Fort Myer is also near Fairfax city and Fairfax County, containing the Claude Moore Colonial Farm living history museum; the Cold War Museum, dedicated to the major events of the decades of tension between the Western Allies and the Soviet Bloc; Mount Vernon, President Washington's home; Gunston Hall, home of US Founding Father George Mason, the National Firearms Museum, a collection of interesting and famous firearms; the National Museum of the Navy ; and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, an aerospace museum.

There are an abundance of memorials close to the base. Many are on or near Arlington National Cemetery, which will become familiar to soldiers stationed at Fort Myer. Among them are the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame and grave; the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ; the Civil War Unknowns Memorial, the United States Coast Guard Memorial, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial and many other individual unit memorials. Near Arlington National Cemetery is the Marine Corps Memorial, the United States Air Force Memorial, and National Seabee Memorial.

Washington DC also has a very large number of national monuments, institutions, and historic sites. A short list includes the National Mall (which is not a shopping center), site of many monuments to presidents, other national figures, and heroes of US wars, including Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, National World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial, and Washington Monument. There are other memorials around the city, such as the United States Navy Memorial in downtown Washington.

The US Capitol Building, the White House, and the US Supreme Court Building are all available to tour, although times and seasons are limited and access restricted. The Smithsonian Institution is the US national museum, with 17 branches in the DC area alone, 11 on the National Mall, and to fully tour any of these would take some days of dedicated effort. The Library of Congress is open to the public, but only authorized Congressmen and certain staff members may check out books.

Washington DC has several museums, including many dedicated to art, historical, science, and culture. All are worthy of mention, but soldiers may be especially interested in the National Air and Space Museum, National Gallery of Art, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, the International Spy Museum, and the Marian Koshland Science Museum.