Washington Dulles International Airport is the state of Virginia, about 30 km from Washington DC and serves great part of the metropolitan area. The name Dulles is in honour of the secretary of state during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower.
This airport is particularly important for the American company United Airlines, which has its hub here, and for JetBlue Airways. The aerostation represents the “gateway to the world” for the capital city of the USA. Here, both national and international flights arrive and depart, with over 120 destinations and 36 airlines operating here.
Washington: points of interest
Once landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, you can pick your rental car up, booked on RentalUp before departure, and you can reach the city in 40 minutes and start your tour.
The capital of the USA has many points of interest, above all from the historical point of view. The most known one, both in the USA and abroad, is the Capitol, the white building where senators and deputies meet.
Multitudes of people come together here, in the district of Capitol Hill, either to celebrate something or to protest; you can visit it only partially thanks to apposite free tours, during which you can also see the National Statuary Hall.
The other majestic monument in Washington is the White House, official residence of the President of the USA, consisting in 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms and a kitchen where lunches and dinners for up to 130 people can be prepared. A visit to the White House can be requested through the embassy, but it is not easy to obtain it, so we recommend you to go to the visitor centre, where you can take a virtual tour of the building.
In the area of the Mall, that is also the place with the highest concentration of attractions in Washington, there is the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated to the most important president of the American history. Built in classical style, as well as the great part of the monuments of the capital, the Lincoln Memorial recalls a Roman or Greek temple for its style and can be visited for free all year round, except Christmas day. Here, many important cultural events are held and, right here, Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous speech “I have a dream”. In the surroundings, there are two other very important monuments, such as the Jefferson Memorial and the Korean War Veteran Memorial.
Immortalized in many pictures and scenery for many movies and TV series set in the capital, the Washington Monument is a 170-meter high obelisk dedicated to George Washington, founder and first president of the USA, that reflects on the Reflecting Pool. The Washington Monument can be visited for free, too.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a boulevard where you can see the statues of three soldiers besides the monument, and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial are also very interesting. The monument lists all the names of the soldiers died during the war, sorted by the date of death.
In the Arlington National Cemetery, besides the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, there are that of the president John Kennedy and other attractions, such as the Old Memorial Amphitheatre, Flower Garden and Arlington House.
Washington: art and culture
Easily reached the city thanks to the car rental service from Washington Airport, you can visit also other artistic and cultural attractions. The Smithsonian’s National Museum, with its majestic structure, is the most famous one in the capital and preserves within it more than 126 million of exemplars, subdivided by type and completely catalogued. In addition to the findings of the permanent collection of the museum, during the visit you can admire also those of the temporary exhibitions, organised in various periods of the year, and attend the events that are held.
Taking advantage of the car rental service at Washington Airport, you can visit other museums that are in the area of the National Mall, such as the National Air & Space Museum, within which you can admire a huge collection of planes and of the most modern aerospace vehicles, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History, where thousands of objects related to the history of the United States are exhibited, like the kitchen of Julia Child and the hat worn by Abraham Lincoln.
A very interesting museum that will allow you to immerse in the historical, cultural, linguistic diversity of the tribes of the American Indians is the National Museum of American Indian.
Culture in Washington also means theatre, starting from the Lincoln Theatre, reachable taking advantage of the car rental at Washington Airport, where the African-American citizens were allowed to go when the racial segregation prevented them to enter to other theatres, and then you can admire the National Theatre and the Ford Theatre.
In the Kennedy Center, inaugurated in 1971, dedicated to the performing arts, about 2000 shows of different kinds, from music to theatre and dance, are held every year.
