washington, DC Dulles Air & Space Museum
 

My husband and I and 14 year old son will be in DC the first week of June. We heard that the Air and Space Museum at the Dulles Airport was better than the Air and Space Museum downtown. Does anyone know if this is true?
Second ?
We have 5 days there. Would you recommend taking the time to go to Mount Vernon? Thanks!

As to which Air and Space, I don't think you can definitively say one is better than the other. It depends on what you're looking for. If your kid was younger, I'd say go to the Air and Space in DC. If he were older, I'd say go to the Dulles Air and Space. The DC Air and Space is more of a classic Smithsonian museum with nooks and crannies filled with all sorts of information. The Dulles Air and Space is a much more open museum, picture and airport hanger, where the "Wow factor" is the artefacts themselves. So, would your son prefer walking around in a hanger looking at the Enola Gay and a Space Shuttle, or is he more the explorer type interested in early space development in a classic museum setting with more content.

If you've been to DC before and have seen a lot of the downtown "stuff", I'd consider heading out to the Dulles Air and Space. Otherwise, I'd stay in town and maximize your time in DC.

As for Mount Vernon, I'm a huge fan. Again, however, if this is your first time in DC, you may want to stick to downtown. If this is your second trip or later, I would include it in a 5 day trip.

We just spent four days in DC, and managed to do everything we wanted and still get to Mt. Vernon. It was the highlight of our trip (we did have a 13 year old with us). There is a new museum at Mt. Vernon and between visiting the grounds and the museum, we spent 6 hours there. It made a nice break from the city; we saved it for our last day. There is a food court there for lunch, in addition to a nicer sit down restaurant.

I do hope you get tickets for the Holocaust museum, too.

If you have a car the Museum at Dulles is definitely worth seeing. But if you have to take public transportation it will take most of a day. DH and I went to it last November. You have to take Metro to a bus. You ride the bus forever and then have to catch a shuttle to the museum. The bus and the shuttle are not coordinated. When you get off the bus you will find that the shuttle just left and won't be back for another 45 minutes. Then you repeat the process going back into DC.

We do have a car so thought if it was worth it we might do it on our way home since that's the direction we'll be going. I guess if we have the time since we'll be by the DC one we could do it faster with the idea we can also do the other too and spend whatever time we want to.
You mentioned Holocaust tickets. Do we need to get those online or how do we go about that?

Hi jacobla. Here's another vote for Mount Vernon. It will be time well spent and you all will love it! Ford's Theatre/Museum is also not to be missed. We've been to the Air & Space downtown and would include that also (Dulles one was not open then).

You can go to the Holocaust museum the same day, first thing in the morning for tickets later in the day, or order them online via their website. We did the latter in time to have them mailed to us. They can run out of tickets early, and they were pretty serious about letting people in AT their designated time.

The tickets are free, you just pay the online service charge.

You should also check into timed tickets for the Washington Memorial online, and you can contact your senator or congressman's office for a Capitol building tour.

The Air and Space Museum at Dulles is really fantastic - as one poster already said, for the "wow" factor alone. Most impressive for me was standing next to a space shuttle...very cool.

There are a few simulator rides at the museum near Dulles that your 14 year old might enjoy.

After reading your responses we will definitely go to Dulles because I'm sure my son will love it and it will be a new experience for him. We'll have to try to do Mt. Vernon too. We enjoyed Monticello when we went there so I'm quite sure we'd like this. And I'll have to add Ford's too if we can. Thanks for all the help. I always turn here with questions because I know I'll be able to make a decision after I read this!

I like both of them. I'm a little partial to the Mall A&S because there just so much history there (and the Dulles one was a larger version of the Museum of Flight in Seattle, which I'd seen earlier).

Both are worth it if you like air and space stuff. The Mall museum also has simulators -- not to mention the Wright Flyer, the Apollo 11 module and the Spirit of St. Louis, plus a nice rocket collection. So it's not like you won't see some great aircraft if you just visit the Mall.

Mt. Vernon, as mentioned, is a great rec.