Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Smithsonian had long faced a simple problem: the museum on the National Mall could only show a fraction of its collection, and the largest aircraft would never fit through its doors. For decades priceless planes sat in storage. The Udvar-Hazy Center, opened in December 2003, was the answer, a purpose-built display hangar with the ceiling height and floor space to bring those aircraft into public view at last.

The design puts scale front and center. The main aviation hangar arcs overhead like the inside of a great vaulted shed, with aircraft hung at several heights so visitors walk among and beneath them on ramps and balconies. A separate hangar holds the space collection. The result is less a hushed gallery than a working hangar frozen in place, and part of the wonder is simply standing under something that once flew.

The Space Shuttle Discovery anchors the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. This is not a model or a mockup but the actual orbiter, flown on more missions than any other shuttle, its heat tiles still marked by reentry. The Smithsonian chose to display it exactly as it returned from space rather than clean it up, so what you see is a spacecraft that carried astronauts and came home.

The aviation hangar holds its own legends. The SR-71 Blackbird, a reconnaissance jet that flew faster than any other and cruised at the edge of the atmosphere, stretches long and black near the entrance. A Concorde, one of the supersonic airliners that once crossed the Atlantic in a few hours, sits nearby. The Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is here as well, presented with the sober weight its history demands.

The center welcomes visitors at no charge, in keeping with Smithsonian tradition, though there is a fee to park. Because the two hangars are so vast, a thorough visit is a lot of walking, and many people find they run out of time before they run out of things to see. It pairs naturally with a trip through the Dulles area, since the airport is quite literally over the fence.

One of the quieter pleasures is the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, a glass-walled perch that rises above the hangar roof. From it you look out across the runways of Dulles, close enough to watch airliners settle onto the tarmac and taxi in, a fitting counterpoint to the historic machines resting inside. The center also runs an IMAX theater and a flight-simulator area for those who want more than a stroll.

Behind the display floor, the Udvar-Hazy Center houses the museum's restoration hangar, where conservators painstakingly repair and preserve aircraft that will eventually go on view. Visitors can often watch this work from an overlook, a rare chance to see museum craft in progress rather than the polished result.

The collection spans the whole arc of flight, from early wood-and-fabric biplanes and a Wright brothers era feel through the propeller age, the jet age, the space age, and into modern experimental craft. New acquisitions and rotating displays mean the hangars are never quite the same twice, and even repeat visitors tend to find something they missed the last time through.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.