Many of the city's art galleries, plus fashionable restaurants and coffee shops are located around Dupont Circle on Connecticut Avenue. The downtown area, bounded by Constitution Avenue and M Street between 4th and 21st Streets, contains most of the city's business district and several shopping malls. The largest selection of shopping malls and specialty stores are located outside of the city in suburban Maryland and Virginia close to the major commuter residential areas. Parking is always a problem in downtown DC during workdays. After hours and on weekends, you can find plenty of free parking around the Mall or in nearby side streets.
Some streets allow parking only during certain hours, and the rules are strictly enforced.
You can often find free parking along the roadside in Potomac Park south of the Lincoln Memorial if you do not mind walking a bit. The National Park Service provides a Tourmobile service with special sightseeing busses running in a continuous loop around the Mall area and across the river to Arlington cemetery. These special Tourmobiles stop near all of the major downtown tourist attractions. You can buy a ticket that allows you to get on and off the busses an unlimited number of times anywhere along the route for one or two days. This is an excellent way to see the Washington DC attractions without the parking problems while saving many miles of walking.