I have a long layover at Dulles in October, and I'd like to get out and see D.C. for about four hours (never been there). Any suggestions for a compact itinerary that includes lunch?

Do you have four hours between planes? or four hours for DC plus three hours for transportation to/from the city and screening upon return to IAD?

The layover is about 6.5 hours total, so maybe more like 3.5 hours in the city.

Compact itinerary would be to go to the mall area and spend a little time walking around seeing the monuments. There is a great walking tour on the web on about.com.
If you need a link, I can post it. That way you can spend as much time as you want at each monument and just see as much as you can.
Good lunch around the mall is a little harder to come by. Other posters might have some suggestions there. Do you just want a quick lunch?

http://godc.about.com/od/dctoursitin...s/wt_mmrls.htm

the link

Also realize it will cost you $150 round trip to get into the city and back to Dulles in the most efficient means. I wouldn't do it. I'd love to have you in my city, but you'd be crazy to try to get into the city and back in that amount of time, especially if you want lunch.

I don't see it working for that short of time. Even if you could get to the nearest METRO stop and ride into the Mall you could not see much other than the skyline; not that that is a bad thing.

I would think about going to the Air & Space Musuem just off the airport property. Maybe ten minutes via taxi and spend a few hours.

If your really need to see downtown DC then grab a taxi to the Vienna/Fairfax Metro station and then take the Metro to the Smithsonion stop via the Orange Line. The Metro takes about 30 minutes.

The taxi can take forever depending on the time of day.

You do not want to leave the Vienna station via taxi back to Dulles after 3:00 PM at the latest or sooner than 7:00 PM.

The METRO www site has a great trip planner, but they can't factor in traffic jams. Try www.wmata.com for info.

Yikes, I hadn't realized it was such a distance from Dulles to the city! I will be there on a Saturday, so that might make it a little easier but maybe I'll just be stuck in the airport all that time

Jamesr3939 has a good idea about visiting the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Musuem. This is a new addition to the Smithsonian musuems and is located just 2 1/2 miles from Dulles Airport. There are buses from the airport that will take you to the musuem or you can take a taxi. Admission to the musuem is free and there are some neat things there that you could see in 3 hours or so, including a space shuttle and some IMAX films. There's a food court with McDonalds, Boston Market and a pizza place. For more info see their website: http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

If you have a couple hours then the Udvar-Hazy building would be a great place to visit. It's next to Dulles and you'll have no problem getting a cab to and from there and I'll guarantee that you'll enjoy the time you spend there.

Forget the city - you'll actually visit a great, new section of the Smithsonian at the Udvar-Hazy.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like the Air and Space Museum is the way to go.