Washington, D.C. may be a political hub, but the city can also serve as a romantic place to spend a night (or day) out on the town. Amidst the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial, there are a wide variety of lounges, outdoor activities and cultural events to experience and explore. Take your date out on an entertaining and memorable experience that he or she won't soon forget.
Concerts at the National Art Gallery feature a wide range of live performances that consist of everything from Latin American rhythms to upbeat jazz and classical music performed by pianists.
Seats are filled on a first-come, first serve basis, and admission is absolutely free.
If you're heading out for a date in the summertime, don't miss the gallery's Jazz in the Garden series. It generally runs from mid-May to mid-September and features jazz artists performing at the National Art Gallery Sculpture Garden every Friday evening, rain or shine. If it rains, concerts are taken indoors to the Pavilion Garden, which serves up snacks during the event.
Rock Creek Park can make for an entertaining date, especially if both of you are into the outdoors and enjoy learning more about the environment.
A great way to start the day off is with a picnic in the park. Rock Creek has 30 picnic areas throughout its grounds, and some of them have rain shelters in case of an unexpected downpour.
After lunch or a sunset dinner, consider taking a walk to the park's planetarium, one of the highlights of Rock Creek, and taking a close-up look at the stars and sky. In addition to the planetarium, the park offers a large variety of outdoor activities that can be fun for daters to try, such as hiking, biking, in-line skating, tennis, horseback riding, golf and tours of the park.
Consider taking your date out for a cultural evening out on the town, with dancing and poetry on the cheap.
According to Metromix, 18th Street Lounge in D.C. offers tango lessons for $10 every Tuesday from 8 p.m. - 9 p.m., followed by a pseudo tango dance-off that is free for those who have taken tango lessons at the lounge. This is a nice way to step outside of the dinner-and-a-movie box and do something active together with your date. As a bonus, the lounge also hosts a happy hour with free hummus and grape leaves, prior to the dance lessons.
After dancing for a bit, heading to a poetry open mic night can be a nice, artsy ending to your date. Busboys and Poets offers an open mic night every Tuesday, and admission is only $4.
