Address
1145 17th Street NW, Washington , DC 20036
Phone Number
(202) 857 - 7700
Date Visited
10/10/2015
Website
National Geographic Museum
Description
The National Geographic Museum is located at 1145 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC. There is no dedicated parking facility. One must find parking on the street or in a garage. A ramp on M Street takes one to the double door entrance. The one floor, spacious museum is easily navigated. Benches can be found around the perimeter of the galleries.Multi-stall, handicapped -accessible restrooms can be found in the hallway near the elevators .Although there is no dedicated baby changing station, a shelf in the restroom could function as one.
There are no food services in the building. A gift shop is located off the lobby.
- Paths and walkways: a ramp on M Street will get one to the main entrance
Doors: double
Elevators: none
Ramps: none
Steps and staircases: none
Width of aisles: spacious
Places to sit: benches along perimeter of galleries
Location of restrooms: in hallway, near elevators
Type of restroom: **multi-stall, handicapped accessible
Ease of entry and exit: OK
Baby changing station: yes
Available food services: none
Friendliness of staff: friendly and helpful
Notes: * There is no dedicated parking facility.* Parking must be found on the street or nearby garage.* Although no dedicated baby changing station in restroom thee is a shelf which could function as one.
“Explore the world and all that’s in it at the National Geographic Museum. The museum is great for all ages and features a wide range of changing exhibitions from interactive experiences to stunning photography exhibitions featuring the work of National Geographic explorers, photographers, and scientists.” (website)
“Centrally located in downtown Washington, DC, a few blocks from the White House… makes this an easy stop during a visit to DC.” (website)
Because of its location this venue does not have a dedicated parking lot, as is the case with most of our Nation’s Capitol. One must find parking either on the street (not an easy task), or in a garage.
You will find a ramp on M Street that will take you to the double door main entrance. The spacious museum is all on the main floor of the National Geographic Building.
The lobby always has a free exhibit. We took some time to view, “Mars: Up Close,” in which photos and videos ” visitors on the red planet” and “discover what Mars is like.” (website) We must say that the photography is “stunning!”
Next, we paid the admission fee to see the Spinosaurus Exhibit – the largest predatory dinosaur to ever roam the earth. We had read about the discovery of the bones and were excited to see the exhibit. Although the exhibit is not large, it is excellent. The combination of replicas of bones, extremely large screen video and other interactive experiences made this a wonderful exhibit for all. We watched children of various ages intently watching/listening to the videos, asking questions and being thoroughly engaged.
The gallery is spacious and easily navigable. Benches are scattered along the perimeter. The second gallery was temporarily closed, getting readied for a new exhibit that was opening in a few days.
Multi-stall, handicapped accessible restrooms are located in the hall of the building, near the elevators. Although there is not a dedicated baby changing station in the restroom, there is a shelf that could function as one.
The museum has a great gift shop with some very interesting items not astronomically priced.
As always, we at Destination Accessible, advise you to check a venue’s website, www.nationalgeographic.com, when planning a visit, to “know before you go.”
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