Getting Back After a Washington Night Out: End Times and the Last Metro
The short answer. Most evenings end between 10 and 10:30pm, back where they started. The Metro runs until midnight from Sunday to Thursday and until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights, and several starting points are next to a station. So after a washington dc night monuments tour the trip home is easy on most nights. The one thing to check is your own station's last train, because last trains leave some stations earlier than the system closes.
When the evening ends
The shared coaches run for three hours from a 7:30pm start, so they are back on Pennsylvania Avenue at about 10:30pm. The trolley runs for two and a half hours. The $48 van, which picks up at 7:00pm and 7:10pm, drops off between 10:00 and 10:30pm at four hotels and points downtown. The private cars bring you back to your door. Only the evenings on foot end somewhere else: the ghost walk finishes at the steps in Georgetown, and the private walk on the Mall finishes at the White House.
| Where you start | Where you finish | Metro nearby |
|---|---|---|
| Navy Memorial Plaza, 701 Pennsylvania Ave NW | The same plaza, about 10:30pm | Archives (Yellow, Green) |
| Outside the National Archives, 790 Pennsylvania Ave NW | The same kerb | Archives |
| Knapp Arch, Smithsonian station | Ask your guide on the night | Smithsonian (Orange, Silver, Blue) |
| Grand Hyatt, 11th Street door | The same door | Metro Center |
| Your hotel or rental | Your hotel or rental | Not needed |
| M Street, Georgetown | The steps at 36th and Prospect St NW | Foggy Bottom-GWU, the nearest |
The station names come from each kerb's nearest Metro, and every starting point in the city is on the meeting-point map with its lines.
The Metro, night by night
These are the system's opening hours. They are the latest any train runs, not the time the last train leaves your station:
- Monday to Thursday: 5am to midnight.
- Friday: 5am to 2am.
- Saturday: 6am to 2am.
- Sunday: 6am to midnight.
A coach back at 10:30pm leaves you an hour and a half before midnight, which is plenty on a weeknight if your station is on a direct line. On a Friday or a Saturday you have until 2am, time for a late dinner first. Plan the ride before you set out rather than on the kerb at 10:30.
The kerbs that sit on a station
The easiest start is the one with a station at the door. The 7:30pm coach meets on Navy Memorial Plaza, and the Navy Memorial-Archives station on the Yellow and Green lines opens straight onto it. The coaches outside the National Archives use the same station. The coach from the Smithsonian station meets at the Knapp Arch entrance, on the Orange, Silver and Blue lines.
The trolley checks in at Union Station, on the Red line, or at the Washington Welcome Center at 1001 E Street NW, between Metro Center and Gallery Place, and asks you to arrive 30 minutes early. The van from the Grand Hyatt meets outside the hotel's 11th Street door, close to Metro Center. If you are staying near any of these, you can walk back.
Door to door
If you would rather not think about the Metro at all, three kinds of evening take you home. The private car collects you from your hotel or rental and brings you back, for $595 for up to four. The moonlight van picks up and drops off at downtown hotels for $67 a person, with bookings of two or more; from hotels in Virginia or Maryland you meet it at the Marriott at Metro Center instead. And the $48 van drops off at four named hotels and points, which is not the same as your own hotel: check the list when you book.
All the evenings with a pickup, and what each one costs a group, are compared on our page of private night tours and on the night tour options page.
Match the evening to where you are staying
The simplest way home is to start near your bed. Before you choose an evening, find your hotel on the map and work back from it:
- Downtown, near Pennsylvania Avenue: the coaches from Navy Memorial Plaza and the National Archives end where they started, on the avenue, with the Archives station at the kerb.
- Near Union Station or Capitol Hill: the trolley checks in at the station, so you finish where you can take the Red line or walk.
- In Virginia or Maryland: the moonlight van meets you at the Marriott at Metro Center, beside Metro Center on the Red, Orange, Silver and Blue lines, or a private car collects you from where you are.
- Outside the centre, or with small children: a private evening that picks up and drops off at your door takes the ride home out of the plan.
Georgetown: the evening that ends somewhere else
The ghost walk starts outside the Old Stone House on M Street and ends 90 minutes later at the foot of the Exorcist Steps, at 36th and Prospect Streets. Georgetown has no Metro station; the nearest is Foggy Bottom-GWU. Plan a taxi or a bus, or allow time for the walk back. The house and the walk are in our Georgetown post, and the rest of the evening there is on things to do at night.
Rideshares and parking
A rideshare home is easy from any kerb, but getting there needs one warning. USA Guided Tours tells guests that rideshares tend to drop people on the opposite side of the block from Navy Memorial Plaza, so ask for Pennsylvania Avenue itself. If you drive, the plaza has a garage directly beneath it and street parking around it, but no spaces kept for the tour.
- Save your station's last train on your phone before you leave the hotel.
- Charge your phone: the tickets, the day's text from the guide and the ride home are all on it. One coach from the Smithsonian station has a phone charger on board.
- Know your line: the table above gives the station at each kerb.
- Know where the evening ends before it starts: on the walks, it is not where you met.
Evenings that make the ride home easy
Washington DC Night Tour: ICONIC Landmarks, Monuments SMALL GROUP
Three hours by van with a driver-guide: pickup at 7:00pm at the Marriott at Metro Center or 7:10pm at Navy Memorial Plaza, drop-offs from 10pm, and a free next-day museum pass.
From $48 per person
Check Availability
Moonlight Tour of Washington DC
Three hours by van for up to 13, with pickup and drop-off at downtown hotels; from Virginia or Maryland you meet at the Marriott at Metro Center. Bookings of two or more, in any weather.
From $67 per person, bookings of two
Check Availability
Washington DC Night-Time City Tour
Three hours by bus or van, depending on numbers, from the Knapp Arch entrance of the Smithsonian station, with twelve short stops and a phone charger on board.
From $55 per person an offer fare to 30 Sep 2026; regular $69
Check AvailabilityNext: Choose the kerb nearest your hotel, then check the last train from its station before you book. Every fare sits side by side on Washington Night Tours.