Is it worth the money and which would you recommend? I've found a boat tour out of Alexandria that seems nice.

What are you looking for in a guided tour, and what day(s) of the week?

I've lived in northern Virginia over 40 years, worked on and off in the city for over 30, and could give you a hell of a tour if it was a weekend.

What are you looking to do/see? How long are you here for? Have you been to DC before?

A friend had family come into town a few years ago they did a bus tour and enjoyed it. He also took them all around the Mall area himself to see all the monuments.

Myself I don't like being packed in something but it may get you to see things you would have trouble seeing all on your own.

I think it all comes down to what you want to see and your comfort level driving around yourself vs sitting back and enjoying the ride with a bunch of others.

Last week we did an eight hour city tour with USA Guided Tours. It was $125 a person and we saw most of the major sites. That included the tour of the capital. And a lunch cruise down the Potomac.

We found it on Trip Advisor.

We did the hop on hop off bus tour. It was good for getting the lay of the land.

We also did a private trip tour of George Washingtons Mt Vernon estate with a local guide. Just the two of us in his car. He also took us to Arlington Cemetery which was not on the itinerary . He got a good tip and it was an excellent experience.

I think it was called tours by locals. He picked us up and dropped us off at our Hotel.

Lived outside the city my whole life, so no need to. But I have always wanted to ride in the duck boats, I'd pay for that.

https://www.dcducks.com/

IMO it's a waste of money. Find a paper/book guide and walk around. Way more fun.

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Call the local and DC offices of your US House Representative and both US Senators for your State. All are given tickets and passes for their constituents use at no charge.

Make sure you ask for tickets to the White House, the ones given out by Members of Congress are VIP and much better than the standard tour.

You must call early and know dates you plan to be in DC.

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
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Call the local and DC offices of your US House Representative and both US Senators for your State. All are given tickets and passes for their constituents.

Make sure you ask for tickets to the White House, the ones given out by Members of Congress are VIP and much better than the standard tour.

You must call early and know dates you plan to be in DC.

We did this and it was fantastic. Thank you Mr. Wenstrup.

We also took a Segway tour, in a group of about 10. It was a blast and you got to see a lot. We also took an evening bus tour of the War Memorials, again, highly recommended.

We spent Monday @ 9:30-Friday at 2:00 in DC. We got up every morning at 7:00 and hit the streets. We could have spent a month there, one week was not enough to see everything.

Sleepl8ter, haha, I've tried to call my Texas reps and senators. Seems they don't want to take calls. Never can get anything but a busy signal. They either don't hire adequate help or have the phone off the hook. They don't see fit to allow the people they represent the "privilage" to talk to them or staff.
Suggest getting a tour book. Texas pols don't want to be bothered by those pesky constituents.

We did a Lincoln tour a few years ago. Excellent experience.