I'll be in Washington, DC this Friday-Wednesday for a conference. I have some ideas, but any suggestions on activities and restaurants would be extremely welcome! I'll be traveling with two coworkers (mid-20s women) for the weekend and joined by several others Sunday. None of us have been to DC in a loooong time.

Lodging: We're flying into Reagan and staying at the Hyatt Crystal City (where the conference is). Is it easy to walk between the hotel and the Crystal City Metro stop, or do we need to take advantage of the hotel shuttle? I don't mind walking 10-15 minutes as long as it's safe, but I can't tell if these are roads that are likely to have sidewalks.

Itinerary: We'll have Friday afternoon/evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning to sightsee before the conference starts. Then we'll have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, and some time Wednesday before flying back (flight leaves DCA around 7pm). Right now I basically want to hit:
- the monuments, during the daytime and at night;
- some of the museums (Natural History and Holocaust for sure) and the Mall;
- the National Archives;
- and maybe explore Georgetown a little.

Any other suggestions? I'm interested in history and really anything that sounds interesting, which I know sounds like a total copout, but for this trip it's true! Has anyone been to the Butterflies + Plants exhibit at the Natural History museum? It sounds awesome, but they always do - just wondering if it's worth planning a half day around timed tickets for that.

Restaurants: I have no clue on this. We'll need to eat out for pretty much all our meals. Any suggestions for a $15-20/dinner entree budget (or less)? Anything around Crystal City OR tourist spots would be great.

Thank you SO much for your help!

I think you'll need to take the shuttle from the hotel to the Metro. The streets are a little weird in that area (plenty of sidewalks, for the most part).

There are now quite a few places around Crystal City now:
http://crystalcity.com/Dine_Shop_Sta...staurant_Guide

I recommend Jaleo (tapas) -- they also have branches in Penn Quarter in DC and Bethesda. Both the washingtonpost.com and Washingtonian (washingtonian.com) web sites have restaurant reviews.

You can also go up to Pentagon City. There are restaurants in your price range at Post Pentagon Row right near the mall. I haven't eaten at Lebanese Taverna recently -- perhaps someone has more recent input.

If you're in DC, you should have no problems finding places to eat in your price range. Try the Dupont Circle area, Penn Quarter also has several restaurants too.

You may want to make reservations for the Holocaust Museum since Saturday is your only full day for sightseeing. Timed passes are available on the day of visit but that may not work for you on Friday or Sunday.

Thanks so much, cerise! I kind of wanted to try a tapas restaurant or something along those lines anyway, since I don't think we have one where I live.

It hadn't occurred to me that the Holocaust Museum would need timed tickets, and now it seems like they're "sold out" almost the entire weekend, except for one slot we can't do. But we'll have most of Wednesday free before we need to be at the airport - do you know about how long it would take to go through properly?

Love the Jaleo.

Re: timed entry tickets -- if you arrive first thing in the morning, sometimes you can get in (people don't show up, are late, etc.)

I wouldn't go from Crystal City to Pentagon City to eat--if you're gonna get on the train anyway, it would be a lot more fun to ride the Yellow Line a few stops more to Gallery Place-Chinatown. Lots of restaurants there including Jaleo, Rosa Mexicano, Zola(at the Spy Museum), and the Chinatown spots.

Or take the Blue or Yellow line the other direction to King Street and walk a few blocks into Old Town Alexandria; plenty of restaurants to choose from there as well.

Both choice will be a lot more interesting and pleasant surroundings than Crystal City or Pentagon City.

Consider the Spy Museum also for sightseeing; buy timed tickets in advance on-line. Right in that same area are also the National Portrait Galley and the National Archives.

The monuments at night are great but not that easy to get to by public transit; consider taking a cab to the Vietnam War Memorial and walking from their to Lincoln and Korean War memorials. FDR memorial and the adjoining Tidal Basin are lovely at night (the Jefferson Memorial is also located along the Tidal Basin). If everyone's up for walking a bit you can walk from the Lincoln to the FDR without much trouble. Or you can walk from the Lincoln along the reflecting pool to the WWII Memorial, but that would be my second choice personally). (Another tidbit worth knowing is that the Lincoln, FDR and WWII Memorials all have nice public toilets).

Jaleo's is great - either downtown or at Crystal City. Bebo Trattoria is good Italian in Crystal City. That strip has a bunch of restaurants.

If you walk the other way on 23rd St in CC you'll hit some other good restaurants - there's a good Thai place, Italian place called Portofino's (I think), and a few others to choose from.

For lunch if you are near the museums, a few of them have pretty good cafeterias - look on the Smithsonian website.

Jaleo is a great suggestion but there is no need to go to the Penn Quarter or Bethesda (really far and not very interesting) as there is a branch of Jaleo right in Crystal City not far at all from the hotel. You may also want to check out Bebo, which is also in Crystal City.

As for other restaurants I do suggeest taking the yellow line into the city for good dining. If you get off at Gallery Place (10 min ride) some of my favorites are Matchbox, Central, Zengo and Oyamel. If you go about 10 min further and get off at U st. Cardozo you will be in one of the best neighborhoods in the city. Some great restaurants there are Etete, Cafe. St. Ex, Utopia, Busboys and Poets and the Saloon (more a bar but a great beer selection). All of the places I have mentioned have websites.

Finally you will have no issues walking to the metro from your hotel. There are sidewalks and the area is very safe. You can probably also connect to the metro by using the Crystal City underground.

Another restaurant I like is B. Smith and it's right in Union Station. As far as the Holocaust Museum, it's self guided so you could go through pretty quickly, but is really one of those places where you'll want to spend the time.

Thank you so much, everyone! We tried to get tickets for the Holocaust museum on Wednesday, but no luck there either - I think we're going to just start going when we get there and hope we get tickets at some point. MP07950, that's what I figured - if there's one place I don't want to be rushed, it's there!

All those restaurants sound great - thank you so much for all the suggestions!