Visiting the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C.

Last summer me, my mom, and my sister finally got a chance to visit the International Spy Museum. It has been on our list of places to visit since we first moved to the east coast back in 2018, but we just hadn't had the chance to go until now.

We had visited back in 2008, when we were still living in Washington (state) and visited Washington D.C. for the first time. But since then the museum has moved into a much larger location and has expanded quite a bit. 

It's recommended you purchase tickets in advance as it books up quickly (especially during the summer.) so that is what we did. It's mostly just to stagger the start times so there aren't too many people all at once. It makes it easier to look around and not feel so crowded.

Upon arrival you are checked in and your group (there were only a couple of other people in our group) are given a short description on what happens next, then we were put into an elevator where we are given a briefing on spy craft and what we will be seeing. 

Once off the elevator you are given the option to participate in an Undercover Mission where you get to create an identity so you can test your spy skills throughout the museum. You have to memorize your identity and mission objective and are tested at different stations throughout the museum to see if you can keep your cover. There were memory questions relating to your cover, seek-and-find type puzzles, and also a decoding puzzle.

I actually recognized a lot of the names/people/stories mentioned throughout the museum from listening to the True Spies podcast. So it was kind of fun to see some of the stories I had only listened to before!

Overall we really enjoyed our visit to the museum! It was so fun and interesting! There was really so much to see and learn about and I would highly recommend visiting if you are ever in Washington D.C.!

And for the record we all successfully completed our missions and kept our covers!

I though the propaganda exhibit was pretty interesting!

The James Bond car

What is the best or most fun museum you have visited?

Visiting the National Museum of the US Army at Ft. Belvoir, VA

So this post has been sitting in my drafts since 2022 and I just never got around to sharing it. And I've since visited the National Museum of the US Army a second time and I really wanted to share since we really enjoyed the museum!

We were in Washington D.C. for an event a couple of years ago and decided to take a visit to the National Museum of the US Army! The museum is new, only having been opened in November of 2020, and is located in Fort Belvoir, VA. It's by the military base, but not on the base.

The museum is split up by war or conflict, so it's interesting to be able to kind of travel through time into each conflict starting with colonial warfare up to modern warfare and The Global War on Terrorism.

The museum also features a Medal of Honor section as well as Soldier's Stories, which is where you will begin your visit of the museum.

Admission is free but it is recommended that you reserve tickets (for a time slot) in advance.

We really enjoyed our visit to the museum. It was very well laid out, the volunteers were very knowledgeable and friendly, and overall the museum was just really interesting! I would definitely recommend visiting if you are ever in the area!

Have you ever visited a military museum?