Friday, 28 May, 2021
Whether you’ve visited our nation’s capital once or you’ve explored Washington, D.C., multiple times, you can always find something new to see. A walking tour of the district is one of the best ways to experience the city by yourself or with a group of friends and family. You may favor a tour that emphasizes culture, history, food, monuments, or neighborhoods. Explore six walking tours you can experience in Washington, D.C.
Cultural Tourism DC’s Neighborhood Heritage Trails
For two decades, Cultural Tourism DC has enabled thousands of visitors to our nation’s capital to explore the district by experiencing the heart of its neighborhoods. The organization created the District of Columbia Neighborhood Heritage Trails program to assist visitors in finding their way around the district’s historic neighborhoods and promote community pride.
Today, 17 heritage trails exist throughout the city, connecting stories of people, places, and culture. Each trail is an approximately 1- to 2-mile trek. Poster-size signs along the way describe highlights along the trail through images and words.
You’ll encounter several diverse neighborhoods in our nation’s capital, including Barracks Row, Tenleytown, and Anacostia. When you visit Cultural Tourism DC’s website, you can download PDF trail maps and trail guide books in English and Spanish.
In addition to its neighborhood tours, Cultural Tourism DC has created an African American Heritage Trail that features more than 200 sites detailing the contributions of African Americans to our nation’s culture and history.
DC by Foot
DC by Foot offers several walking tours focusing on various subjects and areas of Washington. Join DC by Foot’s tour guides as they take guests to Arlington National Cemetery, Historic Georgetown, and the National Mall and Tidal Basin. Special-interest tours cover topics such as “True Crimes and Scandals of D.C.” and public art exhibitions in Georgetown.
Like many travel and tourism organizations in Washington, DC by Foot has adjusted some parts of its operations in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Although many of its pay-what-you-want tours have resumed, other tours remain as ticketed-only experiences. Group sizes for public tours are limited, but guests can reserve private tours. If you can’t participate in a guided group tour, try DC by Foot’s self-guided audio tours. These tours feature the organization’s best guides presenting tours you can access via a GPS-enabled app.
DC Metro Food Tours
If you can’t tour Washington on an empty stomach, you’re in luck. DC Metro Food Tours will introduce you to the sights and tastes of the district’s restaurant scene. Plus, since these experiences are walking tours, you’ll get to walk off the calories you’ll consume along the way.
Tour itineraries pair up with neighborhoods and include well-known areas such as Old Town Alexandria, Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Leesburg, and Adams Morgan. Specialty tour topics include the foods of Eastern Market and cultural, culinary immersions into the foods of Ethiopia during a visit to the Shaw neighborhood, the world’s largest Ethiopian enclave outside of Ethiopia itself.
While the restaurants included in these tours can vary based on seasonality and other factors, the tours themselves offer dynamic perspectives on the city’s cultural and culinary heritage.
DC Walkabout
If you’re visiting Washington and want to tour at your own pace, consider a DC Walkabout audio walking tour. Describing itself as a “walkumentarie,” DC Walkabout tours take participants back in time to explore the history and mystery of Washington’s personalities and places. Entertaining, engaging, and educational, DC Walkabout’s audio walking tours blend narration, music, and sound effects to offer you a dynamic experience. You’ll get the impression that the tour you’re taking was created for you alone to enjoy.
DC Walkabout’s tours cover Capitol Hill, the National Mall, and the memorials along the Tidal Basin. Special-topic tours feature themes ranging from Lincoln’s assassination and a Georgetown ghost tour to American scandals. Many of the tours average about 45 to 60 minutes. When you factor in walking time between tour stops, the estimated time for many tours ranges from an hour to 90 minutes.
Access DC Walkabout tours 24/7 on Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play.
National Park Service Ranger Tours
National Park Service Rangers present guided tours at major monuments and memorials. In addition to tours of individual sites, park rangers offer free guided walking tours of the National Mall and parks surrounding the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and Washington Monument during the daytime and in the evenings.
While rangers may customize their tours due to time and scheduling constraints, visitors can expect to see many of the prominent memorials and monuments during their tours. During cherry blossom season in early spring, park rangers offer additional tours concentrated around the Tidal Basin. Since park rangers offer specific programs on a seasonal basis, you’ll want to check the National Park Service website for information about current tour offerings before you visit.
Washington Walks
Although its walking tours remain virtual through 2021, Washington Walks has provided engaging walking tours of Washington since 1999. Learn about the history and high society of Embassy Row, the fashion and the Kennedy connection to Georgetown, the significance of Lafayette Park, and Abraham Lincoln’s Washington.
If you want to become more versed in the culture and community of Washington neighborhoods, Washington Walks presents a series of delightful walking tours that introduce you to them. Explore Adams Morgan, Brookland, Kalorama, Dupont Circle, and more.
Virtual 2021 tour presentations have presented intriguing studies focusing on various special-interest topics: Chloethiel Woodard Smith and her contributions to architecture in the district, America’s first female journalist Frances Benjamin Johnston, plant explorer David Fairchild, and the story of Washington’s Japanese cherry trees.
Whether you’re visiting Washington for a day or several days, make plans to add a walking tour of the district to your itinerary. What did you think about our walking tour list? Do you recommend a tour that we didn’t include? Our team at Koons Woodbridge Hyundai would like to hear from you. Drop us a line and share with us your must-experience walking tours in Washington.
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*Image via Unsplash by jondick91
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