What to do in DC after 5pm
 

My husband and I will be in DC June 3rd & 4th. Since it's not a lot of time to catch a lot of sights, we wanted to know what we could put off doing during the day to do at night.

Most of the museums close at 5 or 5:30, but several of the Smithsonians have summer hours already, until about 7:30; go to www.si.edu, I believe they now have a page that lists the hours of all their places. If you're up early, you can see the zoo, since the grounds open at 6 AM.

The monuments are open 24/7, and are lit up after dark. IMHO, most of them are better visited then, except the Vietnam Memorial. And I think the little museum in the base of the Lincoln Memorial closes at night.

Some of the private museums, like the new Spy Museum, also have evening hours.

We were in DC in April and did a Tourmobile at night of the monuments. We really enjoyed it (even the kids). We had gone to a few of the monuments during the day, but the guides really give you a lot of information. After going on the tour, we realized how much we missed by going on our own and were glad we went on the Tourmobile.

I posted a similar question here and was just about to check for any updates: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34604126

Hockeymom,
In your opinion, does the Tourmobile give enough emphasis and time at the World War II Memorial?

Hoping to take the family, my parents and grandfather (who isn't too mobile) and hoping to find a good way for him to see it.

Thanks.

The National Archives is open until 9 pm

I think that all of the monuments received adequate discussion and time, but if you want to be sure about WWII, I would contact Tourmobile to make sure. Seeing the monuments at night was definitely worth the price. We also had an awesome guide who really gave us a lot of information. I would recommend the tour highly. We also did the tour at Arlington National Cemetary and found that worthwhile as well. We did not do the whole city Tourmobile, though.

Take the Metro over to Foggy Bottom - get a transfer pass at the station you board the Metro at -- catch the free Kennedy Center bus from almost directly in front of the FB Metro station escalators and see the free concert offered each night at the Millenium Stage. Go up to the roof (Terrace) and walk around for a cool breeze & view of DC. Go back to Foggy Bottom and use your transfer passes to get a 35cent fare on the blue "Georgetown Shuttle" over to Georgetown. Shop, eat, drink, or just stroll around.

Or take the Metro Blue or Yellow down to King Street Alexandria. Stroll down to the river & back. Use Dash Bus one way down if round trip walk is too much. On weekends they have a free bus. Great little town, safe & nice walking.

I think that doing the west end of the mall in the evening is really nice. Weather is cooler, less people and the momuments (WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Lincoln memorial) are very nicely lit.

I'd start at the WWII memorial and walk the loop around the reflecting pond.