Washington Walks

12/31/2024

Snapshots of our favorite moments of the 2024 walking tour season!

12/10/2024

Gorgeous weather and enthusiastic customers made our first-ever D.C. Holiday Cheer Stroll festive, fun, and memorable. A highlight was visiting the People's Tree, the Christmas tree gracing the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol!

Architect of the Capitol Female Solo Trek

12/05/2024

Our D.C. Holiday Cheer Stroll stops by the Downtown Holiday Market where many of the vendors are local makers. What's more, in 2024, 90 percent of the business owners are women, people of color or LGBTQ+. Lots of D.C.-themed items to choose from--like these ornaments!

D.C. Holiday Cheer Stroll
Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, 2024
1:00 - 4:00 PM
profile link for reservations

Downtown DC Holiday Market DowntownDC

12/03/2024

Make merry with us on this walking tour that promises to get you into a joyful holiday spirit!

D.C. Holiday Cheer Stroll
Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, 2024
1:00 - 4:00 PM

More info/reservations: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/d-c-holiday-cheer-stroll/

12/01/2024

The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree being readied for its holiday close up!

The 2024 “People’s Tree” was harvested from a forest in Alaska and will be officially unveiled to the public during a tree lighting ceremony on Tuesday evening, December 3.

The People’s Tree is one of the sites visited on our D.C. Holiday Cheer Stroll taking place Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8. Click our profile link for reservations.

11/26/2024

On Black Friday, don't stay inside and cyber shop. Head outdoors into natural D.C. with Washington Walks guide Brian Kraft!

The Washington Wilderness Hike, a rugged ramble through northwest D.C., is never far from city streets and busy neighborhoods, yet we guarantee participants will be hard-pressed to know exactly where they are much of the time, such is the remote and peaceful nature of the hiking trails traversed. (All we’ll reveal is that the hike starts in Woodley Park and concludes in Georgetown.)

RESERVATIONS: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/washington-wilderness-hike/

Brian Kraft

11/12/2024

From November 1 through November 6, we had the priviledge of leading 24+ walking tours for 200 visitors from the Netherlands. All had traveled to Washington, D.C. with Amsterdam-based tour organizer Pied a Terre, which brings groups to the U.S. every four years to be present for a presidential election.

In addition to touring the U.S. Capitol campus, Library of Congress, and seeing the National Mall memorials, Pied a Terre visitors took Washington Walks walking tours of Georgetown and the U Street Historic District. We also happily introduced them to local coffee purveyor Compass Coffee!

When they weren't out touring, trip participants heard from both Dutch and American journalists, academics, think tank fellows, and Washington Walks guide David Kaplan, who shared his experience of working as a Chief Election Officer in the City of Alexandria for 21 years.

Spending six days with this curious, engaged, and fun group was a highlight of the 2024 Washington Walks tour season!

Scheltema de Volkskrant Elsevier Compass Coffee

11/06/2024

10/23/2024

Repost from

&pizza has introduced a new menu item with a name the restaurant assumes is a clever? comic? ironic? play on the legacy of D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. The name and association are neither clever, comic, nor ironic. They are an example of how ignorance leads to racism.

10/17/2024

Join our hike of Rock Creek Park this Sunday!

The 3.5-mile trek begins at the bustling commercial heart of D.C.’s Cleveland Park neighborhood, then quickly descends a small stream valley into the heart of Rock Creek Park itself. That’s when both the natural and historic features of this magnificent natural landscape will become evident, including infrastructure that predates the park's establishment.

Rock Creek Park Hike
with Washington Walks guide Brian Kraft
Sunday, October 20, 2024
9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon

RESERVATIONS: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/rock-creek-park/

Brian Kraft Rock Creek Park

10/04/2024

This walk concludes at Mt. Pleasant's Nido Market, where participants will have the opportunity to enjoy a private tasting of Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey offerings!

Reservations: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/mt-pleasant-walking-whiskey-tour/

MtPleasantClubWhiskey

09/27/2024

Such a fun and memorable Saturday afternoon celebrating 25 years of Washington Walks with guides, team members, colleagues, and customers, including one of our youngest!

Especially gratifying to get to spend down time with D.C. walking tour colleagues like Katie Kirkpatrick of Off the Mall Tours and Kaitlin Calogera of A Tour of Her Own as well as Laura Hagood, Executive Director, D.C. History Center. We're all about telling the stories of our nation's capital home town!

Off The Mall Tours Kaitlin Calogera Katie Kirkpatrick DC History Center Laura Brower Hagood Erin Berg Thea Crouch Paul McLane Mary Anne Hoffman The Square at International Square

IMAGES: Thea Crouch, Mary Anne Hoffman for Washington Walks

09/13/2024

Just added to our October public tour schedule:

Rock Creek Park
an autumn hike with Washington Walks guide Brian Kraft
Sunday, October 20, 2024
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

RESERVATIONS: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/rock-creek-park/

09/02/2024

Barbara Papendorp Singer/Actor Mary Anne Hoffman Nikki Pearo Taylor Renee Calarco Cynthia Young Dwane Starlin Terry Cordaro Charlene V. Smith Ty Hallmark Emily Morrison Paul McLane Victoria Reinsel Brian Kraft Seth Wilschutz Brenda Turner Andrew D Verrier Mandy Katz Martin Murray Cheryl Scott Williams Meg Hannigan Domínguez

08/15/2024

Twenty-four years ago . . .

A new walking tour company called Washington Walks received its first media attention: a May 23, 2000, feature in the Washington Times newspaper.

Back then, Washington Walks' two tour guides, Carolyn Crouch and Cliff Seferlis, took turns leading our inaugural walk, Discover the Mall.

In 2000, we had a rudimentary website, an email address, and a phone number. A well-designed brochure was a must back then--and we had one! That's because the branding and brochure design by Kathy McMillan, who has been our designer since Washington Walks was founded, has always allowed us to punch above our weight class. ❤

08/12/2024

See for yourself this Saturday at 9:30 a.m.!

D.C. in the National Gallery (indoor tour)
Saturday, August 17, 2024 9:30 a.m.
RESERVATIONS: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/d-c-in-the-national-gallery/

National Gallery of Art

08/07/2024

2024 marked Christina Bauer’s 10th anniversary as a Washington Walks guide. Last week, while on her annual family vacation in Maine, she died suddenly.

All of us at Washington Walks are in shock. What's penetrating our numbness, though, is the bright reality of the myriad ways Chris contributed to the success, high quality, enjoyment, and joy that defines Washington Walks for all of us and our customers.

Chris was a 40-year resident of the D.C. area and had a 20-year career in the field of electronic libraries. Her skill at (and delight in) organizing information so it could be presented in the clearest, most assessable way contributed to her success as a tour guide; every person who had the privilege of taking one of the walking tours she led for Washington Walks left well informed, entertained—and inspired. Because leading walking tours wasn’t merely about imparting correct information for Chris. Her passion for, curiosity about, and thorough enjoyment of Washington, D.C. neighborhood history was infectious.

Embassy Row, Gilded Age Washington, National Mall Memorials: The Backstory, and the U.S. Capitol and Houses of Congress were the walking tours Chris led for Washington Walks. In 2016, in commemoration of the centennial of World War I, she created and led The Imprint of World War I, a walking tour that highlighted D.C. sites related to the city’s involvement in the Great War. Countless numbers of local residents, visiting high school students, and corporate and non-profit organizations took walking tours with Chris. It was not unusual and never surprising for private tour groups to request her as their tour guide when they booked another Washington Walks tour.

Newly-hired Washington Walks guides learn how to lead a particular tour not only by shadowing an experienced guide, but also by absorbing the information found in the extensive background document developed for each of our tours. Thanks to Chris, these background documents are both comprehensive and easy to digest. She’s the person who suggested and then created a template to organize it all. It is a thing of beauty.

Unending gratitude for being blessed by her presence.