers. There's also the matter of maintenance. The steady stream of visitors to Washington's attractions necessitates ongoing caretaking, which may require closing an entire landmark, or part of it, to the public, or putting in place new hours of operation or procedures for visiting. (Construction of the Capitol Visitor Center is one such example.) Finally, Washington's famous museums, grand halls, and public gardens double as settings for press conferences, galas, special exhibits, festivals, and even movie sets. You might arrive at, say, the National Air and Space Museum on a Sunday afternoon, only to find some or all of its galleries off-limits because director Shawn Levy is using the museum to shoot scenes for Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian. (This really happened; look for the Air and Space Museum's star turn -- with Ben Stiller -- in the 2009 movie.) Want to avoid frustration and disappointment? Call ahead.