Two of the Washington area’s most significant historic sites sit on the same side of the Potomac, a short drive apart. This full-day chauffeured tour pairs them: George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in the morning, Arlington National Cemetery in the afternoon, with a lunch stop in Old Town Alexandria between the two. You ride in one private vehicle the whole day, with the chauffeur handling the GW Parkway, the bridge crossings, and parking at every stop. The day runs 8 hours, door to door from your DC address.
Mount Vernon and Arlington are both on the Virginia side of the river, which is exactly why they pair well in one outing. You are not crossing back and forth into the District between sites. The route drops south to Mount Vernon, comes back up to Old Town for lunch, then continues to Arlington, so you cover both without backtracking.
How the day is structured
The day works best Mount Vernon first, Arlington second. Mount Vernon opens earlier and rewards an unhurried morning. Arlington’s afternoon timing lets you build the visit around the Changing of the Guard, which runs on a set schedule.
- 9:00 a.m.: pickup at your DC hotel or address
- 9:30 a.m.: arrive at Mount Vernon, about 30 minutes south via the George Washington Memorial Parkway
- 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: the estate (mansion, tomb, gardens, distillery and gristmill)
- 12:15 p.m.: drive to Old Town Alexandria (about 15 minutes)
- 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.: lunch on King Street, one block from the Potomac waterfront
- 1:30 p.m.: drive to Arlington National Cemetery (about 20 minutes)
- 2:00 p.m.: arrive at Arlington, walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
- 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.: Tomb and Changing of the Guard, JFK gravesite, Arlington House
- 4:00 p.m.: USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima), just outside the cemetery
- 5:00 p.m.: drop-off at your DC address
The schedule flexes around your group. If you want a longer morning at Mount Vernon, we trim the Arlington walking loop, or the reverse. Tell the dispatcher the date when you book so we can line the Arlington segment up with that day’s guard-change times.
Mount Vernon: the morning half
George Washington lived at Mount Vernon from 1754 until his death in 1799. The estate is well preserved and walkable, and a typical morning here covers four things:
- The mansion: the 21-room house furnished to its 1799 appearance, including Washington’s study and the rear piazza over the Potomac. Tours run continuously during operating hours and are a walk-through, timed-entry stop.
- Washington’s tomb: a simple brick vault on the lower grounds, about a 5-minute walk from the mansion. George and Martha Washington are both interred here.
- The gardens and grounds: roughly 500 acres of the original estate, with the formal upper and lower gardens and the working farm demonstration.
- The distillery and gristmill: a reconstructed 18th-century whiskey distillery and a working water-powered mill, a short shuttle or drive from the main estate.
Admission to the estate is paid at the gate or online and is not part of the tour price: $28 per adult, $15 for children 6 to 11, free under 5. The chauffeur drops you at the main entrance and parks in the estate lot while you tour. Plan for more walking than the map suggests, and wear comfortable shoes.
Arlington National Cemetery: the afternoon half
Arlington covers 639 acres on the former Lee estate and holds more than 400,000 graves. The cemetery opens at 8 a.m. daily. Admission is free. It is an active military cemetery and a place of mourning, so visitors are asked to stay quiet and respectful, dress modestly, and keep to the paved paths near services in progress. The afternoon here is mostly on foot. These are the walk-up stops:
- Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: the white marble sarcophagus on the plaza, guarded around the clock. The Changing of the Guard is the centerpiece. It runs every 30 minutes from April through September and hourly from October through March, and takes 8 to 10 minutes. We time your arrival to catch it.
- JFK gravesite and the Eternal Flame: on the hillside below Arlington House, with a long view back across the river to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Jacqueline and Robert Kennedy are buried nearby.
- Arlington House: the Greek Revival mansion at the top of the hill, Robert E. Lee’s home before the Civil War and now a national memorial. The portico has the best view in the cemetery.
Just outside the cemetery gate is the USMC War Memorial, the bronze Iwo Jima flag-raising sculpture on Marshall Drive. It is a quick walk-up stop, about 5 minutes from the exit. On request the chauffeur can also do a Pentagon Memorial drive-by on the way back, which is a few minutes from Arlington, though it is an optional add and not a default stop.
For current hours and any ceremony changes on your date, check the Arlington National Cemetery site before you travel.
What is included and what is billed separately
The tour price covers everything about the transport. Arlington’s drive-in parking fee does not apply when you arrive by chauffeur, so it never lands on your group.
- 8 hours of private chauffeured service, departing and returning to your DC address
- All driving: GW Parkway south to Mount Vernon, Old Town, Arlington, and back
- The vehicle waiting for you at each stop
- Bottled water throughout
You pay Mount Vernon admission and your lunch in Old Town directly. Want someone to walk the group through each site rather than just drive between them? Add a dedicated tour guide for $250 for the first 4 hours, then $62.50 per hour, confirmed by phone or email. Chauffeurs drive and handle logistics; they are not guides.
How does this compare to the single-site tours?
This combo is the right pick if you want to see both Virginia heritage sites in one day. If you would rather give Mount Vernon a full, unhurried morning and skip the cemetery, the Mount Vernon tour does the estate alone in about 5 hours and adds the distillery and gristmill at a slower pace. If your interest is military history specifically, the Armed Services Memorial Tour routes Arlington together with the Pentagon Memorial, the Air Force Memorial, and the Mall war memorials instead of Mount Vernon. Most first-time visitors take this combo, since it pairs the founding era with the sites that came after in a single outing.
Can I customize the route?
Yes. This is a custom, self-paced private tour, so the schedule above is a starting point. The common swaps are a longer morning at Mount Vernon (we trim the Arlington loop), dropping the Pentagon Memorial drive-by, or adding the Netherlands Carillon next to the Iwo Jima statue for its skyline view, which is about 2 minutes away. We can also lengthen the Old Town lunch stop if your group wants more time on King Street, or you can build your own DC tour from scratch.
When should I book?
Spring and fall are busiest. During Cherry Blossom season, roughly late March to mid-April, the GW Parkway drive south becomes part of the appeal, since the road runs along the Potomac under the blossoms. Summer weekends at Mount Vernon fill up, so the 9:30 a.m. arrival keeps you ahead of the midday crowd. The Changing of the Guard runs year-round in any weather. Same-week bookings are usually fine, but a week’s notice is safer around DC events and school breaks.
Pricing
Starting at $880 for 8 hours in the Town Car sedan (1 to 3 guests), $960 in an Executive SUV (up to 6 guests). Larger groups ride in a Mercedes Sprinter Van at $1,120 (up to 13 guests). Mount Vernon admission and lunch are billed separately. Book online or call (202) 609-9811.
Other DC tour packages
Browse the full DC tours hub, or compare the single-site options: the Mount Vernon tour for the estate alone and the Armed Services Memorial Tour for the full military-memorial route through Arlington.
Book this private tour by limousine
Call (202) 609-9811 or book online. A dispatcher answers 24/7. Give us your date when you call so we can time the Arlington segment around the Changing of the Guard schedule for that day.
