Visitor Information

Before you leave, contact the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation (WCTC), 901 7th St. NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20001-3719 (tel. 800/422-8644 or 202/789-7000; www.washington.org), and ask for a free copy of the Washington, D.C. Visitors Guide, which covers hotels, restaurants, sights, shops, and more and is updated twice yearly. At the tel. 202/789-7000 number, you can speak directly to a staff "visitor specialist" and get answers to your specific questions about the city. Be sure to consult the WCTC website, where you can read (or download) the visitors guide, along with the latest travel information, including upcoming exhibits at the museums and anticipated closings of tourist attractions. The WCTC is also the go-to place for excellent maps, which you can print from its website or order copies online or by phone, for delivery by mail.

Take a look at the D.C. government's website, www.dc.gov, and that of the nonprofit organization Cultural Tourism D.C., www.culturaltourismdc.org, for more information about the city. The Cultural Tourism D.C. site, in particular, provides helpful and interesting background knowledge of D.C.'s historic and cultural landmarks, especially in neighborhoods, or in parts of neighborhoods, not usually visited by tourists.

For additional information about Washington's most popular tourist spots, access the National Park Service website, www.nps.gov/ncro (the Park Service maintains Washington's monuments, memorials, and other sites), and the Smithsonian Institution's www.si.edu.

Also helpful is the Washington Post site, www.washingtonpost.com, which gives you up-to-the-minute news, weather, visitor information, restaurant reviews, and nightlife insights; its online City Guide, a must-read for locals and tourists alike, features a "Going Out Gurus" blog, covering daily entertainment happenings, as well as a "For Visitors" section, which you might find of use.

A final good source is Washington Flyer magazine, which you can obtain free at the airports, or browse online in advance (at www.fly2dc.com) because it often covers airport and airline news and profiles upcoming events in Washington -- things you might want to know before you travel. The site also allows you to subscribe to its free weekly e-mail newsletter for the latest information. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority publishes the magazine, which carries comprehensive airport maps of Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports in each issue.

In addition to the Washington Post's Going Out Gurus blog (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus), check out the websites and blogs of dcist.com and ontaponline.com.

Internet Access

Increasingly, hotels provide guests computer and Internet access on one or more computers in the hotel business center, often as a complimentary service. D.C.'s Embassy Suites Hotel Downtown and the Tabard Inn are two such properties.

Washington doesn't offer many choices in reliable cybercafes, but if you wander the Dupont Circle neighborhood you may come upon one. The Kramerbooks & Afterwords bookstore, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW (tel. 202/387-1400), has one computer available for free Internet access, with a 15-minute time limit. Nearby is Cyberlaptops.com, on the second floor at 1636 R St. NW (tel. 202/462-7195), which is mostly a laptop repair and rental shop, but also provides Internet access. For other listings, as well as the locations of Internet kiosks throughout the D.C. area, check the websites www.cybercaptive.com and www.cybercafe.com.

All three of Washington's airports offer some variation of Internet access, though their per-minute fee is usually higher than cybercafe prices.

More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hot spots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or charge a small fee for usage. Wi-Fi is also found in campgrounds, RV parks, and even entire towns. Most laptops sold today have built-in wireless capability. To find public Wi-Fi hot spots at your destination, go to www.jiwire.com; its Hotspot Finder holds the world's largest directory of public wireless hot spots.

For dial-up access, most business-class hotels in the U.S. offer dataports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in the U.S. and Europe now offer free high-speed Internet access.

Wherever you go, bring a connection kit of the right power and phone adapters, a spare phone cord, and a spare Ethernet network cable -- or find out whether your hotel supplies them to guests.

Online Traveler's Toolbox

Veteran travelers usually carry some essential items to make their trips easier. Following is a selection of handy online tools to bookmark and use.

Weather: www.intellicast.com; and www.weather.com

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Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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				Frommer's Washington, D.C. 2008 Author: Elise Hartman Ford Pub Date: October 22, 2007 Price: $16.99				Related Titles: Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Washington, D.C., 6th Edition Frommer's Portable Washington, D.C., 6th Edition Frommer's Portable Washington, D.C., 7th Edition