Top 5 Things To Do While In Woodley Park

The colorful cakepoppery is located across the street from The National Zoo. Buy a single, dozen, or full bouquet of pops in a wide range of flavors: red velvet, lemon and cookies n’ cream to name a few. Learn to bake your own delicacies with their cakepop making classes. Baked by Yael also offers homemade bagels and various sweet treats, such as delicious raspberry bars.

This two-floor vintage and consignment store is located directly across from the Woodley Park metro. The store can be on the pricier side for second-hand clothes, but it’s well-known that everything is overpriced in northwest D.C. Plenty of vintage accessories and brand-new name brand items await those who enter. Via Gypset is not as popular as other stores of its kind, solely for its odd location — Woodley Park is known for the Zoo and quaint residential homes, not trendy shopping. This shop is a bit of a diamond in the rough.

A wide variety of vibrant saris adorned with gold jewelry dangle from the windows and command passersby’s attention. Ornate belly-dancing skirts and flowing tops in bright shades of oranges, reds and greens demand a closer look. The exquisite fabrics found at Admire Indian Arts & Crafts will surely delight. This Indian arts & crafts store is ideal for window-shoppers and those seeking colorful and cultural souvenirs.

This quaint Italian eatery is a brief walk up Connecticut Avenue from the metro. The small family business serves as a staple of the Woodley Park neighborhood. The cozy, welcoming atmosphere allows diners to feel right at home. Owners embraced the panda craze after Bei Bei’s birth last August, and they now serve panda shaped pancakes. Don’t fret, though — they still offer more traditional, authentic Italian fair like caprese, bruschetta and consistently fresh mozzarella.

The National Zoo houses approximately 400 different species and receives two million visitors each year. The iconic zoo is most recognized for its successful giant panda breeding program; pandas are notoriously hard to breed in captivity, but mother Mei Xiang (along with the sperm of proud papa, Tian Tian) has birthed three healthy cubs in the last decade. Giant pandas are critically endangered, and the Zoo’s captive breeding program adds crucial genetic diversity into the gene pool; Smithsonian scientists also study the external factors that lead to pandas’ decline in the wild. The Zoo is far more than just a zoo, and it performs world-class research to conserve species around the globe. The best part is that since it’s a Smithsonian Institution, the National Zoo is free to visit.