How to Travel Hack Washington DC with Kids

Washington DC is a fantastic place for families to visit, in part because a lot of the museums and activities are free! Here’s how to plan a trip to Washington DC with your kids and not break your budget.

Getting to Washington DC

Washington DC has 2 main airports – Dulles International (IAD), and Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA). DCA is closer to the city and sometimes has more direct flights from the west coast, but Dulles has a Capital One Lounge we enjoy visiting. If you’re a Capital One Venture X cardholder, this is the airport I would use. It also is the only one of the two that Southwest flies into, and we currently hold 2 Southwest Companion Passes. Since the Southwest Companion Pass is a big part of our strategy for making travel more affordable as a family of 5, we flew on Southwest there and back, into and out of Dulles. You can access the DC Metro from inside the Dulles airport, and it’s about a 45 minute train ride into the city – we trekked all three of our kids, all of our bags, and a stroller and found it easy to do. You can also take the metro from DCA and it takes about half the time.

Where to Stay in Washington DC

We chose to stay at the Grand Hyatt for it’s central location. As a family of 5, it was a bit of a squeeze into one room but we made it work. Our room had double beds (a lot of hotels under the Grand Hyatt brand tend to have double beds vs queen beds), and so you might want to bring an air mattress if you have an older kid. We brought one for our 9 year old this trip for the first time. Our daughter can still sleep in a pack n play so we still request one on every trip. This hotel had direct access to the Metro which was a big selling point for us being that we’d be taking that from the airport with all our bags. The Grand Hyatt Washington is a Category 4 Hyatt, and costs 15,000 points a night on average. Another good Hyatt option for families would be the Hyatt House Washington DC/The Wharf – they have suites that are fairly spacious and some have kitchenettes too. The Hyatt House is a category 3, and averages 12,000 points a night.

If you’re a Marriott stan, the Washington Marriott at Metro Center is centrally located and has an indoor pool. There’s also the JW Marriott Washington, DC which is walking distance to the White House. And of course there are countless other hotel options to choose from. If we go back, I’d probably give the Hyatt House a try to save a few points and get a bit more space. That being said, we were very happy with the Grand Hyatt – they even have a Starbucks in the lobby – and found the surrounding area quite walkable with kids.

Kid Friendly Activities in Washington DC

White House Tour: You can schedule one, and it is free. The way to do this is you have to contact your State Senator or district representative – most of them have a page on their website where you can request a tour and you have to do it no more than 90 days prior to your trip. They will send you a questionnaire to fill out and you enter the names of everyone in your party (kids too), the dates/times of your trip and your preferred days you’d like to do the tour. Then, about 2 weeks prior to your trip, you’ll get an email letting you know whether or not you got a tour, and if so, when it is.

The tour itself takes about 30 minutes, and it’s self guided which I was a bit surprised by. I would have taken more time if the kids weren’t there, but I still thought it was neat to see the different rooms inside and they thought it was cool too. There are Secret Service in each room you walk through and the ones we talked to were incredibly knowledgeable about the room they were in. They were very informative about the age/history of the paintings as well as other stories behind items in the rooms.

Before or after your tour, you can go to the White House Visitor Center and have your kids get sworn in as Junior Rangers. Kids get a little activity book and 1-2 little badges.

Smithsonian Museum of American History: At the time of writing this, there are currently 2 exhibits here geared towards kids. There is the Wegmans Wonderplace and the Spark Lab – and both were big hits with our kids. The Wegmans exhibit is like a mini grocery store for the kids to shop, and the Spark Lab had all kinds of different stations set up where you could do things like make an electrical circuit, or try and build a bridge that can hold weight, you could make music, and a bunch of others. We spent maybe an hour between those two exhibits? We were also going to do the “America on the Move” exhibit as I heard they had a train the kids could go inside, but sadly it was closed the day we were there. We did check out the Gunboat Philadelphia which was FASCINATING actually – our 9 year old thought this was cool too – it is an actual gunboat that had originally sunk on Lake Champlain in 1776 during a battle with the British and was discovered and raised out of the lake in 1935. 

They even had little tiny post-it type papers on the ground around the boat and I realized what was happening is the wood of the boat is flaking off, and they are marking each flake by putting a little paper or something underneath it after it falls. I mean, this boat was sunk by a cannonball 250 years ago and now we get to look at it. Incredible. Definitely something for everyone at this museum!

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History: – If your kid is into dinosaurs, this is the place for you. And the best part is it’s kind of right next doors to the Museum of American History. They have the big dinosaur skeletons, and a giant shark on the ceiling, but the coolest part for all of us is that there is a real lab called the FossiLab where you can watch through the window and see museum staff unpack new fossil shipments, remove fossils from rock, illustrate fossils, etc – these are real fossils and it was so cool to see. Our 9 year old is super into dinosaurs still and he loved this (so did we!). 

Washington Monument & Lincoln Memorial: Our oldest son had asked where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech and it was cool to show him the Lincoln Memorial. Our younger two enjoyed walking very close to the edge of the reflecting pool and giving me constant anxiety. You can fairly easily walk between the Monument and the Memorial, just be prepared to also walk back unless you can take a cab! I recommend going during “golden hour” – the hour right before the sun sets – as the sky was gorgeous. Also recommend Spiderman poses as needed.

International Spy Museum: This was the only museum we paid for the entire trip – I think it was around $70 for all of us (our youngest 2 were free as they were both 6 and under) – and it was a big hit for both kids and adults. Basically you are assigned a spy identity and given a mission, and have to complete the mission as you work your way through the museum. And in addition to your mission, there is a ton of historical facts and paraphernalia showing you the history of espionage.

National Postal Museum – I know this one sounds kind of boring but it was recommended on a lot of other blogs so we decided to check it out and they were right – we all really enjoyed it. They have a big semi truck cab that kids (or adults) can climb into and “drive” and the kids did this multiple times. They also had a wagon kids can sit in, a little kiosk where they have different kinds of mailboxes and you can practice “delivering the mail” (this again got repeat visits from all 3 of our kids). They had “throwing bins” where kids could practice throwing cardboard packages into the correct bin based on the address on the package, and they even had a sorting game my husband and I played where you looked at badly written envelopes and tried to quickly guess which city/zip code they went to.

Upstairs they have a robust stamp collection, your kids can start their own stamp collection if they’re into that, and – one of the most interesting things to me – they had undeliverable mail from places like the World Trade Center. As seems to be a theme in DC, this museum has something for adults and kids alike.

National Air and Space Museum – while we didn’t make it here on this trip, this is another top recommendation for kids while visiting DC. They have exhibits such as Destination Moon which is all about the moon landing, the history of commercial aviation, a “tour” of our solar system and more. This is high on our list next time we return!

Kid Friendly Restaurants we visited in Washington DC

In full transparency, there are a ton of restaurants around DC that will fit the bill of being kid-friendly (and also a lot that won’t). Here are the places we personally ate-

Old Ebbitt Grill – this is a DC staple (opened in 1856!) and it’s the perfect spot for lunch before or after your White House tour. The entrance is a brief 5 minute walk from the WH Visitor Center or the White House exit. The menu was great and had something for all of us – would absolutely return here.

The Hamilton – This is probably not often ranked as a good restaurant for kids (it was packed and seemed more like an after work happy hour crowd), but we thought it was fantastic. As a side note, I think it shares an owner with Old Ebbitt Grill which we didn’t realize until we noticed the menus were very similar. We had no reservation and were seated right away on a Wednesday night despite it being very busy. It was already super loud so we didn’t have to worry about our kids being the loudest ones in there, the menu was extensive and the food was delicious. I had shrimp pasta, my husband had Japanese food, and the kids had wings/burgers. They had something for everyone and we just had a really fun meal. And after walking around the city all day with 3 kids, it was a big relief to sit and relax with a great meal and a cocktail.

Tatte Bakery & Cafe – this is a quick walk from the Grand Hyatt and a decent option for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee/juice.

City Tap House (Penn Quarter) – also walking distance from the Hyatt, this is another solid option for lunch or dinner. I believe they have a few other locations around the city too.

Dolcezza Gelato – This is a solid option if you’re looking for something ice cream-ish within walking distance of the Grand Hyatt. The flavors might be a bit elevated for a kids palette but you can’t really go wrong with chocolate.

We also had breakfast a couple times at Cabinet which is inside the Grand Hyatt and it was fine. The kids always enjoy a buffet.

Love Makoto deserves an honorable mention here as well. While we didn’t get to try this on our trip, maybe you can on yours! We will absolutely be going next time. It’s brand new to DC as of 2023 and it’s a Japanese Food Hall with a few different restaurant concepts within it – currently sushi, Japanese BBQ, and also a fast casual spot.

Note: When dining out in DC you’re likely to see an added service charge on your bill that apparently is not a tip. This is because a bill was passed recently that raises the minimum wages of tipped workers, so the restaurants are passing that cost on to the patrons. Some DC podcasts I listened to prior to our trip said they do treat that as the tip, and some say they don’t. The confusing part is the amount isn’t standard – some places it was 3%, or 5% or even 10-15%. So use your discretion but potentially plan for that in your budget.

Transportation/Getting Around the City

The easiest way to travel around DC with kids is to walk or take the Metro and that’s what we did. There’s no messing with car seats or trying to find a Lyft/Uber with a car seat (in our experience, they don’t have them in DC anyways). Apple Maps does a great job of telling you what trains to take to get where you want to go – you just have to choose the “public transportation” icon when searching- and that’s what I would recommend. In my experience, kids also enjoy waiting for the trains, trying to guess which way they will come from, etc.

The other option would be to rent a car, which we did at the end of our trip – but only because we had plans to leave the city for a few days. Keep in mind if you do rent a car, you’ll need to factor in the cost of hotel parking along with any other street parking.

Is Washington DC worth it with kids?

It absolutely is. The free museums alone make this a super budget friendly place to bring a family, but on top of that, the museums are, like, actually really cool. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t normally enjoy museums. We would absolutely return with our kids again and if you’re on the fence about visiting with yours, I cannot recommend it enough. It’s both educational and fun which, let’s be real here, is all we really want as parents right? And using points and miles for our flights and hotel meant this was one of our cheapest family trips of the year. Go ahead and get your museum on!