Washington DC Spring Blog

We arrived in Washington with the obvious momuments and museums on our to-do list. Oh how we were surprised. Over the next 48 hours we discovered a city full of charm, colour and a cosmopolitan vibe.

Visiting the monuments and museums around the National Mall and Memorial Parks is an absolute must. You don't even need to go into the museums (they were very busy over the Easter weekend), as there's so much to see and take in outside. My only advice is to plan for lunch (book or take) unless you're happy to use one of the many over-priced and poor quality food trucks around there.

We stayed at The Lyle Hotel in the Dupont Circle District. The hotel is ideally placed to explore all parts of the city, whether on foot, electric scooter or other! The service was outstanding, with all staff helpful and pleasant throughout. The restaurant and bar is clearly a go-to place in the area and the food was fantastic. The rooms were comfortable, just ask to be high and at the back to reduce street noise.

Visiting in the spring has the major bonus of the spring blossom and blooms. We visited a couple of weeks after peak blossom but there was still so much colour everywhere, so don't worry if you think you're late! You just need to travel around more of the city and visit the more residential areas to see some of these stunning blooms. We either walked or scooted everywhere, from Dupont Circle to Georgetown, up to the zoo and elsewhere, only taking one taxi in our time there.

There are height restrictions on architecture in Washington, which makes for a very European feel with the low buildings. We were warned of heavy city traffic but, perhaps benefitting from Easter holiday, the city and residential areas felt incredibly peaceful and a joy to walk through and explore. I can highly recommend the electric scooters and finding the cycle lanes to explore along!

Without doubt the highlight for me was the eclectic mix of architecture in the city, from the historical Neoclassical buildings to Beaux-Arts, Postmodern and so much more. I only captured a few here!

I couldn't not feature the highlight of our visit for our two daughters, which was the Smithsonian National Zoo. The star of the show were the Giant Pandas who were very active and a joy to watch. We also loved how some of the animals were treated to popcorn, which they clearly loved!