United States · District of Columbia · Washington
Georgetown, Washington — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Georgetown, founded in 1751 and forty years older than the capital itself, is a historic neighbourhood and commercial district of Washington, D.C.
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Where to stay in Georgetown
The practical side of choosing where to sleep.
Shoppers and diners have the best of Georgetown at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, with high-end shops, bars, restaurants, and the enclosed Georgetown Park mall. Washington Harbour adds restaurants on the water. The City Tavern, opened in the 1790s, survives near that corner as a private club. Embassies of Cameroon, France, Iceland, Sweden, and Thailand, among others, stand in the neighbourhood.
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Things to do in and around Washington
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- House of the Temple Heritage
- Corcoran Gallery of Art Heritage
- Renwick Gallery Heritage
Castles & Historic Sites
3- Admiral David G. Farragut Heritage
- Vietnam Women's Memorial
- Zero Milestone
Landmarks & Notable Places
1- Number One Observatory Circle
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Washington
About Georgetown
What are the main landmarks in Georgetown?
The Old Stone House of 1765 is the oldest building still standing in Washington. The Dumbarton Oaks estate, the Volta Bureau for deaf education, and a historic stretch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal are all here, with the main campus of Georgetown University. Mount Zion United Methodist Church is the city's oldest African-American congregation.
The Forrest-Marbury House on M Street now houses the embassy of Ukraine.
What is the history of Georgetown?
In 1632 the fur trader Henry Fleet recorded Tohoga, a village of the Nacotchtank people, on the site. George Gordon built a tobacco inspection house around 1745, and in 1751 the Maryland legislature bought 60 acres from Gordon and George Beall for the town. George Washington negotiated land deals for the new capital at Suter's Tavern.
Georgetown governed itself until 1871. Its streets took Washington's names in 1895, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, begun in July 1828, closed in March 1924.
Where is Georgetown?
Georgetown lies in Northwest Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River. It sits on the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line, once the head of navigation for boats from the ocean. Its main commercial corridors cross at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, with Washington Harbour south of them on K Street, and the Buffalo Bridge on Q Street, opened in 1915, links it to the city east of Rock Creek Park.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Georgetown?
Georgetown: Shoppers, diners, and walkers who want the canal and the river close by.
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Updated October 2026