National Museum of Natural History
148 million specimens, free admission — the world's largest natural history collection, right on the Mall.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Washington offline.
Opened in 1910 as one of the first Smithsonian buildings purpose-built for the national collections, it packs 325,000 sq ft of exhibition space and keeps 185 professional scientists on staff — the largest research team of its kind on Earth. It draws 3.3 million visitors a year and costs nothing to enter.
What to look for
- The breadth of 148 million specimens: plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human remains all under one roof
- Signs of active science — 185 professional researchers are based here, the largest such group in the world
- The Hornblower & Marshall building itself: 1.5 million sq ft total, designed by a D.C. firm and completed 1910
Free entry, open 364 days a year; on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Natural History is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Washington, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Washington pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Washington
- White HouseBritish forces torched it in 1814. It has been the U.S. president's home and office ever since.
- The 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.
- United States CapitolEvery street address in Washington DC radiates outward from this building — it is literally the zero point of the city.
- Washington MonumentThe faint color seam partway up the shaft marks where construction stopped for 23 years.
- Smithsonian InstitutionBritish scientist James Smithson left a bequest that became 157 million objects, 21 museums, and a zoo — almost all free to walk into.
- Arlington National CemeteryThe ground holding 400,000 graves was seized from Robert E. Lee's own family over an unpaid tax bill in 1864.