Great city to visit and live, very beautiful neighborhoods, nice metro, diverse people, affluent educated minorities, great nightlife unlike other cities which bars close at 2am LOL

I’ve been here twice, both times during the summer, when it was sunny, hot, and humid. The streets are clean, flat, and very, very wide. The last time I was here, I did a whirlwind tour of some of the major museums and monuments. Make sure to give yourself at least several days if you want to visit all of the touristy places. The White House, the US Capitol, and the National Museum of Natural History are great places to start.

If you thought DC was all politics you were wrong! DC has a great nightlife and the clubs are always hopping. The city itself is constantly going through change, and new areas are continually coming to life. The city has a wonderful international feel, and you can find wonderful international cuisines at affordable prices. This is one of the best American cities around, and the public transportation (Metro) is some of the best in the world!

Fantastic museums, and obviously politics are what it is all about, but otherwise not the best American city. High crime and a lot of mediocre suburbia.

If you can forget the politicians, Washington is a great place to live. lots of opportunities for the natives. And good places to see for the tourists. The city is well laid out and easy to navigate, a wagon wheel type design, and the city is pretty clean for one of its size. Crime is high though, so be careful.

I've been living in DC for 3 years and can definitely say it is one of the best cities in the US. It is very unique, clean, and very pretty for the most part. Isolated areas of the city (where there is no need to go) are very ghetto, but nothing that you don't see in other cities. The description of crime from other people who have posted are totally exaggerated. DC is very diverse and has a great nightlife and tons of things to do for people of all ages. My ranking of best American cities: 1- San Francisco, 2- New York, 3- DC, 4- Chicago, 5- Boston

A beautiful downtown area. Been there countless times and there's always something to do!

Probably my favorite city in America. i love the layout, with no skyscrapers.  Perfect 4 season climate. the center of govt and policy for the world, basically. Have been 3 times, in summer twice and once in winter, and have loved it each time. Everyone you meet seems intelligent and working in toward making our country a better place, regardless of party, which is way cool. Plus, most of the tourist attractions are free!!

D.C. was a bad idea.

That just about sums up everything that is wrong with it. Instead of putting the capital in a real city, the Founders decided to stick in a place where there was absolutely nothing. Try to socialize organically in D.C.: it won't happen. Few of the people who work there live there, and even fewer of the people who live there have work. The result is a so-called "city" without actual hangouts like cafes, decent bars, or cheap eats. Instead, you have a place with unaffordable hotels and boring convention centers.

The words of the traveler Jean-Jacques Ampère, who was there in 1851, pretty much sum it up: D.C. is "striking proof of this truth, that one cannot create a great city at will."

(Oops, I first posted this as a comment ... )

Lots to do and lots to see here, folks. Plan to stay a few days to do it right. Don't go in the summer, however.

The biggest company town in the world. Nice monuments.

lived here for half my life. wouldn't live anywhere else in the states other than the west coast or ny. great location. excellent shopping. european-styled american city with lots of culture. one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the u.s. after l.a. making it more and more diverse and liberal. excellent subway and bus system.

What can you expect from a city where there are whole black neighbourghoods with barricaded homes! Very scary.

I lived in DC for about a year and I was fascinated at how many things there is to do and see there, FOR FREE! I was also suprised at the cultural diversity. That city has to be one of the most bipolar places I have seen. On one hand, the downtown area has to be one of the cleanest and most breathtaking cities I have ever been to. On the other hand, the neighborhoods just outside the tourist parts are borderline slums. It seems all of the effort is concentrated to the scenic parts and no attention at all is paid to the residential areas. The Georgetown area was nice also to visit. The people there are cool for the most part, even though most of them seem to be very materialistic, if that means anything to you.

As a place to visit, it would get a 5. The Smithsonian is amazing, as are all of the monuments such as the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc. It's also great to be able to see such buildings as the White House and the Capitol building.

But as a place to live, I'd give it a 1 (Washington itself, many of the suburbs are OK). I lived in the Foggy Bottom area for a couple of months, and I wouldn't do it again. You have to take the Metro everywhere, and there are always delays and overcrowded stations when you really need to get somewhere. Simple everyday things are hard to find, I had to ride on the Metro for half an hour just to find a decent grocery store. And the city just completely dies at night. After the government workers go home, everything closes.

So average rating of 3.

Any city that has lawyers and politicans trumping culture really needs work. I lived there for 6 years...basically a land of uptight self-important workoholics who
attempt to be cool...but really arent. Does Washington really evoke the word romantic and/or sexy? Sort of Los Angeles for ugly people...but bascially a wonk/dork town. Most of the people I know who thought Washington was a really "cool" place came from such hotbeds such as Evansville, Des Moines, and Rochester NY. It is a transient city/area for more reasons than just poltical upheaval. And they elected Marion Barry...twice.

Best thing about this city is you can plan your entire weekend, visit museums, zoos, etc. and not spend any money on admissions.

And you got monuments, memorials, culture-a great city with great things to do.

Well the new numbers are out and the D.C. metropolitan area is a.) the most educated area in the U.S. and b.) the richest area in the U.S. Museums second only to New York, vibrant cultural life and great economy. Except for small pockets in D.C. (pop 500k out of a metro 5 million) very low crime and maryland and virginia boast some of the best schools in the nation. Don't like it? All things taken together if you are smart, savy, skilled and ambitious,one of the best places to be. Its not just a tourist place like shithole Florida, but a place to live and prosper. Don;t like it? Well you probably do not have very good taste or are not very smart and can;t see what is plain. In any event, I feel sorry for you. Name a better u.s. city for life, career, culture and family. Oh we are close to skiing and the beach to top it all off. The largest collection of PhDs in the world can't be wrong!

Awseome, lots and lots to do, from all the famous Government bulidings and monuments, to the Smithsonian and other countless museums. This place is great. Clean and easy to navigate. People are friendly. Would I live there, no not really. But it is a nice place to visit. It has it's grimy side, that seems a millions worse than it really is because it's such a contrast from the tourist part of DC.

Our "capital" has one of the worst crime rates in the country.That should tell you a lot about our "priorities".It si also a reflection of the old "As above,so below" adage.There's white collar crime in the Administration,and gangs and thugs run amok on the streets.Meanwhile,some buttheads think we're fit to "police" the planet.What a sick joke!

Great place to visit with all of the history museums that you could ever want to see. Terrible place to live with the outrageous rent, traffic and high crime.

I can speak from experience--I've lived in the DC area pretty much my entire life. The job market is decent, the night life is good, BUT..... The traffic is AWFUL. Third worst in the country. The cost of living is high. The city caters to lawyers, lobbyists, and defense contractors. One out of five people you see in bars and restaurants are one of the above. And they are the most arrogant, me-first people you will ever encounter. Good place to visit, passable place to live. If it weren't for the museums, bars, and good number of singles, this place would get one star.

One of the most disapointing cities that I've ever been to! Considering that it is the capital jesus it should be the best. negatives 1. weather stinks 2. No one lives there (tiny population) 3. No decent bars or places to get food. 4. except for the main famous buildings it is ugly positives 1. has ok countryside around it 2. People are friendly 3. Reasonable museums but way way over rated (the richest country can only come up with that!!!!! 4. the road out is my favourite feature! Sorry!!!!

I can't count the number of times I've been to DC (probably around 40). Whether school class trips, competing in rowing events, conventions, Redskins games, business trips with the Navy, or family trips, it's been a frequent destination. I even had a chance to move there, but turned it down. Over 35 years, I pretty much have seen just about everything you can see there. Notable exceptions are the White House and the Pentagon (Incredible, that I can be in the military for 20 years and never go into the Pentagon). The Smithsonian has always been a favorite of mine. The lamest place to visit is the Library of Congress (there's no books there). My favorite drinking places are the Champions Sports bar in Georgetown, and Murphy's Irish Pub in Alexandria. All the restaurants are quite good; again, Murphy's is a good place to eat and drink. My points of advice: 1) Driving is a big hassle. Use the Metro. Their metro system is clean, safe, and efficient. 2) There are some very, very bad parts of town. Don't stop in these parts. I tried to get gas and was approached by two guys (my spider senses were tingling). Sure enough, I pulled the fuel hose out of the tank, hopped back into the car and locked it just as one dude took a swipe at reopening my car door. 3) Crystal City is a good, safe place to stay, but the hotels are expensive and the place turns into a ghost town at night. Overall, DC is an interesting destination with no shortage of things to do.

It's a great city to visit, and probably a horrible one to live in. What does it say for America when the capital is one of the biggest ghettoes on Earth? What impression does it give to foreign diplomats? The cost-of-living is really high. I believe it when raters say the people are unfriendly and weird, I've lived in areas like that. It's a shame, that's the kiss of death for any area.

Really a ghetto outside of the Georgetown area and government buildings. Scary!

Worst Damn Southern City in the Country! Horrible Landscape. Lots of Poverty.

DC..meh..it's just an average city. But the architect of the buildings..(gov buildings that is!!) are magnificent! There are some "nice" areas where you can walk around without getting mugged. However, my friend had an experience in DC where he was mugged in broad daylight. My other friend encountered rude bums where they would ask him for money....$5 bills and higher only!! DC lifestyl is just about politics...."I scratch your back....you scratch my back" kind of mentality. yes, people here seem to be very rude, and unfriendly. I bet DC has one of the worst customer-service ratings along with cities such as LA and NYC. There are also ghetto places here...so ghetto that I NEVER would want to step an inch into that kind of places! One night while sleeping at a motel near the Russian Embassy...I heard a bomb explode there along with some gun-shots. I watched the local news the next morning, and the guy said some gangs were fighting with one another (don't know what's up with the bomb hurled at the Russian Embassy). I would NEVER live in DC...however...visiting here isn't that bad.

i would like to say that i live and d.c and i love it it is a great place. how could people sit up here and down d.c like this i have been to new york and it looks good because of the lots but on my way there i have seen dirty hoods that made dc projects look like manison. i would never degard d.c becuase it is my home town yes there is crime and so what there is crime ever think about most crimes such as muder happens esle where and the only reason dc is put on full blaze is because what society says about us i bet in md name there is a dead body in the the woods but how would they know. md don't have some much hyde around them like dc do until u have live in dc and really seen dc you can say nuthing about dc and trust the people that live in the state makes the state the way it is thank you

Washington, D.C. is one of the few cities in the U.S. where you can almost imagine you are in Europe: Old, walkable neighborhoods such as Georgetown and DuPont Circle, height limitations on buildings, almost as many museums and galleries as Paris, a great subway system and lots of FREE cultural activites. People here may not be the most outgoing, but there is no doubt that they are the most educated of any large metropolitan region in the country. It's a pleasure to speak with people who value education. You could never accuse Washingtonians of being ignorant or provincial, unlike just about every southern city in this country. As for the crime situation, some reviewers claim that you will be shot at if you so much as walk your dog, but I would like to reasure people that NOTHING could be further from the truth. Crime is confined to a few gang-dominated areas where you are unlikely to find yourself. I lived here 8 years and never once heard gunshots. DC is my favorite American city after Boston and San Francisco.

The people in this city are incredibly rude! They don't smile or talk to strangers. Even my neighbors barely acknowledge me! Most of them are lawyers or bureacrats - specimens not known for creativity or social graces. Then there is the population "on the other side of the tracks". Most of whom are black with little education. They live in slums right in the shadow of the capitol. The only advantage is a nice metro system and some huge museums with unimpressive art to take your guests from middle America to.

The free museums are the only attribute of this awful city. DC surpasses New York when it comes to the rudeness and lack of friendliness of the people. Terrible traffic, high crime (dangerous even to walk your dog at night), filthy, the Anacostia and Potomac rivers are among the ten worst in the U.S. for pollution. Summer weather is miserably hot and humid with poor air quality. Physically the city is unimpressive, built on a low, flat, swampy plain. The parts of the city you never see in the tourist brochures (northeast and southeast) are the ugliest urban slums you will find anywhere. Oh, and the corrupt and inefficient DC government. XM Satellite Radio is headquartered here in an area so drab and uninspired a six-figure salary couldn't lure me to work there. Most people who do work in DC are government drones whose biggest career goal is to retire. I could go on and on but I'll stop here.

A city where some parts have their homes barricaded! Is there more to add?

My favorite city to visit in the US. Beautifully laid out. Seemingly endless number of musuems/landmarks/tourist attractions, both public and private. Diverse population. Best transit system in the US in my opinion. Nice 4 season climate. Gorgeous suburban Virginia and Maryland countryside. Highly recommend a couple visits to the nation's capital.

Great culture and attractions.

The city is full of crime and is dirty.

I went to Washington for a few days in 1989 to visit a friend who was going to school there. I wasn't expecting to be impressed; indeed, I was bracing myself for a protracted, boring experience. Although the Amtrack ride down was awful (there wasn't a seat available and I had to sit on the floor and it was hot), I was pleasantly surprised by what I encountered in Washington. I had expected it to be staid, conservative, and bland (and a segment of it certainly was), but in truth, it's a city of amazing diversity and culture. For a start, there was a cornucopia of ethnic restaurants (an Arabic and Ethiopian restaurant were just 2 of the different ones that we ate in). The city had a wide variety of book stores, a definite attraction for a confirmed bibliophile like myself. There was an enchanting beauty and vitality to the neighborhoods that we visited (I took a childish delight in finding the place in elitist Georgetown where they filmed The Exorcist). There was the regal majesty of the Potomac River; the loveliness of the cherry blossoms and the surrounding Virginia countryside; the awe one can't help but feel (even a nihilistic cynic like myself) at being in the location where so much of our American history, both good and bad, was made, and is still being made. There are the monuments, the Holocaust museum (although that hadn't been built in 1989, if I remember right), the Ford Theatre and the former boarding house across the street where Lincoln died (they've preserved the pillow that was under his head and Lincoln's blood-stains are now a sort of dull, muddy brown; this was morbidly creepy but fascinating nonetheless), the hotel where Hinckley shot Reagan, and the old Southern cemetery where J. Edgar Hoover is buried right alongside his alleged lover Clyde Tolson. I don't want to give the impression that it was all great. I found the city somewhat confusing to get around in and would have gotten hopelessly lost if it hadn't been for my friend acting as my personal tour-guide. Also, there's a lot of poverty and crime, so you have to be careful and alert (although poverty and crime are societal ills that obviously are not intrinsic to Washington alone). For me, it went from being a city that I had absolutely no interest in at all to being a city that I'll always remember with warmth and affection (despite my reservations about a lot of the prostitutes who ply their trade there, and I'm not talking about the ladies of the night). I've been back there once or twice since, and would heartily recommend it to any tourist who has their sights set on visiting a place with a bit more substance than Atlantic City or Disney World can offer.

Washington DC is a magnificent city with something for everyone. It is very stimulating on so many levels. The monuments here like the new World War II memorial, Vietnam War memorial, and Lincoln memorials are very moving and definately stir up emotions. The parkland in this city is abundant, so much green space everywhere. Dupont Circle is a fun, trendy and youthful neighborhood with great archetecture and a lot of diverse places to eat. The public transit/metro system is immacualte, clean and very efficient. I'd reecomend coming here in the spring or fall as I was here in summer which can get unbearably hot and muggy and really slow you down. There is so much to do here that my last visit only scratched the surface and I'm planning another trip to come back so I can see the Smithsonian museums, Georgetown and other sights which I've heard mostly good feedback on.

Probably my favorite US city. Great parks, and great if you like politics. Terrible commute for the poor souls who drive to work from the burbs.

An embarresment for the capital of the so called Greatest Nation on Earth. This city needs a major cleaning. Parts of DC look like something from the Third World, without any local charm. Bums are the worst I have seen in the Western world. This is a national disgrace!!!!

DC is a great city. Lots of fun things to do... Of course you have all the momuments, memorials, historic sites, museums, etc. Great restaurants and a good nightlife. Thing that disappoints me the most though, is DC is under lock down all the time...which is understandable in today's age. Traffic is a mess there...I-395 any time of the day or night is a mess. I've visited DC several times in the past 2 yrs, but it's always fun. Just a pain to get around w/ roads being blocked and jam packed highways. Very defensive drivers...not courteous at all!

I went to DC and I doubt I'd ever return. Lots of criminals walking around,panhandlers and the museums all close too dang early. I did enjoy the tour bus around D.C. and smithsonian was very very cool but other than that, it was waste of time.

dork city.

A sightseer's paradice. Not sure I would want to live there though. ...Cy

I like going there as a tourist. But I wouldn't live or work there.

DC's not a bad place. The museum and monuments are cool but not really my scene. I like how there's the ordinance that no building can be higher than the Washington Monument. Makes the city seem a bit less overwhelming than others. People seem a bit courteous of our Capital and don't use the horn much or drive like idiots. The subway system is extremely clean. There are some great colleges, and the club scene is a good time.

A crime-infested city that looks as if it's about to fall apart. My friend also got mugged by the bums. And the beggars in DC are also rude and demanding. Rather than accepting a $1 bill, they want a $10 bill. Must be the political polution going through the air here.

OMG...this place is so terrible, I don't see how some of you can live in this rathole. While I was in DC, I heard so many gun shots at night, drug dealers roaming the streets, my frind almost got mugged and the Russian embassy was fire-bombed by a group of thugs! Also where corrupt piggy-back politicians thrive in this sulfuric smelly sewage epicenter.

1) Born here 2) Work here 3) Homeowner 4) Will die here This is a place to come for the inanimate objects. Love them & I will never leave. The human element......well.... let's just say that Rape, Murder, Burglary, Robbery and all manner of unpredictable mayhem is in effect. Why do you think the powerful/well connected live and work behind layers of armed guards/metal detectors ? Murder Capital -- but we're gonna git some baseball !!!

Washington is an up-and-coming city. Gentrification is changing the complexion of the city, for better or worse. It's a small city, but is packed with plenty of things to do whether you're a tourist, transcient or local. The Mall, museums and tourist hot spots are a requisite to visit. The downtown is being revitalized, Gerogetown is a trendy neighborhood to visit. You always get the feel that there's something important going on in the city. Yes some areas are bad and there are some really crazy, stupid crimes that happen in the city, but that should'nt distract you from visiting. The Metro transit system is excellent IMHO. A couple drawbacks? It gets HOT in the summer. Driving in the city is a bitch. This is still a must-visit city if you're from the USA.On top off all that, Baseball is back in DC !