Downtown Museums and Galleries

As a whole, the Smithsonian museums are first rate, but doing them all isn’t feasible (or really all that entertaining for the littles). If you’re choosing just one, we recommend the Museum of Natural History. And if you’re not too squeamish, take the kids to the museum’s insect zoo, a fan-favorite permanent collection.

Just outside the National Mall near the National Gallery of Art, the super interactive Newseum is cool for adults and kids. The museum opened in 2008 and centers around groundbreaking moments in media history. Their best known exhibits are a 9/11 gallery, featuring the broadcast antennae from the top of the WTC; the Berlin Wall gallery, which is home to one of the largest pieces of the wall outside of Germany; and their collection of Pulitzer Prize photographs dating back to 1942.