Will be in DC with husband and 3 teenagers in August (I know, it will be hot). Plan to map out itinerary for our 4-5 days and use Metro. But I am also considering if first day is extremely hot, perhaps booking a city bus tour or Trolley Tour (do they have those Trolley things that you can get on and off in DC) to limit walking and possibly reduce complaining on part of kids. We have done this in other cities and used it as a city overview and returned to places we did not see enough of on tour.

Also, anyone know of any night monument tours, or at night would it be reasonable to take our car and self-tour. (Will be staying Foggy Bottom/Georgetown line)

Actually, one of those open-sided tour trolleys is the LAST place I'd want to be on a roasting hot day. On a really hot day, IMHO the best bet is to head to the Smithsonian, especially the History and Natural History buildings -- the Metro stop is right there, and you can hop from one air-conditioned place to another!

Good point about heat on Trolleys. But if we hit a week-long heat wave, we need to do something other than Smithsonian Museums.

True enough. But still, I'd try to do indoor things on the hottest days, there are just so many things to do. Union Station is spectacular, has a Metro station right in it, and has lots of restaurants and a huge food court. Evening monument tours are a good strategy, too, though I'm not sure about parking; we walked.

The grounds of the National Zoo (technically part of the Smithsonian) open at 6 AM, though the buildings don't open til 10. The animals, being more sensible than people, are more active in the cooler hours of the AM and rest during the heat of midday. If you go to the zoo, get off at the stop AFTER the official zoos stop, it's about the same distance but the walk will be downhill rather than uphill; then head downhill to the zoo metro stop when you're done.

Gail,
I think Tourmobile is what you're looking for. I couldn't swear to it but I think those buses are air conditioned. It hits all the big sites and monuments. The website has lots of info (tourmobile.com). They advertise a seasonal evening monument tour and I can only assume that now is the season.

A self tour of most the monuments in the evening is also very doable. Sorry to shovel a lot of websites at you but the National Park Service has a searchable website that gives all the pertinent info with hours, maps, parking, etc. (nps.gov is the url).

If you do a night self tour, consider taking Memorial Bridge to the George Washington Parkway toward the airport. The view of the city is beautiful even to those who've lived in the area for years. You can turn around at the airport or in Alexandria (which has some great restaurants and shopping).

One more thing! The hottest new DC site is the International Spy Museum which opened earlier this month. There's an article about it in the Style section of this morning's Washington Post. Unlike most of DC's museums, it's privately owned and there is a fee. They have a website too (spymuseum.org).

Have a great trip.

Thanks again, especially about Spy Museum. My husband came home from work with some incomplete info about a spy museum that he wanted to check out - but I was unable to find more info in guide books. (Now I know why - it is new).

For a great view of the city (day or evening), go to the Iwo Jima memorial in Rossalyn. A nighttime tour by car is quite doable. You can park on Constitution Ave down by the VietNam Memorial and walk from there to the Lincoln. There's parking at the Jefferson. I think the monuments look beautiful lit up. We've been having a really hot summer here this year - this week should be really bad.

We just got back yesterday from our 1st trip to D.C. After much research, I decided to book a day tour with Old Town Trolley (mainly because they picked up right at our hotel). Also booked a Monuments by Moonlight tour with them so my husband who was in meetings during the day could see some sights too. It was very informative,and a very enjoyable way to get a quick "overview" of the city, especiall for a first-time visitor.

Meant to add also -
Tourmobile is "open-air" in the summer also like OTT. The only thing I did not like was our nighttime tour driver, "Mr. Map", would not let anyone talk during the 2 1/2 hour tour. He actually glared at one lady several times & verbally reprimanded her also. She was not talking that loud but it made everyone feel sort of uncomfortable. AT $25 a ticket I thought he was unreasonable. But I still enjoyed the tour.

My browser window cut The -ley off trolley and I thought your thread title was "bus or troll tours". It sounds like the previous poster had a troll tour!

As a local, I like the Tourmobile tours more than OTT, partly because Tourmobile is put on by the U.S. Park Service, while OTT is much more commercial. Tourmobile does limit you to the Mall, Arlington Ceremony, and Mt. Vernon.

Re Troll Tours - isn't this board a troll tour on its own?