november_moon

Does anybody have an opinion about which DC monuments evening tour is better - Tourmobile or Old Town Trolley?

We'll be 5 adults - mid 30s to late 50s - in DC for 2 days in August.

Also, any recommendations for getting a light dinner after the tour? We are staying at the Crowne Plaza Hamilton on 14th St NW.

Thanks

tchoiniere

I did the one by Old Town Trolley (at least run by the same company) as we weren't in the trolley but they were air conditioned buses. Don't seem to be running them anymore though as I can't find them online.

travelgirls

In 2007 we took the "Gray Line Washington After Dark" tour, and I don't think any other tour could be as good. It left the Union Station at 7:45 and made brief stops at the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, World War 2 Memorial, etc. The buildings were gorgeous. I highly recommend this tour. The only thing I would change would be I wouldn't take it with feet so sore from walking all day that they felt like boils. I've forgotten how long the tour lasted but every place we went was very worthwhile. You may want to eat dinner before the tour starts.

djkbooks

Here's another huge recommendation for the Gray Line tour.

In August, the climate controlled coach would be far superior to the open air vehicles...

ChiDad

We went this past winter on one that left from the Post Office, used air conditioned buses and advertised that their guides get off and go with the group. We found that feature to be well worth the extra $$$.

azzure

Tourmobile is the only company licensed by the National Park Service, and we found their guides to be uniformly informative and entertaining.

november_moon

Thanks for the recommendations. Others in our group might prefer the air conditioned coach. My husband and I must be oddballs though - neither of us really care for AC all that much, esspecially in an in-and-out type of situation. The heat always seems more oppressive if I go in and out of the AC rather than just being in the heat and allowing myself to get used to it. An open air vehicle with a little bit of a breeze on a hot, humid evening sounds very nice, actually.

longhorn55

Here's a link to some other viewpoints about the various Monuments by Moonlight tours (e.g. expensive, not relaxing, etc.) http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#26360777

When we have out-of-town visitors, we just take them for a walk around the monuments on our own. We did this last summer with my MIL (who was in a wheelchair) and visited the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial in around 2 to 2.5 hours. There are rangers at all of the sites who are happy to answer any questions you have and it is completely safe to do this on your own. (There will hundreds of other people out there doing the same thing!)

weimarer

You also have the Potomac River Cruises. They do a monuments by night cruise. They leave from Georgetown, one goes out and returns, the other takes you to Old Town Alexandria, then you can return on the next one back, or on a later one.

http://www.potomacriverboatco.com/monuments-cruise.php

http://www.capitolrivercruises.com/tours.html

november_moon

Thanks for the additional ideas. Since we've only got 2 days in DC, I am trying to fit things in without running people ragged. Usually I'd never plan such a short city visit, but that's how it worked out this time.

tchoiniere

2 days is definitely rushed but doable especially with the night tour. I know how you feel as I did all of our planning last year and a friend of mine was on a broken leg so planning wasn't easy. The biggest thing was to build in downtime and not overkill anything. You just have to pick what you need to see and stick to it.