I have looked at the website and searched here. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know I need to narrow down what I want to see but it looks pretty overwhelming. Has anyone been recently?

I've been to a few recently. It is overwhelming, so unless you are planning to stay in DC for a long time, you've got to decide what your interests are, concentrate on one, two or 3 museums and forget the rest.

As far as when you go, I suggest staying somewhere (whether in DC, or in the N. Va. or MD suburbs) that has easy access to the Metro, and use the Metro to get to the Mall and the museums. Parking can be difficult to impossible, and the street grid may seem simple, but get onto a one-way street or in one of the squares where many streets converge, and it is easy to find yourself where you didn't intend. Trust me, I've driven into DC many times over the past 25 years and I still make wrong turns!

We will be staying at the Hilton Dupont Circle Hotel and will only have a day for the museum because we hope to walk around the Mall. It will be a crunch but better than nothing!

It is not A museum - it's several. And the first thing you need to do is pick which ones and then which departments you want to see. If you are trying to see the Mall and the major monuments the same day you can probably see smallish parts of 2 of the musuems.

Definitely the Space Musuem if you have kids

One day is better than nothing, but you will need to have a plan for sure.

I also love the Air and Space museum, but I have been fascinated by space travel since my teacher brought a TV to school so we could watch the first launches of man in space.

I also love the American History museum - lots of very interesting exhibits.

The Smithsonian Institute website is not nearly detailed enough. You really need some good guidebooks to plan your day wisely.

Wear the most comfortable shoes you own. Seriously.

Definitely narrow down what you want to see. Don't try to go to more than 3 museums - and don't try to see everything in any museum.

My favorites are Natural History and Air and Space.

The next time I go in warm weather I want to join up with a tour in one of the gardens.
http://www.gosmithsonian.com/museums...e-Gardens.html

But, most important of all...the shoes

When you get to whichever musuem you choose, ask the information desk when and where the next docent-led tour group begins. The docents are volunteers. They are specifically trained for their museum and are usually very knowledgeable in their own right. The tours are free. We get 100% more out of our Smithsonian (and other DC places, such as the Library of Congress) when we join these tours. You can join them or drop away at any time.

Thanks for all the good information. I think I will look for a guide book, my most comfortable shoes and a docent when we get there!

I haven't been to the Smithsonian in ages, but we are planning a trip to DC this summer. Last time we were there, we had one day for the Smithsonian. We chose 2 of the museums and only made it through 1 that day.

One of the joys of the Smithsonians is that they're free. Which means you can museum hop with abandon and not feel obligated to see each museum in its entirety. So check out their websites and look for particular exhibits you might be interested in. Which museums are best depends a lot on what your particular interests are - they've extremely varies. My only specific piece of advice would be to plan to eat lunch at the American Indian museum cafeteria, which is great (skip the museum itself, the building is lovely, the exhibits are lousy). Enjoy!!

Thanks for the tip about lunch! Right now we are sweating the weather and hope DC doesn't get another storm.

The problem with American Indian as your lunch spot (however tasty the food) is that it is at one end of the Mall and far from the more popular American History and Natural History museums, though close to Air and Space (look at a map). Your museum-viewing choices may dictate that you eat in one of the less-inviting cafeterias. If you find the food bland and overpriced, well, consider that extra $10 expense as the price of admission to all the free attractions.

Yep if you are going to Air & Space, make sure you do that before lunch, so you can go to American Indian for its delicious food.

I would do American History, Air & Space, American Indian for lunch (and check if they are doing any interesting events that day), and also the Sackler Gallery - it's a little gem with an interesting East Asia exhibit as well as some ancient Egyptian stuff.

Sorry, I meant Natural History, not History!

The majority of the Smithsonian museums are on the National Mall. If you take the Metro (subway) in and get off at the Smithsonian stop you'll be smack in the middle of the Mall with the Capitol at one end and the Lincoln Memorial at the other. From the Smithsonian metro stop you can see the Capitol and the Washington Monument so in a sense if you do the museums you'll see some monuments as well.

We've visited many Smithsonian museums over the years. I'll see if I can add to what the others have shared.

1) As others have mentioned, the Smithsonian is a collection of museums. While most are located along the Mall, not all are; some aren't even located in the District.

2) I see that you've written that you're sweating the weather, so I'm assuming you're going soon. Be very aware of what you're wearing when visiting, especially for the young set, if you have children. While there are self-service coat checks, I've never felt comfortable leaving our outerwear. Not only do you run the risk of it stolen (which would be rough enough), think about the difficulty of replacing a coat in DC.

3) Especially if you're limited in time, I'd advise a quick trip into the Castle for an overview of the various museums.

4) If you're going on the weekend, be aware that the Air & Space Museum can become uncomfortably crowded.

5) This is more of a generic tip in case others reference this thread in the future, but always be sure to check the Smithsonian website (http://www.si.edu/visit/hours.htm) for the latest updates re: closures. The Smithsonian museums are on a rotating schedule for maintenance; they close one at a time for renovation. Currently, the Art and Industries Building is closed.

6) And finally, again weather-related, be sure to visit the Alerts site (http://www.alerts.si.edu/) or better yet, save the 24-hour Information line (202.633.8100) in your mobile phone so you'll be able to double-check whether the museums are open if the predicted storm does in fact hit (and they've been going back & forth all week, so who knows?).

Have a fun trip!

To happy_one and the other posters, thank you so much for all the tips and suggestions. We will need that phone number if we go! My TC is glued to the NOAA weather site so we shall see.

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