Beyond DC: 3 Offbeat Days
Three days is enough to treat DC as a launchpad instead of a checklist. Day 1 is a brief, deliberately light anchor on the Mall, save the full monument crawl for a dedicated DC-city trip. Day 2 crosses the Potomac to Old Town Alexandria’s cobblestone waterfront. Day 3 goes 16 miles south to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s actual working estate and tomb, a $30 paid site, not a free NPS stop like the Monument bearing his name. Everything runs in USD, and only Alexandria is realistically car-free.
This extends the 2-day version, which stops after Alexandria, with a full day added at Mount Vernon. Keep climbing to the 4-day plan for Annapolis and the Naval Academy, and on through the 7-day version once Baltimore and Great Falls earn a slot. For the full day-trip roster and cost breakdown, see the DC day trips guide .
Book these before you go
- A DC hotel near a Metro line : stay near Blue or Yellow for the fastest Alexandria run
- A Mount Vernon tour from DC : skips the parking question entirely
- An Old Town Alexandria walking or food tour : worth it if you’d rather not self-navigate the cobblestones
| Day | Focus | Travel time | Rough daily cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DC anchor: a slice of the Mall, by day and after dark | none (in the city) | ~$40-60 |
| 2 | Old Town Alexandria: colonial streets, waterfront | ~25 min Metro or ~30 min seasonal water taxi | ~$35-55 |
| 3 | Mount Vernon: Washington’s estate, farm, and tomb | ~30-40 min by car or tour bus, 16 miles | ~$60-80 |
Day 1: A brief, offbeat DC anchor
Pick three stops, not fifteen. The Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the MLK Memorial are free, unticketed, and open 24 hours, so walk them at midday to get your bearings, then treat the real visit as an after-dark return; the lighting and the near-empty plazas make the same three-stop loop a genuinely different experience the second time around. If NMAAHC, the Air and Space Museum’s Mall building, or the Zoo are on your list, book the free timed pass directly on the .si.edu site before you fly, never a reseller charging for something that costs nothing. One more thing worth knowing before you plan a bus ride: the old DC Circulator stopped running for good on 31 December 2024, so ignore any older guide still routing you onto it.
Day 2: Old Town Alexandria
Cross the Potomac on the Blue or Yellow Line to King St-Old Town, then walk the cobblestoned grid of colonial-era rowhouses down to the waterfront. It’s an easy half to full day: browse the old-town shops, eat lunch somewhere casual ($12-20 is normal, tip 18-20%), and end at the river. Between March and December, skip the Metro on the way there and take the roughly 30-minute Potomac water taxi from The Wharf instead, about $22 one-way and a far better view of the city than any train window.
When does the Old Town water taxi actually run?
The water taxi from The Wharf to Alexandria is a warm-season service only, roughly March through December, and it stops entirely in the coldest months. If you’re visiting in January or February, don’t plan around it, take the Blue or Yellow Line to King St-Old Town instead; it runs year-round regardless of the season or the river’s mood.
Day 3: Mount Vernon
Sixteen miles south along the Potomac sits George Washington’s actual home: a working farm, gristmill, distillery, and his tomb, not a museum diorama. Admission is $30 for adults (12+), $16 for ages 6-11, free under 6, open 9am-5pm April through October and 9am-4pm the rest of the year. Get there by car, a tour bus, or, seasonally, a Potomac riverboat cruise from Alexandria or the Wharf. Budget a half day minimum; the grounds are large and the working-farm areas alone are worth an hour.
Is Mount Vernon worth the $30 if the monuments are free?
Yes, and it’s not really a fair comparison. The Washington Monument is a free obelisk you can’t ride to the top of without a $1 recreation.gov ticket; Mount Vernon is Washington’s actual estate, farm, distillery, and tomb, a paid historic-house museum 16 miles south. It’s the trip’s single most substantive stop, and the one day trip here that most rewards a full half day.
Do you need a car for these two day trips?
Alexandria doesn’t need one; the Blue and Yellow Lines run straight to King St-Old Town. Mount Vernon does, unless you book a tour bus or catch the seasonal riverboat cruise, since no Metro line reaches anywhere near the estate and a round-trip rideshare over 16 miles each way adds up fast.
Before you go
Bring a physical or mobile SmarTrip either way, though contactless bank cards and phone wallets now tap directly at Metrorail faregates, so a farecard machine hunt isn’t mandatory just to cross the river on Day 2. Tap out as well as in, weekday rail fares are distance-based up to a $6.75 max, and skipping the tap-out at exit triggers the maximum fare automatically.