The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is Washington DC’s national performing arts centre and one of the largest of its kind in the world. Built on a site on the Potomac River in Foggy Bottom, it houses six performance venues and presents more than 2,000 performances annually across opera, classical music, jazz, ballet, contemporary dance, theatre, and film. The building is also a memorial to President Kennedy - the largest living memorial to him in the United States - and is open to the public daily at no charge.
Free Public Tours
The Kennedy Center’s free public tours run daily and cover all six performance spaces, the Grand Foyer, the Hall of Nations, the Hall of States, and the rooftop terrace. No reservation is required.
Tour schedule:
- Monday to Friday: 10am, 10:30am, 11am, 1pm, 1:30pm, and 2pm
- Saturday and Sunday: 10am, 11am, 1pm, and 2pm
Tours depart from the Tour Information Desk on the ground floor (Parking Level A), near the garage entrance. Walk up at any scheduled time. Tours last approximately one hour. There is no charge.
The tours are led by Kennedy Center volunteers who have worked at the centre for years; the quality of the guided commentary is consistently strong. The tour accesses parts of the building - backstage and service areas near the Concert Hall, the technical infrastructure above the performance spaces - that are not otherwise open to the public.
The Building: Architecture and Scale
The Kennedy Center was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and opened in 1971. The building is 630 feet long, 300 feet wide, and rises to 100 feet above the Potomac shoreline. The exterior is clad in Carrara marble - a gift from Italy - and the building sits on a terrace that doubles as the rooftop level when approached from the river side.
The Grand Foyer is the central spine of the building: 630 feet long, the length of two and a half football fields, with 18 chandeliers each 60 feet high. The chandeliers were a gift from Austria. At the south end stands an oversized bronze bust of President Kennedy, sculpted by Robert Berks, who also created the Einstein Memorial visible a few blocks away. The scale of the foyer is genuinely surprising; photographs do not prepare visitors for the length of it.
Hall of Nations and Hall of States: flanking the Grand Foyer on either side are two matching halls displaying the flags of every nation with diplomatic relations with the United States (Hall of Nations) and flags of all 50 US states and territories (Hall of States). The halls are used for pre-performance receptions and public access throughout the day.
The Six Performance Venues
The tour accesses all six:
Concert Hall: the largest venue, seating 2,442, home to the National Symphony Orchestra. The hall’s acoustic design has been modified several times since 1971; the current configuration uses a floating ceiling and adjustable acoustic panels. The stage is large enough to accommodate a full symphony orchestra with chorus.
Opera House: the most formally designed of the venues, seating 2,364 in a horseshoe configuration. The main chandelier was a gift from Austria; the side chandeliers were gifts from Norway and Sweden. The Washington National Opera and the Washington Ballet both perform here. The red-and-gold interior scheme dates from the original 1971 design.
Eisenhower Theater: a mid-sized proscenium theatre seating 1,163, used for Broadway touring productions, contemporary theatre, and spoken-word events. Named for President Eisenhower, who signed the original legislation authorising the centre in 1958.
Terrace Theater: a 500-seat theatre on the terrace level, added in 1979. Used for chamber music, smaller productions, and experimental performance. One of the more acoustically intimate venues in DC.
Theater Lab and Family Theater: two smaller spaces (around 400 seats each) used for educational programming, children’s performances, and experimental and new work development. The Family Theater runs youth-oriented programming during the day on weekends.
The Rooftop Terrace
The rooftop terrace is open to all visitors during building hours and is one of the best free vantage points in Washington DC. Access is via elevator from the Grand Foyer level or by stairs from the Terrace Theater level.
The view south takes in the Potomac River, Theodore Roosevelt Island, the Virginia shoreline, and the Key Bridge. To the east, the Lincoln Memorial is directly visible. The Washington Monument appears over the Memorial’s roof on clear days. Georgetown’s waterfront is to the northeast.
The terrace is open until 11pm most evenings - making it an accessible option after a performance or dinner in Foggy Bottom. On summer evenings, the REACH outdoor spaces (the 2019 campus expansion) to the north of the main building host free outdoor performances; check the Kennedy Center calendar.
Tickets for Performances
Tickets for Kennedy Center performances are purchased through the Kennedy Center box office (kennedy-center.org) or at the box office on the ground floor.
Price ranges vary significantly by performance type:
- Rush tickets: The Kennedy Center offers same-day rush tickets for most performances, typically at significant discounts from face value. Check the website on the day of performance.
- Millennium Stage: Every evening at 6pm, the Grand Foyer hosts a free Millennium Stage performance - local, national, and international artists across all genres. No tickets required. Performances run 30–45 minutes and are streamed live on the Kennedy Center website. This has run every single day since 1997.
- Student rush: Full-time students with valid ID can access discounted last-minute tickets to most ticketed performances.
Millennium Stage is the best free option for visitors who cannot attend a ticketed performance. It runs every day of the year without exception.
Getting to the Kennedy Center
Metro: Foggy Bottom-GWU station (Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines) is the closest station, approximately a 10–15 minute walk. A free Kennedy Center shuttle runs every 15 minutes between the station and the building - pick it up on the F Street side of the Metro exit. The shuttle runs during all regular building hours.
Driving: The Kennedy Center garage is accessible from Rock Creek Parkway. Parking fees apply; rates are typical of downtown DC garages. The garage connects directly to the building.
By foot: From the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center is a 5-minute walk north along the Potomac waterfront path.
Combining with Nearby Sites
The Kennedy Center sits in Foggy Bottom, close to Georgetown and the Lincoln Memorial:
- Lincoln Memorial (5 minutes south): free, open 24/7 - most affecting in early morning or evening
- Georgetown Waterfront (10 minutes north): the M Street restaurant and bar strip and the C&O Canal towpath start here
- State Department: the ground floor Diplomatic Reception Rooms are open for guided tours (free, advance booking required through state.gov)
For the broader Washington DC visit picture - what’s free, what requires advance booking, and how to structure your days - see our Washington DC attractions overview. For hotels in the Foggy Bottom and Georgetown area, our DC hotels guide covers options at every price point.