The Best Picnic Spots in Washington, D.C.

Dumbarton Oaks is an architectural gem and vibrant park, museum, library, and learning center set atop the highest point in historic Georgetown. The splendor of the seasons plays out in the gardens like an impressionist painting. Spreading out from the Manor House like a plush Chinese carpet, the lawn encourages you to seek out a picnic spot. Consider sitting under the dreamy canopy of soft pink-flowered cherry trees on Cherry Hill, beneath the crimson fall leaves on apple trees at Crabapple Hill, or among the colorful blooms in the English Cottage Garden.

Marjorie Merriweather Post was a wealthy heiress whose expensive tastes and unerring sense of style led her to endow Hillwood, her 35-acre estate, with the most beautiful decorative arts inside and out. The Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens are popular with picnicking couples and families who stroll along the walkways and French parterre gardens, stop to smell the roses, and lounge on the manicured lawns.

Do you get modern expressionism? Don’t sweat it; no need to be an art expert to appreciate contemporary, outdoor art. More affectionately called “The Doughnut on the Mall,” the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a quiet haven far from the maddening crowds on the National Mall. Its sculpture garden lies hidden behind tall concrete walls, which deadens loud noise and creates a dreamy place for al fresco dining. Thick grass carpets meander in and out of a kaleidoscope of different genres of sculpture that include pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s 32-foot-tall (9.7-meter-tall) bright yellow cartoon sculpture and Auguste Rodin‘s darkly brooding Burghers of Calais.

Sweeping vistas and splendor in the grass may make for lovely picnic outings, but D.C.’s unpredictable weather makes things dicey in early spring and fall. Why not bring the outside in and have your picnic in the glass-enclosed Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard? Master architect Norman Foster designed this stunning space, which cleverly connects the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Its sunlit gallery includes tables and chairs, large marble containers planted with ficus and black olive trees, shrubs, and ferns, and horizontally across the entire floor are shallow water scrims that will remind you of peaceful woodland streams.

For a connection to the founding of the District of Columbia and two great American heroes, Lincoln Park is an excellent place for a picnic. For starters, it has a long history no other park can claim – it was always meant to be a public park and was part of Pierre L’Enfant‘s original design for the District of Columbia in 1791. It’s also a park created to honor President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and activist Mary McLeod Bethune’s work for civil rights and education. There are lots of open green areas where you can lay down a blanket and set out your meal, and this is also a dog- and kid-friendly park with ample space for kids and dogs to run and play, and there are two gated playgrounds with slides.