Washington DC Night-Time City Bus Tour with Optional Mount Vernon

Absolutely the worst tour - no air conditioning in last 3 rows of vehicle, tour description states 730-1130pm - 15 minutes at each monument - we stopped twice -- cannot see out of the vehicle in middle seats -- tour ended at 945 - we only stopped at bathroom and Lincoln /MLK -- there were pull offs and other buses/tours stopping - but not us -- completely utter disappointment

Between the Mt Vernon and the night tour the operators drop you off back at the same hotel for approximately 1.5 hours. To be continued in a crowded van for 2 hours instead of the 3-4 hours as advertised. We felt it was expensive considering the few hours actually spent on the tour.

Bobby was very knowledgeable about the history and had the best sense of humor! I definitely recommend this tour!

The vehicle was warm. A/c wasn’t cooling it down. On the night tour, we had to sprint to the exhibits because we only had 15 minutes. We weren’t able to get out at the Jefferson memorial and other exhibits.

The tour guys were fine, but the tour company should have cancelled the night tour. I know they can’t control the weather, but they knew it was going to rain and nothing was lit up. So visibility was extremely poor. Barely nothing to see. Plus, if you want to go to Mt. Vernon, you don’t get there til 3:00, and they close at 4:00. So we just made the last tour at 3:05. Only had time to see the mansion. The entire experience was very expensive and very disappointing. Not worth it.

This tour was a mixed bag, so I will review in two sections: Part one: Day trip to Mount Vernon This was a nice tour with a tour guide that actually cared about history and was very interested in teaching the tour group about the landmarks, monuments, and history of the area. We learned interesting things about Alexandria as well as the surrounding landscape and area. The only complaint is that the van needs some serious TLC. There were seatbelt issues and it felt like the shocks were completely worn. The brakes sounded like they were metal-on-metal, so they REALLY need to be checked. Part two: night tour of the National Mall and monuments This tour was close to a complete bust. We used the same van as the earlier tour (see the note above), but the biggest problem, by far, was that it was obvious that the tour guide didn't want to be doing the tour. This tour guide was a different guide than the Mount Vernon tour, so I do not want to paint them with the same brush. This guide was no more than a driver. He was rude, didn't stop at 1/2 of the monuments that are listed in the brochure, and even carried on a crude conversation with a lot of unprofessional words when he didn't realize my daughter had not left the van on one of the stops (there was a woman riding along that I presume was his wife with whom he was conversing). Out of 8 stops we only stopped at 4. All the driver would do is say, "This is the Lincoln Memorial" and let us out. No history, no stories, and no interesting information about the items on the tour. We all got the very distinct impression that we were an inconvenience and the driver was anxious to get us out of the van. I have been on a different company's night tour before and it was wonderful, with an intelligent guide who got out of the vehicle and walked around the monuments to tell us about history. We saw a separate company giving a tour at the same time and watched their guide teach the tour group. My daughter said, "can we go with them instead?" With this tour, it felt like it was a chore to slow down enough for us to get out of the vehicle! There are two companies involved: the broker (TripAdvisor/Viator) and the actual tour (Zohery Tours). We complained and gave feedback to Viator and they were courteous and investigated our statements. Viator seemed to really want to ensure that we were satisfied customers. Zohery Tours, on the other hand, basically said, "we drove you around" and said that completes the deal. Needless to say, we will never be using Zohery Tours for anything again. We *will* use Viator/TripAdvisor again, as they have always worked to ensure good service. Note: TripAdvisor/Viator refunded our money after we described our tour. They will definitely be on the list of tour brokers we would use again.

This was an excellent and thorough tour, entertaining, informative, comfortable, worth the time and money. Have recommended it to others and would do it again.

The driver took us to all of the cities highlights, he shared lots of information. The van was clean and cool on a hot day. The driver went out of his way to make sure we all got safely where we needed to be.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. The guide claimed he couldn’t find my reservation because I booked through a third party (Viator) and refused to let me and my mom on the bus. Meanwhile, another family of 4 also had issues with their reservation, but he let them on anyway. Make it make sense. 0/5. The bus was tiny anyway. You’re way better off booking ahead with a trolley or an Old Town car—literally anything but this.

We never got to see any of the monuments due to road closures. The tour compiles about the closures and that we will not be able to see any of the important monuments and still continued with the tour. Why was the tour not canceled or why were not notified of this and given an option to cancel. Worst experience ever and family who visited form India missed out on the opportunity of night tour. If we had know this, we would have walked by ourselves instead of booking the tour