Hotels in Washington, DC

Washington, DC is the rare capital city where the headline attractions are free. The Smithsonian's museums along the National Mall, the National Gallery of Art, the monuments and memorials, and the public galleries of the Capitol all cost nothing to enter, which makes DC one of the better-value major American cities despite its reputation.

Beyond the federal core, the city is a collection of distinct and walkable neighbourhoods: the row houses and bookshops of Capitol Hill, the nightlife along the 14th Street corridor, the Ethiopian restaurants of Shaw, the cobbled hills of Georgetown, and the murals and taquerias of Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. A height limit on buildings keeps the skyline low and the sightlines long.

Spring cherry blossom season around the Tidal Basin is the single busiest and most beautiful moment in the DC calendar, drawing well over a million visitors across a bloom window that usually lasts under two weeks.