Skip the Mall for a Free Black Friday in D.C.
Portraits under glass, a Leonardo and a plant-built holiday train show, all walkable and all without a ticket.
🗺️ Penn Quarter to Capitol Hill
🖼️ Start at the Kogod Courtyard
The Smithsonian American Art Museum fills the old Patent Office Building on G Street, and it shares the glass canopied Kogod Courtyard with the National Portrait Gallery. Doors open at half past 11 each morning. Spend the first hour on folk art, sculpture and photography, then cross the courtyard before walking south toward Constitution Avenue.
🏛️ Leonardo at the National Gallery
The National Gallery of Art splits its collection between the neoclassical West Building and the I.M. Pei East Building, linked underground by Leo Villareal's light sculpture Multiverse. The West Building holds the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas, and admission is free like every other door on this route. Galleries close at 5 PM, which leaves about ninety minutes before the last stop.
🚂 Trains at the Botanic Garden
The United States Botanic Garden opens its Season's Greenings show on Thanksgiving Day, with model trains running past national parks and landmarks rebuilt from plant materials for America's 250th birthday. No ticket or timed pass is needed for any part of the garden, including the holiday train display. The Conservatory runs 10 AM to 5 PM daily through January 3. Arrive by 4 PM for the full loop.
