Smithsonian Castle
Whether you’re a regular at the Smithsonian museums or visiting for the first time, a visit to the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall is worth a stop. It’s essentially a visitor center for the Smithsonian complex so you can get your bearings before you dive in. An interactive aerial map offers a fun way to get the lay of the land and friendly docents are also on hand for questions.
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum holds the designation of most visited museum in the country—and for good reason. The grand entrance hall and 23 galleries are home to hundreds of airplanes, spaceships and rockets, including a real Apollo Lunar Module, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, John Glenn’s Friendship 7 and the Wright brothers’ 1903 Wright Flyer. The museum has been a staple of the National Mall since it opened in 1976—and is set to undergo a complete renovation overhaul starting this month. But don’t worry, the ambitious, seven-year reimagining of the museum will take place on a phased schedule so visitors can continue to visit throughout.
Thrill ride: Take a virtual reality tour of the International Space Station or peer into a black hole with Air and Space’s simulator rides. Tickets from $7
National Museum of American History
Julia Child’s kitchen, the Model T Ford, inaugural gowns worn by the first ladies and the American flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the “Star Spangled Banner.” It’s all under one roof here. The museum’s eclectic collection includes nearly 2 million items—so many that fewer than 1 percent are on display at any given time.
Don’t Miss: Dorothy’s famed ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz returned to the museum floor in October after a year behind the scenes for conservation. Look for the sparkly shoes on the third floor in the Nicholas F. and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music.
National Postal Museum
The Postal Museum often gets short shrift when it’s in the mix with the rest of the Smithsonian’s blockbuster museums, but it’s actually pretty cool. Essentially the world’s largest stamp collection museum, both philatelic fans and families with young children (don’t miss the photo op in the stage coach) are prime candidates to make an afternoon of it.
For Families: Kids love the interactive aspects of the Postal Museum, including the design-your-own-stamp station, the chance to “drive” a mail delivery semi-truck and even a meet-and-greet with Owney the Dog, the (stuffed) mascot of the Railway Post Office.
Renwick Gallery of Art
Once a fairly under-the-radar museum for serious art lovers, this museum’s daring exhibitions of late have turned this White House-adjacent building into an Instagrammer’s dream. Wonder in 2016 flooded our social media feeds and this summer’s No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man brought the eye-popping festival from the Nevada dessert to Washington, D.C. The exhibition is up until Jan. 21 before it loads out to make room for Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018.
Also For Your Feed: The Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art’s latest exhibition, Pulse (open through April 28) hosts Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and his outsized installation. The exhibition will take up the entire second floor and explore the intersection of art, technology and design. Visitors will be outfitted with heart-rate sensors and their vital signs will create a constantly changing artistic landscape.
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History’s iconic African elephant that holds court in the rotunda serves as a vivid childhood memory for many who grew up in the region. It welcomes visitors to the popular museum, which includes a number of must-visit galleries. Egyptian mummies, the Hope Diamond, the Butterfly Pavilion and the full-scale model whale suspended from the ceiling in Sant Ocean Hall are all worth a look. Even more exciting? After closing the dinosaur hall in 2014, the museum’s new and improved dinosaur exhibit, Deep Time, is set to open on June 8, 2019, with more than 700 fossils and specimens, some on display for the first time.
National Museum of the American Indian
This Smithsonian museum arguably has the biggest visual impact from its perch along Independence Avenue with its undulating, four-story design and lush landscaping that honors indigenous plants. Inside, the museum explores American Indian traditions with exhibits on history and contemporary life, forms of worship and natural conservation, as well as a look at Native people’s arts and crafts.
Eat here: Skip the hamburger and French fry offerings at other Smithsonian museums and make it a point to dine at Mitsitam Café. The cafeteria-style restaurant offers indigenous cuisine of the Americas. Five stations let you taste-test food such as traditional fry bread and corn totopos.
National Museum of African Art
This subterranean museum holds an extensive collection of African art in a wide range of media that explores the rich artistic works—both historic and contemporary—from the continent. The recently unveiled exhibit, Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women, looks at how Senegalese women use the nation’s gold to demonstrate style and prestige.
Also try: Located next to the African Art Museum, the Smithsonian’s Freer-Sackler galleries explore the Asian arts. The most notable permanent exhibit, James McNeill Whistler’s Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, is in the Freer. There’s a controversial history to the drawing room, which was once owned by a British shipping magnate. Filled to the brim with porcelain, the museum opens the shutters once a month and lets light stream in to see it as it was intended. Mark your calendar for the next shutter opening on Dec. 20.
Anacostia Community Museum
Wrapping up its 50th anniversary celebration on Jan. 6, the museum kicked off the exhibition Your Community, Your Story: Celebrating Five Decades of The Anacostia Community Museum, 1967-2017, last year with a look at how the museum has explored social issues that impact the diverse community of D.C.
National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
At the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, walk through the Hall of Presidents to see paintings and sculptures of every American president from Gilbert Stuart’s George Washington to Kehinde Wiley’s recently unveiled portrait of Barack Obama. Michelle Obama’s portrait by Amy Sherald is also new to the museum. The Smithsonian American Art Museum displays art from the Colonial era to present day, including a stunning model of the Statue of Liberty.
Art Break: The Kogod Courtyard, an indoor courtyard between the two museums, is the perfect place to take a break. Locals that work in Penn Quarter know it’s where to eat lunch and people watch on weekdays.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
The newest Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened its doors in 2016 and remains one of the hardest tickets in town to get. Adorned with bronze lattice that’s meant to represent the ironwork crafted by enslaved African-Americans, the museum seeks to tell the complicated story of the African-American experience using exhibits that trace back to the TransAtlantic slave trade. Artifacts like Nat Turner’s Bible, Harriet Tubman’s shawl, a segregated rail car and Emmett Till’s casket paint a vivid picture. Upstairs, cultural contributions made by African-Americans are celebrated and feature sports heroes like Wilma Rudolph and Mohammed Ali, music icons like James Brown and entertainment personalities like Oprah Winfrey.
How do I get tickets?
Tickets for the newest Smithsonian museum are free but timed entry passes are required. Tickets are released online for upcoming dates the first Wednesday of each month. You can also go online at 6:30 a.m. each morning for same day passes. During the week, walkups are welcome if the museum isn’t at capacity starting at 1 p.m. Veterans, active-duty military personnel and first-responders can obtain walk-up passes for themselves and one guest any day of the week.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum remains as important today as it did when it opened a quarter century ago. The groundbreaking museum uses modern technology to impart the message, “Never Again.” Visitors begin with an ID card that assigns them a person who experienced the Holocaust, and at the end of their journey through the museum, they learn the person’s fate. Several floors focus on Jewish life prior to the Holocaust and political events surrounding World War II. The most moving are the graphic depictions of Nazi atrocities. TV screens present still and motion pictures of Nazi leaders, storm troopers rounding up victims and life inside Jewish ghettos. The museum is stirring to say the least and not appropriate for young audiences. However, a children’s section called “Daniel’s Story” explains the history minus the graphic details in order to give parents and teachers a guide for introducing this important era in world history.
