Get a Quote
The domed Jefferson Memorial mirrored in the Tidal Basin on a private Washington DC limousine tour

Heritage · 4 hours

Jefferson Memorial Tour by Limousine

Private Jefferson Memorial tour by DC limo: the domed Tidal Basin rotunda, the 19-foot Jefferson, narrated as you ride. From $440 on a private 4-hour tour.

From $440

Private tour · 4 hours · All-inclusive · No hidden fees

See Your Price & Book
SedanSUVStretch limoHummer stretch limoSprinter vanMini bus
5-Star Rated on Tripadvisor & Viator Read traveler reviews →
  • 20+ years of experience
  • 24/7 dispatch
  • Professional chauffeurs

Call Us

(202) 609-9811 Book Online

Book the Jefferson Memorial Tour by Limousine

Pick your vehicle and hours to see your instant all-inclusive price, then secure your date with a $200 deposit. Prefer to talk? Call (202) 609-9811, 24/7.

A $200 deposit secures your booking, fully refundable up to 72 hours before your service. The remaining balance is charged one day before. Need fewer hours or a custom plan? Email info@smartlimorental.com or call, 24/7. Prefer to talk? Call (202) 609-9811.

4 hours From $440 · 6 vehicle options Pickup: your hotel

Tour highlights

  • The domed rotunda modeled on the Roman Pantheon
  • The 19-foot bronze Jefferson inside the chamber
  • The Declaration of Independence carved on the wall
  • The Tidal Basin reflection of the lit dome
  • Cherry blossoms ringing the shore in spring
  • Door-to-door pickup, narrated as you ride

Every tour, your private vehicle

This tour runs in any of these. Pick by group size.

Executive Sedan

1-3 passengers

Black Mercedes-Benz S-Class executive sedan, Smart Limo Rental Washington DC executive sedan tour vehicle

A Mercedes-Benz S-Class executive sedan for up to 3 guests. Quiet, smooth, and easy to step in and out of at every stop.

4-8 hours tour

$440 / 4 hours

All-inclusive rate · No hidden fees

Book Now

Executive SUV

1-6 passengers

Black full-size executive SUV, Smart Limo Rental Washington DC tour and chauffeur vehicle

A full-size executive SUV seating up to 6, with the space and window views families ask for.

4-8 hours tour

$480 / 4 hours

All-inclusive rate · No hidden fees

Book Now

Stretch limousine

1-10 passengers

Black Lincoln stretch limousine, Smart Limo Rental Washington DC tour vehicle

The classic black stretch limousine for up to 10. Turns a night tour into the celebration itself.

4-8 hours tour

$540 / 4 hours

All-inclusive rate · No hidden fees

Book Now

Mercedes Sprinter

1-13 passengers

Black Mercedes-Benz Sprinter passenger van, Smart Limo Rental Washington DC group transport

A black Mercedes Sprinter for up to 13, with high ceilings and walk-in comfort for bigger parties.

4-8 hours tour

$560 / 4 hours

All-inclusive rate · No hidden fees

Book Now

White Hummer limo

1-18 passengers

White Hummer H2 stretch limousine parked in front of the US Capitol dome, 18-passenger DC limo, Smart Limo Rental Washington DC

The white stretch Hummer seats 18 and makes the entrance. Built for birthdays and bachelorettes.

4-8 hours tour

$760 / 4 hours

All-inclusive rate · No hidden fees

Book Now

Mini bus

22-32 passengers

Black executive mini bus for DC sports team and corporate group transportation, Smart Limo Rental

A private mini bus for 22 to 32 guests. One vehicle, one route, the whole group together.

4-8 hours tour

$720 / 4 hours

All-inclusive rate · No hidden fees

Book Now

All rates are per vehicle, never per person.

Wine country tours run a 6-hour minimum. See full rates on the pricing page.

The route, stop by stop

This is our standard itinerary, in the order the chauffeur drives it, and it is fully customizable: add a stop, skip one, linger longer, or swap the order, just by telling your chauffeur. Stops are where you get out for photos and to walk up; the drive-by highlights are landmarks the route passes along the way.

Main stops

Tap any stop for the details.

U.S. Capitol

The home of the Senate and the House. The chauffeur circles the East Front and the West Front inauguration steps for photos before the route heads down the Mall.

The White House

Photo stop at the President's residence, with north and south facade views from Pennsylvania Avenue and E Street.

World War I Memorial

The domed District of Columbia War Memorial, a quiet marble tribute set among the Mall's trees and often missed on bus tours.

World War II Memorial

The Rainbow Pool ringed by 56 granite pillars and two arches, honoring the WWII generation. A powerful place to pay respects.

Washington Monument

The 555-foot marble obelisk at the center of the Mall. Prime open ground for photos in every direction.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

A domed rotunda on the Tidal Basin with a 19-foot bronze Jefferson and the words of the Declaration carved into the walls.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Four open-air granite rooms with cascading waterfalls and statues, one for each of FDR’s terms. One of the most distinctive memorials in the city.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

The Stone of Hope rising from the Tidal Basin shore, ringed by the civil rights icon’s own words. Quietly moving in any season.

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Nineteen stainless-steel soldiers advancing through the field, striking by day and haunting at dusk. A solemn tribute often overlooked.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The black granite Wall etched with more than 58,000 names. The most affecting stop on the route for many visitors.

Lincoln Memorial

The marble chamber and the 19-foot seated Lincoln at the head of the Reflecting Pool. Dramatic by day, and the columns stand out sharply once the floodlights come up.

Drive-by highlights along the route

Between the stops above, your chauffeur points out the landmarks that make up official Washington. No extra time, no extra cost, just part of the drive.

  • Supreme Court. The highest court in the United States.
  • Library of Congress. The largest library in the world.
  • U.S. Navy Memorial. A tribute to the men and women of the Navy.
  • Senate Office Buildings (Russell, Dirksen, Hart). Where senators keep their offices.
  • House Office Buildings (Cannon, Longworth, Rayburn). Where House members work off the floor.
  • U.S. Botanic Garden. A living plant museum at the foot of the Capitol.
  • National Museum of the American Indian. Devoted to Native American culture and history.
  • Voice of America. The historic U.S. international broadcasting headquarters.
  • National Air and Space Museum. One of the most visited museums in the world.
  • Hirshhorn Museum. The Smithsonian’s modern and contemporary art collection.
  • Department of Energy. A landmark federal headquarters on the Mall’s south side.
  • Pennsylvania Avenue. The inaugural parade route Presidents travel from the Capitol to the White House.
  • Old Post Office (now the Waldorf Astoria). A landmark clock tower on Pennsylvania Avenue.
  • Department of Justice. Headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice.
  • FBI Headquarters. The J. Edgar Hoover Building, home of the Bureau.
  • National Museum of Natural History. The Smithsonian’s natural history collection.
  • National Museum of American History. Home to the Star-Spangled Banner and Americana.
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture. Devoted to the African American story.
  • Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Where U.S. paper currency is printed.

What our guests say

5-star rated on Tripadvisor & Viator

More than 240 travelers have reviewed our private Washington DC limo tours across Tripadvisor and Viator, and the same praise repeats: the chauffeur-guide who knows every monument, the on-time hotel pickup, and a day that felt effortless. Read our Tripadvisor reviews and our Viator reviews for yourself.

Reviews of the Jefferson Memorial Tour by Limousine keep returning to the monuments and memorials and the on-time hotel pickup. Amin is the chauffeur guests name for knowing the city and being easy to be with all day. The same details repeat: a chauffeur-guide who knows the history and plenty of photo stops. Each review below links to the Tripadvisor or Viator listing it was posted on.

  • Anna R, reviewer photo from Tripadvisor
    Anna RAugust 2026
    view postTripadvisor

    ★★★★★

    Good value for a large group

    For 10 people (4 adult and 6 kids/teens), this was a great alternative to the other night tours. We even got to see some of the less known memorials at the Pentagon! Very friendly and helpful driver.

  • Jonathan K, reviewer photo from Tripadvisor
    Jonathan KJuly 2026
    view postTripadvisor

    ★★★★★

    DC tour

    The driver was super knowledgeable about the different monuments and allowed us to experience them in whatever order we wanted stopping at different ones for us to take pictures and explore along the route. Extremely worth it for my family and I.

  • Teresa J, reviewer photo from Tripadvisor
    Teresa JJuly 2026
    view postTripadvisor

    ★★★★★

    Awesome experience

    Awesome experience from the booking to the tour. Amin was super from the first communication until we returned. It was very easy and we got to see all of the sights with him dealing with traffic. He picked us up and returned us to our hotel and waited at each stop so we did not have far to walk. My kids loved every…

  • C_G, reviewer photo from Viator
    C_GSeptember 2025 · Executive SUV
    view postViator

    ★★★★★

    Great tour of all the monuments.

    Our tour guide, Amin, was excellent! Dropped us off at the most optimal places to see the sites.

  • anthonysoprano, reviewer photo from Tripadvisor
    anthonysopranoJuly 2025
    view postTripadvisor

    ★★★★★

    Wonderful tour

    Our guide Amin was fantastic! He went above and beyond to make the tour all we could ask for. We saw every monument and then some

  • Christopher H, reviewer photo from Tripadvisor
    Christopher HMay 2025
    view postTripadvisor

    ★★★★★

    Great experience - great driver, expert guide

    We had a great experience and would highly recommend. We booked a four hour hop on, hop off excursion and opted to pay extra for a tour guide in addition to the driver. Our group was 18 family members in town for college graduation, ranging in age from 8 to 80. We had some ideas of the stops we wanted, and Teri our…

Read all our reviews

View on the platform

Jefferson Memorial Tour by Limousine: the full guide

A Jefferson Memorial tour by limousine is a private, chauffeured stop at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, run as part of a wider 4-hour Washington DC monuments tour. A career chauffeur who knows DC picks up your group from any hotel, drives to the Tidal Basin, narrates the memorial’s history as you ride, and drops you steps from the rotunda. The Jefferson Memorial is a domed, columned rotunda on the south shore of the Tidal Basin, dedicated April 13, 1943, on Jefferson’s 200th birthday, with a 19-foot bronze Jefferson standing inside. The best way to see it is from a private vehicle that stops there as one anchor of a longer monuments circuit, without parking near the basin, the summer heat, or a shared bus schedule. The tour starts from $440 in an executive sedan, with a 4-hour minimum.

Of all the Mall monuments, the Jefferson is the one that photographs best as a whole, because the still water of the Tidal Basin mirrors the dome and doubles its visual height. On a private tour the chauffeur handles the route and the legal stopping points, so your group walks straight up to the rotunda, reads the Declaration of Independence carved on the wall, and turns to the water for the reflection shot. Because the tour is private, you can give the basin extra time when the cherry trees are in bloom, then move on at your own pace.

What is the Jefferson Memorial and why visit it?

The Jefferson Memorial is a neoclassical rotunda honoring Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president. Architect John Russell Pope modeled it on the Roman Pantheon and Jefferson’s own Rotunda at the University of Virginia, and it was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. People visit for the 19-foot bronze Jefferson, the texts carved around the chamber, and the open setting on the Tidal Basin among the Japanese flowering cherry trees.

It is a memorial built around words. The southwest wall carries the opening of the Declaration, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Below the dome runs the frieze line from Jefferson’s 1800 letter to Benjamin Rush: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Standing inside the open rotunda with the bronze Jefferson and the basin beyond is the part most photos miss.

Jefferson Memorial history at a glance

A short, accurate reference for the stop, the kind of context your chauffeur fills in as you drive up:

  • Dedicated: April 13, 1943, on Jefferson’s 200th birthday, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • Architect: John Russell Pope (completed by Eggers and Higgins after his death). Statue sculptor: Rudulph Evans.
  • Commemorates: Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. president.
  • The statue: a 19-foot bronze Jefferson weighing 10,000 pounds, installed in 1947, four years after the building opened.
  • The design: a neoclassical domed rotunda modeled on the Roman Pantheon, on the Tidal Basin’s south shore.
  • Inside: excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the frieze line about tyranny over the mind of man.

Full official detail is on the National Park Service Jefferson Memorial page and the Jefferson Memorial entry on Wikipedia.

What can you see at the Jefferson Memorial at night?

After dark the Jefferson Memorial is arguably the best-looking monument in the city. The domed rotunda is floodlit from below and mirrored in the Tidal Basin, so the dome appears to float and its height doubles in the water. The trees around it drop into darkness, which strips the daytime clutter from the frame and leaves a clean, lit dome over still black water.

This is why our DC Night Tour usually saves the Jefferson for last, once the wind drops and the basin goes glassy. The memorial is open 24 hours, so a night visit is a real option. Couples and photographers tend to prefer it lit, when the reflection is strongest; families often take it by day with the cherry trees in view. Either way the chauffeur parks close so the short walk from a warm cabin to the rotunda and back is brief.

How does a private limo tour of the Jefferson Memorial work?

The Jefferson Memorial is one of 11 walk-up stops on our standard 4-hour DC Monuments Tour, so you do not book it alone. The chauffeur picks your group up at your DC, Maryland, or Northern Virginia address, drives the monuments circuit, and stops at a legal drop point on the Tidal Basin shore steps from the rotunda. You walk up, spend 15 to 25 minutes, then ride on to the next stop while the chauffeur narrates the history between sites.

The Jefferson sits in a cluster with the FDR Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial along the same stretch of basin shore, which keeps the walking between them short. The vehicle never drives onto the Mall, which is pedestrian-only; the chauffeur uses the roads and legal drop points that ring the basin, lets your group out, and circles back. That is the practical advantage over walking or a fixed bus loop: no parking near the water, no long hike, no waiting on a shared bus. The full stop-by-stop route and the roughly 19 narrated drive-by landmarks are laid out above.

What else is near the Jefferson Memorial?

The Jefferson anchors the Tidal Basin cluster, which is part of the standard route rather than an add-on. Within a short walk along the shore you reach two more major memorials, and the rest of the monuments circuit is a short drive away.

  • The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial runs through four open-air granite rooms with cascading waterfalls, one for each of FDR’s four terms.
  • The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial rises from the northwest shore as the Stone of Hope, on the sightline between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
  • The Washington Monument stands just north across the basin, and the Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans, Korean War, and World War II memorials close the west end of the Mall.
  • In spring the Japanese flowering cherry trees ring the entire basin, making this the most photographed ground in the city.

We cover these two in their own pages: see the MLK Memorial tour and the Lincoln Memorial tour for the two anchors at either end of the basin sightline.

When is the best time to visit the Jefferson Memorial?

Any time works because the memorial is open 24 hours and free, but the Tidal Basin setting makes timing matter more here than at most stops. A morning start gives soft light on the east-facing facade and a calmer basin for reflections. Late afternoon warms the marble and the water. Midday in July and August is hot on the open shore, so an earlier or later start is more comfortable.

Cherry blossom season, late March into mid-April, is the standout window, when the trees around the basin bloom and the Jefferson sits at the center of the most photographed scene in DC. Bookings fill fast in those two weeks, so plan ahead. After dark is the other peak, when the lit dome doubles in the still water. Whatever the season, the chauffeur sets the running order so the Jefferson catches the best light and the calmest basin your timing allows. For the dedicated spring version, see our Cherry Blossom Tour.

Pricing

Starting at $440 for a private tour in the executive sedan (up to 3 guests), with a 4-hour minimum. The Executive SUV is $480 for 4 hours (up to 6 guests). Stretch Limousine from $540. Full vehicle options and pricing in the table above. Book online or call (202) 609-9811.

The Jefferson Memorial is one stop on our standard monuments circuit. Browse all Washington DC limo tours, or compare with the DC Monuments Tour, the DC Night Tour, the Lincoln Memorial tour, and the MLK Memorial tour.

Book this private DC tour

Call (202) 609-9811 or book online. Talk to an expert, 24/7. We will talk through the route, the vehicle that fits your group, and the time of day that shows the Jefferson and the Tidal Basin at their best.

Common questions about Jefferson Memorial Tour by Limousine

Do you need tickets to visit the Jefferson Memorial?

No. The Jefferson Memorial is free and open 24 hours. On our private 4-hour monuments tour it is one of 11 walk-up stops: the chauffeur stops at a legal drop point on the Tidal Basin shore, you walk up to the rotunda, and the vehicle circles back when you are ready.

Is the Jefferson Memorial worth visiting?

Yes. The domed rotunda modeled on the Roman Pantheon, the 19-foot bronze Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence carved on the wall make it one of the most photographed monuments in DC, especially reflected in the Tidal Basin and ringed by cherry blossoms in spring.

What is inside the Jefferson Memorial?

A 19-foot bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson under the open dome, surrounded by his words: the opening of the Declaration of Independence on the southwest wall, passages on religious freedom and the frieze line "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Can you walk from the FDR Memorial to the Jefferson Memorial?

Yes, they sit a few minutes apart along the Tidal Basin shore, with the MLK Memorial just beyond. On the tour the chauffeur drops you for the whole Tidal Basin cluster, so you walk the short shore path between the three and ride on to the next stop in comfort.

Is the Jefferson Memorial lit at night?

Yes, and after dark it is arguably the best-looking monument in the city: the rotunda is floodlit from below and mirrored in the Tidal Basin, so the dome appears to float. Our DC night tour runs the same circuit after sunset and usually saves the Jefferson for last, when the water goes glassy.

How much does a Jefferson Memorial tour cost?

The memorial is free. The private monuments tour that includes it starts from $440 for 4 hours in the Executive Sedan for up to 3 guests, or $480 in the Executive SUV for up to 6. The stretch limousine is $540 and the white Hummer limousine $760 for 4 hours. Tours bill a 4-hour minimum.

More questions? See the full FAQ or call (202) 609-9811. We answer 24/7.

More from this category

Similar heritage tours

View all Heritage tours →

Ready to book this tour?

Reserve online in under a minute, or call us 24/7. We'll handle the rest.

Book This Tour Call (202) 609-9811
Call Now Book Now

Free instant quote

Quick Quote

Your exact price in one email, no calls unless you ask. Prefer to talk? (202) 609-9811 answers 24/7.

  • Answered 24/7
  • No surge pricing
  • One quoted price
Trip details
Your contact

Free price quote: your exact price for the whole vehicle, 24/7.

Gratuity is optional and not included: tip your chauffeur directly, or call dispatch to add it to your card.

required · We never share your information or use it for any training purpose. Prefer to talk? Call (202) 609-9811.