Every memorial on the National Mall is open all night and free. The National Park Service keeps them open 24 hours a day, with rangers on duty until 10pm. If you are choosing a Washington Night guided tours, here is what each memorial is like after dark and which tours stop there.
Most night tours visit the same memorials in roughly the same order, and every stop is outside. What changes is how long you get, and whether the route crosses the river. Each section below gives you the hours, what you see lit up, and which rides stop.
The Lincoln Memorial closes the west end of the Mall, and it is the stop every night tour builds towards. You climb the steps to the statue inside, then turn to see the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument lit behind it.
The steps are the one real climb of the evening. If someone in your party cannot manage them, the view from the foot of the steps is still the one on the postcards.
The obelisk stands in the middle of the Mall and is floodlit after dark, but you cannot go up it after dark. It opens from 9am to 5pm only, and it closes on Independence Day, Christmas Day and one maintenance day a month.
The Jefferson Memorial sits on the south shore of the Tidal Basin, a domed rotunda with the statue standing inside. It is open around the clock, and at night the lit dome is reflected in the water.
In spring the cherry trees around the basin bring the biggest crowds of the year. Peak bloom usually falls between the last week of March and the first week of April.
The World War II Memorial sits between the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, with pillars and arches round its fountains. At night the fountains are lit, and it is one of the easiest stops to walk round.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial faces the Tidal Basin, a short walk from the Roosevelt memorial. It is lit from the path after dark, and it is usually quieter than the Lincoln.
These two stand either side of the Reflecting Pool, a short walk from the Lincoln Memorial, and most tours visit them in the same stop. The Korean memorial's steel soldiers walk through the junipers; the Vietnam memorial is a long wall of names.
The Marine Corps War Memorial stands across the Potomac in Arlington. Its six bronze flag raisers are 32 feet high, raising a 60-foot flagpole, and the flag flies 24 hours a day by presidential proclamation.
President Eisenhower dedicated it on 10 November 1954. The whole memorial is about 78 feet tall, and the $850,000 it cost was donated; no public funds were used.
Neither is open on a night tour; both are stops outside for photographs. The grounds of President's Park are open year-round, though events and Secret Service operations can close parts of them without notice.
The Capitol's dome is floodlit at the east end of the Mall. Several tours stop by the Capitol Reflecting Pool at its foot, where the dome is mirrored on a still night. In December, one coach adds the holiday lights outside both buildings.
Arlington National Cemetery is open from 8am to 5pm, so no night tour stops there. Tours heading to the Marine Corps memorial pass it on the way, and your guide points it out from the vehicle.
Here is every memorial above in one table. You will see that nothing on a night route needs a ticket, and the two places that close are the monument and the cemetery.
| Memorial | Open | On a night tour |
|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Memorial | 24 hours; rangers 9:30am to 10pm | A stop on almost every tour; the trolley's longest stop |
| Washington Monument | 9am to 5pm only | Seen from outside and passed; nobody goes up at night |
| Jefferson Memorial | 24 hours; rangers 9:30am to 10pm | A stop on most coaches, vans and bikes |
| World War II Memorial | 24 hours; rangers 9:30am to 10pm | A stop on most tours |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial | 24 hours; rangers 9:30am to 10pm | A stop on most tours; half of a trolley stop |
| Korean War and Vietnam Veterans memorials | 24 hours; rangers 9:30am to 10pm | Usually one stop with the Lincoln |
| Marine Corps War Memorial | Flag flies 24 hours | A stop on some coaches and private cars; skipped by the trolley for now |
| The White House | Grounds open year-round | A stop outside on almost every tour |
| The Capitol | Seen from outside | A stop outside on most tours |
| Arlington National Cemetery | 8am to 5pm | Passed from the road only |
If one memorial matters most to you, check that the tour you book stops there rather than passes it. The stop list is on each tour's own page.
Compare every night tour, with its stop list, the time on foot at each memorial and whether it crosses the river.
Hours come from each memorial's own National Park Service page, and the cemetery's from the U.S. Army, checked 27 September 2026. The flag raisers' figures are the park service's history of the memorial. Which tours stop where is each tour's own listing.
Two stops of 30 minutes on foot, one at the Vietnam and Korean War memorials and one at the FDR and King memorials, on a two-and-a-half-hour trolley loop. The flag-raisers stop is currently skipped.
From $59 per person
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Four hours in a private car with a driver-guide, picked up downtown, and six stops of 15 to 30 minutes, the longest at the Lincoln. Commentary in English, Spanish or Portuguese.
From $275 per person
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Nine stops of 15 to 20 minutes in a van of up to 12 from One CityCenter on 10th Street, with the guide's commentary in your ears by audio link at each site. Earbuds are not supplied.
From $89 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: plan the rest of the evening on things to do at night, read what to expect on the night, or compare every tour on Washington Night Tours.