Washington DC: Tours
During the day, open-sided Tourmobiles (tel 202/554-5100, ) connect the major museums and sites - allowing you to stop for as long as you choose at any of a dozen different locations. An $18 one-day ticket covers downtown DC and Arlington Cemetery, while an extra $25 gets you to Mount Vernon and back; tickets for the three-hour "twilight tour," which departs from Union Station (daily 6.30pm), also run $18. All can be bought from the main office on the Ellipse, just south of the White House, at kiosks on the Mall and in Union Station or on the tram itself.If you want to cycle or cruise along the Potomac River or the historic C&O Canal, both Thompson's Boat Center, 2900 Virginia Ave NW at Rock Creek Parkway (tel 202/333-4861), near the Watergate complex, and Fletcher's Boat House, 4940 Canal Rd NW, two miles farther up the canal towpath (tel 202/244-0461), rent touring bikes, rowboats and canoes. You could also get to know the city on a three-hour cycling trip with Bike the Sites Inc ($40 per person including bike and helmet; tel 202/966-8662); or call Better Bikes (tel 202/293-2080), which will deliver rental bikes anywhere in DC ($28-38 a day). In addition, mule-drawn canal boats , with costumed National Park Service guides, follow the old C&O Canal from behind 30th and M streets in Georgetown on a hour-long narrated cruise (April-Oct; $8; tel 202/653-5190). The city's best walking tours are led by Anthony S. Pitch ($10; tel 301/294-9514), who ambles around Adams-Morgan and Georgetown most Sunday mornings beginning at 11am.
In general, it's worth calling ahead to major sites for any changes to tour procedures due to heightened security concerns .
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