Enjoyed my excursion - Robert was our drives and Simi tour guide. He provided historical information and he was very well informed. Mt Vernon was fantastic

Best tour day ever!!! - The tour guide was very knowledgeable! I learned a lot about Mt Vernon and old Alexandra. I would have loved to spend a little more time in old Alexandria

We Recommend - After seeing all of the monuments and a lot of museums, we thought it would be nice to get out of the city. This was a great five hour trip. We would recommend it.

A terrific tour! - Place of departure was easy to find. Comfortable little bus with seatbelts. Knowledgeable driver. This is an interesting and well preserved historical place to visit with areas to view both indoors and outdoors. The only downside was the lineup to visit the mansion was much too long and lengthy. We were given a time to get into line! This should be an ENTRY time. Grounds were beautiful. Food in the restaurant was very good with excellent service. Enjoyed the bus tour of Alexandria, too. A wonderful trip!

Great trip and guide! - Great trip! Very knowledgeable tour guide. 11am tour was perfect and just the right amount of time. We did not feel rushed! Beautiful tour and the sightseeing ride around Alexandria was an added bonus!

Totally worth it. - We signed up for the 5 hour tour, but could’ve spent all day there. Very informative and educational. Learned so much about our first president and the tone he set for this new country.

History in form - Such history! Beautiful place to see. Restoration helps history come to life. Easy to spend a lot of time exploring.

Worth the visit - Give yourself plenty of time to review the house and the estate grounds. Make sure that you use the QR Code so that you can listen to the narratives at the various spots on the grounds. The house itself was under some construction, so it's access was limited. Guides were in each section to provide some background on the rooms, but we were run through in a line with limited time to view. The museum in the visitor center is well worth the visit. If you have young kids, make sure you ask about the scavenger hunt, which kept my young one engaged in the visit.

Disappointed - On Both Accounts - My family and I were very excited to visit the DC area and wanted to plan a trip to Mount Vernon and see the monuments all lit up at night but unfortunately this did not live up to expectations. I did lots of research and ultimately booked the half day trip to Mount Vernon with a driving tour of old Alexandria and added the upgrade of the night monument tour knowing that this would be long afternoon/evening but appreciating the idea of getting them done back to back. The Mount Vernon tour I selected started at 2 and said it was 5 hours. No specific information was given for the night time tours but the others that I had looked at began at 8 so I was anticipating a short break between the two tours. After booking, I continued to do research and made plans for my family including what we were going to do for dinner, what we wanted to be sure to see at Mount Vernon, etc. For the Mount Vernon portion, our tour guide was nice and knowledgable although he did put more of his personal opinion into his information than I would prefer, that wasn’t what made the trip a disappointment. We boarded the bus around 1:45 and the guide commented several times that we would need to hurry as we were the shortest tour of the day (which puzzled me since it was advertised as the same 5 hours as all the others). One group on the tour was running late and the guide made a couple of calls and we ultimately waited for them and did not depart until 2:15, which caused him to again say we would need to hurry. We finally arrived at the estate around 3 and our guide quickly organized us to go to the visitor center and get our tour tickets which were timed for 3:15. Our guide then let us know that all of the buildings would close at 4 so he gave us a recommended route to maximize our time…this was very surprising and disappointing given that we were expecting to leisurely explore the estate and had this information been advertised I would have never booked the 2pm tour. The house/grounds were beautiful but we were rushed and did not get to see half of what we wanted to. We did not have time to watch the video at the visitors center, we looked around briefly, perused the very crowded gift shop and then everyone was back on the bus and departing by 5pm. The tour around old Alexandria was nice but I was not able to listen to much of what the guide said because before departing we asked about the night time tour (2 other families were also going) and he let us know that it departs promptly at 7:30 so we needed to be boarding the bus by 7:15 and would not have much time to grab a bite to eat so I was looking up nearby dinner options since my plan to eat at the estate was no longer possible. We arrived back to the pickup location a little before 6 (3:45 minutes into our 5 hour tour). Needless to say, missing a lot of Mount Vernon and 1:15 minute of the tour I thought I was getting was a huge disappointment and definitely felt like we did not get what we paid for. We were able to find some decent food and came back for the night time tour optimistic…only to be let down again. Again, our guide was knowledgable while adding much of his own opinion into his commentary but this time it bothered me a bit more because there was a group on the tour who spoke little English and his actions toward them were rude and insensitive. Another person on the tour (not with this group) was able to translate much of the information and she was very kind to do so, but the gentleman included in this group sitting next to my family spoke more English than the tour guide thought and he very clearly knew that the guide was talking as if they were idiots…it was totally uncalled for. I anticipated that there might be a bit more traffic because of the cherry blossom festival but I did not realize that we would completely miss a lot of the monuments because of this…had we been made aware, I likely would have canceled. All in all, my family made it to 3 out of the possible 4 stops made on this tour which was much less than I was expecting. We were able to stop at the Capitol and the White House with no problem and then drove past quite a few buildings, the Washington Monument, and the WWII memorial and we were told there was no way to stop for those (although it looked like many other groups figured out how to stop). We then headed to the Jefferson memorial and the guide said we could not stop because of all of the things blocked off for the festival (again several other busses figured out how to stop). As we headed towards the FDR memorial, which again we could not stop at because of the festival, the guide abruptly stopped (not pulled off the road, stopped) just before the bridge that overlooked the basin and the Jefferson memorial, he said everyone could run to the bridge quickly and then snap a picture and run back but we had to be quick because this really wasn’t a parking spot and he was doing this to be nice since we couldn’t get any closer because of the festival. My family opted to stay on the bus at this ‘non’stop and I was glad we did because after a moment the guide began yelling for people to come back because the police were pulling up. Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, which was absolutely beautiful. However, at this point my family was tired and completely underwhelmed and we were staying closer to the Lincoln Memorial than we were to the drop-off location so I decided to see if it was worth it to stay. I asked the driver how many stops were left and he informed me that he was going to try to stop by the MLK memorial if he could get to it with all of the festival stuff but he wasn’t sure if it would happen or not and then they would be headed back. As a result, my family opted to leave the tour at the Lincoln Memorial. While I completely understand that the festival traffic and road blocks are completely out of your control, I do not understand how I am supposed to be satisfied with 3 (possibly a 4th stop that I opted out of) stops when I could see with my own eyes that other groups were able to make the stops. I would not have booked a tour for only 3-4 stops and I feel like the company could have contacted me when I booked or in the days leading up to my tour and informed me just how big of an impact the festival would have on our tour and then I could have at least made an informed decision rather than feeling like I was not getting what I signed up for. I enjoyed the little time I got to spend at Mount Vernon and visiting the monuments at night. I still think that those are both worthwhile ways to explore this area. However, I in no way feel like these two tours delivered on what was advertised or expected and I do not feel like they were worth the money. If you want to do these two activities, I would recommend finding other ways to accomplish this and not spend money on these tours or find another tour company.

Disappointed - Pros: we had transportation to Mt. Vernon and were able to visit the mansion Cons: we paid for a “half day tour” and spent less than an hour at the Mt. Vernon estate; we were picked up at 2pm, arrived a few minutes after 3pm, were told to “go straight to the mansion for a 3:15 tour”; after the tour we had a few minutes to explore the grounds and then Mt. Vernon closed at 4pm! We missed the introduction video, didn’t see all of the grounds and buildings, and feel we missed out on much of what we had paid for. Before you sign up, check closing time for the location you will visit. Extremely disappointed to only be able to visit for less than one hour. We expected to spend 2-3 at Mt. Vernon.