People love to be rude about Washington DC because it is full of so many politicians, feds and consultants who wear fleece vests and don’t take off their work cords when they leave the office. I understand. I personally had mixed feelings about my hometown growing up there. It didn’t seem as exciting as New York, or as glitzy as Los Angeles. But after ten years I came back, because time is circular, and it also turns out that DC rocks and I love it! It has great restaurants, beautiful parks and free museums. Sometimes when I’m sad, I put on red lipstick and spend an afternoon wandering around the National Gallery of Art, staring at beautiful paintings and sulking in a way that I hope looks beautiful and intriguing to strangers. This city can be short on glamour, so sometimes you have to generate it yourself.
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However, if you’re not feeling sad and dramatic, here are some other things we can do together.
Day 1: Rothko and rock ‘n’ roll
Let’s start with lunch. My parents started to go Zorba’s cafe, a Greek restaurant near Dupont Circle, before I was born. My family comes so often that my mother and I once said we would meet at Zorba’s in the event of an apocalyptic global communications crisis where we couldn’t get in touch with each other. That’s our idea, and you can’t copy it! Anyway, until then, just enjoy the food. It is awesome. I like to get the dolmathakia, baba ganouz and the chicken souvlaki plate.
When you’re done eating, you can walk around the corner to the Philips collection, a private museum with an extensive collection of impressionist work. The Rothko room is my favorite. One time I went to an exhibition at the Phillips and Nancy Pelosi stood next to me looking at the same painting.
In general I don’t like shopping. It reminds me of going to the mall as a teenager and fighting with my mom because she wouldn’t buy me a tank top that said “Spank Me” or something. But I could spend hours inspecting every inch Good wood And Delorean 88 Vintage. The vintage furniture and clothing stores of U Street are a 20-minute walk or five-minute drive from the Phillips. They both represent ambitious versions of myself: at GoodWood I am a refined, cerebral aesthete who can immediately distinguish teak from walnut. At Delorean 88 I am someone with interesting opinions about music and who knows how to style an oversized T-shirt. I love taking friends to these places and seeing what they are drawn to.
On to dinner. DC has some incredible Ethiopian and Eritrean dishes, and Keren restaurant is an important part of the Adams Morgan neighborhood. It’s delicious and affordable, and you rarely have to wait long to get a seat. My favorite dish, the vegetarian combo with injera, costs just $12. It’s easily enough food for at least two full meals.
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If you still have energy, the music venue Black cat is just a 15-minute walk from Keren. My boyfriend took me on our first date. I can’t promise that seeing a show here will help you find love, but it can’t hurt!
Day 2: Fabergé eggs and Filipino food
Let’s start at Hillwood estate, the former home of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the late businesswoman and heiress. You may have heard of the other house she built: Mar-a-Lago. Hillwood is as understated as its Florida cousin. A tour of the mansion feels like walking through a fairground attraction designed by Russian czars. Post’s third husband served as ambassador to the Soviet Union in the 1930s and the couple became avid collectors of Russian art. The house contains portraits of Catherine the Great and Tsar Nicholas II, as well as two Fabergé eggs. Outside the mansion, the grounds include a rose garden, a Japanese-style garden, an orchid-filled greenhouse, and a pet cemetery where you can pay your respects to dogs with names like Scampi. It’s a nice place to wander around, especially when the weather is nice.
When you’re ready for lunch, grab a sandwich or a slice VACE Italian delicatessen. A six-minute drive from Hillwood, it’s a perfect Italian deli on Connecticut Avenue. You can get a slice of pizza for $2.50 or an Italian deli sandwich for $6.50. It also has great homemade pasta, sauces and frozen entrees. My family and I always got bags of mushroom agnolotti and containers of homemade walnut sauce. It’s a rich, heavy meal that you have to digest over the course of four to six days, the way a boa constrictor digests an ocelot.
Next, I recommend a walk through beautiful Rock Creek Park. The leafy, peaceful escape is the perfect place to take a long walk and talk nonsense with your friends. Take your time until you are ready to eat some more. In 2023, Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema mentioned the name Purple patch the restaurant of the year, and it was well deserved. The Filipino-American establishment in Mount Pleasant has a bright, cozy atmosphere. I have vivid, passionate dreams about the ube cake.
Day 3: Books and board games
For starters: a two-hour all-you-can-eat brunch at Ambar. Personally, I could happily eat nothing but Ambar’s cheese and meat pies until they run out of pies and ask me to leave. But this Balkan restaurant on Capitol Hill also has other gems on the menu, such as pork sausage and ajvar, a delicious spread of roasted peppers and eggplant.
Just a 10-minute walk from Ambar, Capitol Hill Books is the kind of shabby, warm, crowded store that would serve as a picturesque backdrop for a meet-cute in a ’90s rom-com. There’s no more perfect place to browse after brunch and make you think that this might be the copy of Anna Karenina is that you will actually finish.
Diamond Teague Park is a 10-minute drive south of the bookstore and is a great place to stroll along the Anacostia River, or to sit in the grass and performatively read the books you bought. Ideally, you would buy an ice cream cone from a nearby store and enjoy it while sitting in the sun.
After lounging in the park, walk to the Salt line, an oyster bar right across from Nationals Park. For two people, the perfect order is a dozen oysters (two of each of six selections) and one lobster roll to split. And to end the evening, come by Trusty’s full service. It’s my favorite dive bar in DC, and possibly on the planet. Trusty’s is the perfect place to have a drink and gossip and maybe order a hot dog if you’re hungry. When you’re out of gossip, you can play one of the board games lying around: Tetris, Battleship, a battered box of old Trivial Pursuit cards. Everyone is so nice and they always remember my order (sparkling water and lime).
Time for questions
Are three days in Washington DC enough?
Yes.
What’s the most popular tourist spot in Washington, DC – and is it worth it?
The National Shop. And yes. It’s beautiful, surrounded by wonderful free museums, and you can see the Capitol and Washington Monument from afar, which is all you need.
Is it expensive to visit Washington DC?
It doesn’t have to be that way. The Smithsonian museums are free and there is good, cheap food if you know where to look.
When is the best time to visit Washington DC?
Spring and autumn, when the weather is mildest (although unpredictable) and the flora is at its best.
What’s the weather like in Washington DC?
Cold and gray in winter, warm and humid in summer. Spring and fall are wild cards.
Madeleine Aggeler is a lifestyle and wellbeing reporter for the Guardian US. Her lifestyle is fine and she is doing well for the most part