Washington, DC and Virginia: Monticello, Mount Vernon and Shenandoah

1. Day 1: Arrive in Washington

   Reagan National (DCA), Dulles (IAD) or Union Station to your hotel downtown, then Lafayette Square on foot

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Washington, DC
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Reagan National (DCA), about 20 minutes from downtown, or Dulles (IAD), about 45 minutes to an hour, or arrive by train at Union Station. The drive figures for today are the Dulles run; from Reagan National it is about 8 km. Our driver meets you and takes you to the hotel, a short walk from the National Mall, so most of the next three days start on foot. Plan to land by about 3 pm. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel for a short briefing: how the Metro works, what the security screening at the Capitol is like, and which timed tickets we hold for the week. Then we walk a few blocks to Lafayette Square for a first look at the north front of the White House, past St. John's Church, where presidents have worshipped since James Madison, and on to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant. On the walk back the Washington Monument is lit against the night sky.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Reagan National (DCA), Dulles (IAD) or Union Station
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk to Lafayette Square and the White House
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: About 2 km on foot in the evening, on flat pavements.

2. Day 2: Capitol Hill and the founding documents

   Downtown by Metro to Capitol Hill, the US Capitol and the Library of Congress, then the National Archives

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Washington, DC
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast we ride the Metro to Capitol Hill and pass through security at the Capitol Visitor Center, under the East Front, for the tour we reserved weeks ahead. A Capitol guide takes us into the Rotunda beneath the dome, the old Supreme Court chamber in the crypt and National Statuary Hall, where the House of Representatives met until 1857. A tunnel leads from the Capitol to the Library of Congress, where the Thomas Jefferson Building opens onto the marble Great Hall; from the gallery you look down into the domed Main Reading Room, and Jefferson's own book collection is on show nearby. Across the street stands the Supreme Court. Lunch is a sit-down meal on Capitol Hill. In the afternoon we walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights lie in the Rotunda under low light to protect the ink. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free.

   Included

   • US Capitol tour, reserved ahead: the Rotunda, the crypt and National Statuary Hall
   • The Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, on timed passes
   • The Supreme Court from outside
   • Sit-down lunch on Capitol Hill
   • The National Archives: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

   Easier option: Take a taxi from Capitol Hill to the National Archives, or skip the Archives and rest at the hotel after lunch.

   More active option: Walk on after the Archives to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, free and open until 7 pm.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 5 km on foot, mostly flat, with long periods standing on the tour. No food, drinks or liquids are allowed into the Capitol.

   

3. Day 3: Arlington and the Mall at dusk

   Washington by Metro to Arlington National Cemetery, back to the Smithsonian, then the National Mall memorials on foot

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Washington, DC
   Day 3 details

   An early start: we leave the hotel at about 7:30 am and ride the Metro across the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery as it opens at 8 am, ahead of the tour buses. Your guide walks you up between the rows of white headstones to the grave of President John F. Kennedy and its eternal flame, and on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the Changing of the Guard. Arlington House, once Robert E. Lee's home, looks back over the river to the Lincoln Memorial. After lunch in the city we hold timed passes for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, whose history galleries begin below ground with the transatlantic slave trade and climb floor by floor to the present; the National Air and Space Museum is the alternative. A break at the hotel follows. As the light goes we walk the memorials: World War II, the Reflecting Pool, Lincoln, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans, then Martin Luther King Jr. and the Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin.

   Included

   • Metro to Arlington National Cemetery and back
   • Arlington with your guide: the Kennedy graves, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard, Arlington House
   • Sit-down lunch
   • The National Museum of African American History and Culture on timed passes, or the National Air and Space Museum
   • The National Mall memorials at dusk with your guide: World War II, Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam Veterans, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jefferson

   Easier option: Ride Arlington's tram between the main sites (a small fare, paid on the day), and end the evening walk at the Lincoln Memorial with a taxi back to the hotel.

   More active option: Walk the full Tidal Basin loop past the FDR Memorial, about 3 km more.

   Free time: A break at the hotel in the late afternoon; dinner free after the memorials

   Activity: The longest walking day: about 9 km, with Arlington's steady climb to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Arlington House in the morning, and flat gravel paths on the Mall in the evening.

   

4. Day 4: Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria

   Washington along the George Washington Memorial Parkway to Mount Vernon, then Old Town Alexandria and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Washington, DC
   Day 4 details

   We leave at about 8:30 am and drive south along the George Washington Memorial Parkway beside the Potomac, about 35 minutes, to be at Mount Vernon when the gates open at 9 am. Our timed tour takes us through the mansion George Washington enlarged over forty years, to the bedroom where he died in 1799, and out onto the long piazza that looks down the river. Then there is time to walk the gardens, the outbuildings where enslaved people cooked, spun and worked the estate, the tomb of George and Martha Washington and the memorial at the slave burial ground nearby. The museum and education center tells his story from surveyor to president. After lunch we drive fifteen minutes north to Old Town Alexandria, where your guide walks the brick pavements to Christ Church and the pew Washington rented, past Gadsby's Tavern and Carlyle House, seen from outside, and down King Street to the waterfront. We are back in Washington by about 5 pm; the evening is free.

   Included

   • Mount Vernon at opening: the mansion tour, the gardens, the outbuildings, Washington's tomb and the slave memorial
   • The Mount Vernon museum and education center
   • Sit-down lunch
   • Old Town Alexandria walk with your guide: Christ Church, Gadsby's Tavern, Carlyle House, King Street and the waterfront

   Optional experiences

   • The water taxi from the Alexandria waterfront back to Washington's Wharf, when it is running (spring to autumn), in place of the van

   Easier option: Stay with the van at the King Street end of Old Town and meet the group at the waterfront, or rest in a café there.

   More active option: Walk the Mount Vernon trail down to the wharf and back along the river, about 2 km more.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 6 km on foot on gravel paths, lawns and brick pavements, with a gentle slope from the mansion down to the tomb and wharf.

   

5. Day 5: Monticello and Charlottesville

   Washington by road to Monticello, then Charlottesville and the University of Virginia

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Charlottesville
   Day 5 details

   We check out after breakfast and drive southwest out of Washington through the Virginia Piedmont, about two and a half hours with a coffee stop, with the Blue Ridge appearing on the horizon as we near Charlottesville. Monticello sits on its own hilltop above the town. Our timed tour goes through the house Thomas Jefferson designed and rebuilt over forty years, with his inventions, his library and the dome room, then out to the gardens and Mulberry Row, where the people enslaved at Monticello lived and worked, among them Sally Hemings and her family. We visit Jefferson's grave on the way down. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the mountain. In the afternoon we walk the Academical Village of the University of Virginia, which Jefferson also designed: the Rotunda, the Lawn with its pavilions and student rooms, and the gardens behind them. Monticello and the university together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The evening is free on the Downtown Mall, a brick pedestrian street of restaurants.

   Included

   • Monticello: the house tour, the gardens, Mulberry Row and Jefferson's grave
   • Sit-down lunch near Monticello
   • The University of Virginia's Academical Village with your guide: the Rotunda, the Lawn and the pavilion gardens

   Easier option: Take the shuttle bus between the Monticello visitor center and the house instead of walking the hillside paths.

   More active option: Walk down from Monticello on the Saunders-Monticello Trail through the woods to the visitor center, about 3 km.

   Free time: Evening free on the Downtown Mall

   Activity: About 5 km on foot on gravel paths and lawns, with slopes on the Monticello hilltop; about 2.5 hours in the van.

   

6. Day 6: Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive

   Charlottesville by road to the Swift Run Gap entrance, north on Skyline Drive to Big Meadows and Skyland, and back

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Charlottesville
   Day 6 details

   We leave at about 8:30 am and drive northwest into the Blue Ridge, about fifty minutes, entering Shenandoah National Park at Swift Run Gap. Skyline Drive runs along the crest of the mountains with a limit of 35 mph, and we stop at the overlooks as we go, with the Shenandoah Valley spread out to the west; in mid to late October the ridges turn red, orange and gold. At Big Meadows, a wide open meadow where deer graze, the first walk drops through the woods to Dark Hollow Falls, about 2.3 km there and back with a steady climb on the return. Lunch is in the park. In the afternoon we drive a few miles on to Skyland and walk the Stony Man trail, about 2.6 km there and back, to a rocky summit over 1,200 metres high with one of the widest views in the park. We drive back along the ridge and down to Charlottesville by about 5:30 pm for the farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Shenandoah National Park entry
   • Skyline Drive from Swift Run Gap to Skyland, with stops at the overlooks
   • Dark Hollow Falls walk with your guide
   • Lunch in the park
   • Stony Man summit walk with your guide
   • Farewell dinner in Charlottesville

   Easier option: Walk the Limberlost Trail, a level, accessible loop of about 2 km through old hemlock and oak woods, in place of either walk, or stay at the overlooks and the Big Meadows visitor center.

   More active option: Add the climb to Hawksbill, the highest summit in the park at about 1,235 metres, on a loop of about 4.5 km in place of Stony Man.

   Free time: A short free time at the hotel before the farewell dinner

   Activity: About 3.5 hours in the van over the day, broken up by the walks and the overlooks. Two walks of about 2.3 and 2.6 km, each with a climb of about 100 to 130 metres on rocky paths. Shoes with grip and a warm layer: the ridge is cooler than Charlottesville.

   

7. Day 7: Back to Washington and home

   Charlottesville by road to Dulles (IAD) or Reagan National (DCA), or to Charlottesville's airport (CHO) or Amtrak station

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   A last breakfast in Charlottesville, then we leave at about 9 am for the drive back through the Virginia Piedmont to Washington: about two hours to Dulles (IAD) or two and a quarter to Reagan National (DCA), so you are at the airport by about 11 am to 11:30 am. Book a flight from Dulles after about 2:30 pm or from Reagan National after about 3 pm so there is no rush. If you are flying on from Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO), about 15 minutes from the hotel, or taking the Amtrak train from Charlottesville station, we drop you there instead. If you are staying on in Washington, we can take you to a hotel downtown. Your guide rides with the group and checks everyone's onward plans before saying goodbye. With an early flight from Charlottesville, ask us and we take you to the airport at whatever time suits you.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Dulles (IAD), Reagan National (DCA), Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO) or Charlottesville's Amtrak station

   Activity: Book a flight from IAD after about 2:30 pm or from DCA after about 3 pm. Road time is about 2 hours to IAD and 2.25 hours to DCA.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn bring mild days for walking; July and August are hot and humid in Washington, so the longest walks move to the morning. Autumn colour on Skyline Drive usually peaks in mid to late October, and October weekends bring long queues at the park entrances, which is why we drive it on a weekday. Fog can close in on the ridge at any time of year; white-tailed deer are common at Big Meadows, and black bears live in the park.

• Washington, DC4 nights
• Charlottesville2 nights