Washington Night Visitor Guide

Nothing on the National Mall is ticketed after dark. The memorials are free and open all night, so what you pay for is how you get round them. If you are weighing up Washington Night tickets, start with what each fare buys.

The memorials are free: what a night tour costs

You can walk up to every memorial on the Mall at midnight without paying anyone. The National Park Service keeps them open 24 hours a day, and there is no fee to enter National Mall and Memorial Parks. The only timed tickets on the Mall, for the Washington Monument and Ford's Theatre, are daytime ones.

So a night tour sells you a seat, a guide and a route. The memorials themselves are the same whichever fare you choose. What changes is how you ride, how long you get on foot at each stop, and whether the memorials across the river are included.

Every fare is quoted in US dollars, as each operator lists it, and says whether it is for a person or a whole vehicle. A private fare for four can work out close to four shared seats and a taxi home; for two it costs several times more.

What is open after dark, and what is not

The memorials are the evening. Rangers are on duty from 9:30am to 10pm, and the sites stay open after they leave. Almost everything else on a night route you see from outside.

The Washington Monument opens from 9am to 5pm and closes one maintenance day a month, so no night tour goes up it. Arlington National Cemetery closes at 5pm, and night tours pass it from the road. The Marine Corps War Memorial sits across the river in Arlington, and its flag flies around the clock by presidential proclamation.

When it gets dark, and why it matters

The biggest coach tours leave at a fixed 7:30pm, all year. Sunset in Washington moves almost four hours through the year, from 4:46pm in early December to 8:38pm in late June, so the same fare is a different evening in each season. These times come from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

In June and July the first hour of a 7:30pm tour is daylight and dusk, and the floodlights come on part-way round. From October to February you set out in full dark. Every month, with the evening temperatures, is on the dark times and weather page.

Where the tours start

There is no single starting point. Most shared coaches leave from Pennsylvania Avenue, between the National Archives and the Navy Memorial, and the vans from hotel doors a few blocks north. The trolley starts at Union Station or the Washington Welcome Center, and private tours come to you.

Each start is plotted, with the Metro station nearest to it, on the meeting-points map. Be early: the coaches check you in on the kerb, and in the dark the sign-in tables are hard to tell apart.

Getting back at the end of the evening

Most tours end between 10 and 10:30pm, close to where they started. Metrorail runs until midnight from Sunday to Thursday and until 2am on Friday and Saturday. Last trains vary by station, so check yours before you set out.

The Navy Memorial and the Archives kerbs are beside Navy Memorial-Archives station, and RSN Tours' coach meets at the Smithsonian station entrance. Private tours drop you back at your hotel, and one van tour takes downtown hotel guests home as well.

The "entry tickets" some tours sell

Some coach titles promise entry tickets. They are optional timed passes for the next day, to places such as the Washington Monument or the National Air and Space Museum. The attraction assigns the time, the pass reaches you on the day of your tour, and you use it on your own.

You may not need to buy one. Admission to the National Air and Space Museum is free with a timed-entry pass, and it opens from 10am to 5:30pm at 650 Jefferson Drive SW. Washington Monument tickets are free too: booked ahead, each carries a $1 service charge, and free same-day tickets are handed out from 8:45am at the Washington Monument Lodge on 15th Street. What the upgrades add is a slot arranged for you. The details are on what to expect on the night.

Who each tour suits

Most coaches and vans say they are not suitable for wheelchair users. The Old Town Trolley has lift-equipped trolleys if you call 24 hours ahead, and some private tours and the private walk on the Mall list wheelchair access. Ask the operator before you book.

Children are welcome on most tours. The shared bike ride supplies equipment for every size of child, and the e-cart needs a seat for each child. At the stops, expect the steps up to the Lincoln Memorial and paths round the World War II and Vietnam memorials.

Cancellations and the weather

Almost every tour here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before it starts. One private tour is non-refundable, and its card says so. Operators may also cancel for bad weather or too few bookings, and then offer you a new date or a full refund.

Rain rarely stops a night tour, and the stops are outside, so bring a layer that sheds water. USA Guided Tours' convertible buses run with glass tops from October to March. In summer, the evening lows at Reagan National average about 72°F.

National Mall and Memorial Parks

The memorials are run by the National Park Service as National Mall and Memorial Parks, at 1100 Ohio Drive SW, Washington, DC 20242, telephone 202-426-6841. The public may visit them 24 hours a day. The park service does not sell or answer for the tours listed here.

Asked before you go