Three part question.

1 - Which airport would you choose to fly into from Houston to DC. Will be using SWA and staying at the Embassy Suites in Georgetown.

2 - Will probably stay 5 days. Typically, the wife and I will do a bus tour the first day to get a lay of the land and plan the rest of our stay. I'm pretty sure I could spend all 5 days touring the Smithsonian's. What are the other can't miss stops. I know all the obvious ones,

3 - Should I rent a car, or use public transportation

Was there last week.

1) Fly into Reagan (DCA). Dulles is like 40 miles outside the city.

2) The big ones on the Mall are all pretty obvious. Air & Space is under renovation (only half of it is open and requires a timed reservation no cost). Spy Museum has a big building off the Mall that is pretty interesting. Old town Alexandria is pretty cool.

3). Their public transportation is easy to navigate and goes pretty much everywhere you need. Get a multi-day pass for unlimited use. Parking around the mall or at hotels will cost you stupid amounts of money. I think the hotel we stayed at overnight charged $50/night before a tax.

If you're big on air/space, the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles is a can't miss. Agree with flying into DCA for convenience, but maybe look at flying out of Dulles and hit up Udvar-Hazy before the flight.

1. DCA
2. UBER, TAXI, METR
3. ENJOY

Nick with USA Guided Tours is very entertaining and knowledgeable. I had never done a guided tour before this and I really enjoyed it.

My son lives there. Definitely Reagan National. The Metro is easy to use and DC is very Uber friendly. My favorites:

Mt Vernon
Vietnam Memorial
Arlington National Cemetery
Air and Space Museum (the big one near Dulles)
Ford Theatre
National Art Gallery at the Smithsonian
American History Museum

My favorite restaurant is Old Ebbitt Grill near the White House.