Small Group Washington DC Tour with Changing of the Guard

We had an absolutely amazing tour with Cliff. There were no other registrants at the same time as us, so we had our very own Black Cadillac adorned with American flags and the nicest, most knowledgeable tour guide all to ourselves. He was a wealth of knowledge, helped us customize our tour to what we wanted to see, helped us to understand how much time was needed at different locations, made sure we avoided other large tour groups, knew where all the clean bathrooms were, helped us find little "easter eggs" at lots of locations, opened car doors and really made us feel special. I've already recommended this tour company to other friends that will be visiting DC. It's the best way to get a great overview of the city and see all of the monuments.

Our tour guide Mark was a great guide. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. He tailored our experience for us.

Cliff was our guide, he was very kind, open to our needs and wants, explained everything in detail, Knowledge was out of this World

Cliff was a great driver informative polite and friendly. The bus was clean, new and was very comfortable I can highly recommend the tour

Our tour guide was Mark. He started by saying he was having a bad day. He talked more about himself than the sights. We did not get to stop at Capital or White House, which each were to be 15 minute stops. I had to ask him what buildings we were passing. When I asked him to please tell us about the sights he said, “let me do my job, I’ve done this for 24 years”. The second half of the 5 hour tour he must have realized he was being an awful tour guide as he did explain a few things. We have been on many tours, this was the worst ever. I feel as though we should be refunded our money, it was definately not the tour that was advertized. I would not recommend Mark. We went on a Mount Vernon tour today and we learned more about Washington DC in 15 minutes leaving the city to go South than Mark gave us in 4 hours. Very dissatisfied.

Best way to start your experience in DC. They want me to write 100 characters but I don't want to...

The tour is perfect, it includes all the iconic places of the city, stopping at many of them for walks and photos... and also Helga makes it a history class! She is exceptional: patient, accommodating, drives as many would like to do and does not miss a single opportunity to offer information of interest throughout the tour. Without hesitation I recommend this tour to everyone, convinced that they would be as satisfied as we are!

Bottom line - the description on Viator is dishonest and false advertising. Take your hard earned money elsewhere. I should’ve known there would be issues when I received a text the day prior to the tour that they were changing the departure time of the tour to 2 PM instead of 1:30 PM. We arrived a few minutes before departure and loaded onto the sprinter van. Upon arriving we were told that the tour would be conducted in both English and Spanish as some of the families spoke Spanish. This was not disclosed in the booking or description that they would run tours in multiple languages just that other languages were available. We also learned a family was running late - and we were waiting for them. They arrived 15 minutes late so the tour was starting 45 minutes later than booked for. This tour is a small group glorified hop on and hop off tour. The tour doesn’t visit the sites with you when you stop - the driver provides some historial or local tidbits as you are driving but then when you get to the actual site you are left to your own devices. In the description it says the tour lasts approximately 4 hours and our tour went just a little over 3 hours. The tagline and main description of the tour mentions the changing of the guards. That was the huge draw for me and my mom to chose this tour over the others. The driver gave us a run down of the itinerary we would follow and she didn’t mention the changing of the guards. At her first stop I inquired about seeing the changing of the guards and she said that it would be tough to do but we could try. We roamed our first stop at the capitol building for 10 mins which was barely enough time to walk to the building and back. Upon reentering the bus the driver proceeded to explain to everyone if we wanted to see the changing of the guards we had to work as a team to be able to do so and reminded us that this is a standard tour not a private tour and we shouldn’t expect personalized requests - it felt like a very passive aggressive comment towards me and my mom who were just forced to wait 15 minutes for a family who were late for this standard not private tour. The itinerary has advertised that you get to spend 25 minutes at a few of the monuments which is also false because we barely got 10 minutes at each stop. They advertise individually the times at each monument which i understand is an approximate amount however given they started the tour 30 mins later and then waited 15 mins and cut the tour down to 3 hours contributed to not having any time at the memorials. We did make it to the changing of the guards which was the highlight of this tour - I highly recommend seeing that if you get the opportunity. Arlington cemetery has their own tours with a train cart type of transport so you can go up the hill instead of the 20ish minute walk to get to the tomb of the unknown soldier. I give the tour guide credit for speaking both English and Spanish to explain everything. As only 4/14 of us spoke English. She was trying to be engaging with everyone and when none of the English speakers responded to one of her questions she clearly made a comment about the English speakers to the Spanish speakers on the bus that made me and my mom extremely uncomfortable. Don’t let the “admission included” think you are getting a deal - all the monuments and Arlington cemetery are free to enter. Again seems like false advertising and marketing. If you want a more informational experience book a tour with another company. This company doesn’t seem to understand honesty and treating their customers with respect.

A brilliant way to get to see lots in a relatively short time so that you can then choose what you’d like to spend more time on later. Our histesss was very good indeed and worked extra hard as she had to negotiate unexpected road closures due to a huge protest march.

Our guide was so friendly, knowledgeable & fun! We never felt rushed and she was so kind in dropping us off at our hotel after the tour so we did not have to find transportation after dark. Vehicle was very comfortable & clean.