Thursday, April 24, 2025
Not to be confused with the Washington Harbour, National Harbor omits the definite article ‘the’ and the British ‘u.’ Georgetown’s postmodern mixed-use waterfront complex, designed by Arthur Cotton Moore in the 1980s, may have helped inspire the “micro-city” that the late Milton V. Peterson envisioned in Oxon Hill, Maryland. In turn, National Harbor was likely a model for the much-smaller (but still huge) District Wharf project, facing the Potomac River along the Washington Channel in Southwest D.C.
Since its 2008 opening, the 1,996-room Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center — one of six resorts (including the soon-to-open Gaylord Pacific in Chula Vista, California) built by the Nashville-based corporation and managed by Marriott — has anchored National Harbor’s one-and-a-quarter-square-mile waterfront site in Prince George’s County.
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center from below. Photo by Richard Selden.
Rising from the central pier beyond J. Seward Johnson’s creepy landmark “The Awakening,” an 180-foot Ferris wheel began spinning in 2014. The Capital Wheel is currently showing off its new, state-of-the-art lighting system. Tanger Outlets opened in 2013, the 300-room MGM Hotel & Casino in 2016 and Topgolf in 2019.
Over 15 million visitors are said to drop in every year to eat, drink, shop, gamble, ride the wheel, hit golf balls, attend meetings, watch shows, paddle, swim (in the Gaylord pool and even in the Potomac), fish and, on one spring weekend, ogle a lotta boats.
Luminosity Light Show at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. Photo by Richard Selden.
Running from May 2 to 4, the third annual DC Boat Show will display more than 250 vessels, wet and dry. Public hours are Friday from noon to 7:30 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Boat Show visitors can sample the products of Maryland wineries and distilleries, chow down on food-truck grub and light up freshly rolled cigars. In addition to boat-browsing, there will be marine vendor tents, a golf simulator and live music.
More attractions: Cooking on the Dock with Gypsy Habanero, Catfish Canopy with anglers Stephen Fultz and Ernie the Hog Snatcher (“Watch live as experts catch, fillet and cook catfish right before your eyes”) and a Saturday Night Beach Party with DJ Gemini and a big-screen livestream of the Kentucky Derby, presented by Mahogany Yacht Charters.
Tanger Outlets National Harbor. Photo by Richard Selden.
During the “Limited Time Spring Sale,” one-day general admission is $27; $21 each for two or more tickets. The sale price for the VIP Experience, which includes parking, access to a private lounge, food and liquor items, nautical art and beauty consultations, is $167; $125 each for two or more tickets. Both options include cigar perks. Ticket information is at dcboatshows.com.
Gaylord National’s special Boat Show room rates start at $239. With many rooms facing the waterfront and the 19-story garden atrium, this knockout of a hotel is a good staycation choice anytime. You’ll definitely know you’re not in Georgetown anymore.
A new wayfinding app makes navigating the multilevel property much easier for first-timers. Basically, one side contains the resort facilities and the other the convention center, with over 600,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. In between: the full-service Relâche spa and fitness center.
The lobby of AC Hotel National Harbor. Photo by Richard Selden.
From an atrium-view room or in the atrium itself, guests can goggle at the nightly Luminosity Light Show, synchronized to music. Apart from conventions, the property has hosted Cirque du Soleil and continues to host the Scripps National Spelling Bee, coming up May 26 to 30, and the Christmas show “ICE!”
Outside the atrium, sloping down to the Potomac, are an all-season pool (with morning yoga), a splash pad and a riverfront sun deck and bar. Warm-weather water sports, including kayaking, pedal boating and stand-up paddleboarding are available at the Gaylord pier, along with occasional outdoor movies, concerts and exercise classes.
Food venues: Potomac District Café & Market, a grab-and-go market and liquor store; Harbor Social, a participatory sports bar and restaurant with duckpin bowling, bocce and darts; Gaylord’s signature Old Hickory Steakhouse; and a rooftop lounge, Pose, with 18-foot windows and an outdoor terrace. Guests can make reservations on the app.
Next to the Gaylord are urbanized blocks that flank a parklike, art-punctuated central boulevard, American Way. Many popular shops, from Build-A-Bear Workshop to African lifestyle brand Zaaf, and restaurants — Grace’s Mandarin, Succotash and the Walrus Oyster & Ale House, to name a few — are in this walkable grid, which steps up from Waterfront Street and extends to Spirit Park’s amphitheater near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge ramps.
Visitors can ride a Circulator Bus ($10 for an all-day pass, free with a Gaylord room key) to MGM and Tanger. MGM’s array of restaurants includes Diablo’s Cantina, Ginger, Memphis Q, Osteria Costa and Voltaggio Brothers Steak House. Upcoming shows in the Theater at MGM National Harbor: Ledisi with Marsha Ambrosius on May 30 and 31, Zac Brown Band on June 6 and Kansas & 38 Special with the Outlaws on June 7.
Breakfast spread in AC Kitchen. Photo by Richard Selden.
The only Tanger in the Greater Washington region is a partially covered streetscape with some 80 stores (most national chains), a food truck plaza, a children’s play area and a rooftop bee hive. Hours are Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. A trail will lead intrepid types over the Wilson Bridge from Alexandria, Virginia, right to Tanger, where they will find a Capital Bikeshare station.
Staying over? Besides MGM and Gaylord, you have six hotel choices — AC Hotel, Club Wyndham, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hyatt Place, Residence Inn and the Westin — plus a houseboat, Flohom 4. (There are also condos; the resident population is in the low thousands.)
Overnighters seeking a boutique feel should consider the AC Hotel, which opened in 2015 (as an Aloft). The AC stands for Antonio Catalán, the Spanish creator of the rapidly expanding brand — like Gaylord part of the Marriott Bonvoy program — which emphasizes contemporary art and design; breakfast options such as croissants, tarts, fruit, cheese and cured meat in cheerful AC Kitchens, each of which boasts a Berkel slicer; and lobby lavender stations: “Lavender promotes better sleep and is put out for guests to grab each night and place under their pillow.”
Note: City Cruises operates seasonal water taxi routes to National Harbor from Old Town Alexandria’s City Marina (30 minutes) and from Transit Pier at the Wharf (55 minutes), both of which can be reached from the Georgetown Dock behind (ahem) the Washington Harbour. Details are available at cityexperiences.com.