Why Washington?

When someone asks you for a North American City break, the request normally centres around the obvious and more popular cities like New York, Boston, or Chicago. Throw in Washington and I can assure you; it won’t disappoint. My husband and I set off on a 3-night short stay on the direct Aer Lingus flight into Washington Dulles. We stayed in the wonderful “The Dupont Circle”, which is part of the Doyle Collection of hotels. The transfer from the Airport was only 40 minutes, but it was at this stage where you get a real sense of the history associated to the city as you past through many famous landmarks and monuments.

We had an action-packed weekend planned and started off with a pre-booked tour of the Pentagon which was amazing and surreal. Tours need to be booked at least 14 days in advance and you need to apply, and the best thing is, it’s FREE! Speaking of free, NO city provides as many world-class activities for free as Washington DC and has adopted a tagline of “The Capital of free things to do”.

As with all city breaks, I can’t recommend enough the Hop on, Hop off bus tours to give you the bearings of the city, In Washington, you have two routes with the black bus route visiting all the major landmarks such as Arlington Cemetery, the pentagon, Lincoln Memorial, and the list goes on. The red route is centred around downtown and visits some of the interesting suburbs such as Georgetown & Columbia Heights. We also had a pre-booked tour of Capitol Hill which did not disappoint and unfortunately when we were visiting the White house tours were not running. Also, touring the National Mall was amazing which is just full of monuments, memorials, and museums, including the famous Lincoln and Jefferson memorials and the popular National Museum of African American History and Culture. Speaking of museums, Washington DC, has over 70 to explore including the world-famous Smithsonian collection. And yes, you guessed it, Free!

Washington has so much to offer for a short 3–4-night break with an action-packed itinerary including numerous museums, tours, attractions, and all for free. I really could not recommend Washington enough. It’s an amazing city full of history, with so much to do and you don’t need a large budget because most of it is free, but you need to plan in advance. Reach out for some recommendations and tips and I promise, it won’t disappoint.

T 045 392110 M 089 6001742 E celine.rooney@travelcounsellors.com