Sightseeing:  City Tours
DC offers many options for touring the city so make the most out of your visit by planning ahead.   Some useful links are in red. 
  • Discounts: there are always discount tickets available for bus and boat tours, bicycle rentals, museum admissions, etc.  Visit our Discounts page for lot of advice but basically, Groupon, Living Social, etc. offer deep discounts for sighteeing tours by bus, foot, boat, bike, etc. ​ 
  • Walking Tours: Ultimately, DC is a great walking town:
    • Highly rated  Free Tours By Foot offers "pay-what-you-want" guided tours, free self-guided tours and lots of great on-line advice. They have an office at Dupont Circle.
    • The National Parks Service offers lots of free ranger-led walking tours so checkout their Washington DC calendar of events.
  • Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus Tours:  If you like to explore the city on your own,  the hop-on/hop-off tours offer the flexibility to get off at a stop,  explore at your own pace, and take another bus to your next sightseeing destination.  There are many tour operators and all offer discounts through the sites mentioned above.  The big difference is the number of routes each company offers. The routes can be found on their company websites.​
  • Guided Bus Tours: 
    • Bi-Partisan Bus Tours:  day and night tours for smaller groups (11-14 passengers) with a knowledgeable driver/tour guide. 
    • Private DC Tours: this company offers flat rate private tours in a Chevy Surburban that accommodates up to 7 passengers.  Have time to kill when you arrive?  They'll pick you up at airport and drop you off at the house. 
    • DC Ducks Tour:  please note ...  because of safety issues,  we no longer recommend this tour. 
  • Bike Tours: Bike and Roll DC has a variety of guided bike tours and several locations around town and their Monuments @ Nite Bike Tour is highly recommended .  Don't want to work so hard?  Try one of their Segway tours.  Very popular and looks like lots of fun.
  • Boat Tours:  taking one of the many boat tours gives you a totally different perspective of DC and Virginia.  Many companies operate cruises from the Georgetown waterfront while dining cruises generally leave from the SW harbor.