Smithsonian "Big 3" Highlights Tour (Air & Space Entry Included)
Recommended by 95% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Washington DC, USA
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Why travelers loved this
·
Explore our promoted experiences
Overview
With the sheer size of the Smithsonian museums, it can be tough to know where to start, let alone how to see all the most interesting exhibits. This small-group walking tour of the National Air and Space Museum, Museum of National History, and Museum of American History lets you squeeze the most out of your time in the city.
- See the Hope Diamond and the Last American Dinosaurs exhibit at the Museum of Natural History
- Explore military, pop culture, and presidential history at the National Museum of American History
- Witness the history of flight with the Wright Flyer and space command modules at the National Air and Space Museum
- Includes reserved timed entry to the National Air and Space Museum
What's Included
- 3-Hour Smithsonian Highlights Guided Walking Tour in Washington DC
- Reserved Timed Entry to the National Air and Space Museum
- Visit the Museum of Natural History
- Visit the Museum of American History
- Explore 3 of the top museums in Washington DC with your Guide
- Small-Group for a more personalized experience
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Unscripted by Guided Tours DC400 7th St NW #102, Washington, DC 20004, USA
Meet your guide inside of the Unscripted Welcome Center at 400 7th Street NW. Look for our signs out front
End points
This activity ends in a different location. See details below:
Type to search
Itinerary
1
Unscripted by Guided Tours DC
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Smithsonian Institution Building (Pass By)
2
National Air and Space Museum
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
National Museum of American History
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Sites are not listed in order visited. Museum order may vary.
- Please note this tour involves roughly 2 miles of walking
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.8
based on 447 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Can't say enough good things about this Unscripted tour group... my dad and I ended up being the only people who showed up for our Big 3 Smithsonian tour so our guide, Dash, gave us the option to customize our tour schedule. We decided instead of only getting an hour at each museum, we spent the whole 3 hours exploring the space and air museum which was fantastic! Dash was super fun and knowledgeable, highly recommend him.
Christina was our guide and very knowledgeable. However this tour is on your feet 3 hours straight! My legs were so tired.
Guide was upbeat knowledgable throughout the tour. The tour itself was a great overview of these three museums where one could spend a week in each one --highly recommend
Dash was very enthusiastic, funny, knowledgeable, and concerned about our group. Unable to see majority of exhibits because of time constraints.
Really good tour, lived the museums. Our guide was very knowledgeable and easy to listen to. Seen all the important sights from all 3 museums
The tour was a great way to break down the enormity of the museum! Following the tour you could circle back to a museum for a closer look. We had Evelyn for a tour guide and she was amazing! All the staff start to finish were very nice!
Response from Host, Sep 2026
The museums really are so big, and we're glad the tour helped introduce you to the museums you might want to go back to. Thanks for touring with us!
Great tour with an awesome tour guide. She was very informative and didn’t rush. We would definitely recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
We're so glad that your tour guide made the experience so worthwhile! Thanks for leaving such a nice recommendation, it means a lot to us!
A good guide makes it all fun. Evelyn was our guide. Very knowledgeable and told fun interesting facts. I recommend this tour 100% when you don’t have days to stay and explore on your own. But would do it just for the extra insight.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thank you for your recommendation! We agree that a good guide (like Evelyn) makes all the difference when it comes to a tour. Thanks for touring with us!
There is a mile walk before the tour begins, then another two miles of walking through the buildings.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thanks for joining us and for your feedback. While this is a highlights tour not a deep dive, we do try to allow time to take in the highlighted areas. If one wants more time to observe the full exhibits across the three museums we recommend coming back through on your own time as that could take up to a day per museum depending on interest. This is why we offer a highlights that helps guests with limited time get the most out of their visit to the National Mall. Many use this tour as a way to note what areas they want to come back to and where they want to spend their time to better plan the rest of their visit.
There is a 5-12 minute walk to the first museum typically, however on the day you visited there were multiple closures on the mall for the Great American State Fair, plus the air quality issues from the Canadian Wildfires, so we started slower paced walk to the first museum to not stress any guests with the smoke in the air, gave extra time in the museums, and even delivered KN95 masks for our guests.
Skye did a fabulous job of showing us highlights…gave us an idea of things we may want to explore further…very knowledgeable and funny and attentive.
This was a great tour of 3 museums. Skye was very knowledgeable with items in the museums and history in general. It is a lot of walking. I recommend this tour to others
It was amazing! Our guide Skye was so good, very knowledgeable and very personable. Professional yet warm and made it comfortable and fun!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
We're so glad that you enjoyed your time with Skye! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, and thanks for touring with us!
If this is your first time in DC, this is an excellent introduction to the three museums. We wish the tour had been longer. Our guide Meg, was very knowledgeable, courteous, and kept us on track. GREAT!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
We're so happy to hear that you loved your tour and that you wished it could have been longer! You recommendation is very helpful, and we appreciate it. Thanks for touring with us!
Amazing tour guide very knowledgeable. Recommend this tour to anyone interested. Especially if you’re unfamiliar with the whole DC experience.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thanks so much for your recommendation, and many thanks for touring with us!
My 14yo daughter and I went together. Rett was a great guide; so knowledgeable. He took us to the most interesting exhibits and we saw a lot in 3 hours. He had great stories and info on each artifact. Highly recommend.
It’s a great highlight tour of some of she most important exhibits at the museums! The Smithsonian did not disappoint!
Amazing experience, our guide was very friendly, knowledgeable, and professional! We would definitely book again!
Kristen and Rett were awesome!! Was running late and Kristen walked me over to meet the group. Had a great time
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Go team! We love it when things come together and we can make someones day!
christina was a great tour guide. she packed in everything we wanted to know about 3 museums at the perfect pace and depth that we had time to cover.
Meg was a fantastic guide! She communicated the entire time. She let us know where we were going each time, what we were going to see, and when to meet her back. It is definitely a quick overview of each museum, but was perfect to help let us know which ones we wanted to come back to and what to expect. You could easily spend days in these museums, but this is perfect tour of highlights. And Meg did amazing sharing it with us! Thank you! We loved Unscripted & Meg so much, we did several tours with them throughout the week.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
We designed this tour for a couple of things:
When you go home and tell someone you visited a Smithsonian and they ask "oh did you see the ___" you can say "YES!"
And to give you the highlights and how to navigate so you can use your time more efficiently while visiting on your own.
With millions of items and over a dozen museums it is easy to get lost in the Smithsonians otherwise for days.
Meg is fantastic! Glad you agree! Thanks for joining us many times on this trip. It means a lot to us.
Amazing, incredibly informative, prepare for lots of walking. Dash our tour guide was extremely enthusiastic and clearly knowledgeable and passionate!!
We had a knowledgable guide in Rett and we learnt so much on our tour and my kids really enjoyed it.
Great way to hit the highlights of the “big three” Smithsonians. Claudia was fantastic. Very friendly and knowledgeable.
The tour is nice but I think new guide would make this tour much more interesting and enjoyable. Even my 12 years old said It herself.
Got to see the 3 museums I wanted to see most. Very happy with tour. Rhett was very personable. And informative.
I was a bit sceptical about 3 museums in 3 hours. But cristina out guide, did a miraculous job of getting is throught the most important parts and exibits of all 3 museums at very comfortable unhurried pace!
Her passion for the history and her engaging way or oratory simply made the whole experience unique.
Thanks Cristina .
Shane was very knowledgeable! We enjoyed the big three. A little more time on your own would be preferred, maybe extend by another hour.
The team were amazing. Our first time in DC and we were stymied by road closures for July 4th. We were a little lost and late, but made a call to the team and they instantly relaxed us and when we arrived late we were greeted with cold water and cool freshener towels before a team member, Ryan walked us to catch up with tour group. Our tour guide Dash was knowledgeable and authentic with great energy. The kids and I learnt so much through the tour of the Smithsonian museums and loved every minute of the tour. During walk in heat, other team members arrived with cold water and icy poles.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
I am so glad to hear of your pleasant experience! I have to admit, Ryan does not work for us but rather is family and volunteer to assist.
We are discussing adding the ice pops as a regular thing after seeing how refreshing they were in this heat.
Thanks for joining!
Our guide was fantastic! I wish I remembered her name. She was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, funny and patience on the 5th of July in extreme heat.
Dash was a fantastic guide. He was very knowledgeable and he did a great job of explaining since my husband is blind. We were running late and Kirsten went out of her way to connect us with a group. With the National Mall closed due the State Fair, it was a lot of walking from one museum to the next but it was a great introduction to the Big 3. We fully appreciate that they accommodated us with our being late. Great customer service!!!
Likely to Sell Out
From $59.00
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
Compare Similar Experiences
Current
Likely to Sell Out
Smithsonian "Big 3" Highlights Tour (Air & Space Entry Included)
447
3 hours
Free Cancellation
From
$59.00
Customers Who Bought This Tour Also Bought
Attractions in Washington DC, USA
- Washington Monument Tours & Tickets
- Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument Tours & Tickets
- Eisenhower Executive Office Building Tours & Tickets
- National World War II Memorial Tours & Tickets
- Potomac River Tours & Tickets
- Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Tours & Tickets
- National Museum of African Art Tours & Tickets
- American Revolution Museum at Yorktown Tours & Tickets
- United States Botanic Garden Tours & Tickets
- FBI Headquarters Tours & Tickets
- Alexandria Christ Church Tours & Tickets
- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Tours & Tickets
- Arlington House Tours & Tickets