Finally taking my husband to Washington DV 7/25 for 5 days. Looking for a central nice hotel, recommendations on eateries, does city have a hop on/hop off bus? We'll find our way to the memorials, looking for anything else special or unusual

Look in the Dupont Circle and Penn Quarter areas for hotels. They are both lively with lots of restaurants.

Here is one bus I see around town:

http://www.dctours.us/?event=offer.detail&offerId=11681

"looking for anything else special or unusual"

What are your interests?

Tourmobile has hop on and off and I suspect the Trolley does as well

Tourmobile went out of business last year. I think Greyline has picked up the mobile tours into Arlington Cemetery.

The new service that replaces at least some of Tourmobile's route is ANC Tours
http://www.anctours.com/MallExpress.php

Many people have the same questions. Do a thread search (top right). The city will very likely be very hot and perhaps humid.
You could save money by staying in the Arlington/Crystal City area and riding the Metro into the city. If you are flying to the city, Reagan/National has its' own Metro stop.

Another HOHO tour company is Old Town Trolleys: www.trolleytours.com

If you do a HOHO bus tour, stay on for the entire loop. Once you get off, it can be very time-consuming to get back on, i.e. they are so crowded that they might not stop for new passengers. Once you have done the loop and seen the sights, then you can afford to get on/off to see a monument up close or visit a museum.

The HOHO buses are an expensive way just to get around to the sites, so if that's what you are looking for, it would be better to use Metro and your feet or take a taxi.

Don't take the HOHO buses - complete ripoff. If you're in good walking condition, just walk the Mall from one side to another and south to the Jefferson Memorial. Whatever else you want to see largely can be accessed by Metro.

The opentop HOHO covers much more territory than just the Mall area --Dupont Circle, Embassy Row, Cathedral, so it is a different experience. I have no opinion on whether it is good value, though, because that depends on one's needs/interests/budget.

We enjoyed DC by Foot's evening memorials tour. www.dcbyfoot.com

You might also consider renting a bike from Capitol Bikeshare - www.capitalbikeshare.com My husband did this one evening so he could get to the memorials not covered in the DC by Foot tour and he really enjoyed the experience.

Lee Ann

Wow, great information. We are in physically fit shape so thought that walking would be great around the memorials. When I was in San Antonio last year their bike share was great but it had several "stations" to leave your bike, it looks like DC only had one?
I remember that Union Station was beautiful and offered food and shopping. Any unusual tours or behind the scenes would be fun.

Also, we are from the home town of Sierra Nevada Brewery, so any good pubs/breweries would be great to know about. Loved "The Temple Bar" in Dublin, Ireland last year, the music, the atmosphere and fun meter off the chart!

No, there are lots of places to pick up and drop off bikes. Mr. Pickle got one in Penn Quarter and dropped it off near the Smithsonian Metro stop.

Lee Ann

"When I was in San Antonio last year their bike share was great but it had several "stations" to leave your bike, it looks like DC only had one?"

Look again!:

http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/stations

I loved the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum (part of the Smithsonian) near Dulles. We got there via public transportation (remedial instructions supplied by the good folks here at Fodor's). It was much less crowded than the Air and Space Museum on the Mall, and it had an SR-71~my nephew was in heaven!!

tenthumbs, I agree with you about Uvar Hazy. It was a great day well spent. I work on Jet Engines. The plane I work on is at that museum (F35 Lightning). Anybody that has an interest in aviation will be well spent going out there. Its worth the hassle of the public transportation to get out there. The one on the Mall is like an appetizer while this one is a 5 course meal. 1 note is that the Enterprise Space Shuttle is being moved to NY sometime soon while another shuttle will be replacing it in DC.

Actually, tchoiniere, I think you may have been the one who recommended it. I had never heard of it. My niece and nephew were duly impressed by the size of the space shuttle, I was awed by the size of the Concorde.......and my grumpy father was pleased at the lack of hordes of school children.