Yellow Productions presents
Ten things to know before
you go to Washington DC.
I'm Chris. This is Yellow Productions.
I do travel guides that are fun,
informative and entertaining.
And in this video I'm
going to be telling you
everything you need to
know before you come
to the nations capitol
of the United States of America.
And I'm filming this live on location
here on the National Mall.
That is the Capitol
Building right behind me.
So the first thing we'll start with
is just some general
information about Washington DC.
And that is if you're referring to DC,
that is the region.
District of Columbia,
Maryland and Virginia.
That's kind of how the area's referred to.
If you're referring to
the actual city state
that is the District of Columbia,
the locals refer to that as The District.
So if you say, "I live in The District,"
or, "I'm going to The District."
That is this part right here.
The nations capitol.
And sometimes the bigger
area is referred to the DMV.
Not the Department of Motor Vehicles.
But DC, Maryland and Virginia.
And just one thing to know,
if you're coming here
and you're trying to plan
how much time to spend in DC,
I would say don't spend
any less than three days.
You could easily a spend a
week in the greater DC area.
There's certainly lots of museums,
things like that to check out.
Capitol Building tours,
but there's lots of stuff
in the region, including things like
Thomas Jefferson's house,
George Washington's house.
Those you'll need a car too.
But you can easily spend
a week in this area.
If you're really a history buff,
you've never been here before,
make sure you have plenty of time.
The second thing to know about DC
is about the city layout.
And so the city layout,
it's a grid pattern
that has some diagonal
streets with some circles.
And the lettered streets
they run east west.
The numbered streets they run north south.
The diagonal streets, those are typically
the names of states
like Connecticut Avenue.
And you should also know that DC
is organized into four quadrants.
And the center of DC,
that building right behind me,
the Capitol Building and from around it,
there's four quadrants.
North West, North East,
South West and South East.
So if you have an address in DC,
it'll a number, a street and then
North West, North East,
South West, South East
at the end of it.
So if you're plotting Google maps,
you're telling a taxi where to go,
make sure you have the
correct quadrant of the city.
Otherwise you might end up some place
completely different
than you were expecting.
The third thing to know about DC
is getting in, or getting here.
How do you get to DC?
Well you could certainly drive in the DC,
though I wouldn't recommend it.
DC is notorious for having
some of the worst traffic
in almost any city in the US.
And parking can be quite expensive.
If you're flying into DC
there are three airports.
There's Ronald Reagan,
there's Washington Dulles
and there's Baltimore
Washington International.
The thing about those three airports,
none of them are actually in The District.
Ronald Reagan DCA, it's
in Arlington in Virginia.
That's the closest.
It's just over the river.
If you fly in there
it's just a short three,
four stop metro ride or
a 15 dollar taxi, Uber,
into the city.
If you fly into Washington Dulles
that's about 20 miles east in Virginia.
If you fly into Baltimore, Washington,
that's even further up towards Baltimore.
My favorite airports happen
to be Reagan, or Dulles.
Just really depends where you
can get a direct flight to.
Also you can take the train into DC.
There's the Amtrak trains.
They come into Union Station,
which behind me there's
the Capitol Building
and just kind of to the left
of the Capitol Building,
there's Union Station.
Lots of great Amtrak trains
come in from the north.
From New York. Points that way.
From the south as well.
So that's a great way
to come into the city.
Okay, the fourth thing to know
is about transportation in DC.
So you've already got here and
now you need to get around.
Well, my advice to you
when you're in The District is to walk.
Use your feet and walk around
because the traffic's awful.
And there is a Metro.
So the second way to get
around is to take the Metro.
Or the subway.
It's called the Metro
because it's underground,
or subway in DC.
But when it goes into Maryland, Virginia
then a lot of places elevated
and it's not a subway anymore.
The Metro, or subway, is pretty efficient
during work times on weekdays, on weekends
and evening hours.
The trains don't come as frequently
so it can be a long wait.
It's just not really quite
as good for a tourist,
as it is if you work here,
coming here for work.
If you are taking the Metro,
make sure that you get a SmarTrip Card.
I was looking for it
but I'll put a picture
of it right up here.
It's kind of the re-loadable, IC card.
You tap it on to ride,
you tap it off to exit.
They don't do single fare cards anymore.
You have to buy one of those.
They're two dollars to buy the card.
And then you load it up with
money when you ride the train.
They have different fairs for
peak hours, off peak hours.
You can also buy day passes
and things like that.
The Metro's not super expensive,
so I just try to load it
up with about 20 bucks
when I get here and that lasts
me quite a bit of time in DC.
There's also the Capitol
Bikeshare, if you like to bike.
There are 175 Capitol Bikeshare
stations around the city.
They're the bikes that you can rent
by the hour or by the day.
Pick them up at one, drop
them off at another one.
That's pretty convenient.
Taxi's and Uber are
plentiful around the city.
There's Lyft as well.
So you can take those.
You will not definitely be
without wheel transportation.
And then of course, did
I mention you can drive?
You can, but you're going to
pay a lot of money to park.
Alright, the fifth thing to know
about DC is about the museums.
The museums in Washington
DC, they are fantastic.
This particular area, the
National Mall that I'm standing on
it is like the museum
capitol of the world.
And the Smithsonian is
basically the national franchise
museums of the United States.
All the Smithsonians are free.
The headquarters for the
Smithsonian is The Castle.
And, let's see, you can't see it.
But it's back that way.
Trust me, there's a castle over there.
The Smithsonian Castle
let's the visitors center,
you can find out more information
about all the Smithsonians.
My favorite is the Air and Space Museum
which is located pretty
close to the Capitol Building
on that side of the mall.
That's the right side if you're
facing the Capitol Building.
The Air and Space Museum has
lots of cool things from NASA.
Lots of cool planes.
Air and Space Museum has two locations.
It's got one on the National Mall,
it's got another out at Dulles Airport.
And so if you want to see the
really big things in there
like the Space Shuttle, The Concord,
those are all going to
be out at Dulles Airport.
And the other thing to
know about museums in DC
there's also some other
commercial museums.
There's the Newseum, the Spy Museum.
Those will cost you more money.
I haven't been into them.
I've heard the Spy Museum is pretty cool.
But if you go to Smithsonian, free.
And the private ones, they're
going to cost you some money.
Still talking about museums
I turned the camera around
for this part cause I was
just standing right in front
of the Washington Monument.
The Washington Monument is
one of my favorite museums
on the National Mall.
What do you mean museum Chris?
Well it has an observatory at the top
of the Washington Monument.
Unfortunately it's closed
until 2019 for repairs,
but if you're watching this after 2019,
or you're planning a trip here after 2019,
make sure you get a ticket
to ride the elevator
up to the top of the Washington Monument.
There's excellent views up there.
Alright, I'm going to swing the camera
back around again to my previous position.
And my second favorite
museum in the DC area
it's the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
I had particularly mentioned this one,
because it's not a Smithsonian
and so not a whole bunch
of people know about it.
But the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
that is where they print
the money in the US
and you can take tours in the morning
and in the afternoon, in the winter times,
you don't need a reservation.
So if you come September 5th to March 2nd,
no reservations are needed.
Just show up and you'll get on a tour.
If you come in the summer, the
waits going to be pretty long
make sure you get a
reservation ahead of time.
And the final thing to know about museums
is some of the best gift shops in DC
are inside the museums.
So if you're looking for
souvenirs or things like that,
check out the Smithsonian gift shops.
Alright, the sixth thing to
know before you come to DC
is about Government stuff.
I'm bet your surprised I
haven't mentioned these things
but some of the cool things to visit,
there's the Capitol Building.
If you want to visit the Capitol Building,
book some tickets in advance.
They do have limited tickets
if you arrive the day of,
but you can book tickets to
the Capitol Building online
or through your
Congressional Representative.
The White House, if you want
to go to the White House,
I'm going to point that
way cause the White House
is that direction from where I'm standing.
You will need to reserve a
few months before your trip
through your Congressional Representative.
There are no same day walk
up tours for the White House.
So that requires some advance planning.
I personally think the Capitol
Building tour is cooler
than the White House tour.
So if you can only do one,
do the Capitol Building.
If you come when Congress is in session
you can also go in and sit on
some Congressional sessions.
That's pretty neat and
sometimes they'll have tickets
for those available the day of,
often if you come later in the afternoon.
You'll have to go.
There's some ticket desks
inside the Capitol Building.
You just show up and say,
"Hey, do you have a ticket?"
And if they do they'll hand you one
and you can go up and sit in to a session.
Alright, the seventh thing to know
about coming to Washington DC
is about the time to visit.
And, you know, Washington DC is famous
for having some pretty bad weather.
It gets a pretty bad wrap.
In the summer particular,
it can get really hot and humid in DC.
In the winter it can snow.
The best times to visit
DC is April and October.
I'm shooting this in October.
You might not think this
is the best weather,
but actually this kind of weather here.
It's breezy, it's about
70 degrees fahrenheit.
So not too hot, not too cold.
The humidity always makes
it feel warmer here.
So October is a good
shoulder season month,
hotels are fairly inexpensive.
But the best time to visit,
March or April for Cherry Blossom season.
And yes, it can be busy,
but the Cherry Blossoms
are truly amazing and a sight to behold.
You will be here with everybody
else and their mother,
so it'll be busy and packed.
But the Cherry Blossoms truly amazing.
Definitely don't miss that.
But one of my favorite times to come to DC
is actually in the winter.
That time when it's cold,
like December and January,
there will be no crowds at all.
There's like nobody
because who wants to come
to a place that's super cold.
But DC actually isn't super cold.
And if you're spending your
time in all these buildings.
The Capitol Building, the Smithsonian.
You're not actually spending
all that much time outside.
And so the fact that it's cold
doesn't matter all that much.
And you can get hotels that,
maybe like the Park Hyatt
in Washington DC that
often go for $500 a night
in January are like $200 a night.
So you can get some pretty good hotels
for pretty cheap in the
winter, winter, winter.
Alright, the eighth thing
to know about Washington DC,
it's about hotels.
I was just talking about those.
So what do you want to know about hotels?
Well the hotels, they
can be really expensive
in The District and so can parking.
Good hotels often run an
average of $200 to $300 a night.
A lot of the people who come to DC
obviously come here for the Government.
The Government publishes this thing called
the Government rate and that's
often where the rooms start
and kind of go up from there in price.
If you are looking for some
cheaper type accommodations,
don't stay in The District.
Stay in Virginia, either in Arlington.
It's the city that right borders DC.
Or Alexandria just to
the south of Arlington.
There can be some more
inexpensive hotels there
that are pretty close to the Metro.
You can just hop on the
subway, head into DC.
You get a cheaper room rate,
you don't have to pay as much for parking.
It's kind of a win win all together.
One of my favorites in Crystal City
is the Crystal Gateway Marriott.
And I've got a video review of that.
You can find a link to it in
the description below as well.
If you're staying in The District
and you like the high end hotels,
my favorites are the Park
Hyatt, Washington DC.
One of my favorite Park Hyatts.
And my second favorite
is the Mayflower Hotel.
Which is Marriott
affiliated as a Renaissance.
That one really close to DuPont Circle.
So that's a pretty neat area to stay.
So if you want to know
what the best area of DC
to stay for a tourist is,
I think DuPont Circle's pretty cool
because there's a lot of restaurants
and things like that around there.
There are hotels just to the
south of the Smithsonians
and the Mall but sometimes those hotels,
they're really designed
for Government business
so they're close to
Government office buildings,
and really far from anything else,
like food or 24 hour drug stores,
et cetera, et cetera.
So try to stay on the north
side of the National Mall
if you are staying in The District.
There's just more liveliness
and tourist amenities in that direction.
Alright, the ninth thing to
know about DC is about food.
I always have this subject
in all of my Things to Know videos,
and of course we're going
to talk about it for DC.
So what do you need to know
about food in The District.
Well, this place that I'm standing
which is where most tourists
go, The National Mall,
has almost zero food.
There's maybe some hot dog trucks
and some food trucks that show up.
The Air and Space Museum has a Mcdonalds.
Actually if you are looking for food,
I think one of the best things
to eat on the National Mall,
it's in the National Museum
of the Native American.
They have a pretty good cafeteria
that has a lot of Native American eats.
But the other good places,
so that's a little expensive
because that's in a Smithsonian,
there are places that
are a little bit cheaper
just to the south of the National Mall,
there's a place called L'Enfant Plaza.
It's a big Metro stop.
There's a lot of good lunch options there.
Another great place for lunch
options is Union Station,
just to the side of the Capitol Building.
There's a huge food
court in Union Station.
If you're looking for dinner type things
the area around Chinatown is pretty good.
DuPont Circle as well.
But I will say if you're
looking for Chinese food,
avoid Chinatown.
The Chinese food in
Chinatown it is not good.
I like to consider myself a
connoisseur of Chinese food
and when I first came to DC
and I didn't know any better
I ate at those Chinese restaurants.
They're not good. Don't eat there.
If you are looking for really
good Chinese food though,
and you're staying in
Virginia, or you have a car,
so you can head out there,
there's a place in Falls Church
called the Peking Gourmet Inn.
It is George Bush's
favorite Chines restaurant
and they specialize in Peking Duck.
I'm going to go out on a limb
and say it is the best
Peking Duck I have had
in the United States of America.
It is really that good.
And I like to head out there on most trips
that I'm out here in Washington DC.
Provided I'm out here with
at least somebody else.
If I'm by myself then I
seem like a huge glutton
eating a Peking Duck all to myself.
If you're getting there for dinner,
five or six you'll be
good, just walk it in.
After that, make a reservation
they get super busy.
And they sell hundreds
of Peking Ducks a night.
I mean, it's truly an amazing place.
And on the walls they've got pictures
of George Bush Jnr and George Bush Snr,
cause they're both their
favorite restaurants.
In The District though,
if you want to know what
some of my favorites are,
number one is Potbelly Sandwich.
Potbelly Sandwich is kind of
a fast food sandwich chain.
But all the sandwiches are
toasted, really delicious.
It didn't start in DC, it
started in Chicago I believe.
But they have a ton of locations in DC.
Their sandwiches are really good.
My second favorite is this place called
Moby Dick, House of Kebab.
And Moby Dick, House of Kebab
it is a middle-eastern kebab place
that serves kind of like beef, lamb,
chicken that are cooked on skewers.
There's delicious rice.
I don't know how they make the chicken,
beef and lamb so tender and juicy,
but they do it really good.
Their location in DC is
right around DuPont Circle.
That's another place I hit
up almost every time I come,
actually I think I'm going to hit that up
right after this video.
So they'll probably be
a picture here of me,
not me eating it, but my plate of food
at Moby Dick, House of Kebab.
My third favorite, this place
called Ben's Chili Bowl.
It's on U Street.
It is a African American
institution in Washington DC.
There were a bunch of riots here
and it was like one of the few places
that wasn't burned down.
Cause it's African American owned.
And they have what they call
these Chili Half Smokes.
They are a cross between a
hot dog and a spicy sausage.
They put chili on top.
Probably not really good for you.
But it is really delicious.
And then if you want to know
what my favorite sit down place is in DC,
it's Legal Sea Foods.
It's a Boston chain,
but they've been serving
their clam chowder
to the White House for a
lot of their inaugurations
and things like that.
And their location in The
District is right in Chinatown.
I should finally mention,
also another neighborhood great for food
is the Georgetown neighborhood.
The Metro doesn't really go there easily.
But Georgetown is a
cool place to check out,
lots of restaurants there for the evening.
Alright, the last thing to know,
the tenth thing to know about DC,
is DC it's more than
just the National Mall.
There's so many people
that I've talked to,
that when they've come to DC,
this place right here that you see
is the only place they came to.
They came to the Mall, they
checked out the museums,
and they didn't see all the stuff that DC
has to offer in that direction.
So when you come to DC,
cause you'll have watched my video,
you'll make sure to
venture north off the mall
to see the real DC.
The place where people actually live,
or people actually work.
It's a pretty cool city,
and I already said visit Georgetown.
Visit the Penn Quarter.
Visit Adams Morgan if you like bars.
That's a great nightlife area.
If you don't like bars
then skip Adams Morgan
cause it can be slightly sketchy
from maybe all the alcohol.
If you like zoo's, Washington
DC has the National Zoo
up on the Red Line.
Check out the Smithsonian Zoo.
It's pretty cool. There's pandas up there.
I mentioned U Street.
That's a trendy kind
of area. Up and coming,
with Ben's Chili Bowl.
And some of the things I
like to do when I'm in DC
is I just like to get the subway map,
the Metro map and from wherever I am,
just kind of walk along
one of the Metro lines.
One of my favorite lines to
walk along is the Red Line.
Starting from Chinatown,
and walking up towards
the Smithsonian Zoo.
And if you're walking
along where the Metro is,
well when you get tired
all you have to do,
just get on the Metro and ride back.
Alright, well that's it.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
Thanks for watching.
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Alright, thanks.
Bye, bye.
(gentle guitar music)
