Washington Walks

Loved experiencing Georgetown this way! My husband and I decided to take the historic homes Washington Walk of Georgetown during a weekend trip to DC during the Cherry Blossom Festival. We initially thought we’d spend most of our time around the National Mall but wanted to get away from the crowds for an afternoon. Washington Walks was a great way for us to explore the neighborhood and learn about its stories.
Duane who leads the walks was fun and knowledgable. He took us through some of the most prestigious and historic neighborhoods pointing out interesting facts and stories along the way including the Kennedy’s family home and the «Exorcist Stairs» from the namesake horror film.
We paid $ 20 each for 2 hours. Georgetown sits on some pretty steep hill so wear comfy shoes and bring along your own water and sunscreen if needed.

I’m a HUGE fan of Washington Walks! This is a great «fun thing to do on the weekend» option, whether you’ve lived in DC for years (like me), have just moved here and want to learn about the District, or looking to entertain visiting family and/​or friends. I’ve taken all of the regularly programmed tours (Georgetown, Embassy Row, Dupont Circle, etc.) as well as most of the «Local Saturdays» walks. What a great way to get fresh air, exercise, learn about history, architecture, community programs, laugh at juicy gossipy tidbits about DC socialites, and all for the low price of $ 15 per person ($ 10 if you’re a USG employee), where you get to meet new people to boot! The walks are family-​friendly, kid-​friendly, and pet-​friendly. The tour guides know their stuff and even if you live here and think you know everything about our wonderful capital, I guarantee you’ll learn something new on one of the walks. Exploring our diverse and exciting DC neighborhoods with Washington Walks is my favorite Saturday morning activity! Treat yourself and take a walk with Washington Walks… You won’t be disappointed.

Took the «Most Haunted Houses» tour while in DC — lots of fun. Easy walk, which was good because we were already very tired from trekking around DC all day. The ghost stories were not very scary but the history component was very informative, and it is just really cool to be standing in front of the building while you’re hearing about the history there. Our guide was wonderful — enthusiastic and very knowledgeable.
A fun tour to include in your DC visit.

I got tickets to this tour from a living social deal, and what a deal it ended up being! We did the haunted tour tonight, and the tour guide was great. Well spoken, and obviously knew her history and was well practiced. She kept us engaged and interested. There was a lot of good stories and history. Overall, loved this tour. I would definitely do another with this company.

I went on the Haunted Houses tour with my wife on a Friday night, and it was great! The tour combines interesting stories about historical events, personal quarrels as well as tragic deaths.
At first it felt silly to do such a touristy thing in your own hometown, but it turned out to be an awesome way to spend a Friday night and learn something new. Totally recommend it to both residents and visitors.

We had an awesome walk lined up to check out all the architecture down Embassy Row… but the tour guide never showed up. Yep, not much else to say. We got a refund but that doesn’t make up for the time wasted. That is just amazingly unsat.

The walks sound really variable. Recently I went on the «Most Haunted Houses» tour and was disappointed by it. The tour guide was enthusiastic and a good story-​teller, but the tour just wasn’t engaging and the guide didn’t seem very receptive to questions. I had questions about the stories, but I didn’t feel like I could ask them, and I didn’t feel like the guide would know the answers. As a teacher, I know that some classes are very quiet and others are very interactive, but it would be good if the guides had the ability to provoke some discussion or interaction. The tour was advertised to go for 2 hours, but it ended almost an hour early. Instead of ending at 9:30, it ended around 8:35. As they say, «The food isn’t great and the portions are too small.»

I loved the walk I took with this outfit! The guide was funny and upbeat and showed plenty of illustrations to accompany the sites. I walked away feeling like a Washington insider since the group was a nice mix of locals and out-​of-​towners.

Oh my gosh, I love Washington Walks. I have taken several walking tours with them, the most recent walk being «The Most Haunted Houses» tour with Charlene. She was sweet, bubbly, and very enthusiastic about the haunted houses. The walking tours are great because they cover the history of the house as well as the duels that took place at the house, the story behind the supposed «ghosts», and the sightings. It’s a great way to celebrate Halloween season.
I’ve also taken the walking tour of DC’s most famous and historical hotels, a tour on historic churches in the Chinatown-​Penn Quarter part of the city, and the tour of the Eastern Market-​Capitol Hill-​Marine Barracks area. All of the tours were very well narrated with historical references and educated guides. They always meet in front of the metro which is accessible to everyone and end near a metro station so you can jump back on. The tours are excellent for locals and visitors alike. It’s an excellent way to see DC.

I recently did the Memorials by Moonlight tour and it was great. Even though it wasn’t dark yet, the monuments were amazing to look it. Our guide, Dwayne, was very informative and made the tour enjoyable. Wear comfortable shoes, you may be walking for about 3 hours. The info in the website is on point as to cost and meeting place. A wonderful experience overall!

We went on the «Most Haunted Houses» tour yesterday, at 7:30PM.
Directions on the site were pretty straight forward. Meet outside the Farragut West Metro stop, look for someone with a blue and green «Washington Walks» badge. Cost is $ 15 per person, and the walk is approx 2 hours long. Walks are given rain or shine.
Well, yesterday we arrived a little late, 15 minutes late to be exact. Our friends had gotten lost on their way to our home. (Go figure, who doesn’t get lost in DC.) We walked outside of the Farragut West Metro stop, and looked all around but couldn’t find anyone. Just a tip for you guys, these guides seem to start at 7:30PM SHARP. To our luck, their first stop was somewhere across the street, and we caught the group when they walked past us. We missed the first story, but were assured there would be plenty more to come.
I wish I got our tour guide’s name. She was very sweet and enthusiastic. The stories about the houses were not as frightening as I assumed, – more educational. She had a binder, full of pictures of the people that once lived in the houses she showed us, but no evident of ghosts like we’d seen on our Wilmington, NC ghost tour. Bah, humbug. :(
It was very interesting, nonetheless, since DC is undoubtedly very haunted. I still appreciated the historical aspect, since I never paid any attention in history class haha. And when I asked our tour guide if they knew of any creepy experiences happening on the tours, she simply said that it seems as though the ghosts here in DC are very friendly, and don’t go out of the way to spook people out.
We saw the Decatur house, another two I forgot, learned about the Circle of Death Curse on our presidents, learned the other side of Lincoln’s death, and stopped by the Octagon House. Our last stop, the Octagon house was pretty creepy. You could feel the eerie vibe, and could sense something was a bit off. After all, its known as probably the most haunted house in DC.
A great tour if you are interested in a more in-​depth look at the town, its history and its houses – and if you or your children do not want a too-​spooky experience.
My advice to new tourist: make sure to wear some insect repellent, especially when it comes near the more hot, humid nights, DC mosquitoes love some foreign bloooddd… ;) haha

The tour guides speak loudly and clearly and they are very knowledgeable. The walks are very low impact (exercise-​wise) and you learn a lot of interesting information about the city. Today, I went on the Secret Cherry Blossom Tour. We explored many gardens around museums on the mall and learned the history of how the cherry trees came to Washington, DC. It was a beautiful tour. I would do it again next year!

I went on the «Most Haunted Houses» tour and I would recommend it to anyone! Our tour guide, Sonya, was incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic! This was a really entertaining and interesting tour that lasted for about 2 hours and told the stories behind some of the most haunted residences and other structures. The tour always went right in front of the White House which was a thrill for out-​of-​towners!

I headed out on the «A Musical Tour of Mount Pleasant» walk during their free walk weekend. And I really hope that they were debuting a new tour that hadn’t been offered before, because it seemed like they didn’t have their tour nailed down that day. The talking points ran long, the microphone system wasn’t loud enough, and wow, did I mention the talking points ran looooooong?
They had a number of what sounded like interesting folks to add to the overall knowledge base — including a member of the Smithsonian! — but it felt like a «let’s try this: how hard can it be?» set-​up. They did manage to get out some interesting tidbits (including info on DC’s country-​n-​western heritage, who knew?) But overall, their «5-​minute sections» ran over. Way over. So it was more like a stand-​stand-​stand-​walk-​stand-​stand-​stand tour than a walking tour. Pity, because some of the places that were described during the first stop we all ended up walking by… a mini-​stop at that point would have been nicer, and would have improved the flow of the tour.
At the second stop, the speaker from the Smithsonian obviously knew her stuff, and provided tons of info (which would have made a fantastic walk all on it’s own), but she kept on. And on. And on. A panhandler got 15 minutes of working his trade during this stop, and the number of walkers decreased by half. Including me and my walk buddy; my feet were killing me from the standing, and he was bored. Can’t say I blamed him. I would have loved to have heard about DC’s punk movement, which is why I picked this tour in the first place, rather than the U Street one. Couldn’t bear it one moment longer, though. So we ended up on our own walking tour of the Zoo. Ah well. I may give this tour another shot if future reviews say things have improved. Right now? Hate to say it, but I wouldn’t pay for this tour.
As an FYI: friends went on the More than Monuments tour, and loved it.

Washington Walks is a great way to see the city whether you’re just visiting or a local. For visitors, on foot is the best way to go and see and learn about the sites beyond the smithsonian and monument gift shops (yes, they are freaking awesome, but there’s more out there… really!). for locals, it’s a great way to see what’s in your own backyard, esp. if you’re a procrastinator like me who keeps saying they’ll check it out someday only when they have out of town visitors…
Walks are only $ 10 — $ 15 and include a variety of themes and neighborhoods i.e. U Street, Capitol Hill, Georgetown, memorials by moonlight, embassy row, haunted houses, food, etc… average tours are approximately 2 hours and convenient to metro stops. there are also special tours that cost more but are three hours long and combines bus transport. You can pay online to reserve a spot or just show up at the meeting location and join on the spot. They also have a frequent walks package and you can bring pets on the walking tours. Website is very informative and includes information on all available tours, large group tours, tour accessibility, FAQs, etc…
I just took their DC Cherry Blossoms secrets tour and really enjoyed it. Sarah (the guide) was funny, engaging, informative, and you could tell she genuinely enjoyed sharing the facts, history, and lore surrounding DC and the cherry blossom trees and other flora. the tour moved leisurely, wasn’t rushed or dragged out, and i had a great time learning new things, enjoying the great spring weather, seeing the trees (still in bloom!), and exploring the city in a new way with a cool guide. tour group ended up being a little large, but not surprising since the cherry blossom festival is still going on strong and the trees and weather were accommodating. looking forward to the next tour!
TIP: check out their website for info on FREE tours in April and September 2008.