Visiting Washington DC in August
 

I'm staying in Silver Spring, Maryland, and visiting DC this August and am just wondering if people have any general tips for the area as far as restaurants/sights to see/areas to avoid/etc

We'll be making the rounds through the traditional DC tourist attractions (Lincoln/Jefferson Memorial, White House, Arlington, etc)

Thanks, will +rep

You can't go wrong with the normal tourist attractions but I wouldn't be out really late at night.

All of the monuments, political areas, etc. are in the southwest. The northwest is the richer area and a lot of the schools and nicer clubs are there. If you go to the northwest (you should), the Adams Morgan stop on the Metro is basically entirely bars. I like Dupont Circle as well. The east side is considered the ghetto. I didn't go too far into the east side but pretty much everyone I encountered warned me against going there (the southeast is supposedly the "most" ghetto.) If you do decide to go there, I'd go during daytime in a group and slum it up with sweatpants, etc., but I don't think there's really anything you can't miss on the east side. The 9:30 Club in NW has some cool shows. There's a club called Love in the NE section which is four floors and pretty fun. The Black Cat in Northwest is cool too. I'd really suggest shopping in Georgetown. There are some excellent ethnic foods in and around DC as well. I went to American University for a little while, so let me know if you have any other questions.

Go-Go is a DC thing. See if there is a Go-Go show in town. (Also RIP Chuck Brown)

Haven't been in forever, but I was a huge fan of the DC Zoo when I was a kid. Favorite stop on the way to Disney World.

Stop by Ben's Chili Bowl.....really cheap, delicious food. It is a DC landmark as well.

I had a Chili Half-Smoke and Chili-Cheese Fries. Great stuff.

Since you are visiting you should do all the monuments. I would also check out some of the Smithsonian museum's - Air and Space, American History and Natural History are some of my favorites. You could catch a Nat's game if they are in town. In terms of nightlife I would stick to Northwest - G'Town, Dupont, Foggy Bottoms, Glover Park, Tenleytown...Adams Morgan is meh.

You could check out the National Cathedral. The Georgetown waterfront is pretty nice as well. If you like running/biking take the Capitol Crescent trail and C&O Canal. That runs from Silver Spring down to Georgetown. You can kayak/canoe as well.

Georgetown has several good restaurants to choose from. Their are a few good Mexican restaurants i like - Cactus Cantina and Las Cuates - both have great food/frozen margaritas. Those two are a little bit up Wisconsin avenue from G'town. If you are in Bethesda Olazzo is a great Italian restaurant.

In my single days I went out to Sign of the Whale/Rumors (Dupont) to get loaded.

Hope this helps.

I'm going to be there the 15th through the 22nd. Gonna try to go to one of those first 2 Nats-Braves games I think. 20th through the 22nd. Hopefully Strasburg is pitching one of those 2. 40% chance, I suppose.

The Library of Congress is also awesome. They have (literally) every book you could ever want to read, and you basically sit in these chairs and people bring them to you.

i you've got the time, Mt Vernon is f'ing sweet.... coming from an 8th grade US History teacher. Ford's Theater is sweet, too.

I'll be heading back to DC with 75+ 8th graders next May. I'm pumped to see it all again

Pretty much all the DC stuff has been covered but a few more places I wanted to mention are the Holocaust Museum and the Crime Museum. They are around all the others but tend to get lost as neither are official Smithsonian museums and therefore go unnoticed. I agree with everyone else, the strip of restaurants and shops along Georgetown's waterfront are awesome. One other place I'd recommend, if you have a big group of people, would be Maggiano's Little Italy. They do family style for 4+ people and its AMAZING.

Also, I noticed you said you are staying in Silver Spring. I used to live there and the downtown Silver Spring area is really nice. I recommend checking out Ray's The Classics. It looks fancy but its got arguably the best burger in DC with its famous Ray's Hell Burger.

Just an update: I bought my girlfriend and I two tickets to the Friday, August 17th Nationals tilt against the Mets. If any of you are heading to that game, we should definitely meet up.

Yeah, we are staying at the Hilton Homewood Suites. My girlfriend works at a Hilton around here, so she gets uber discounts on any Hilton. You wouldn't believe how much we are paying for a week's stay there.

I'll be sure to check out that restaurant, not much better than a good burger.

some of my fav affordable restaurants are birch and barley, dino, graffiato, pig dc, toki underground, oyamel, two amys, hanks oyster bar, the standard, and pearl dive oyster bar. you wont go wrong with any of those. churchkey and jack roses are my two favorite bars. jack roses is fng awesome. other than citronelle, which cost a fortune, the georgetown restaurants are really not that great compared to some of the better offerings in dc.

the previously mentioned bens chili bowl and hell burger are legit. maggianos is not so much.

Just finished a book by former Secret Service agent Clint Hill who was assigned to the first lady back in the early 60s. Made me think of visiting Arlington cemetary to see where JFK is buried. Also have to get to the Viet Nam wall. Too many friends i'm sure haven't forgiven me for not looking them up there.

Prepare for some serious heat too.

That sounds cool. I could probably spend an entire vacation there.

Jumbo slice isn't all that good.

I wanted Match Box but the wait was to long.

Stay away from Damix ;)

Founding Farmers is a pretty cool Bar/restaurant - they have some pretty good drink concoctions

Went to Ray's the Classics last night and Ray's Hell Burger was one of the best burgers I have ever had. I got it Spicy Diablo Style. My girlfriend got the blackened scallops and those were incredible as well.

That place is only a 3-4 minute walk from my hotel, too.

Is that the restaurant they use in Bones episodes for "Founding Fathers"?