I'm going to tell you what it's like to visit Washington, DC during January.
Hello!
Welcome to Trip Hacks DC.
My name is Rob.
I'm a tour guide here in the nation's capital.
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This video is part of my month by month series, where I tell you what it's like to visit Washington,
DC each month of the year, including information about the weather, things to do, special events,
and other month specific information.
If you have visited Washington, DC during January before, leave a comment on this video
and let everyone know whether you thought it was a good month to visit.
Otherwise, let's get started....
January, in general, is one of the slowest months of the year for tourism.
This doesn't mean it's a bad month to come and in fact you can totally use this to your
advantage, capitalizing on the small crowds at the museums and other big sites.
Washington, DC has four seasons, and January is squarely in the middle of winter.
It is the coldest month of the year, with average daily high temperatures at 45 degrees
and average daily low temperatures at 25 degrees.
Now whether you think that's frigid or not, depends entirely on who you are and where
you're coming from.
45 degrees is well above freezing but remember that this is the average high, which means
it could very well be colder during your trip.
I personally find a typical January day to be perfectly tolerable and that is why I run
tours year-round.
However a lot of tour companies actually take the entire month of January off; not because
it's too cold, but because there just isn't enough business.
January is also the month when it is most likely to snow.
I'm not going to go in-depth into snow in this video, but if you're curious about the
topic, I have an entire video about snow that I will link to down in the video description.
To pack for a January trip you're going to want to bring a coat.
This is what my coat looks like.
You'll also want to bring a hat, kind of like this one.
Gloves are a good idea too.
I like these simple gloves that you can easily stuff into your pocket when you don't need
them.
People ask me all the time if they need to bring boots, and my advice is to wear boots
if you like to wear boots; but otherwise I don't think it's a requirement.
In fact I don't even own boots, and I get through DC winters just fine.
Just keep in mind that you will probably do a lot more walking during your trip than you're
used to, and boots are often not very comfortable for that.
If you're coming to DC and hoping to see some late holiday decorations, I hate to break
it to you, but you're too late.
Unlike in some European cities where the holiday decorations might stay up well into January,
ours pretty much come down on January 1st.
So if you're really hoping to see holiday sites, plan your trip for December instead.
January is a low month for restaurants so it's easy to get reservations, even at the
most popular ones.
However this is also when restaurants do their winter restaurant week, and I will leave information
about that down in the video description.
If you're coming during restaurant week, just make sure to plan ahead because reservations
can be surprisingly tough.
Since crowds are smaller than during the rest of the year, January is a great time to do
some of our indoor activities.
We have plenty of free museums around town and I will leave a link to a video in the
description where I give some of my best museum tips.
You might also want to check out a play at the Kennedy Center, or at least one of their
daily free performances.
If you're into sports, the Wizards and Capitals regular season will be happening.
Both of those teams play at the Capital One Arena and I have an entire video on sports,
if you're curious.
Or if you're an athlete yourself, there are a bunch of ice skating rinks set up around
town, which are really fun during winter.
The most notable rink is on the National Mall, across the street from the National Archives
and next to the National Gallery of Art.
But there are also rinks in Georgetown, the Wharf, and Navy Yard neighborhoods.
There are two government holidays in January that you should know about.
New Years is on January 1st and all government employees and school kids get a day off, but
restaurants, museums and other tourist sites will be open.
The other holiday is Martin Luther King Jr.
Day which is held on a Monday and actually a great opportunity for a weekend trip.
And every 4 years the Presidential Inauguration is held on January 20th.
My advice regarding inaugurations is unless you specifically want to see it, don't come
during that week.
Instead plan your trip for a little earlier in them month or a little later in the month.
It's really only inauguration day plus a couple days before and a couple days after that things
are a little crazy; but the rest of January, perfectly fine.
And that's it!
Thank you for watching this video.
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DC logo which is popping up right now at the bottom of the screen.
And if you're coming to DC and want to sign up for a Trip Hacks DC tour you can click
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where you can see all of the tours that I offer.
Enjoy your trip!