National Arboretum
The park's sprawling acres of carefully manicured gardens and its wide collection of trees from around the world are fantastic for getting away from the urban world and for a picnic. There are several attractions within the park worth seeking out, including the original columns from the Capitol Building's first incarnation, now standing alone mimicking Roman ruins, a Japanese garden, and a great bonsai collection. This is the best place in the city to enjoy the cherry blossom season—you can stroll serenely around the trees, while inwardly chuckling at the uninformed hordes sweating it out at the sardined Tidal Basin. They are not exclusively of the sakura variant downtown. Rather, there is an extensive collection of over 30 different flowering cherry trees, making for an excellent scavenger hunt!
- Address
- Entrances: 3501 New York Ave NE & 2400 R St NE
- Getting there
- take Metrobus B2, get off on Bladensburg Rd at Rand St (just past the Arboretum sign on the right), then walk one block south back to R St, turn left and walk five minutes east to the Arboretum entrance
- Hours
- 8AM-5PM daily
- Price
- Free
Listing from Wikivoyage: Washington, D.C./Near Northeast, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.