Smithsonian Adventure

This afternoon you will have the opportunity to visit any two of the world famous Smithsonian Museums located here in Washington, DC. Your tour guide will point out all of the wonders you won't want to miss in each museum as well as answering all of your questions.

Please see your options below to design your own Smithsonian tour!

National Air & Space Museum (the most visited museum on the planet) maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. Located on the Mall, the Museum has hundreds of artifacts on display including the original Wright 1903 "Flyer," Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis," the Apollo 11 command module, "The Voyager," which flew around the world on one tank of gas and a lunar rock display that visitors can touch. This Museum is a fitting tribute to the great explorers who have advanced the history of flight. Explore our fascination with flight through the air and in space. View Earth from the open cargo bay of the Space Shuttle. Journey to natural and manmade wonders of the world. These and other thrills await you in the National Air and Space Museum's Lockheed Martin IMAX® Theater. Giant-screen films are projected on the five-story-high screen with 6-channel digital surround sound.

National Museum of the American Indian is dedicated to the culture, art and history of Native peoples from around the Western Hemisphere; it is the only museum of its kind in the world. The museum showcases a vast collection of 800,000 Native objects spanning 10,000 years, the greatest collection ever assembled. NMAI's collections include materials not only of cultural, historical, and aesthetic interest, but also of spiritual significance. Funerary, religious, and ceremonial objects associated with living cultures are displayed only with the approval of the appropriate tribes. Human remains and funerary objects, religious and ceremonial artifacts, communally owned tribal property, or any holdings acquired illegally are returned upon request to individual descendants or tribal groups who can demonstrate a cultural affiliation and factual claim to the property in question. Unlike any other museum in Washington, the curvilinear building of Kasota stone suggests natural rock sculpted over time by wind and water.

At the newly renovated Museum of American History, you will find a marvelous collection of treasures from America's past; beginning with the actual Star Spangled Banner which inspired Francis Scott Key to compose our national anthem, to the first telephone, the atomic bomb and the original Apple Computer. You'll see Henry Ford's Model T, the world's oldest operative locomotive, and early American history displays which include George Washington's Revolutionary War uniform and a 1776 Gunboat. Special exhibits include the dresses of all the First Ladies, a Connestoga Wagon and Thomas Jefferson's writing desk.

The National Postal Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993. Located in the lower level of the historic City Post Office Building – which was constructed in 1914 and served as the Washington, D.C., post office from 1914 through 1986 – the Museum occupies 75,000 square feet of the building with 23,000 square feet devoted to exhibition space. The Museum also houses a 6,000-square-foot research library, a stamp store and a museum shop.

The Donald W. Reynolds Center (National Portrait Gallery) is a place set aside by the American nation to keep generations of remarkable Americans in the company of their fellow citizens. Home to the nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House, this exhibition lies at the heart of the Portrait Gallery's mission to tell the American story through the individuals who have shaped it. In addition to our past Presidents, The Gallery documents the wonderful diversity of individuals who have left—and are leaving—their mark on our country and our culture. Through the visual and performing arts, we celebrate American lives: leaders such as George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr., artists such as George Gershwin and Mary Cassatt, activists such as Sequoyah and Rosa Parks, and icons of pop culture such as Marilyn Monroe and Babe Ruth. For anyone fascinated by famous Americans and their stories, the National Portrait Gallery is a must–visit destination.

The National Zoological Park offers the beauty of nature along with all the refinement that comes with being part of the Smithsonian Institution, including interactive exhibits and 163 acres of natural habitats. From leaf cutter ants to Asian elephants, the National Zoo features an evolving array of animal exhibits that portray the natural world in all its glory and diversity. Founded in 1889, this city mainstay showcases 2,800 individual animals of 435 different species, including Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, two adorable giant pandas. The National Zoo is well worth a visit for anyone who ventures into the DC region, and is an ideal tour for adults and children alike.