Three days in Washington DC is enough time to walk the National Mall monuments, hit several free Smithsonian museums, tour the U.S. Capitol, and eat your way through neighborhoods like U Street and Georgetown. The city's core sights are compact, free, and reachable by Metro without a car.
In brief
Three days in Washington DC is enough time to walk the National Mall monuments, visit several free Smithsonian museums, tour the U.S. Capitol, and eat your way through neighborhoods like U Street and Georgetown. The city's core sights are compact, mostly free, and reachable by Metro without a car.
Before you go: two things to book in advance
Two free attractions require reservations and will fill up without one. The National Museum of African American History and Culture requires free timed-entry passes, released 30 days in advance on a rolling basis. Same-day passes drop online at 8:15 a.m. ET. Log in at nmaahc.si.edu/visit/passes to grab yours the moment they open.
For the Capitol, a public tour is free and open to anyone who makes an advance reservation, available 90 days prior to the desired tour date. Guided tours visit the Crypt, the Rotunda, and National Statuary Hall. Same-day passes may be available at the Capitol Visitor Center, but reservations are recommended. Book at visitthecapitol.gov.
Getting around: the Metro
The SmarTrip card is a reloadable contactless smart card that works on Metrorail, Metrobus, DC Circulator, ART (Arlington Transit), and the Ride On bus system. SmarTrip cards cost $2.00 and can be purchased at Metro stations or online; cards are available for $10 or $30, loaded with $8 or $28 respectively. The fare is calculated when you tap out at the exit faregate, so always tap both in and out. Forget to tap out and you get charged the maximum fare.
Day 1: The National Mall monuments
The National Mall runs about 2 miles end to end, and the big monuments sit closer together than photos make them look. Start at the Lincoln Memorial end and work east.
Allow three to four hours for the main memorials, walking steadily and stopping to read. The west cluster is the most rewarding stretch: the World War II Memorial's 56 stone columns give you a view of the Washington Monument to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west. Then loop around the Tidal Basin. From the Lincoln Memorial to the Jefferson Memorial is a little over a mile on foot, along the basin's west shore past the MLK and FDR memorials, and there's no shortcut across the water. Plenty of visitors plan the Reflecting Pool memorials, forget that the Tidal Basin is a second walk, and run out of energy halfway around it. Budget the full afternoon.
All memorials are free. The World War II Memorial is open 24 hours; rangers are on duty 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The same hours apply to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Day 2: Smithsonian museums and the Capitol
All 17 Smithsonian museums in Washington DC plus the National Zoo are completely free in 2026. Most open from 10:00 to 5:30 p.m. No tickets required at most of them. The two exceptions: the National Air and Space Museum requires free timed-entry passes, and the African American History museum does too (book those before your trip, as described above).
Three solid picks for a single day:
National Museum of Natural History (10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW): Dinosaurs, the Hope Diamond, and ocean life. Free, no passes required.
National Museum of American History (14th St. & Constitution Ave. NW): Plan on about two hours; open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily.
National Gallery of Art (Constitution Ave. & 6th St. NW): Not a Smithsonian museum, but it sits on the National Mall and admission is also free. Open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.
Finish at the Capitol. The Capitol Visitor Center is open to visitors with tour reservations from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The last tour of the day is at 3:20 p.m. The best way to get there by Metro is via Union Station, Capitol South, or Federal Center on the Blue, Orange, Silver, or Green lines.
Day 3: Neighborhoods, food, and the African American History Museum
This is the day to use that NMAAHC pass. Free timed-entry passes are required for all visitors, regardless of age, and can be reserved up to 30 days in advance on a rolling basis. The History Galleries alone take about two hours to walk through, so plan for at least half a day.
After the museum, head to U Street for dinner. You can't really say you've been to U Street if you haven't been to Ben's Chili Bowl, the home of the famous half-smoke is a DC original. The half-smoke is a smoked, spiced sausage often served with grilled onions and chili, a DC street-food staple. The strip along U Street NW between 12th and 14th is walkable and dense with options, including Doro Soul Food, where Michelin-starred chef Elias Taddesse adds an Ethiopian flair to traditional American soul food.
If you have energy left, Georgetown is 20 minutes by Metro or Circulator bus. The historic waterfront neighborhood has upscale dining along M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Georgetown's bars and restaurants radiate from the intersection of Wisconsin and M Streets. Baked & Wired, a bakery on Thomas Jefferson Street NW, is worth the detour for coffee and an oversized cupcake.
Practical tips
Wear comfortable shoes. The Mall is flat and paved, but end to end and back is roughly 4 miles.
Summer heat is real. Bring water and avoid the full Mall walk at midday in July.
Monuments are open late. Evening visits to the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and WWII Memorial are quieter and cooler than afternoon crowds.
Children under 5 ride Metro free. Up to two children under age five may travel free with each fare-paying adult.
The Smithsonian Castle (on the Mall at Jefferson Drive SW) is the information center for the whole campus. It opens at 8:30 a.m., earlier than any museum, so stop there first to orient yourself on Day 1 or 2.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
