Description: We had seen people taking part in this around the city, and we had to try it out for ourselves: a Segway tour of Washington, D.C.
In case you aren't familiar with the Segway, its a self balancing personal transporter that can go more than 10 mph. You stand up on it, and it moves based on shifts on your weight. It really is a cool piece of technology, and a ton of fun. If you want to learn more, I'd search for it on Google.
Anyway, there are at least three operators of Segway tours in Washington, D.C., and we ended up going with Segs in the City, which has a kiosk near the Federal Triangle Metro stop. Segs in the City offers several two hour tours a day, and it cost us $70 a person for a two hour tour. All of the Segway tour operators I looked at had similar prices (+/- $10) for tours ranging from two to three hours. We went on a Saturday morning in August, and it was just the three of us in my party, and there were very little pedestrians out on the street, which makes for a nice experience.
Our Safari experience began with a short tutorial on how to use the Segway - trust me, it doesn't take long at all to get quite comfortable on them. The tour was led by a Segs in the City guide who was a college student in the area; he led us, over the course of two hours, up around the Capital, past many of the downtown federal buildings, and over to the White House. The guide was quite knowledgeable and had little anecdotes to tell, but I do wish we had stopped at more locations.
When we finished after two hours, I was surprised that the time had gone by that quickly - we definitely made use of all two hours at 10 mph, but I wished we had more time.
Two notes on Segway riding in DC:
- DC law limits the Segways to something like 10 mph (you ride a Segway on the sidewalk). Trust me, this won't be an issue for you.
- DC law also requires you to be 16 years old.
Pros:
- A ridiculously cool way to see DC - everyone you pass can't help but look at you. You cover quite a bit of ground in two hours, and have quite a bit of fun.
Cons:
- Cost. $70 is a bit much, but I think it was worth it.
- You're not going to get a lot of "stop and talk about it" moments. While we did do that at the Capital and White House, a lot of the tour was pointing things out as we rode by (which was still pretty cool).
I highly recommend this!
Close