The International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. is an interactive museum where you are given a secret identity and a mission to complete. Timed entry tickets are required and may be purchased online or on-site. Time slots do fill up. On the day we went to the museum we didn’t pre-purchase our tickets and had to wait about 45 minutes for the next available timeslot. There is a large gift shop you can browse in while waiting for your time slot and while the museum doesn’t have a café, there is a food court right behind the museum.
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When your time is announced you line up to check-in, then wait until everyone is checked in before loading into elevators that take you to the top floor. Here you receive a badge and a secret identity. After you receive this information (which you will need to remember to successfully complete your mission) you enter the Briefing Theater where you watch a short film asking you if you have what it takes to be a spy.
After the film you enter the “Stealing Secrets” exhibit that highlights real spies, displays many devices used in spying, and teaches you about some of the ways that spies gather information. Throughout the exhibits are eight “Undercover Mission” digital stations where you scan your badge and complete tasks related to your mission.
After spies collect information, they need to analyze it and make decisions based on what they have learned. “Making Sense of Secrets” has many hands-on and interactive exhibits where you can try to break codes, analyze information, and make decisions based on intelligence that has been collected. While the hands-on aspect was nice, most of the stations were occupied and you had to wait for a turn to explore them.
“Covert Action” detailed the techniques that have been used to influence events. This area highlighted both successful and unsuccessful covert operations. “Spying That Shaped History” looks at spying during the American Revolution and World War II, as well as the new realm of cyber spying and attacks. The final exhibit “An Uncertain World” looks at spies who operated as double agents, the role of spying in the war on terrorism, spying in East Berlin during the Cold War, and stories of spies stealing economic secrets throughout time.
The museum concludes with the Debriefing Center, where you learn if you successfully completed your assigned mission, as well as how strong your observation skills, memory, and technical know-how is.
The International Spy Museum also has a special “Bond in Motion” exhibit featuring cars from James Bond films but it requires an additional ticket (which could be purchased as a combo with the museum ticket or separately if you just wanted to see the Bond exhibit) so we didn’t see it.
Admission for adults (13+) is $30.69, while children (7-12) are $20.09, and children 6 and under are free. There is a slight discount for seniors, college students, and military and law enforcement personnel. The museum is also a participant in Museums for All.
My Takeaway
The International Spy Museum is jam-packed with information. If you took the time to read it all, your visit could take all day but we spent about 1 ½ hours there. I really liked the interactive concept of completing your personalized spy mission while you went through the museum, however I was a bit disappointed overall. There are so many fun and free things to do in Washington D.C. that, unless you are really into espionage and want to take the time to read all the displays, I don’t think it worth spending $30 per person to tour the International Spy Museum.