Summer is peak season for visiting Washington DC. And it has been fun things that you can't really do during the other seasons.
I'm going to give you my five favorites.
HELLO! Welcome to Trip Hacks DC. My name is Rob.
I'm a tour guide here in the nation's capital. Ifyou're coming to Washington DC
and you're looking for the best tips, tricks, and hacks for exploring the city, make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell
notification icon so that you don't miss anything. And if you'd like to have me personally show you around when you come, head on over
To my website TripHacksDC.com afterwards to see the tours that I offer. In this video
I'm going to tell you about five of my favorite things that you can do in DC
during the summer. If you live in DC
or visited here before leave a comment on this video and let me know what your favorite summertime activity is. Otherwise,
let's get started...
1. Outdoor concerts
One of the best things about DC in the summer is the amount of awesome and
completely free outdoor music. Summer concert season kicks off Memorial Day weekend with the National Memorial Day Concert
which is held on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
You may have seen it before if you've watched it on PBS.
And during June, July, and August, right at the Capitol you can listen to some awesome military band from the Army, Navy,
Marines, and Air Force.
These bands perform Monday through Friday on the west lawn the Capitol and I'll leave some information in the description about how you can see
them. Friday however, is the best day of the week if you are into outdoor
music. Right on the Mall we have Jazz in the Garden
which is held at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden; and as the name suggests,
some pretty awesome jazz music. About a mile southeast of the Capitol in the Navy Yard neighborhood there are free concerts every Friday night at
Yards Park.
These tend to have bands that rotate through
so you can see our different genres throughout the summer. And on Capitol Hill you can head over to the Marine Barracks,
locally known as "8th and I" for a Friday night Marine parade.
2. Outdoor movies
When the sun goes down a lot of neighborhoods host outdoor movie nights throughout the summer. These movie nights sometimes follow a theme
like spy movies or political movies, some are based on a voting system
where neighbors just vote on their favorites. Lineups are usually announced in the spring so you can check out
what's going to be playing and decide if you want to see it when you're in town.
The best thing about these outdoor movie nights is that unlike going to the multiplex, they are completely free. A lot of times
they are even by some of the city's best food trucks,
so you can get a bite to eat and watch it during the movie. A quick hack for when you attend is to make sure
you bring a blanket or something soft to sit on and bug spray, because this is DC in the summer after all.
3. Paddle around the sights
One of the more unique ways of seeing Washington DC is to do it by kayak.
There are a few boat houses around the city where you can rent a kayak or a canoe and
paddle it around. You can go out on the Potomac River and see sights like the Kennedy Center,
Watergate, and the Lincoln Memorial. And to do that there's a boathouse down in Georgetown right under the Key Bridge.
For a little bit different perspective on the city you can check out the Ballpark Boathouse,
which is located right near Nationals Ballpark and take
your kayak out on the Anacostia River. The Anacostia doesn't have the same big sights as the Potomac river does,
but it's still a beautiful view a little bit less touristy thing to do. Or if you're not really feeling
confident in either of these things you can always take a paddle boat or a swan boat out on the title basin for our amazing
views of the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.
4. Tour the monuments at night.
Most locals know that the best hack for seeing the monuments is to go after dark.
It's just honestly really hard to see the monuments during the day in the summer.
And if you watch my monument tips video you'll remember that even with the most
efficient route it's still going to be about three miles of total walking. One of the Trip Hacks DC
tours that I offer is called "Monuments at Twilight" and it's for this exact reason. During the summer
it's just so much more pleasant to see the monuments at night when it's cooler
and it's less crowded. You can check out my website for more information
and I'll leave a link to it in the description.
5. Check out a festival
In a previous video
I took you to the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
which is honestly one of the coolest events that we have here in DC.
every year. It's about two weeks long and held around Independence Day every year.
It's a cultural heritage celebration and every year a different culture or cultures is featured.
And if you've watched my what to eat and avoid on the National Mall you'll know that
I'm not a huge fan of the food in the area,
but the Folklife Festival is one big exception. Make sure to click over and watch my Folklife Festival video afterwards if you're interested in
learning more. In August the Library of Congress's Book Festival brings together
authors and people who just love to read. The book festival was founded in 2001 by First Lady Bush,
who is a librarian herself, and it brings together authors for talks,
activities for kids, panel
presentations and just a general love of books. Of course if you want to buy some of the books from the authors who are there
you'll have to pay for that, but otherwise it's almost completely free. Lastly we have the Capital Fringe Festival
which is theater, dance,
music, and other performances held throughout the city. The quality of the performances can be a little hit or miss
but it's still fun to attend regardless. I'll leave information about all of these festivals in the video description.
And that's it!
Thank you for watching this video. If you found it helpful
you can subscribe to this channel by clicking on the Trip Hacks DC logo
which is popping up right now at the bottom of the screen. And if you're coming to DC
and you want to have me personally show you around when you get here
you can click on the Capitol dome on the left side of my head, and that will take you over to my website
TripHacksDC.com where you can see the tours that I offer. Enjoy your trip!