Everything else on this site costs nothing. These cost a little, and we list them because what you get is far bigger than the price.
$1The same elevator ride to the 500-foot level, but reserved on recreation.gov for a $1 service fee per ticket instead of queuing at the Lodge from before 8 am.
A dollar to skip a dawn line is the best trade on the Mall. Tickets open at 10 am ET, 30 days ahead and again the day before, and the second batch is easier to get.
Source: National Park Service
$1Entry to the Archives is free, but a $1 timed ticket puts you in a separate, shorter line for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Pay it from March to May and on summer mornings, when the walk-in line can pass an hour. In January or after 4 pm, keep the dollar and walk in.
Source: National Archives
$2.25 to $2.50On Saturdays and Sundays any Metrorail trip costs between $2.25 and $2.50, however far you go. The Yellow Line crosses the Potomac on a bridge with a view of the monuments, then runs to Alexandria's 18th-century old town.
Sit on the right side heading south for the river crossing. From King St station it is a flat mile down King St to the waterfront. On weekdays before 9:30 pm the same ride costs more, so save it for the weekend.
Source: WMATA
$1 + $0.15 a minuteA classic red bike costs $1 to unlock and 15 cents a minute, so a 20-minute ride comes to $4. It turns the 2 miles from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial into a quarter of an hour.
Use it once, for the long west end of the Mall or the Tidal Basin loop, and dock it before you go into a memorial. Avoid the e-bikes, which cost 35 cents a minute.
Source: Capital Bikeshare
Washington's own house and farm on the Potomac, 15 miles south of the city, with the mansion rooms, the tomb and the quarters of the people he enslaved. It is privately run, so it charges admission and stays open during federal shutdowns. Nothing free in the city gives you a preserved 18th-century plantation, and it fills a full day.
Everything above is free. This is the only paid pick on the page, chosen because no free option replaces it.
