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Dupont Circle is an affluent historic neighborhood in Washington D.C. It is known for its beautiful Victorian homes, walkability, and has offices, civic institutions, hotels, night clubs, bars, cafes, art galleries, and shops.
From the travel guide. Select a place for details, a map and what is nearby.
The Phillips Collection, opened in 1921, is America’s first museum of modern art. Featuring a renowned permanent collection of nearly 2,500 works by American and European impressionist and modern artists, the Phillips is internationally recognized for its incomparable art and for its intimate atmosphere. Housed in founder Duncan Phillips' 1897 Georgian Revival home, The Phillips Collection is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest small museums.
Competing with the Smithsonian for top castle status in the District is the Victorian mansion of Christian Heurich, who immigrated to the states from Germany to become a wildly successful real estate baron and brewer. He also holds the title of world's oldest brewer, having kept up his work until his death at a ripe age of 102. It's a striking example of Victorian architecture and design, and even if you don't make it to a tour, there's a nice Victorian garden in the back open to the public M-F 10AM-4PM, spring-fall.
Monumental mosque on embassy row with ornate decoration and an extensive library.
A unique hybrid of a small private luxury hotel and a museum. Contains hundreds of rooms, a collection of 20,000 books, dozens of secret passages, a collection of John Lennon's guitars, modern art and curiosities of all stripes in every room (virtually anything of which is for sale if you're interested), frequent concerts by legends of rock and R&B, numerology evaluations, banquets, etc., your curiosity will probably find enough piquing here to justify the advance reservations for tours. It's also a luxury B&B, if you are looking for extremely eccentric accommodations in the city.
Museum covering the history and political situation in Palestine.
Small museum with exhibits depicting the contributions made by American Jews in the United States military. Includes artifacts (e.g. medals) and several videos.
Kalorama is a quiet, stately neighborhood, northwest of the circle and is home a few hidden gems. Based on Rome's famous Spanish Steps, these once led up to the Kalorama Mansion, from which the neighborhood gets its name. They now lead up the steep hill to a small fountain and a nice city view, which is best appreciated on a summer night.
President Woodrow Wilson moved here in 1921 for a quiet retirement after the disastrous setbacks of his late presidency, and lived here for little over 3 years before he died. (He is buried in the National Cathedral in Upper Northwest.) The pretty Georgian Revival-style house is preserved just as the Wilsons left it, with a nice collection of period furnishings and clothing.
Immaculately maintained home of the founder of the infamous Church of Scientology. The curator, one of the world's top experts on Hubbard (and a practicing Scientologist), will lead you on an interesting tour (lasting up to two hours) that covers Hubbard's biography and a sanitized version of the church's overall history and belief system.
Small, offbeat museum showcasing human rights abuses in China, particularly the Láogǎi, the Chinese prison system of "Reform through Labor". Includes artifacts from prisoners and panels with explanations and statistics. The museum was founded by Harry Wu, a well-known Chinese dissident who served 19 years in laogai prisons, but who left behind a troubled legacy after mismanaging funds for the museum. You may have to knock loudly for the curator to realize you're there.
Society of the Cincinnati headquarters and museum
The 55,764-square-foot Anderson House, which is perhaps better described as a castle, was built in 1902-1905, as the home of Larz Anderson and his wife. Upon Anderson's death, the house was given as a gift to the Society of the Cincinnati which was something of an American noble order dedicated to preserving the legacy of the American Revolution founded in 1783 after the Revolutionary War. The house serves as the organization's headquarters, and houses a museum and library with information relating to the Revolutionary War.
Turkish ambassador's residence
Designed by George Oakley Totten, Jr., the 40,000-square-foot house was built in 1914 for industrialist and philanthropist Edward H. Everett. The house was later used as the Turkish embassy, beginning in 1932, and became the Turkish ambassador's residence in 1999 when a new embassy building was built on Massachusetts Ave. The Everett House features a limestone facade, in Beaux-Arts neoclassic style.
Cosmos Club
Almost completed rebuilt by heiress Mary Scott Townsend in 1899, the house features a Beaux Arts, Louis XVI French-inspired design. Townsend lived there until she died in 1931. For a period of time before World War II, Sumner Welles, the son-in-law of Mary Scott Townsend and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Under Secretary of State, lived in the Townsend Mansion. The Cosmos Club, a private social club, bought the house in 1950, and continues to occupy the mansion.
First-come, first-served seating.
Small theatre offering new and classic plays and musicals.
Small, young theatre company that performs in a specially renovated church basement. Name refers to an Einstein quote; repertoire is not necessarily "spooky."
Large, established center-left think tank with a broad focus.
Conservative think tank, especially on economic issues.
Nonpartisan foreign policy think tank.
Establishment think tank with focus on foreign policy security issues.
Includes the famous drag queen high heels race.
Multiple Capital Pride Events; held annually, including the Pride Parade, which also runs through Shaw.
A happy little sandwich/salad/fries lunch spot with patio seating on the street. Those sandwiches are exceptional and worth seeking out.
Hawaiian food in a basement.
Greek food with outdoor seating. Order at the counter.
Turkish small plates.
Very tasty Italian cuisine with a nice wine list served in this small restaurant. The one stumble is the noise level, but the restaurant remains quite the good deal. Reservations required for dinner. Guess which one of the desserts is especially popular.
Turkish fare such as kebabs & wood-fired pizzas in a stylish, modern restaurant with a patio.
Usually crowded and noisy, but the French/Belgian bistro cooking is great, and the atmosphere is lively and happy. They do a mean mussels with pommes frites. Also try the monkfish.
A very stylish tapas bar with locations in New York City and Hong Kong and 2 locations in DC. Very popular for their $39 all-you-can-eat-and drink tapas brunch for 2.5 hours on weekends.
Basic Italian food. Karaoke nights.
Comfort food in restaurant built around a tree.
Italian food such as lasagna. White tablecloths.
Small, cozy restaurant, with a popular oyster bar, along with fried clams, lobster rolls, and other seafood. This is also a good place to enjoy a beer and martinis.
A huge Mexican restaurant with a roof deck.
One of two locations of the famous local gourmet pizza place. They don't take reservations, so the Saturday night wait can be brutal (on a less crowded night, patio seating is nice). But never fear, they do a healthy take-out business too. Also of note is there is an extensive list of rotating draft and one cask beer. 4 locations in the DC area.
Great sushi with outdoor seating. 3 locations in the DC area.
Thai in the U.S. (and certainly in D.C.) is often nice for a cheap meal with just a little bit of flair, and not much beyond that. But this is one of the best Thai places in the city, and serves up less greasy, more authentic dishes, in an attractive space (and it's not quite as cheap). Strangely, they serve free sodas—not just free refills—which makes this a good bet if you're thirsty. The spice levels, which you can control per request, are higher here than you'd find elsewhere, so those extra drinks are extra useful.
Great Belgian food - including mussels and fries - in a cave-like basement.
Swanky spot with Italian and Greek food. Surprisingly well stocked bar with an amaro/aperitive and whiskey focus.
Declared by serious foodies one of the best restaurants in the country, this is a place for a special occasion (or simply is a special occasion), as it's both super expensive and very memorable. Mediterranean/New American cuisine, specializing in seafood. Reservations are available a month in advance but weekends book up once they open up. Weekday reservations are easier to get and last minute availability is posted on the website.
Very, very classy, and very, very tasty Tuscan cuisine. Obelisk's five course pri-fixe menu changes daily, so everything is always fresh and seasonal. It is reputed to be both one of the city's best dining experiences and one of its best deals. It is, however, small and therefore quite hard to get reservations. Plan well in advance.
The second location of the nationwide chain steakhouse, the Palm has a pretty good claim to best steak in town. There isn't a whole lot of reason to come beyond political celebrity spotting and steak, but that should be reason enough.
Classic French cuisine served in a traditional American gorgeous interior. The food is competitive with the best the city has to offer, and the service is perhaps a step above, with details covered down to the string-bound parchment you receive on your way out, upon which your servers have listed the wines you sampled.
A top-notch sushi restaurant. You'll spend a fortune, but if you like seafood, this place will blow you away.
Features more than 300 beers on the menu, including around 40 on tap. The servers are remarkably knowledgeable if you are looking for particular recommendations—and they might talk you out of that second rate Kenyan lager you just ordered in favor of a far superior Belgian beer. Try the fried oreos.
Features 20 beers on tap and vintage board games for rent @ $2 each!
A classy place at the bottom of the Dupont Hotel with the best people watching in town through its wall of windows right on Dupont Circle. The drinks are excellent, and the happy hour special—$5 for their signature cocktails—is quite a bargain for this location.
Black men's gay bar that serves decent brick-oven baked pizzas. Always crowded—to the point of spilling out onto the street—after dark. Upstairs sees dancing on a very dimly lit dance floor.
There's one big reason to visit this bar, and it's the big, friendly, low-key patio on the street—this is some of the best people watching in the city. Not a bad place to spot celebrities (of the entertainment variety).
An upscale lounge where you can hear yourself talk is a find in Dupont Circle, but that's hardly the only hook. The excellent mixed drinks take a back seat in popularity to the hookahs, old Looney Tunes cartoons run on big flatscreens, and then there is the inaccessibly crowded patio overlooking the street.
Gay central! On weekends, and even weeknights, JR's is packed with fashion-conscious yuppie gay men, although there is no dress code, and the crowd isn't snobby-judgmental. In general, the friendly people are the reason to come—otherwise it's just a very crowded bar. Monday show tunes nights are very popular.
Alice in Wonderland theme. They serve a spiked sugar punch in a giant green hat for $35. Large dance floor.
A super-crowded Latin salsa/reggaeton dance club that is one of the best bets for a good party on a weekday. Weekends are too crowded to dance. Definitely try one of their renowned mojitos. No cover, strict door policy (i.e. no shorts allowed).
A 3-story retro-themed club that plays music from the 1980s and 1990s.
One of many gay clubs in D.C., set apart mostly for the fact that people with differing tastes will be happy. The first floor is a fairly relaxed bar scene where you can chat, while the upstairs club is thumping, raucous, and dancing. The shirtless bartenders are also a draw. Offers a dog-friendly outdoor patio.
A self-proclaimed cigar and martini bar, which at times seems much more of a swanky, upscale, four-floor dance club than anything else. The crowds get thick F Sa, which makes for a good night of dancing, while weeknights are better for heading to the first floor bar for that cigar and martini. The cigar menu is long and impressive.
A long-time neighborhood coffee shop that roasts its own beans. The biggest draw is the plentiful, shaded outdoor seating, which fills up with laptops (free WiFi and plenty of outdoor outlets!) checking emails while enjoying some good 17th St people watching.
Another neighborhood outdoor seating and WiFi coffee shop, this one with a more private seating area on the side of the building. The inside is attractive, decorated with local artwork.
Tea shop with Asian-inspired foods. Breakfast, lunch, and desserts offered on menu. Great selection of fine teas, although the prices exceed the (high) quality. Good place for lunch/brunch. Seating is limited, so if it looks busy you might want to look elsewhere (but there's also seating upstairs).
A fine bed & breakfast.
A trendy hotel and hostel. Offers 2-person rooms, any-gender dorms, and female-only dorms.
A gorgeous Art-Deco masterpiece. All rooms have gourmet coffee machines and full service kitchens.
Originally opened as a luxury apartment building in 1906, this hotel is nice, upscale, and unique, without being either trendy or swanky. It's a simple, lovely place just far north enough of the Circle to qualify as being in a quieter neighborhood. Beds get high marks for comfort but the rooms are small.
A small, old, charming inn on a quiet tree-lined street just five blocks from the White House. 40 sleeping rooms, each unique in character and design, aiming to preserve the turn-of-the-century atmosphere, while keeping decor eclectic. In keeping with the historic bent of this hotel believed to be the oldest continually operating hotel in the city, there are no TVs. Rooms include free gym passes to the nearby Washington Sports Club. Even if you are not staying at the hotel, the Tabard is a great place for a relaxed evening cocktail hour, and some terrific live jazz on Sunday nights. The small hotel restaurant is as attractive as it is highly acclaimed, serving delicious New American cuisine. Some of the cheaper rooms have shared baths.
Contemporary design, cosmopolitan style hotel with upscale suites. New York-inspired studio suites and upscale turret suites also available. Ask for a room on the upper floors. Views of the White House and the Mall from the rooftop bar are spectacular.
A flashy, trendy hotel. Pet friendly hotel, outdoor pool.
Marriott Tribute Portfolio hotel with a rooftop pool.
You can't beat the location of being literally on Dupont Circle. This hotel has stylish, sleek, contemporary decor, and is a little overpriced compared to the services you'd get at other hotels in the same price range, but that is to be expected given the real estate. The bar as very high quality cocktails, with great views out the windows right on the circle.
Housed in a gorgeous 1923 Beaux-Arts building is this small, ultra-luxury hotel, where rooms come with butlers, and a focus on historical charm coexists with flatscreen TVs embedded in the bathroom mirrors and microchips alerting room service when your plates need to be cleared. Much of the decor is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, representing his life and his interests. The on-site spa, reading room, piano bar (and its cocktails) (Su M 11:30AM-midnight, Tu-Sa 11:30AM-1AM), and two restaurants are as beautiful as they are excellent.
With the exception of the lobby's Marylin Monroe skirt-in-the-wind statue, there isn't a whole lot that's distinctive about the St Gregory, but it lives up to the name of a luxury hotel, in terms of excellent service and extra thoughtful details. Its clientèle certainly has been distinguished, having played host to big shots in the worlds of art, entertainment, and politics. You can also enjoy a meal at Tredici Enoteca, the restaurant in the lobby.
Hillyer Art Space
This is one of the hipper galleries in town, often sporting live DJs. Its mission is tied vaguely to international, cross-cultural communication, and it puts on exhibits by established international artists, as well as locals.
A great independent bookstore and a tried and true Washingtonian experience. It's an odd bookstore, in that it has a full restaurant and bar—pick up a travel guide inferior to this one and then sit down for filet mignon, perhaps? Occasional evening author talks, and live music on weekends.
A non-profit bookstore selling books, pottery, and food related to the Middle East, with a particular focus on Palestine.
This is the one and only great used bookstore anywhere nearby. The collection is big and well curated by very knowledgeable staff, and they have a section for rare and collectible books. It's one of the best browsing bookstores you'll ever come across.
This shop, tucked away on a lower level, carries a wide selection of chocolates, and has small art gallery.
By bus
Metrobus operates in Dupont Circle. For more information on riding buses in Washington DC, see Washington DC#Get_around.
By car
Unless you are an experienced D.C. driver, it is very easy to get confused in Dupont Circle, or worse yet, wind up on the barbarous circle.
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