Washington Walks

03/20/2025

Washington Walks is partnering with our colleagues in the D.C. walking tour community to celebrate our public service workers:

Attucks Adams, Black Broadway Travel, DC Design Tours, Off the Mall Tours, A Tour of Her Own.

During Public Service Recognition Week (May 3-11, 2025) anyone employed by the federal government as of January 1, 2025, regardless of current employment status, can take walking tours free of charge!

Anyone can reserve a spot on any of the 21 walking tours offered, but federal employees attend for free.

Explore the walks and reserve your spot: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/psrw/

Partnership for Public Service AFGE National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) AttucksAdams DC Design Tours Off The Mall Tours Women's Tourism D.C.

PSRW Walks logo by Carolyn Muraskin, DC Design Tours

03/10/2025

You can now find Washington Walks on Bluesky! Follow us there for updates on our walks.

03/03/2025

How a diverse group of American women worked tirelessly and courageously to ensure that the United States lived up to its highest ideals--that's the story told on our Women Who Changed America walking tour!

Women Who Changed America
Saturday, March 8, 2025
2:00 - 4:00 PM

RESERVATIONS: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/women-who-changed-america/

03/01/2025

Washington Walks guide David Kaplan with the folks who attended our D.C. in the Green Book walking tour, a one-time-only experience exploring the connection between the "bible of Black travel" and Black-owned businesses in the nation's capital.

We started out with a tour of The Negro Motorist's Green Book exhibit at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and then traveled by Metro to D.C.'s U Street neighborhood where David showed us sites associated with the Green Book, the indepensible Black travel guide produced by Harlem resident Victor Green starting in 1936.

The group stands in front of the former Whitelaw Hotel, an elegant Black-owned and managed accommodation that operated from 1919 through the 1970s. The building was renovated as affordable apartments in 1990 thanks to non-profit MANNA, Inc.

02/22/2025

All government workers, regardless of your employment status, receive a $5 discount off the regular Washington Walks public tour price. Select GOVT option at checkout.

AFGE National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE)

IMAGE: President's Day demonstration at the U.S. Capitol by WASH WALKS

02/21/2025

Join us for a guided tour of the “The Negro Motorist Green Book” exhibit now on view at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library followed by a walking tour highlighting sites in D.C.’s U Street neighborhood associated with the Green Book era.

See where Black travelers could find hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and other businesses in the nation's capital that welcomed them-and kept them safe.

RESERVATIONS: https://www.washingtonwalks.com/tours/d-c-in-the-green-book/

DC Public Library Candacy Taylor

02/17/2025

IMAGE: The "cracked plate" photograph of President Lincoln was taken in Washington, D.C. on Febraury 5, 1865, by Alexander Gardner at his 7th Street, NW, studio. (National Portrait Gallery)

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