I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility. If you come down for a weekend, then you should be able to do it. However, trying to see the Holocaust Museum, the White House and the Capitol all in one day will likely be tiring!

Plan to come back. If you just want to walk past the outside of the White House, Capitol, Holocaust Museum, etc., you can do it in a day, but you won’t see much.

The Holocaust Museum itself is worthy of a few hours; the White House and the Capitol also require a few hours each (both the waiting on line and the tour itself).

Then there are the various museums of the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress and just walking around The Mall and monuments. And then there’s the entire city and region beyond the federal core …

Even if you want to do just one or two of the three sites you mentioned, you need to plan ahead. The White House requires you to arrange a tour through your memeber of Congress at least a month in advance. Timed-admission tickets to tour the Capitol are available on the Capitol grounds on a first-come, first-served basis; your member of Congress can probably get you a ticket for a specific date/time so that you can avoid queuing up. Call ahead to get tickets for the Holocaust Musuem.

I guess the previous person put it best. But you will really need to come back for a second visit. (The Holocaust Museum will take the better part of a day and will require tickets.) The Capitol, and such require lots of standing around time before you can get tickets.

And by all means, on this or some other trip, don’t miss the Spy Museum (which takes several hours and requires tickets) or the new Museum of the American Indian.

Even if you don’t do that new museum, if you find yourself midday around the Capitol area, at least do lunch there. They have the best, most interesting food in the immediate area.

I agree … all three are too much to see in a day.

Having said that, I think if you could only see one thing while in D.C., it would be the Holocaust Museum.

I grew up in the DC Metro area, spent my childhood and teenage years with my grandfather visiting the Smithsonian and every tourist site imaginable (we were two history and liberal art freaks). Without a doubt, the best museum I have ever seen, anywhere in the world, is the Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C.

The reason I say this is that it isn’t so much a museum as it is a memorial. Tickets are fairly inexpensive – $10 or so if I recall. The tour takes you through the Holocaust, start to finish – literally. It’s like living history, and you can feel the humanity of it (not like most museums where it’s like walking through a glass covered encyclopedia). You will leave the museum with a sense of why our nation is so unique and important, and what everything else in the national Capital represents.

The Holocaust Museum is, I think, a doorway to seeing the Nation’s Capital.

It’s also geographically close – about 5 blocks, if I recall correctly – to the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, and the Korean Memorial. You are also within a few minutes walk of teh Jefferson Memorial, and can take a quick 3 minute cab ride across the 13th Street Bridge to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or the JFK Eternal Flame in the National Cemetary. Any one of those would be a perfect way to cap a day spent at the Holocaust Memorial.

Definitely get in touch with me if you need some pointers on how to get around up there, or if you have any other questions. Let us know what you decide.

Oh dear, yes. It will be more than one day’s worth of FUN..not to mention traffic…

DC is a LOT to take in in a day and a lot of places, though free, will only let you in at a certain time. If you’re there for a weekend, you’ll probably have a better time, especially if you’re there during the summer when all the tourists are around! Also, pack a lunch or eat a big breakfast, pack snacks and wait for dinner. Food is ridiculously overpriced on the mall.

As far as parking, park at one of the metro stations in VA or MD and take the metro in. The system in DC is one of the best in the US and it will take you to within a couple blocks of just about anywhere you want to go in the city. It’s far easier than dealing with driving, especially during tourist season when everyone is getting themselves lost!

If you need any more help, let me know!

I def would not attempt all three in a day. If you really want to experience DC you need a week of sight seeing since most things especailly like the Holocost museum you need almost a full day for.

I wouldn’t try to cram all that into one day, but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible either. Much of the core of the DC experience is within reasonable walking distance of each other. The best solution might be to give it a try… if it works, great, if it doesn’t, just plan on coming back! :)

Right to all the above. And frankly, there are somethings in life that don’t need to be “CRAMMED”.
Perhaps, pick the place you would want to visit most (I’d pick the natural history museum and the Vietnam memorial) and spend a day REALLY enjoying that.

I’ve spent many many days exploring my favorite museums…and I ALWAYS find something I haven’t seen before.

Enjoy your trip…and welcome to the east coast. I love it here.