Here's which museums to visit when you're visiting the nation's capital.
Everyone knows about the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.’s crown jewel of museums and research centers established in 1846 “for the increased and diffusion of knowledge.” They’re among the world’s most visited museums and a major reason why millions of tourists traipse around the nation’s capital every year. But the best museums in D.C. extend above and beyond the Smithsonian, including entire entities devoted to language (Planet Word), spies (International Spy Museum), and women artists (National Museum of Women in the Arts). Large and small, eclectic and unique—these museums span a world of natural and cultural curiosities.
As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, museums are still gaining their foothold. Some of the Smithsonians, for example, remain closed on certain days, and the hours of other museums are in flux. Some have taken the opportunity to close for renovations. Many museums now require timed entry passes, available online ahead of your visit. Whatever piques your interest, here are the best museums to visit in Washington D.C. beyond the Smithsonian.
Top Picks for You

National Gallery of Art
One of the world’s finest collections of Western Art, the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall, is where you come to see rooms full of Old Masters and Impressionists (in the neoclassical West Building) and their more modern contemporaries (in the I. M. Pei-designed East Building). A gift of Pittsburgh banker and industrialist Andrew Mellon in 1937 to the American people, the collection continues to expand—from the original 126 paintings and 26 sculptures, there are now more than 155,000 artworks and ever-growing (with 2,300 or so on display at one time). Highlights include Auguste Renoir’s “A Girl with a Watering Can,” Wayne Thiebaud’s “Cakes,” and the Western Hemisphere’s only Da Vinci, “Ginevra de’ Benci” (be sure to peek at the emblematic portrait on its backside). The Sculpture Garden across the street showcases larger-than-life sculptures.
INSIDER TIPKeep an eye out for the blockbuster exhibits that come through—Sargent, Canova, and Rothko are recent examples—accompanied by a full accompaniment of lectures, concerts, and related menu at the Garden Café. Note: general admission is free, and the east wing is closed for renovations until June 2022.
General Admission: Free, and the east wing is closed for renovations until June 2022.

Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument
An epicenter in the fight for women’s rights, this historic two-story brick house just a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol dates back to 1799. Multimillionaire socialite Alva Belmont helped purchase the house in 1929 for the National Women’s Party (NWP), which lobbied for women’s rights for more than a century. Alice Stokes Paul, the NWP’s founder and author of the Equal Rights Amendment, lived here for 40 years. Today, this is Washington’s only museum devoted to women’s history. You’ll find rooms filled with sepia photographs, original busts of pioneer champions of women’s rights, fading suffrage parade banners, and Susan B. Anthony’s desk.
General Admission: free. The monument is temporarily closed for renovations, with plans to reopen in 2023.
INSIDER TIPIf you’re interested in women’s history in the D.C. area, take a day trip to Lorton, Virginia, where the Lucy Burns Museum at the Workhouse Arts Center describes the Night of Terror. The nearby Turning Point Suffragists Memorial in Occoquan Regional Park is the first national memorial for the suffrage movement.
Recommended Fodor’s Video
National Museum of African American History and Culture
The epic National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall opened in 2016 to great fanfare, immediately becoming one of the top Washington D.C. attractions. You start at the lowest level, in the depths of the earth, symbolizing the devastating journey formerly enslaved people took from Africa into a life of servitude. The exhibits— spanning the Civil War, Restoration, Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights movement, and more—don’t shy away from the horrific realities, forcing visitors to examine some brutal truths of America’s very foundation. On the upper levels, African-American arts and culture are celebrated with original artifacts, including Louis Armstrong’s trumpet and Marian Anderson’s red-orange silk dress, which she wore while singing at her famous Easter Sunday concert in 1939 at the Lincoln Memorial (after being rebuked from Constitution Hall).
General Admission: free.
INSIDER TIPTimed passes are required for entry. Passes can be reserved online up to 30 days in advance; reserve them here. Same-day timed-entry passes are released at 8 AM daily.
The Phillips Collection
Visitors flock to The Phillips Collection for one famous painting: Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” acquired in 1923 by museum founder and art collector Duncan Phillips. That was just two years after he established what would become the nation’s oldest modern art museum in the Dupont neighborhood. What truly sets the collection apart is the fact that Phillips was more interested in paintings that spoke to him rather than their market value—though his instinct was spot on. Examples reign throughout the museum, including the chapel-like Rothko Room, designed to the artist’s precise specifications, and Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series, “which chronicles an important chapter in American history. Watch for blockbuster traveling exhibits.
General Admission: $16, and timed tickets are required. Reserve them here.
INSIDER TIPJoin a free 30-minute meditation inspired by calming artworks from the museum’s permanent collection on Zoom every Wednesday at 12:45 PM.

Planet Word
Who knew language could be so much fun? Planet Word, which opened in 2020 in the historic Franklin Building in downtown D.C., approaches language with various interactive exhibits that entertain adults and children alike. But it’s more than that. It’s the world’s first voice-activated museum. A giant talking wall of lit-up, 3D words asks visitors questions (interspersed with interesting facts, such as the greatest language innovators of words are teenage girls). The scenes of books, hiding behind secret mirrors, spring to life in the magical library as you read passages etched beneath. You can record a speech, try to make your friend laugh with corny jokes, and learn about end words and other rhyming techniques while singing karaoke. Whatever the case, you’ll leave both wowed and smarter, guaranteed.
General Admission: Suggested $15 donation. Admittance is by advanced timed passes, available online.
INSIDER TIPEschew climbing the stairs to the third floor, where the visit starts. The elevators are decked out with a literary twist you shouldn’t miss.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
The elegant Renaissance Revival-style building in downtown D.C. is the perfect setting for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the world’s only major museum devoted to women’s contributions to the arts. You’ll find the big hitters here, including Camille Claudel, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and lesser-known artists, including Lavinia Fontana, Rosa Bonheur, and Justine Kurland. In total, more than 5,500 works span the 16th century to modern day.
General Admission: $10. The museum is closed for a major renovation, with plans to reopen in fall 2023.
INSIDER TIPA lively calendar of events includes gallery talks, art workshops, and concerts.

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
The woman who lived at this Second Empire Victorian row house in the Logan Circle neighborhood between 1943 and 1949 should be more famous than she is. Mary McLeod Bethune was a renowned educator, social advocate, and adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt, who fought for racial and gender equality throughout the U.S. and the world. She led the National Council of Negro Women, among other organizations, holding meetings and formal dinners in the dining room. She hosted such distinguished guests as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and activist Mary Church Terrell, and heads of state and ambassadors. Tours of the museum—the nation’s first museum and archives dedicated solely to African-American women’s history—take in many of her original belongings, including her massive conference table.
General Admission: Free. The museum is temporarily closed due to the pandemic.
INSIDER TIPYou can visit the house on a really cool virtual tour here.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
You’ll need all day to explore the massive Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, covering everything from mammals to human origins (including replicas of ancient paintings) to gems and minerals to dinosaur fossils—more than 126 million natural science specimens and cultural artifacts in total. If it’s all a tad overwhelming, start by seeking out the most famous exhibitions: the African Bush Elephant in the entrance rotunda, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond, and the Indo-Pacific coral reef swarming with tropical fish. You’ll surely be curious to explore further from there.
General Admission: Free
INSIDER TIPThe museum can become extremely crowded, especially in summer. Visit during the week, if possible, and/or early or late in the day.
National Children’s Museum
You slide down a cloud-inspired “dream machine” to access the National Children’s Museum exhibits in downtown D.C.—you don’t have to, but that’s the kid-way to do it, for sure. Within the 20,000 square feet of exhibit space, you’ll find low-tech and high-tech experiences that extol STEAM (science, technology, engineering arts, math). You learn about probability while being slimed (without a mess); create lightning, clouds, and rain at a digital immersive green screen that explores weather-making; and tackle the mechanics of a home run hit at a digital/physical batting cage. There’s a lot to learn here, and kids don’t even know it; they’re having that much fun.
General Admission: $15.95 for children 1+ and adults. Advanced tickets are recommended, and available online.
INSIDER TIPThe Visiting Exhibit Hall showcases don’t-miss traveling exhibits from around the world.