Private Customized Washington DC City Tour by Van
Badge of Excellence
Washington DC, USA
- 4 to 5 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Experience the very best of Washington, DC, on a fully-customizable, 4 to 5 hours private tour with a personal van and driver. Create the perfect route for your interests, choosing from over fifty points of interest. See the city’s political, historical and scenic highlights, or focus on a single theme, with plenty of time to explore the sites that appeal to you most. Take in Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court, gardens, Presidential memorials, War Memorials and landmarks, or head outside the city to see Arlington National Cemetery and Mount Vernon Estate.
- 4 to 5 hours, personalized tour of Washington DC
- Enjoy the flexibility of a private tour
- Visit city landmarks and highlights
- Get inside tips from your driver
- Hotel pickup included
- Great overview and orientation of the city
What's Included
- Driver/guide
- FREE PICKUP WITHIN 4.4 MILES RADIUS OF WASHINGTON DC
- Private tour
- Transport by private vehicle
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Gratuities
- Trolley Tickets for Arlington Cemetery.
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Operating hours.10:00 am
Itinerary
Supreme Court (Pass By)
1
Lincoln Memorial
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Jefferson Memorial
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
United States Botanic Garden (Pass By)
4
National Academy of Sciences
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
5
National World War II Memorial
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Operates in most weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Minimum of 4 people per booking is required
- TOUR IS APPROXIMATELY 3HRS PLUS TIME OF TRAVELLING
- Near public transportation
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Most travelers can participate
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.4
based on 51 reviews
Margaret_S, Jun 2023
Ronald was wonderful. He was punctual and communicated details accurately. A private tour with friends is perfect. Ronald made suggestions but we could make requests. We all four enjoyed that we would get dropped off at a destination and we would call when are where to pick us up. The only comment was we would have appreciated more historical details as we drove to the locations or along the way. Ronald needs to express more confidence. But he was pleasant and very professional.
Response from Host, Jun 2023
Thanks for your business.
eburns1234, Oct 2022
We had a wonderful tour of DC with Tunde from Viator! We were a family of four plus a very active toddler. Tunde picked us up at our hotel in his very clean & comfy van. He really knows everything about DC and its history. We all learned so much and appreciated his help in making sure we got to all the top sights. Everyone agreed that this tour with Tunde was the best of any tour we've taken!
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Thank you for selecting Tour Buy the Hour. We are glad you enjoyed the tour and look forward to seeing you again.
Pat_Z, Jul 2021
Bobby was very unprofessional as a tour director. Most of his jokes we’re inappropriate. He took private phone calls when picking us up. On several occasions, prior to this trip, I inquired and stressed that we wanted to go to Arlington National Cemetery and Vietnam Memorial since this was to be a CUSTOMIZED private tour. When Bobby picked us up, he proceeded to tell us where we were going and our time limit at each place. This was to be a 4-5 hour tour. When I asked about Arlington National Cemetery, he said we didn’t have time for that since we only had a 3 hour time limit. He told us that we had to have a DDC, designated door closer. The door was difficult to open and close. Bobby’s driving skills scared us and his windshield was cracked. Makes me wonder if we got the wrong tour? On a positive note, he was informative with historical facts and provided us with small bottles of water. Definitely, did not get what we paid for. Disappointed!
Response from Host, Jul 2021
We appreciate your review and business,we promise to investigate this matter so that this doesn’t happen in the future.
Kalpa_R, Jul 2021
Excellent trip wonderful driver as we had a short stay best way to see the city. Very informative and knowledgeable.
Response from Host, Jul 2021
Thanks for your review we appreciate your business.
Gloria_M, Jun 2021
The Most memorable was seeing the monuments, capitol, Lincoln memorial, wwii memorial, and White House. The guide was the worst we have had with Viator. He was hard to understand. The guide gave us very little information of the City. The info we receive on tours is why we pay to do tours. He also told us at first it was a 2-hr tour. We had paid for a 4-hr tour. He did call company and yes it was a four hour tour!
Response from Host, Jun 2021
We’ve taken to account your concerns and we hope to improve on them.
Thanks
Norene_B, Jun 2021
Driver was fun, knowledgeable, and very accommodating! We saw many great sights in 4 hours and learned a lot. Bobby was an excellent guide!
Response from Host, Jun 2021
Thanks very much we appreciate your Business and hope to see you again
Caprice_C, Dec 2019
Out tour guide Bobby told very inappropriate and crude joke throughout the tour and was not interested in anything that we had to say or ask questions about Washington. Very disappointed in this whole experience. Plus we had to call because no one showed up on time even though it was already charged to my credit card. Waited for 1 1/2 hours after scheduled pickup time.
Response from Host, Dec 2019
Thanks for sharing your experience,we have investigated and taking action so that no other customer had to go through the same experience.With immediate effect the guide has been released from our company .
Moving forward we intend to do better and we promise someone from the management will be getting in touch with the customer.Sorry for the experience.
mac474789, Oct 2019
party of 4 we all was extremely pleased Tunde the guide was professional, knowledge, friendly, can operate any camera, request him you will be happy that you did, thank you Tunde, Be Bless
Response from Host, Oct 2019
Thanks so much for your business we hope to see you again.
David_B, Oct 2018
Our driver was very knowledgeable and did a very nice tour of Washington, DC. I've been to DC several times, but my lovely wife has been here only once before. She also enjoyed the tour. Our driver was also very pleasant and friendly, but her was somewhat difficult to understand due to his accent. That is our only complaint.
Becky_A, Sep 2018
Awesome way to visit specific memorials! Traffic issues, lack of parking for handicap needs, directions ALL LEFT TO THE DRIVER!Comfortable ride, knowledgeable informative driver! Very attentive!Great way to truly enjoy DC!
Kaylene F, Aug 2018
Do not do this tour if you expect your guide to be informative and guide you around the monuments. It is nothing more than a pick up drop off service with limited commentary between sights. Our driver slept while we tried to negotiate the sights on our own and yawned his way through his less than average commentary all the while asking if we were listening as if we were school children and being very condescending and rude. Our tour lasted less than four hours while advertising a 5-6 hour tour not a professional company in our opinion.
Carolyn_D, Aug 2018
One's tour experience is absolutely dependent on the guide you end up with. Unfortunately, our guide just wasn't up to par. I had previously had positive experience of a Viator private tour in Paris in 2016, so I paid the required 380 min 4 adults though there were only 3 of us: my son, grandson and me. Our tour started about 30 minutes late because our tour guide called from another hotel parking lot asking where we were. I had to hand my phone to the doorman to help the tour guide pick us up. Basically we were taken to and dropped off for photos and a quick walk through then picked up at about 7 sites. Either the guide was not comfortable with the material or was distracted, but we didn't learn anything more that we could have read in a brochure. The Vietnam memorial was confusing because we didn't know anything about how it was organized prior to walking through. My expectation was that we would have been given information prior to being dropped off. Our guide highly recommended a food court for lunch which Im guessing worked out better for her than for us. Needless to say it was extremely disappointing so we finished earlier than the 60 minutes set aside so we had to wait about 15-20 minutes for her to pick us up. We happily ended this tour early in favor of seeing a museum where we asked to be dropped off. All in all, our 6 hour tour ended up being about 4.5 hours, minus 1 hour for lunch and 15-20 minutes at each of the 5-6 sites where we were dropped off. Hop on Hop off or even Ubers would have been equally as good and certainly a great deal more satisfying and cheaper.
drevie2018, Jul 2018
Don was terrific. He was polite, thoughtful and kind. He had good ideas as to what off the regular tour would appeal to my college aged grandson. He gave us perfect suggestions because he was a good listener. He was kind to me as I could not walk easily and he made approoriafe accommodations, we enjoyed our time with Don, and there are no complaints, Ge was great for us.
Edward K, Jul 2018
When we booked the tour we were told that the cost would include pickup at our hotel in Silver Springs.
When the tour company called they said we had to pay an additional $40 to get picked up. At this point it was too late to change to a different tour so I paid the extra money. The driver was knowledgeable about the area and the historical significance of the buildings. Over all the tour was okay.
Lisa_B, Jun 2018
1st, if you wan't someone to take pictures for you at the attractions, they don't do this.
2nd, make sure you know all the charges before leaving. I got a surprise by the driver telling me that I owed an additional $85 because our pickup location was 2 miles out of the 7 mile radius!! An additional $21.25 per person for traveling and extra 2 miles?! I could have walked the 2 miles to meet them or called a cab and met somewhere for much less than that. After a phone call on speaker phone with the owner, I ended up paying an additional $40 for the 2 extra miles which was $10 more per person!! Still ridiculous
3rd, make sure you are prepared to tip. I gave our driver $20 at the start of the tour, another $20 for his lunch and at the end we only gave him an additional $20 because of having to pay the extra $40. Well, he wasn't happy making $60 in tips that day! He actually looked at the $20 like he was looking for more and make a scoffing noise and was on his way.
At the beginning of the trip I was definitely going to book another tour with this company when we came back to DC in a few months. Now, not so sure, probably will find another company.
Marie_T, Feb 2018
What can I say - dexter is the man! What s great guy and guide he was. He listened to our requests and did exactly what we wanted. If you have limited time and want to get the most out of your time - make sure you book this tour with dexter. We had a great time with my husband and two boys 18 and 20!
Siew Hoon H, Jan 2018
Seen most of the main landmark, tour guide is informative
Peter_W, Jan 2018
As others note, this must be the essential contact for a visit to DC. Totally flexible and a wish to see your requests met - all without a rip-off price-tag. We had very niche sites we wanted to see and Dexter was patience itself. My one piece of advice for anyone visiting DC - contact Dexter!
richard s, Nov 2017
The tour was a mix of our choices and the guide's recommendations. we visited all the places on our own wish list and Dexter was expert in organising the route and the visits and fitting them in within the timescale. Dexter was also very knowledgeable and was happy to answer our questions. It was an excellent day in a beautiful city and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Many thanks to Dexter.
Carol O, Oct 2017
We were extremely pleased being dropped off and picked up close to sites. And especially happy with Dexter. He loves his subject Washington, DC and was very knowledgeable. And enthusiastic. And a patriot. He loves the USA as we do.
Camryn_T, Oct 2017
There is certainly no better way to see Washington than this tour particularly if you only have a short stay planned. Our guide and driver Dextor happily allowed us to customize and prioritize exactly what we wanted to see without the hassle and time wasted of tagging onto a bigger shared tour. We were interested in going out to the Air and Space Museum at Chantilly - no problems for Dextor who took us out there after showing us through Arlington. We then returned to Washington where he took us out to the National Cathedral, all the monuments / stops we wished to see as well as driving lots of interesting streets in Washington which were too far for us to walk to. We were able to set the pace at each stop and we covered off everything we wanted to do in the 7 hours allocated. Dexter was an excellent and safe driver, professional, kind and extremely knowledgeable. We certainly join with everyone else who have recommended and rated this a 5 star tour!
Kris_H, Oct 2017
Excellent tour tailored to what we wanted to see. Since wed already been in the Didtrict 5 days before taking the tour, wed already taken in the easystuff. Dexter did a great job of listening and found a days worth of new and interesting places for us to explore. My only very small reservation has to do with with the small amenities water in the van would have been a nice addition and the van itself could have been slightly more comfortable.
Sue D, Sep 2017
Dexter was a great guide. Granddaughter got sick...took her and daughter back to hotel, then continued our tour. After awhile he went back to the hotel and picked them up and seemed glad to do it. He was personable, knowledgeable and gracious. If we're visiting Washington again, he will be the first we will try to hire!
JUDITH M S, Jul 2017
My husband and I decided to try Viator for the first time. We took took 2 of our grandsons for a day trip to Washington, DC. We tried a private van with a driver to tour specific places we were interested in seeing for 7 hrs. It was perfect. We customized our trip and would highly recommend this company
Timothy S, Apr 2017
Excellent totally excellent. Dexter was such a good host of the city of which he is so proud of, and rightly so as he shared so many wonderful sights and interesting facts! Dexter's van was such a comfortable way in which to see so many historic sights. I would highly recommend this sightseeing opportunity around Washington DC!
Daniel P, Feb 2017
Dexter was super helpful and took great of our entire family. Would highly recommend him and the tour.
Angela_C, Feb 2017
Dexter was very nice however I requested noon until 7:00 pm and I was told upon my arrival and confirm pick up that he could not do the hours I requested. I had to go 10:30 am until 5:30 pm. If I had of known he could not do the hours I requested I would have chosen a different tour. Again Dexter is nice and full of knowledge.
Jacqueline_B, Jan 2017
Dexter was totally awesome. Very knowledgeable of all the venues we visited as well as best times for being there. With a 12 year old along he was also very patient and accommodating with her gastronomic requirements. All of us thoroughly enjoyed him and his expertise in navigating through and around D.C.
Paulo_S, Dec 2016
Doing this tour with Dexter was definitely a good idea! He knows a lot about Washington and he only spoke as much or as little as required. Note that usually he does not accompany you inside the monuments, but will leave you in one place and then collect you later. This said, he gives a full explanation beforehand, so you get the right context. This tour is perfect for people who want maximum freedom of choice, yet prefer to have a guide and driver.
Michael K, Nov 2016
Very pleased. Great tour guide and experience. One of the highlights of our trip
From $124.00
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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