Washington, DC, is the nation’s capital and absolutely the pinnacle of American historical past. If it has occurred, you may guess that there’s an ode to it in Washington, DC, and this fixation and centrality inside American historical past is what provides town its incredible museums. Washington, DC, has a number of the most visited museums in the USA.

Along with your cultural cravings prepared and ready, choices just like the Spy Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Smithsonian’s Pure Historical past Museum assure you a incredible museum itinerary.

High Museums in Washington DC

This information has compiled all the perfect of Washington DC’s museums into one extra-convenient listing. Get a style of Washington’s infamous museum scene with these prime 10 museums in Washington, DC.

1. Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past

The Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past is among the most visited museums in Washington, DC. It’s the solely nationwide museum devoted to documenting the African American expertise in the USA, and if you’re prepared for highly effective displays and greater than 40,000 artifacts, that is the museum to spend a morning at. The museum founder is Lonnie G. Bunch III – an esteemed historian and the primary ever African American to function head of the Smithsonian Establishment.

Lonnie has pioneered an absolute icon within the Washington museum scene. Guests can find out about all the things from the civil rights motion to the proficient artists all through the ages on the museum’s separate African artwork museum. There are even non permanent displays like Afrofuturism – an inventive envisioning of ‘liberated futures for Black life’ – to flick thru.

The Museum of African American Historical past is true in the midst of Washington, DC, the right addition to a busy day of sightseeing. Logistically it is sensible to squeeze this museum onto your itinerary. Since it’s free to enter, it’s mild on the funds, too – win-win.

2. Nationwide Constructing Museum

• Opening instances: 10 am till 4 pm Thursday till Monday
• Price: $10 per grownup

The Nationwide Constructing Museum would possibly sound like a randomly themed museum. Nonetheless, it is among the most fascinating choices in Washington, DC. Draw your thoughts away from Bob the Builder-style scenes and as an alternative envision a Corinthian-columned constructing with a large grand corridor.

Would you actually anticipate something much less from a museum devoted to structure, engineering, and design? The Constructing Museum is gorgeous. Guests wander by means of rooms upon rooms of distinctive scenes – from the Harry Potter-style grand corridor to a room of (barely bizarre-looking) blue spikes.

The museum apparently shows that we spend ‘near 90% of our lives inside’, presenting the concept we must always pay extra consideration to inside design and its influence on our well-being. Situated only a quick stroll from the nation’s capital, the museum is probably the most enjoyable place to query and discover the human relationship with design.

3. Worldwide Spy Museum

• Opening instances: 9 am till 7 pm Monday to Thursday, 9 am till 8 pm Friday to Sunday
• Price: $26

Okay, it doesn’t get a lot cooler than an Worldwide Spy Museum. The spy museum is a fascinating haven for all issues spy-related, be its interactive displays, artifacts like outdated spy units, and a few fascinating tales. Whereas it’s family-friendly, the Worldwide Spy Museum caters to individuals throughout the board.

And regardless of its barely steeper entrance costs, it stays the most effective museums to go to in Washington, DC. Its interactive promise is fulfilled with codes and challenges to crack all through your expertise. Whilst you additionally get insights into previous spies, with American historical past, worldwide tales, and spy figures.

The Spy Museum is positioned close to the Smithsonian Establishment’s assortment of museums, together with the Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past and the Nationwide Air and Area Museum of the Smithsonian Establishment. It’s a incredible attraction to mix with considered one of these museums, and it is usually scenically positioned close by the Washington Channel – good for river views.

4. Smithsonian Nationwide Air and Area Museum

Smithsonian Nationwide Air and Area Museum is dreamy. The complete venue is flight-themed, and also you stroll beneath suspended planes and early flight contraptions. The completely different displays create an pleasant feeling of sensory overload, with one thing on show in any respect ranges and areas.

There are round 8 rooms, and the entire expertise at Smithsonian Nationwide Air and Area Museum takes no less than a couple of hours. The museum paperwork all the things from the Apollo missions to the early planes and even a solitary tardis to enterprise into fictional flight historical past. This spot is among the prime museums in Washington, DC – a private suggestion and sensible attraction on your pockets. It is usually one of many iconic Smithsonian museums.

This museum is positioned throughout the neighborhood of most different Smithsonian museums. It’s accessible by way of public transport and simply slotted into your Washington, DC, itinerary. Hold this as considered one of your finest choices for anybody wanting an perception into house and flight historical past.

5. Nationwide Mall

• Opening instances: 24/7
• Price: Free

This free museum is among the most original choices on this information. Moderately than being a conventional constructing with drab banners and measly displays right here and there, the Nationwide Mall covers over 300 acres of monuments and American historical past. The completely different monuments and landmarks are linked by a community of mountaineering trails. If you are able to do one factor in Washington DC, we recommend you cease by Nationwide Mall to sightsee. The truth is, the Nationwide Mall has a number of the better of Washington DC’s monuments and landmarks.

The park has over 100 monuments and memorials. It’s a image of not solely the guts of Washington, DC but in addition the USA. You possibly can go to the Washington Monument, Martin Luther King JR Memorial, and the dramatic waterfront Lincoln Memorial. It’s a complete dream to go to with a digicam.

And should you like historical past and aesthetic locations, you’ll be in for an actual deal with with this mixture. The Nationwide Mall additionally permits you to see rather a lot in a short while, as it’s house to most of the main landmark points of interest in Washington, DC.

6. Nationwide Gallery of Artwork

Washington, DC, does artwork galleries, and it does them nicely. In case you fancy shopping up to date artwork displays, then the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork is your selection by default. The Nationwide Gallery of Artwork is house to fashionable and up to date artwork in numerous codecs – from a lovely sculpture backyard to elegant wood-paneled corridors of gold-framed portrait after portrait. In case you are an artwork fanatic, that is the kind of place the place desires are fabricated from. The Nationwide Gallery of Artwork is elegant to its core, with columns, atriums, domed ceilings, and elongated hall after hall. You would simply spend hours right here. The entire place is a chunk of artwork in itself.

Moderately than that eclectic fashionable artwork museum inside, the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork is tremendous luxurious and extra of a timeless, basic museum. Hold this in thoughts when selecting between Washington DC’s artwork galleries.

7. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Holocaust is among the saddest historic occasions of our time, and to pay your respects whereas studying extra, the USA Holocaust Memorial Museum is a sobering place to go to. America Holocaust Museum opens 7 days per week and gives free timed entry slots staggered from 10 am till 5:30 pm. The museum is a not-for-profit and dwelling memorial to the occasions of the Holocaust and people who skilled it.

The principle exhibition spreads over three flooring and comprises eyewitness testimonies, historic artifacts, movie, and pictures. If you wish to know extra about Holocaust, plan to spend a few hours on this part, because it particulars all the things from the rise of the Nazi occasion to the liberation of the camps in 1945.

There are then additional exhibitions on completely different flooring – together with one devoted to the ‘People and the Holocaust’ and another perception into genocide with an exhibition on ‘Burma’s Path to Genocide’. Most hauntingly, there are two exhibitions, one devoted to the kids of the Holocaust and one referred to as ‘One Thousand and Seventy-eight Blue Skies’ – a photographic exhibition with particular person pictures of the skies above each focus camp in Europe.

America Holocaust Museum is a robust and necessary museum to go to. It’s positioned only a quick stroll from the Washington Monument and ideally mixed with a go to to the Nationwide Mall.

8. Hirshhorn Museum

• Opening instances: 10 am till 5:30 pm
• Price: Free

Hirshhorn Museum is an absolute testomony to the fascinating phenomenon of contemporary artwork. The museum is about in a fairly bizarre-looking doughnut-shaped constructing – a direct nod to its outlandish, quirky persona if we ever did see one. Hirshhorn Museum has a relentless conveyor belt of nonstop exhibitions. In just some months in 2023, displays are devoted to up to date Chinese language images and Baseera Khan. The identical goes for occasions, too, and you’ll at all times try the rammed exercise schedule after the exercise. These non permanent occasions are nice for households wanting low-cost children’ leisure. Whereas completely, Hirshhorn Museum has over 12,000 items of art work to gawp at and analyze.

Hirshhorn Museum is about throughout the little bubble of Smithsonian Establishment museums. It’s straightforward to entry by public transport or on foot. As we talked about, it’s the splendid place for household actions. Hirshhorn Museum attracts the extra outgoing, action-loving artwork lover. So if you wish to keep away from the elegant however barely stuffy grandeur of a number of the extra formal galleries in Washington DC, Hirshhorn Museum is your finest guess.

9. Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past

Once you consider pure historical past, what do you consider? In all probability David Attenborough and dinosaur fossils. Effectively, any further, you may add the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past to that listing. Each metropolis wants a pure historical past museum, and the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past is among the finest museums in Washington, DC. It takes a selected caliber to be the capital’s pure historical past museum, so that you finest imagine that this museum is the highest.

Guests can glimpse a number of the world’s rarest gems and rise up near not one however dozens of dinosaur skeletons and fossils. And in addition to all that, there are additionally stuffed animal species and different organic examples all through the museum. Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past is among the most complete examples of pure historical past preservation in the USA. We advocate paying a go to.

10. Nationwide Museum of Asian Artwork

• Opening instances: 10 am till 5:30 pm
• Price: Free

This gorgeous Asian artwork museum is well considered one of Washington DC’s prime galleries, which, as you now know, is saying one thing. The museum is a incredible ode to Asian art work from quite a few completely different international locations. You’ll discover Center Jap, Korean, Indian, and Japanese artwork, to call a couple of. There may be stunning Arabic calligraphy to admire, Indian sculptures and pottery work, and chic Japanese silk works. There are over 46,000 works to admire and flooring and flooring of displays to absorb. The agency favourite room is the Peacock Room – so look ahead to that.

The Nationwide Museum supplies a extra numerous perception into historic artwork than many fashionable artwork galleries in Washington, DC. In case you are an fanatic fascinated with Asian artwork or simply need to go to one of many specialist artwork museums, then the Nationwide Museum is a incredible possibility. It’s in and amongst all of the Smithsonian museums, so that you’ll discover it straightforward to squeeze into your sightseeing.

11. Smithsonian American Artwork Museum

The Smithsonian American Artwork Museum is among the prime museums in Washington, DC. So far as Smithsonian museums go, American artwork is among the most particular however least uncommon museum classes. For any artwork fanatic, having such an in depth assortment of 1 sort of artwork in a single place is helpful.

And the Smithsonian American Artwork Museum prides itself on being considered one of its largest, most inclusive collections worldwide. The art work dates again to the colonial interval, however you’ll additionally see a couple of items from in the present day. You possibly can tour independently or take advantage of a complimentary strolling tour that’s run each day.

Kogod Courtyard is an architectural function of the museum itself that guests love – a considerable glass-enclosed courtyard with tropical crops and tons of pure lighting. It’s value noting that the Smithsonian American Artwork Museum can also be located within the third-oldest federal constructing in Washington, DC. And as soon as you’re finished, you may simply mix it with a visit subsequent door to the Nationwide Portrait Gallery.

12. Museum of the Bible

The Museum of the Bible is among the most spiritual Washington DC museums, if not probably the most spiritual Washington DC museum. It has an entire assortment of extremely prized sacred relics and displays, together with historical scrolls and ‘uncommon Bibles’. The constructing is superbly designed with stained glass home windows and church-like decor all through, and since it’s break up throughout six flooring, you’ve gotten a great deal of sights to get by means of. It isn’t simply traditionally invaluable with its displays; there are immersive alternatives within the Museum of the Bible. You would catch an Outdated or New Testomony present and take a look at sculpture scenes just like the Jesus Nazareth scene.

The museum pioneers and funds huge quantities of analysis. Its museum shows cowl over 4,000 years of historical past, and due to this, it’s a actually energetic level of analysis. It’s value checking in to see what talks and occasions can be found, because the museum attracts some actual business specialists.

13. Planet Phrase

• Opening instances: 10 am till 5 pm Wednesday to Friday, then 10 am till 6 pm Saturday to Monday, and closed Tuesday.
• Price: Instructed donation of $10-15

Planet Phrase is a complete museum dedicated to the spoken phrase. The museum circles across the ideas of language and phrases, with all the things from karaoke to Scrabble. As guests, you bask in visiting exhibit corridor after corridor of word-themed points of interest – from phrase timber outdoor to elegant libraries inside.

There are interactive actions, like a recording studio and a room educating you the right way to create advert copy. Planet Phrase is unimaginable for anybody with kids or younger adults fascinated with a writing, journalistic, and musical profession. It’s someplace to enterprise for an hour or two for some thought-provoking leisure.

The museum is located in a Nineteenth-century constructing with Victorian-style structure and is definitely set within the historic Franklin Faculty. The Franklin Faculty has Nationwide Historic Landmark standing as a result of it was the primary public schooling faculty in the USA as an impartial nation. So it’s becoming to see that its legacy has continued with Planet Phrase – a museum dedicated to studying and language.

14. White Home

• Opening instances: 7:30 am till 4 pm
• Price: Free

Do you know that the White Home is definitely a totally functioning museum? With capped numbers and restricted hours, in fact. This iconic museum boasts a few of American historical past’s most well-known scenes. And should you submit your tour requests with loads of warning- which is at least 21 days and as much as three months upfront – then you may spend a couple of hours treading the identical carpets because the Obamas and Trumps. You too can cease by the White Home Customer Heart, which has over 90 completely different White Home artifacts and a 14-minute movie. There are various interactive displays, archives, and even a museum store on the finish so that you can splurge in.

Visiting the White Home from the surface is thrilling sufficient. Simply peering by means of the gates is a bucket listing attraction for a lot of. Nevertheless, touring the within and having the White Home museum expertise takes the cookie. We’d advocate this wholeheartedly to anybody with a die-hard curiosity in American historical past and politics.

15. Smithsonian’s Nationwide Postal Museum

• Opening instances: 10 am till 5:30 pm
• Price: Free

Smithsonian’s Nationwide Postal Museum is among the most uncommon museums in Washington D.C. Consider it or not, the postal story in the USA is definitely fascinating. The method started with the Pony Categorical, a brigade of horseback riders who ran America’s postal system for round 18 months. It’s famed for being a monetary shambles, however the entire thing makes an awesome story. Then after that, the primary transcontinental telegraph system halted the service in 1861, and customary mail service started as we all know it.

The Nationwide Postal Museum is one other Smithsonian museum on your listing – located in that acquainted bubble of Smithsonian Establishment museums. The museum paperwork all the things from the creation of postal stationery to the early automobiles that used to ship mail. The museum tells a incredible story of each side of American postal historical past and gives a advantageous assortment of memorabilia. There’s even a Twenties-style publish workplace the place you may decide up free stamps to begin your stamp-collecting passion.

The Smithsonian’s Nationwide Postal Museum is positioned within the East Finish, comparatively centrally in Washington, DC. It’s nicely mixed with a go to to the USA Capitol and DC Hearth and EMS Museum (which is our ‘honorable point out’ since we couldn’t squeeze it onto this listing).

16. Nationwide Archives Museum

Let’s end with a bang; Nationwide Archives Museum has a number of the most traditionally important artifacts in the USA. The esteemed museum’s assortment consists of the authentic Declaration of Independence, Structure, and Invoice of Rights. In case you are visiting Washington DC, you’re undoubtedly accustomed to and even planning your journey round embracing American historical past, so don’t miss this pivotal spot. The Nationwide Archives Museum is the place to rise up shut and private with early American historical past.

Except for the founding paperwork of the USA (how cool is that to say?), the Nationwide Archives Museum additionally has a collection of smaller displays. These embody an space devoted to the Suffrage Motion and filled with civil rights letters and petitioning. The Nationwide Archives Museum is a superb place to get a bitesize however intense introduction to American Historical past and Washington DC’s expertise.

Enjoyable Museums in Washington DC

Which of those finest museums in Washington, DC, do you suppose most accurately fits you and your itinerary? Washington, DC, actually comes into its personal with artwork galleries and historical past museums, however the selection is infinite. In spite of everything, who’d have thought you possibly can go to the Nationwide Constructing Museum, Museum of the Bible, Worldwide Spy Museum, and the White Home multi functional metropolis?

Take a look at presidential portraits, European and American artwork, dinosaur fossils, and extra. Have a beautiful time museum purchasing in the most effective locations for displays on the earth.