Spend as much time here as possible!! So much to see and do. Obviously there are lots of museums but it is also a great place for a picnic on a warm sunny day or just sit back and people watch.

Surrounded by many free attractions and monuments and memorials, this is the best free visitor's attraction in the world. It takes a lot of energy and walking to go from one end (Lincoln Memorial) to the other (the Capitol), so it is best to break it up in 2 days. Lots of history, interesting stuff, educational and contemporary museums.

it is a mall of historical buildings and museaums. It's great when they have farmers's markets or special events, common occurrences

The mall is really just the starting out point for almost everything you could and would want to do in Washington DC. It is surrounded by monuments and museums and steps away from pretty much everything. The National Mall stretches from the Lincoln Monument all the way up to the Capitol Building and probably a good 2 miles. It wasn't as large as I was expecting and made it much easier to walk from building to building and between museums. When our feet were getting tired we would just sit on a bench and people watch and just relax. In the mornings there are many people jogging and running throughout the area. Later on it is mostly tourists and families. There are not a lot of food options in the actual mall. You would either have to go into one of the museums or walk to the north or south side past the museums. They do have a few carts with hot dogs and other types of vendors though. Overall you will get to know the mall very well if you are there for more than a couple days!