Customize Your DC Tour

Most guests take our standard route and have an excellent day without lifting a finger. A career chauffeur who knows DC collects you at your hotel, drives the 4-hour monuments circuit, and narrates the landmarks as you go. The planning, the parking, the timing: all handled. You enjoy the city.

Because every tour is private, that same expert-planned day flexes to you. Add Mount Vernon in the afternoon, skip a stop you have already seen, or spend an extra half hour at the Lincoln Memorial. Tell us what you want to see and your group size, and we shape the route around it, then send one quote before you confirm. This page is for that: the expertly run day, adjusted to your trip.

The route we plan, and what you can add

Almost every tour starts from the same core monuments circuit our popular packages run, then trims or extends it. Here is what the day can include.

The DC monuments circuit (the standard base, about 4 hours). Eleven walk-up photo stops in driver order: the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the World War I Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. Along the way the chauffeur narrates roughly 19 drive-by landmarks, including the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian museums on the Mall, FBI Headquarters, Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is the same route as the Welcome to DC half-day tour, and it is what most groups run as-is.

Full-day extensions (6 to 8 hours). Add Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima), the Air Force Memorial, and Georgetown. Bundled with the core circuit, this is the Welcome to DC full-day tour. Prefer the monuments after dark, lit up and uncrowded? That is the DC night tour.

Out-of-city day trips. Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate about 16 miles south on the GW Parkway, runs as its own Mount Vernon tour and pairs well with Old Town Alexandria. Gettysburg, the Civil War battlefield about 80 miles north and roughly 90 minutes each way, is the Gettysburg battlefield tour. Virginia and Maryland wine country, where no one in your group has to be the designated driver, is covered on the wine country tours.

Themed angles. Want a point of view instead of the standard loop? We plan African American heritage routes (see the dedicated African American heritage tour), Capitol Hill and the workings of Congress, Embassy Row along Massachusetts Avenue, lesser-known stops, military memorials, and cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin in season. Mix any of these into the monuments base.

How it works

You do not plan a route from a blank page. Tell us three things: your group size, how many hours you have, and any must-see stops (a rough list is fine). A career chauffeur who knows DC maps the day in driver order, picks the vehicle that fits the group, and sends one full quote. Nothing is locked until you confirm. Then, the day before the tour, dispatch calls to reconfirm your pickup point and run through the stops that matter most, so the morning starts exactly the way you pictured it.

On the day, the expert-planned route still bends to you. Add a stop, cut one, spend 90 minutes inside the National Museum of Natural History, or detour on a whim, just by asking. The chauffeur runs whatever you decide, and the hourly rate carries on either way. As a rough planning guide, four hours comfortably covers the 11-stop monuments circuit, and each out-of-city destination such as Mount Vernon or Gettysburg adds a few hours of drive time on top.

Vehicle choices

The vehicle scales with your group, and so does the rate. Tours bill a 4-hour minimum in every vehicle: pricing starts from $440 for the executive sedan (executive sedan, up to 3 guests); the Executive SUV is $480 for 4 hours (up to 6); larger vehicles run as listed below. We promise the class of vehicle, not a specific make.

Group size	Vehicle	Minimum	From	Hourly after
1 to 3	Executive Sedan (executive sedan class)	4 hr	$440	$110/hr
1 to 6	Executive SUV (most popular for tours)	4 hr	$480	$120/hr
1 to 10	Stretch Limousine	4 hr	$540	$135/hr
1 to 13	Mercedes Sprinter Van	4 hr	$560	$140/hr
Up to 18	White Hummer Limousine	4 hr	$760	$190/hr
22 to 32	Executive Mini Bus	4 hr	$720	$180/hr
33 to 55	Luxury Coach Bus	4 hr	$890	$222/hr

Multi-day programs get a flat package quote. Long-distance routes with five or more hours of drive time are quoted on the full route.

Common questions

Do you plan the tour, or do I have to? We plan it. Most guests give us a date, a group size, and a couple of must-sees, and we build and run the whole day. The standard 4-hour monuments route is ready to go if you would rather not think about it at all.

How many stops fit in a tour? The 11-stop monuments circuit fills about four hours at an easy pace with photo time at each one. Plan on roughly one walk-up stop every 20 to 25 minutes, faster if you keep some as drive-bys. Adding museums, a Georgetown lunch, or an out-of-city leg like Mount Vernon means adding hours rather than squeezing the day.

Can I mix DC monuments with Mount Vernon or Gettysburg in one tour? Yes. A monuments morning plus a Mount Vernon afternoon is a common full day. Gettysburg is a longer commitment because of the 90-minute drive each way, so it usually anchors its own day. We tell you what realistically fits the hours you have, and the day is yours.

Does the chauffeur share the stories along the way? Yes. Your chauffeur knows DC well and points out the landmarks and the history as you drive between stops, including the roughly 19 narrated drive-bys on the monuments route.

Can I change the itinerary on the day? Yes. The day we plan for you still bends to you in the moment. Add a stop, cut one, linger at a museum, or detour somewhere on a whim, just by asking. The chauffeur runs whatever you decide.

Plan your DC tour

Call (202) 609-9811 or email info@smartlimorental.com with your date, group size, and the stops you care about. An expert answers 24/7, maps the route in driver order, and sends a full quote before you confirm. Want a route that already exists? Browse every fixed itinerary on the DC tour packages hub, or book online.