Shop for Gifts Near Your DC Apartment at the Downtown Holiday Market
In the mood to be inspired by festive décor, or looking for an outdoor holiday shopping location this year? The open-air Downtown Holiday Market has enlivened the streets of Penn Quarter and Chinatown for years, and it’s time for it to return! The market is about a 15-minute metro ride from your apartment in DC at 14W, near the Gallery Place-Chinatown stop.
White vendor tents and lights will line two blocks between F Street NW, from 7th to 9th Streets NW until December 29 (except Mondays, December 7 and 14). Visit any day between 12 p.m-8 p.m. Enter the market at F Street NW in front of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, then you can explore a sparkling holiday marketplace and discover unique treasures while you support small businesses and entrepreneurs from across the region. If you get hungry while you’re shopping, keep an eye out for vendors throughout the market that will be serving up hot beverages and other treats.
Join in a mixed-reality (XR) scavenger hunt around the market using your smartphone at a few “instagrammable” checkpoints along the way. Listen to holiday film clips and songs of the season from the Jumbotron screen as you shop. And enjoy the new wider layout with more distancing possible between shoppers!
Before you head home, stop into the free Smithsonian Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Both are free to enter and you’ll find a stunning covered multilevel courtyard inside!
