The Smithsonians are all free. Many others are free as well. You may or may not need timed tickets to enter some of them, or for particular exhibits (just a crowd control measure). Definitely too early to try and get them now.
Lincoln Mem is good (you can walk right in); Wash Mon needs timed tickets, I believe (it’s a very small elevator to a very small space). I don’t know if they still do walk down tours, but those are very cool. All the memorial stones are inside the obelisk.
Go to the Old Post Office Pavilion (the Waldorf Astoria) on Penna Ave and go up their clock tower; best view in town.
As for getting a WH tour, check with the embassy, they may be able to set something up.
Hello fellow Canuck! Others have answered your question about the Smithsonian Museums and other sites, but regarding the White House. The White House website says foreigners should go through their embassy to book tours, but the Canadian mission recently posted a clarification, essentially saying “We don’t know what they’re talking about.”
The only times when I as a Canadian was able to tour the White House (generally just the East Wing) was through friends or colleagues who interned there or knew someone who worked there. And even then it’s been a few years so not sure if that’s still possible.
A week isn't enough time for the museums. They are almost all lined up on both sides of the Mall. Congress is on one end, Washington and Jefferson on the other, Lincoln a little further. The Zoo is up the Red Line a little North.
You might want to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, that's in Arlington, across the Potomac river. There are tour busses, but you can walk most of it.
Consider staying at a hotel in Maryland or Virginia and riding the Metro downtown, it'll save you serious coin. It gets quite hot in summer, consider coming in April, May, September or early October.
keyjan t1_jd618g7 wrote
The Smithsonians are all free. Many others are free as well. You may or may not need timed tickets to enter some of them, or for particular exhibits (just a crowd control measure). Definitely too early to try and get them now.
Lincoln Mem is good (you can walk right in); Wash Mon needs timed tickets, I believe (it’s a very small elevator to a very small space). I don’t know if they still do walk down tours, but those are very cool. All the memorial stones are inside the obelisk.
Go to the Old Post Office Pavilion (the Waldorf Astoria) on Penna Ave and go up their clock tower; best view in town.
As for getting a WH tour, check with the embassy, they may be able to set something up.