Experience our Washington, D.C. Day Bike Tour

FAQ

• Expand/Collapse Where is the meeting point?

  All bike tours begin at our office, located at 502 23rd Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, near the intersection of 23rd and E Streets in Columbia Plaza.

• Expand/Collapse Is a helmet included? Do I have to wear a helmet?

  Yes, helmets are provided and we require all riders to wear helmets on our tours.

  Your safety is top priority for us and studies have shown that helmets can reduce head injuries by at least 85%.

• Expand/Collapse Are reservations required?

  Reservations are not required for our D.C. bike tours but are highly recommended to guarantee that there will be space on the tour. If you have children in your group, if you are booking a large group (8 or more), or if you are looking to book a night tour, reservations are strongly recommended.

• Expand/Collapse What is your cancellation policy?

  Fat Tire Tours is happy to offer 100% refunds if the reservation is cancelled more than 72 hours (3 days) before the scheduled tour. We do not issue refunds for tours cancelled within 72 hours of the scheduled tour.

  Rescheduling Policy: Reservations may be rescheduled subject to availability and tour guidelines.

• Expand/Collapse Is this tour offered in any other languages, or only English?

  All scheduled tours are in English, but private tours can occasionally be scheduled in other languages, given we have a tour guide who speaks the language of your choice. 

   

• Expand/Collapse Is this tour appropriate for children?

  Absolutely! We have tons of families as we're a great family activity. We have 4 options for children depending on their age, size, and riding ability:

  • For children under 18 months of age or 45lbs (20kg), we have baby seats that can be attached to the back of a bike.
  • For children children weighing up to 65lbs (30kg), we have trailers that can be left open or zipped up to fully enclose the passenger.
  • For children up to 12 years old or 100lbs (45kg), we have 2 wheeled tandem trailers. The passenger sits on a seat and can pedal or coast. All riders over 100lbs (45kg) must ride their own bicycle. We have various smaller sized mountain bikes for those able to ride on their own, and of course, our regular beach cruisers for children big enough to ride them.
  • Unfortunately, we do not have any adult tricycles or bikes with training wheels for adults that may be less confident in their riding ability. If possible, please let us know if you would like one of our tandems, trailers, baby seats, or child bikes in advance that you'd like to reserve either a child seat or trailer.
  • Please Note: All child bikes use hand brakes. There are no pedal brakes available.
• Expand/Collapse Do we go inside the museums and monuments?

  We do reserve time to walk around some memorials on tour (for example, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial). Our bike tours are designed to enjoy the city from a broad perspective so that's what we're going to do!

  Unfortunately, we cannot enter the museums due to time constraints on this tour. Additionally, there's always some people that want 10 minutes in the Smithsonians and others that want 3 hours.

• Expand/Collapse If I am pregnant can I join the tour?

  Unfortunately, due to the risk to both child and mother, pregnant women are not allowed to participate on our bike tours.

• Expand/Collapse How big will my group be?

  Our tours operate in groups of 16 people per tour guide.

• Expand/Collapse What time do I need to arrive at the meeting point?

  Your tour will start promptly at the scheduled time, therefore please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour departure time in order to complete the necessary paperwork and get fitted for a bike. We do not have the luxury of waiting for guests, or catching them up after the fact.

• Expand/Collapse Do we ride bikes in the streets or on sidewalks?

  Most of our tours ride in wide bike/pedestrian paths, but we do occasionally ride in the street depending on the tour.

  We carefully designed each tour route with safety as the top priority. Whether on the street, bike lane, or pedestrian path, you always have a tour guide who is an expert and safely maneuvering your group around the city.

• Expand/Collapse What is your weather policy?

  Our tours run rain or shine. We have rain ponchos available for anyone that needs them in our office. They are $1 and we gladly will buy them back from you if you don't use them during your tour. We encourage all guests to take a look at the weather forecast and dress accordingly. 

• Expand/Collapse What is included with a tour?

  Along with one of our phenomenal tour guides, every guest will recieve a bike, helmet, and a bottle of water. Additional waters are available for purchase in our office for $1 and we also have a water bottle filling station that is available to use for free.

• Expand/Collapse Whats the difference between the Day Bike and Night Bike Tours?

  The difference is day and night! Our day time bike tour will take you to the White House, U.S. Capitol Building, the National Mall, Lincoln Memorial and everything in between. Our night bike tour will go to the Lincoln, Korean, and Vietnam Memorials then around the Tidal Basin to check out the Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt, and Jefferson Memorials. The night bike tour is a perfect mix of biking around our beautiful city and walking around the memorials, where the day bike is scheduled to maximize the number of sites visited while still keeping a leisurely pace.

  Note, the night bike tour will NOT visit the U.S. Capitol Building.

• View More