The United States Botanic Garden Is An Oasis Of Calm In A Sea Of DC Tourists

Visiting our nation’s capital in the summer can be a test of your tolerance for lines, crowds, staying on your feet for hours, and sweating. The line for the Air & Space Museum in July comes to mind for all of those things.

Luckily, the immense amount of things to see in DC means that there are plenty of smaller museums and memorials to see that are overlooked by the vast majority of fellow tourists. Many of these smaller places are wonderful and well worth a visit in their own right but they are made even sweeter by the lack of crushing crowds.

The US Botanic Garden is one of those places.

Despite its location next to the Capitol Building, it is still skipped over by the majority of tourists who focus on the bigger museums and the more famous monuments. They are making a mistake.

The Botanic Garden is a fun stop for the whole family because it is full of cool plants (carnivorous pitcher plants, poisonous herbs, and chocolate!) that will grab kids attention plus a semi- tranquil atmosphere that parents will appreciate.

The image shows an exterior view of the United States Botanic Garden with its glass conservatory and the U.S. Capitol building in the background, under a partly cloudy sky.
You can see how big the Conservatory is in the US Botanic Garden and how close it is to the US Capitol building. It is such a great place to explore.

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Things To Like About The US Botanic Garden

1. There are no crowds.

This is not to say that no one is there, this is after all a tourist attraction right on the National Mall, adjacent to the Capitol Building. So people do find it. But it tends to be locals more than tourists, I guess because it doesn’t seem as interesting as the more famous museums near it.

2. I Find It Peaceful And A Little Rejuvenating

Plants are supposedly calming and I can definitely say that the thousands of plants here and their skillfully designed groupings make the Botanic Garden a peaceful oasis in what can be a hectic and tiring day spent visiting DC.

It is quiet enough that I often spot people reading books on benches during what looks to be their lunch break. If I lived/worked in the area, I would definitely be doing the same thing.

3. It Is Super Kid Friendly

Besides just all the neat plants and different environments to explore, there is a cool 2nd story catwalk in the Tropics section in the Conservatory that is always a hit with kids because you get to see the trees and plants from a squirrel’s perspective.

I have family members who live in DC and their kids’ school takes a yearly field trip to the Botanic Garden that their kids always enjoy. That is a pretty good locals’ recommendation in my book.

Be sure to find the Venus flytrap pot as well, everyone seems to be fascinated with this one.

The Children’s Garden in the Conservatory lets kids participate in some hands-on fun (open seasonally spring- fall).

Plus, you can check out several kids activity books and even a Junior Botanist backpack from the Visitor Information Desk that were pretty fun to do. Most of the activity books focus on the plants in the Conservatory but you will also find a Field Journal for kids to fill out when you visit the outdoor National Garden adjacent to the Conservatory.

A lush indoor garden with large tropical plants and trees, featuring a wooden walkway. The sunlight filters through the leaves, creating a vibrant and serene atmosphere. Visitors can be seen exploring the space.
Inside the 93 foot tall Tropics exhibit in the US Botanic Garden. There’s a creek running through the middle and you can take the stairs up to see the place from a bird’s eye view (or a monkey’s). The kids thought it was so cool.

What To See In The US Botanic Garden

The gardens consist of 3 parts:

  1. Conservatory
  2. National Garden
  3. Bartholdi Park

The Conservatory and the 3 acre National Garden are adjacent to each other while the small Bartholdi Park is across the street.

(You can also see the map on this link to the Visitor Brochure.)

A map highlighting the location of the US Botanic Garden and Bartholdi Fountain near the National Mall. Nearby landmarks include the National Gallery of Art, Museum of the American Indian, Air & Space Museum, and Capitol Building.
The Botanic Garden has sections on either side of Independence Ave and is very close to the Capitol as well as to the Air and Space Museum.
A colorful map of the National Garden near Maryland Avenue SW and Independence Avenue SW. It features the Amphitheater, Butterfly Garden, First Ladies Water Garden, and Conservatory, with marked bus stops and accessible routes.
Image courtesy of the US Botanic Garden brochure

The Conservatory

The Conservatory is the large greenhouse in the Botanic Garden. Inside, you’ll find its large collection of plants arranged into several super cool rooms, including the Tropics, a Primeval Garden (complete with miniature dinosaurs), World Deserts, a whole section on Orchids (my favorite!), Medicinal Plants, and Endangered Plants among other exhibits.

Map of a conservatory with labeled areas: West/East Galleries, Plant Conservation, Plant Adaptations, Medicinal Plants, Orchids, World Deserts, Tropics, Primeval Garden, Children's Garden, Southern Exposure, Hawaii, Mediterranean, stairs, and amenities.
Map of the Conservatory, courtesy of the US Botanic Garden website

One of my other favorite sections in the Conservatory is Medicinal Plants, a large room stuffed with plants common and uncommon, from which we derive lots of useful medicines.

You can find plants like digitalis for the heart (from foxgloves), aloe vera for burns (from the aloe plant), and quinine for malaria (from the bark of the cinchona tree). And of course, my morning must-have, coffee.

A lush indoor garden features a Brugmansia tree with large, trumpet-shaped flowers hanging down. Surrounding greenery and colorful flowers fill the space, with informational signs placed nearby under a sunlit glass ceiling.
The spectacular Angels Trumpet is used by native people in South America as a hallucinogen in rituals. It can also kill you. So there’s that.

And then there are the kids’ favorite things in the Conservatory, like the Venus Flytrap, the Children’s Garden, and the catwalk above the Tropics. Plus, all the activity booklets.

A round terracotta pot filled with several Venus flytrap plants labeled "Dionaea muscipula 'King Henry.'" The pot is placed on a stone surface with small purple flowers in the background.
The kids spent forever looking at each flytrap to see if there was anything in there.

Other Things Kids Will Love At The US Botanic Gardens

The National Garden

The 3 acre National Garden is just outside of the the Conservatory and it focuses on plants native to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

It may be small but the garden manages to cram a lot of variety into its little footprint with a butterfly garden, a stream and lily pond, a rose garden, and lots of little nooks that kids will love to pop in and out of.

The National Garden is is a fairly recent addition, opening in 2006, so if you haven’t visited DC in awhile, it might be new to you.

Scenes from the National Garden, click on pictures below to enlarge

  • Tall stalks of white yucca flowers rise amidst lush greenery, with the dome of the Capitol building visible in the background under a partly cloudy blue sky.
  • A garden with a decorative water fountain in the foreground, surrounded by pathways and seating areas under blue umbrellas. Steps lead to a building with arched windows in the background, under a partly cloudy sky.
  • A peaceful garden scene with a gravel path winding through lush greenery. A wooden bench is placed beside the path, surrounded by various plants and small bushes. Sunlight filters through the trees, creating a serene atmosphere.
  • A vibrant garden scene featuring a clear blue sky, scattered clouds, and lush greenery. The garden includes various shrubs, trees, and colorful flowering plants, with stone pathways weaving through the landscaped area.
  • A lush, green garden with a pond covered in lily pads and bordered by tall grasses and shrubs. Flowers bloom on the left, and a wooden plank path runs through the scene. People are walking in the background under a blue sky.
  • A lush garden scene featuring a bee hotel made of hexagonal compartments. Bright flowers bloom in front of an informational sign explaining the importance of bees. Trees and city buildings are visible in the background under a clear blue sky.

Bartholdi Park

The centerpiece of this 2 acre park located across the street from the Conservatory is the Fountain of Light and Water, a large water fountain sculpted by Auguste Bartholdi. (Most people know him by his most famous work- the Statue of Liberty.)

While the large water fountain is beautiful, the rest of Bartholdi Park is also worth exploring. It was renovated in 2016 to be a sustainable garden, incorporating ecological techniques such as preventing stormwater runoff, fixing the soil onsite instead of bringing in new topsoil, and using resilient plants that do not need as much fertilizer and watering.

The park is well worth crossing Independence Avenue to see. You’ll find nice shaded tables around the fountain that are nice to sit and look around for awhile. I finished my coffee at one of the tables overlooking the fountain and have to say it was a nice start to the day.

A lush garden with colorful flowers surrounds a large ornate fountain in front of a greenhouse. The sky above is partly cloudy, and the scene is vibrant and tranquil.
Bartholdi Fountain

Where To Eat Near The Botanic Garden

My first choice would be to bring some sandwiches or pastries and grab a table in the National Garden or around Bartholdi Fountain.

If you want takeout, there are several sandwich places plus a Starbucks around the Federal Center metro stop (I recommend 2 Sisters Deli) as well as a Korean rice bar. (See the map below under “Getting There” for the Federal Metro stop location.)

If you want a sit down place and not takeout for a picnic, then I would walk 0.5 miles east on Independence Avenue (up the hill past the Capitol) and and veer slightly right onto Pennsylvania Avenue. You will find lots of fast casual restaurants and cafes here.

We are partial to Good Stuff Eatery for their delicious burgers (including an excellent vegetarian mushroom burger and I don’t even like mushrooms) and shakes (the toasted marshmallow is amazing).

We also like We The Pizza for an inexpensive yet tasty slice of pizza or Santa Rosa Taqueria. All 3 of these restaurants are next door to each other on Pennsylvania Ave.

(Full disclosure- I am related to the owners of all 3 of those places but I think I would still suck down that toasted marshmallow shake in about 2 minutes even without the family connection. But if you want something else, this strip of Pennsylvania Avenue has lots of other places to choose from.)

Map showing part of Washington, D.C., highlighting the Capitol, Supreme Court Building, Library of Congress, and Botanic Garden. Independence Avenue is visible, along with a note pointing out "Lots of Restaurants" along Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
Map showing restaurant area near the US Botanic Gardens

Helpful Details For Planning Your Visit To The US Botanic Garden

Hours

The Conservatory is open every day 10am-5pm, including holidays and weekends.

The National Garden (the outdoor garden adjacent to the greenhouse) is open 730am- 5pm everyday plus extended hours until 7pm during the summer.

The Bartholdi Fountain and Gardens is open from dawn to dusk everyday.

See the website for detailed hours and directions.

Admission

FREE (for all 3 parts)

Getting There

Metro

I would definitely take the Metro as street parking is awful unless you plan on being here super early in the morning, way before the gardens open and even then there is a 2 hour limit.

The nearest Metro stop is only 3 blocks away- get off at the Federal Center which is served by the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines.

Ride Share

Uber/Lyft is also a good option or take a bike/scooter share such as Lime or City bikes.

Map showing the area around the Federal Center SW Metro Stop in Washington, D.C. Notable landmarks include the US Botanic Garden, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and several federal buildings.
Map of the Metro stop nearest to the United States Botanic Garden

More Information: The blog, The Horticult, has lots of lovely pictures from the Botanic Garden if you want to see more of what to expect.

Final Thoughts

We thought the Botanic Garden was interesting and refreshing after so many crowded museums. It was well worth the hour or so we spent exploring. Next time I will make like a local and bring a book with me or at least lunch. Can’t ask for a prettier setting.

Happy Trails! – Amanda

A modern bathroom featuring a row of white sinks on a marble countertop. Above the sinks, a large mirror spans the wall. Potted plants with red flowers are placed between the sinks, adding a touch of greenery.
For goodness sake, even the bathroom at the Botanic Garden had gorgeous plants in it! Plus, it was really clean- you might stop in for this reason alone.

Where To Stay In DC

Staying in central DC can be very expensive and I would try to stay within a mile of the National Mall for convenience and safety. If you are up for a splurge though, there are several gorgeous historic hotels, such as the Intercontinental Willard, that are worth the money. This 200 year old hotel is conveniently located near the White House and lives up to its 5 star billing.

For cheaper options, try across the Potomac River in Virginia. The Hampton Inn and Suites Arlington Crystal City DCA has good sized rooms, free breakfast, and free airport shuttle to Reagan airport. There are lots of restaurants within walking distance as well.

For more room, try a vacation rental. Modern & Central to GWU, Natl Mall, Georgetown, Free Pvt Parking & EV Charging is a wonderful 3 BR/ 3 BA recently renovated townhome in Foggy Bottom with plenty of room for the whole family.


Amanda co-founded Simply Awesome Trips with her best friend because they were always sharing their written itineraries with each other. A devout researcher who enjoys finding quirky facts about a place as well as a fantastic bike trail, Amanda loves to share what she's found with others and will talk your ear off about her favorite places.

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