Self-guided Walking Tours Of Washington, D.c

Walking in the city is a great way to get to know the capital of the United States. For visitors who want to do it on foot but not while following a tour guide, there are options for self-guided tours. Tours can be designed from any angle, geographical, historical, based upon the time of year, or built around a theme such as food or architecture. Build your own tour for the fun of it and because it gets you exactly the Washington, D.C., you are looking for.

Theme-Based

Self-guided tours can be theme-based. Your tour could, for example, trace the cultural history of a people, such as an immigrant group or a religious group, even your own ancestors. One such tour is the African American Heritage Trail self-guided tour, created by Cultural Tourism D.C., a promoter of D.C. cultural life with a membership of 230 organizations. You access tour information materials from PreservationDirectory.com, an associated website that provides a searchable database and a free booklet. You can then create your own path to any of the 200 sites relevant to African American history in Washington.

Audio Guides

Let the story come through your earbuds as you walk through beautiful Washington, D.C. Tour companies like Viator produce and sell downloadable audio narrations of D.C. tours. Priced at less than $20, the audio can give you colorful explanations of art in museums, the history of the seats of government, or architectural details of the great monuments. Move quickly or slowly, absorbing the information at your own pace. The Viator audio can give you five or six hours of walking time, running about 80 minutes on the MP3 player.

Handbook Tours

There are always a number of books that outline self-guided walking tours of the city. Typically they include several tours to choose from. Information given about sites can be scanty, but it covers a lot of territory. "The Washington, D.C. Self-Guided Walking Tour & Guidebook," an e-book, is one such resource. It offers six tours with maps and points of greatest interest starred on them. Capitol Hill, the East Mall, West Mall, and the Ellipse are four of the tours. Old Downtown and Chinatown are the others.

Institutional Tours

The D.C. municipal government and the federal government provide information for self-guided tours of public places. One such tour is the White House tour. Arrangements must be made far in advance to see where the presidents live. Book several months ahead of time. But once your are in the door, the tour is self-guided. Most tours are scheduled in the morning hours and are free of charge. Museums such as the National Gallery and Smithsonian have self-guided tours with audio features that require no reservations.

Detailed History

People wishing for a detailed historical self-guided tour will want a good reference book and suggestions for itineraries. One such book is "Washington, D.C.: a historical walking tour," by Thomas J. Carrier. Written by a licensed D.C. tour guide, this kind of tour is for the real history lover. Tour guides are often history buffs and good story tellers as well. Carrier's book offers tours of Old Downtown, the East Mall, Lafayette Square, the Ellipse, and the West Mall. You might trip over the paving stones with your nose in the book, but you will know your history when you find your feet.