By bus
Takoma Park, Gallaudet, Catholic, and Petworth are all pretty easy to reach by Metroâthere's no real need to bother with complicated bus routes. For the other destinations, however, you'll need a good bus plan if you don't have a car:
The Atlas District, to the dismay of the local business owners, is not accessible by Metroâthe X2 (http://wmata.com/bus/time...) is the only way to go. It runs by along H St every fifteen minutes during the day more like 30 minutes after 10PM, and goes the length of the street back through Chinatown and the East End. The bar owners have also sprung for a shuttle bus that takes bargoers back to Union Station F-Sa 10PM-2:30AM.
The Arboretum is better visited with a car or bicycle. The only bus that goes out there is the B2 (http://wmata.com/bus/time...), which runs up from the Stadium Armory Station on the Blue/Yellow lines. Get off on Bladensburg Rd at Rand St just past the Arboretum sign on the right, then walk one block south back to R St, turn left and walk five minutes east to the Arboretum entrance.
Both President Lincoln's Cottage and Rock Creek Cemetery can be reached via the H2 (http://wmata.com/bus/time...), which runs along Rock Creek Church Rd between the Brookland-CUA and Georgia Ave-Petworth Metro stations and further west on to the Columbia Heights station.
#70 and #71 (http://wmata.com/bus/time...) run pretty much 24 hours daily, with the only significant gap Su 1:30AM-4AM. They run the entire length of Georgia Ave from Silver Spring, Maryland, down to 7th St right on to the Mall.
By Metro
The Red and Green/Yellow lines run through the district, with the former making useful stops at Takoma for Takoma Park, Brookland-CUA for Catholic University and Brookland's commercial strip, and New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U for Gallaudet Universityâall three of these will drop you off right where you want to be. The Green/Yellow line stops at Georgia Ave/Petworth for the Petworth neighborhood and at Fort Totten where you can transfer to the Red Line.
By car
This section of town is less densely populated, less frequently visited, and expansiveâa car is not necessary to visit these areas, but it is the most convenient option, provided you trust yourself to navigate all the treacherous twisting diagonals. There are numerous main roads, but Georgia Ave is one you should keep in mindâit's one of the city's main thoroughfares. Heading east out of the city towards the Beltway, routes US-1 and US-50 are both quick options.
Planning to catch taxis here would be a terrible idea. You'll often find them sitting at Metro stations, but otherwise you should call one in advance.