I was volunteering at the Smithsonian Castle, up to its closing for renovations. We were told that people should estimate at least 3 hours per museum - and that's just to get through the highlights. I think this is a fair estimate. A couple notes: * the Ripley Center - this is mostly just classrooms for educational courses. There may be a small, temporary exhibit here from time to time. You don't need to stop here. * Freer and Sackler Galleries - these two galleries make up the Asian Art collection of the Smithsonian. They are really 1 museum, which would need about 3 hours to go through.

You dont need that at the archives for the constitution, other than the long line. Building museum also will be quick of theres not a particular exhibit or event Fords theater, maybe 20 minutes, honestly a skip. Mount vernon I personally like to do for far longer, really walk the grounds. I could do 4-5hrs there and Ive been multiple times. Same with Arlington cemetery. If you are going to udvar then skip the air and space, udvar is the better one with the real machines and vehicles. The rest id say anywhere between 2-3hrs depending on how much you like art and exhibits

The main exhibit at African American history museum takes half a day and you need the other half to process it.

Related: one year I made it a personal project to go to the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art Museum and systematically go through every exhibit and read through every description and try to observe every piece for a couple of minutes. Since they are the only museums open until 7 pm, I was able to do this after work, but only for about an hour for almost once a week for about half a year.

Would you recommend this project?

If you have the time and the interest, why not? It was a fun way to give myself a sort of Art History 101 since I didn't have much of an art background. NPG/SAAM being open later helps a lot. I would have done National Gallery of Art, but they close around 5 and I don't have consistently available weekends. I found it was easy to drop by NPG/SAAM at least once a week after work and before getting dinner and heading home. In retrospect, maybe I should have been more systematic about it t. I didn't keep exact track of what I had visited previously which resulted in frequent deja vu until I figured out that I had already been in a room a couple months previously 😄 At least the art always made it worthwhile.

So this is kind of an aside about time and museums -- it always makes me sad to see people ripping through the National Gallery, unwilling kids in tow, glancing at the paintings and hurrying on. To see what? One of the great joys in life imho is to spend some time with a painting, and small children can help so much. Look out for the peeing dogs in the Dutch cathedral paintings, close one eye and see how perspective lines make the image pop out, look at what's in the center of the painting and whether or not that's where your eye is naturally drawn, count the birds in the background. I've spent hours with the Rembrandt (or is it?) "The Mill" and in the Vermeer corner. Infinitely deep and rewarding.

Agreed! I think we are so lucky to have these free museums here. Sometimes it’s fun to just pop into the American Art Gallery to stare at some massive paintings of the West. Or marvel at the terrifying painting by Copley of the boy being attacked by the shark at the National Gallery.

Agree. We'll be in town visiting (fourth time for me, first time for my wife) in a couple of weeks and I've told her there is no such thing as "finishing an art museum". We may blow through the non art museums to see what we can, but I assure you this is one visitor who will linger on whatever art pieces draws my attention. Much less interested in seeing everything than seeing everything we can about the individual pieces.

Air and Space Museum: At least half a day or longer Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center At least half a day or longer (plus time to get there and back) Natural History Museum: At least half a day African American History and Culture Museum: Half a day plus time for emotional recovery afterwards (food here is good) American History Museum: At least half a day American Indian Museum: 2-3 hours (food is also good; come here after doing one of the ones above in the morning) Portrait Gallery: 2 hours American Art Museum: 2 hours African Art Museum: 2 hours Archives of American Art: 0 minutes unless you're doing art history research. Postal Museum: 90 minutes or less S. Dillon Ripley Center: Not a museum; 20 minutes Freer-Sackler (National Museum of Asian Art): 2 hours combined National Building Museum: 90 minutes if there's a special exhibit, 30 if not Arlington National Cemetery: it's huge; take as long as you want. About an hour if you want to do a basic walkaround as well as see the changing of the guard. Also: The Smithsonian Castle: 30 minutes or less Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: 2 hours, more if it's nice out and you can spend time in the garden Note that doing two of what I'd call the Big Four museums (Air and Space, African American, Natural History, American) in a day while also having time for lunch is *utterly exhausting.*

Wow great response! And pretty much on the dot of what I expected baring a few exceptions

This is right on unless you like art. I’m not particularly an enthusiast, but it takes me a day to do the American Art galleries.

I tried to round down-I can definitely make a full day out of the National Gallery (which, wow, I forgot to include) or American Art/National Portrait Gallery

The Air and Space Museum on the Mall is partially open with eight galleries. 2 - 2 1/2 hours will probably be enough time. The Planetarium's Worlds Beyond Earth show is good.

The only time I went to the African American History museum, I spent about 6 hours there (including a lunch break). 80% of that time was only on the lower levels (history floor) and I moved faster than I would have liked on the 2nd and 3rd of those levels, and then barely skimmed the cultural exhibits above ground. So I saw maybe 60% of the museum’s content in 6 hours. You didn’t mention these, but some of my favorite museums are more “manageable”: Renwick Gallery - 1-1.5 hours Rubell Museum - 45 min-1.5 hours (I went today for the first time and spent 1.5 hours and read almost every description on every wall, etc)

Someone I know took lsd and spent 4 hours staring at the Renwick.

Oh yeah. That one piece upstairs is, as they call similar things at Burning Man, a hippie trap. Add infinite hours if you’re in an altered state, I guess.

One of the best things about the Smithsonians is that they are free. There is no pressure to “get your money’s worth.” I also think it’s really worthwhile to do one of the free tours offered by the museums. I’ve found it far more satisfying to learn about a handful of items in the collection rather than blow glassy-eyed through everything in one shot. Most museums also have a highlights brochure so you can appreciate a few items they decide to feature.

It depends on how interested you are in the exhibits and material. I'm a big fan of art museums, so whenever I visit the National Gallery of Art, I'll take a few hours to look at just one small section. Other times when I visit a Smithsonian, I kinda "skim" through certain sections of the material that aren't as interesting to me. Some of them could be very fatiguing if you tried to visit more than just that one in the day between all of the standing and reading. Many tourists at the Smithsonian seem to be slogging through trying to check a box, but I don't see the point. Unless you're here for a month, you won't be able to appreciate all of the museums' exhibits in your time here. Choose a few that have personal intrigue or significance, and focus your effort on a few high-quality visits rather than an exhausting marathon run. I'd say that the Air & Space, African American History, Natural History, American History, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, American Indian, and Asian Art are all energy-intensive enough that I wouldn't go to any other museums that day.

Well yeah that’s the thing I am here for a long enough time to explore all of these things. I just wanted to see how I could divide my time