Before you leave, contact the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation (WCTC), 901 7th St. NW, 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 details 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. You should also consult the WCTC website, which provides the latest information, including upcoming exhibits at the museums and anticipated closings of tourist attractions.

Also 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/nacc (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. A final good source is Washington Flyer magazine available for free at the airports, or browse it 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. If you don't have Internet access, you can subscribe to the bimonthly by calling tel. 202/331-9393; the rate is $15 for six issues, or $3 for one.

Internet Access--Increasingly, hotels provide guests computer and Internet access on one or more computers in the hotel business center. In some cases, the hotel provides this as a free service. The Hotel Monaco in D.C. is one such property, availing to guests complimentary use of two computers in its business center.

You'll also find two cybercafes in the Dupont Circle area: Cyberlaptops.com, on the second floor at 1636 R St. NW (tel. 202/462-7195), mostly a laptop repair shop but also providing Internet access (and really not a cafe, per se); and Cyberstop Café, 1513 17th St. NW (tel. 202/234-2470). 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. Each of National's 150 public phones has a data jack to which you can connect your laptop; Dulles has six Internet kiosks and 130 data ports; BWI has six outlets for high speed Internet access and 103 data ports. Elsewhere, you may see Internet kiosks in shopping malls, hotel lobbies, and tourist information offices around the city, which give you basic Web access for a per-minute fee that's usually higher than cybercafe prices.