US
What to see in Washington on foot
37 sights worth the detour, all walkable, all offline.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Washington offline.
Washington is a city made for walking. This self-guided guide maps 37 of its sights worth the detour — landmarks, historic sites, museums and galleries, parks and gardens and public art — the places locals point to and the tour buses skip, close enough to string into a single day on foot. Download the Washington pack in Voyage GO before you go and the whole route works offline: no roaming, no dead battery from a live map. Every monument, viewpoint and park you pass quietly fills your travel passport.
Landmarks9
- 1White HouseBritish forces torched it in 1814. It has been the U.S. president's home and office ever since.
- 2Washington MonumentThe faint color seam partway up the shaft marks where construction stopped for 23 years.
- 3Lincoln MemorialThe exact steps where King delivered "I Have a Dream" on August 28, 1963 — stand there and the date stops being abstract.
- 4Capital One ArenaA major indoor sports arena that swallowed D.C.'s Chinatown whole — the numbers say it plainly.
- 5Kennedy CenterAmerica's federally designated living memorial to JFK, with the National Symphony Orchestra in permanent residence on the Potomac.
- 6Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate ConceptionThe tallest habitable building in D.C. is a church — with mosaic domes that out-scale those of St. Mark's in Venice.
- 7Pennsylvania AvenueThe 1.2-mile straight between the White House and the Capitol is where the US stages every parade, procession, and protest march.
- 8National Defense UniversityWhere the U.S. military trains its senior officers and civilian officials to think about war — a short distance from the Capitol and the White House.
- 9Nationals ParkFrom the upper deck on the first base side, the Washington Monument and the Capitol dome hang over the outfield — a skyline no other ballpark can match.
Historic Sites13
- 10The PentagonDesigned and built in 16 months during World War II — 17.5 miles of corridors, a five-acre central courtyard, and a 9/11 memorial at the exact point of impact.
- 11United States CapitolEvery street address in Washington DC radiates outward from this building — it is literally the zero point of the city.
- 12Arlington National CemeteryThe ground holding 400,000 graves was seized from Robert E. Lee's own family over an unpaid tax bill in 1864.
- 13Washington National CathedralThe foundation stone was set on September 29, 1907, with President Theodore Roosevelt in attendance; George H.W. Bush watched the last finial placed on the same date 83 years later.
- 14Jefferson MemorialThe memorial opened in 1943 — but Jefferson's bronze statue didn't arrive until four years later, as if the man himself showed up fashionably late.
- 15Vietnam Veterans MemorialThe path drops below ground as the walls rise around you — you walk into a wound and climb back out.
- 16United States Naval ObservatoryThe agency that discovered the moons of Mars and still sets the nation's clocks also happens to be where the Vice President sleeps.
- 17Ford's TheatreThe room where Booth fired a 5.87-inch derringer on April 14, 1865 — same stage, same theater that has been performing again since 1968.
- 18Joint Base AndrewsEvery U.S. presidential departure rolls from this Maryland ramp — the two Boeing VC-25s parked here become Air Force One the moment the president steps aboard.
- 19Number One Observatory CircleThe Vice President's official home — legally "temporary" since 1974 and counting.
- 20Marine Corps War MemorialSix bronze Marines — each larger than life — freeze the moment a second, bigger flag went up on Iwo Jima, because the first one was too small to see across the battlefield.
- 21Dumbarton OaksThe Georgetown estate where diplomats drafted the framework for the United Nations in 1944.
- 22Victims of Communism MemorialA ten-foot bronze figure modeled on the statue students built in Tiananmen Square in 1989 stands two blocks from Union Station, the U.S. Capitol framed behind it.
Museums & Galleries12
- 23Smithsonian InstitutionBritish scientist James Smithson left a bequest that became 157 million objects, 21 museums, and a zoo — almost all free to walk into.
- 24National Museum of Natural History148 million specimens, free admission — the world's largest natural history collection, right on the Mall.
- 25United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumFewer than 10 percent of its nearly 50 million visitors are Jewish — this place was deliberately built for everyone.
- 26National Air and Space MuseumAlmost nothing here is a copy — the capsules and planes are original primary or backup craft, not reproductions.
- 27National Museum of Women in the ArtsThe world's first museum built entirely around women artists — because in the 1960s, the definitive art history texts named not a single one.
- 28National Museum of American HistoryThe original Star-Spangled Banner lives here in a purpose-built climate chamber.
- 29National Museum of the American IndianCongress built this museum after the Smithsonian was found to have warehoused up to 18,000 Native American human remains, mostly in storage.
- 30Smithsonian American Art MuseumMore than 7,000 artists across two venues — the widest single sweep of American art from colonial canvas to the present.
- 31National Museum of African ArtThe largest African art collection in the US sits almost entirely underground on the National Mall.
- 32National Portrait GalleryEvery face that shaped America — politicians, scientists, activists, inventors, performers — collected in one building.
- 33Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenA concrete cylinder raised on four massive legs, halfway between the Capitol and the Washington Monument — the building makes its argument before you step inside.
- 34Freer Gallery of ArtA Detroit railroad-car manufacturer's obsession with Whistler ended up building America's national collection of Asian art — and left one gilded room behind as proof.
Parks & Gardens2
- 35National MallPierre L'Enfant designed this as the deliberate opposite of Versailles — a grand public avenue where no invitation is required.
- 36Smithsonian's National ZooA 163-acre federal zoo with no admission fee — the Smithsonian foots the bill so you don't have to.
Public Art1
- 37KryptosA copper scroll in a CIA courtyard has held an unsolved cipher since 1990 — three of four messages cracked, one still defeating every codebreaker on earth.