Washington DC: 3 Day Spring Itinerary
Last year in April my friend Katie and I met up in Washington DC for the National Cherry Blossom Festival! We both lived in Japan for 6 years and knew we needed a little hanami (flower viewing) time to make up for missing our first Japanese spring. She’s currently in the Norfolk area and drove almost 3 hours, while I’m in Coastal North Carolina and drove about 5 hours. Absolutely worth it if you ask me!!
We stayed with my aunt in Virginia, so sadly I don’t have accommodation recommendations, but book early and remember you don’t NEED to stay in the city. If you don’t, make sure you’re close to a train station with parking! Do not drive into the city during cherry blossom season, it’s a mess. Anyway, we kept track of the blooming forecast via Cherry Blossom Watch, arrived Wednesday, April 3rd at my aunt’s house and had our morning with the cherry blossoms on Thursday, April 4th. We planned it this way in hopes of avoiding the crowds and we were successful!! We have both been to Washington DC before so we skipped most of the touristy stuff and focused on seeing more of the city beyond the National Mall.
I have a few blog posts to share about this trip, but I wanted to post our itinerary in hopes of helping those heading there later this month! I will link some of my Instagram photos for now and you can see more photos/videos in my DC highlight, but I’ll add links to the blog posts once I’ve published them.
Day 1: Tidal Basin + National Mall
Whether you are staying in or out of the city I suggest waking up extra early and arriving at the crack of dawn. We were staying in VA close to the city and took the metro around 6:45 am and arrived at the Smithsonian station (the closest one to the Tidal Basin) around 7 am. Walk 5 minutes down to the Tidal Basin and take your time exploring the area! Don’t miss the first cherry blossom trees planted back in 1912, the Japanese lantern and pagoda, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial (if you have time).
This is the perfect day to do some memorial and museum hopping if it’s your first time in Washington DC. The best part is that everything is free!! Some of the most popular museums are the National Air & Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of American History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. As for the memorials, they’re all a must-visit!
After spending 3 hours taking photos around the Tidal Basin we wandered around without much of a plan. We ended up at a Compass Coffee, took photos of the cute pink Chinese lantern display at the CityCenterDC and ate some avocado toast at Fruitive. Then balanced it out by trying the famous cereal milk soft serve (meh) and crack pie (YUM!) at Milk Bar. Afterward, we headed up to the Logan Circle neighborhood to find the adorable Watermelon House! We grabbed some scooters and rode a few blocks up to the Cherry Blossom Pub for some Japanese inspired cocktails before calling it a day.
Day 2: Georgetown
We woke up exhausted from that jam-packed first day, so we ended up sleeping in a bit. Around 11am we took the metro to Rosslyn station, then hopped on a bus to Georgetown. Our first stop was Blue Bottle Coffee and after that little pick-me-up, we quickly got to exploring this gorgeous neighborhood. We did some window shopping, ate some Vietnamese sandwiches at Simply Bahn Mi, searched for some Instagrammable locations, grabbed some delicious macarons from Ladurée and ended the day with some Georgetown cupcakes for the road.
Day 3: Chinatown + Capitol Hill
We didn’t have concrete plans for this morning, but we had plans to eat ramen with our friend Nano in Chinatown, so we winged our morning plans. We ended up renting scooters (seriously such a fun way to get around) and going to see the Blind Whino, a historical building built back in 1886 in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. This former church was almost demolished but thankfully saved by a historical society and the new owner commissioned the artist Alex Brewer to transform it into a piece of art. It’s now a private event space and art gallery called Culture House. There’s a fence surrounding it, so we couldn’t get close, but it was still a fun pit-stop!
We ended up going to the Lincoln Memorial because we didn’t know what else to do… but I suggest checking out The Wharf! My husband and I visited in September of last year and it’s in the same neighborhood as the Culture House. Anyways, we took the metro to Chinatown and although it’s tiny, I believe it’s a must-visit when in Washington DC. We got some fun drinks at Little Sesame while we waited for our friend Nano. Then had lunch at Daikaya, which is both a ramen restaurant downstairs and a reservation-only izakaya (sort of like a tapas bar) upstairs.
Afterward, we got on the metro again and headed to the Capitol Hill neighborhood. We visited the Eastern Market, checked out the floor-to-ceiling stacks of second-hand books at Capitol Hill Books and finally walked down to Barracks Row. While walking we unexpectedly stumbled upon the longest standing Marine Barracks built-in 1801 by Thomas Jefferson and one of the oldest houses in the city built-in 1803 which houses the Commandant of the Marine Corps! Such a fun surprise!
