Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center, Virginia, United States

5dallasite95 5:00 PM Aug 7, 2021

A 'must do' museum for aviation buffs. Well worth the long ride to get there
This is a 'must do' museum if you are an aviation buff. So many amazing aircraft on display - SR71, Concorde, Enola Gay, Discovery Space Shuttle are just some of the big highlights. I liked that they also showed many aircraft designs that didn't work out so well and explained what was tried and what didn't work out. The restoration hanger was fascinating as well. Allows you to better appreciate all of the countless hours that is takes to restore and display the aircraft. Also wonderful displays of engine design evolution. Much, much better than the National Air and Space Museum in downtown Wash DC. If I had to chose between the 2 museums I chose this one without a doubt. My 16yr old and I spent 4 hours here and could have spent longer if everything was 100% open. (They are repairing the roof in one of the hangers so a number of aircraft were covered to protect them. ) However there were still many, many aircraft in that hanger that were uncovered. In total there were 4 hangers. The control tower and Imax were closed, but the air simulators were all operational in Aug. There were live docents available via Zoom to answer questions. The museum is 30 miles from downtown DC. We took the silver metro line to the end ($4) then took a $20 Uber ride the remaining 8 miles from there. They no longer require advanced tickets and the museum was free. There was no food available (closed)

4BrummieMoneypenny 5:00 PM Jun 5, 2022

Wonderful museum but needs better ground transportation
I’m a huge aviation enthusiast so I was disappointed to learn that the main museum on the Mall was closed. Not to fear, this museum had exactly what I wanted to see. A space shuttle. This museum is jam packed with the most wonderful displays. Discovery gave me goosebumps. This museum is ideal for anyone who has a car or a rental. It’s not ideal of anyone staying in DC with no transport. It took me almost two hours to make the short journey to the museum. Silver line to Wiehle Reston then transfer to the North bus station across the bridge. Take the escalators down and you’ll find the 983 which makes four stops before the museum. That 5 mile journey takes 40 mins. It’s a bargain $2 and drops you right outside. For the return journey I didn’t want to wait 20 mins for the next bus then a 40 mins bus then the metro into DC so i quickly picked up an Uber. Driver came In a few minutes, picked me up and off we went. He got charged the full $15 “parking” fee. That made a $20 journey a lot more expensive. A trip here will take most of the day if you use public transport. The museum is crying out for a bus shuttle either from the Mall museum (as it’s currently closed) or a central location. I’d have happily paid a charge to get there quicker. I couldn’t believe how quiet the museum was for a Sunday. One thing to note they offer no food or drink areas. Water fountains but there’s no food to buy and nowhere locally to take anything. So take food for before and after you’ve seen some incredible displays.