Your assigned tour guide will bring the region’s rich history to life as you travel along the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, following the banks of the Potomac River toward Mount Vernon. Upon arrival, enjoy an 11-minute orientation film courtesy of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, followed by a guided visit of George Washington’s beautifully restored 1799 mansion. Continue exploring the estate at your own pace. Discover 18th-century plantation life through its original and reconstructed buildings, and observe innovative farming practices demonstrated by costumed interpreters (April through October). Visit the final resting place of George and Martha Washington at their tomb, and explore the Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center, where interactive exhibits, the Revolutionary War 4D Theater, and historical collections offer deeper insight into Washington’s extraordinary legacy. Concluding your visit at the gift shop.
On the return journey, discover the charm and historic character of Old Town Alexandria, founded in 1749. Your guide will introduce you to significant landmarks, fascinating historical events, and lesser-known stories that reveal the city's important place in American history. A scenic sightseeing drive across the Potomac River will bring you back to Washington, DC, concluding this memorable journey through two remarkable destinations that shaped the nation's history.
Louie was very punctual, always courteous, and very knowledgeable. He was great! Thank you again for sending us Louie!! The express everything we had hoped it would be and more thanks to Louie.
Angela was a great guide! knowledgeable! Definitely recommend this tour of Mount Vernon! Although it was 105 degrees, there was cooling stations around and Water fountains! We also went to Old Alexandria, historic town!! Great time
We booked our Halloween Trick-or-Treat tour at Mount Vernon through Journal Tour Travels, and it was absolutely fantastic! The event was the perfect mix of fun and education — full of history, candies, and cuteness all around. My kids had such a great time dressing up, collecting treats, and learning about George Washington in such an engaging way. The staff and guides were wonderful with the children, keeping everything lively and informative. The historic setting made the Halloween magic even more special. Huge thanks to Journal Tour Travels for organizing such a well-planned and memorable experience. We can’t wait to join another family-friendly tour with them soon! 👻🍭🇺🇸
We had a tour the previous day, and Louie (not sure if that's spelled right) was assigned to be our guide. Louie was phenomenal. He was very knowledgeable, personable, funny, and would answer questions. He didn't push any agenda and just cited facts without putting any bias into the content. Because we loved him so much, we requested him for our next day's tour to Mount Vernon and were fortunate to get him. Our first night in DC was a horrible experience because of a very bad tour guide. Louie was the exact opposite. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Louie to ANYONE!
It was wonderful to get picked up and dropped off right at our door. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about DC, President Washington and his family and about Alexandria. It was a wonderful day!
Our family group of eight people (from teens to their 70s) really enjoyed the tour. This was our best tour in the last 2 weeks.
Having a person driver pick you up at your hotel and willing to go by and stop at various places along the way was great. The vehicle was both roomy and comfortable. But best of all, our driver and our driver/guide Louie was extremely knowledgeable about the places we visited.
The trip was great. Loved Mount Vernon. Louie, our guide was wonderful. He was very knowledgeable and full of information about George Washington, Mt Vernon and the area. We had a great time.
Our guide was excellent and we enjoyed the tour tremendously. He was especially attentive to our two grandchildren (10 & 12 years old).
This is a beautiful place to visit, absolutely worth it. Luis and Heidi were amazing guides, we took the tour in Spanish in a wonderful cold day.
We had such a great time on this tour. Louie was so informative of telling us the history of Mount Vernon and the area around it. He was so nice letting us take our time to look at everything we wanted to see and be able to take pictures. If you have time, this is a must tour to take.
We had a wonderful tour with Frank. He was so knowledgeable! The tour of the Mansion and grounds were beautiful and learned so much.
Our guide Louie was fantastic and very patient with some crabby young ones in our group ha ha. He gave us a very knowledgeable and warm tour of mount Vernon and gave us a much richer experience than if we had just gone on our own. Worth the investment for this tour and highly recommend Louie as a guide!
Very enjoyable and informative. Journal Tour was very accommodating and loved Frank our guide! We also booked the Private Washington DC Tour...100% recommended!
This was an amazing tour with Louie as the tour guide. He was so informative. It was just the right balance of telling us about Mount Vernon and DC generally and leaving us to explore the beautiful estate on our own. Highly recommend Louie and this tour
Five Stars. Punctual. Informative. Frienndly. Right length for trip. Should offer water to hydrate. Guide is with you most on the time on-Site.
We had Louie as our driver and guide the previous day for the Washington DC Grand Tour. He came prepared. It rained the day we did this tour and he had umbrellas for us. He was amazing. Very professional, knowledgeable, attentive and patient. Highly recommend! Thank you, Louie! Highly recommend this company!
Absolutely worth it! From start to finish, our experience was fantastic. Communication after booking the tour was clear and timely. Received a confirmation text the day before the tour and again the next morning. Received a text from the tour guide when he was about 5 minutes away from the pick up location. Frank, our tour guide, was friendly and accommodating, and full of knowledge that truly enhanced our day and the entire experience. He walked us around and explained everything, answering questions along the way, yet also gave us space to explore on our own. He was flexible when we wanted to spend more/less time in certain areas, while making sure we stayed on track with enough time to visit Alexandria, which was important for us. Highly recommend this tour and this tour company!
This is a really great tour company. Once I booked, I immediately received a confirmation and also received reminders regarding our upcoming tour. On the day of our tour, our tour guide texted me to let us know he had arrived, promptly and kindly greeted us and took us on the tour, as described. He chatted as we drove, giving us some background info on the area and Mt. Vernon so we were very well prepared once we arrived at the site. We were a little early for our scheduled house tour (they schedule and provide the tickets) so he walked us around the grounds pointing out other areas of interest. He also, promptly greeted us once we were done with the house tour to point out the gardens and other outbuildings. He then gave us a little free time to get something to eat and explore the museum. We then had a lovely drive through Old Town Alexandria on our way back to DC. It was very well run and professional. Louie, our tour guide, was, obviously, very experienced at his job. I almost wish, however, I had booked more time to explore some of Alexandria! We will have to do that on our next visit. For our family, this really was the perfect tour of Mt. Vernon. Thank you, Journal Tour!
This tour was a great experience, my two sisters and I took our mother to DC as a Mother’s Day present. My mother speaks a little bit of English, so we selected the tour in Spanish. Our guide, Luis, (Luigi) was outstanding. Through story telling he painted a beautiful portrait of what we were about to experience. We could only imagine the times, the vestments, the beautiful scenes at Mt. Vernon and we weren’t there yet! This experience is definitely one to remember, not only because of how rich in history, but also because I shared it with my mother and sisters. I will definitely repeat it with my children in a couple years and hope Luigi is still there. Thank you for the amazing experience.
Our guide picked us up directly from our D.C. hotel and we drove directly to Mt. Vernon. He was courteous, knowledgeable and accommodating to our desires. Even though we ran past allotted time, we were not rushed. Much better than a group tour.
Very professional driver full of facts about every place we visited. I would recommend this to anyone and would do it again in a heartbeat.
A private tour is the way to go. We were six adults and a 6 month old baby. Louie was a very knowledgeable and flexible guide. He took great care of us the entire time. He stayed with us and provided background information while touring the grounds, waited while we toured the home, made reservations for lunch at the restaurant, wrestled the stroller, etc. He was very accommodating with our request to stay longer at Mt. Vernon. A private tour was the best decision we made during our DC vacation. I can’t say enough good things about our tour. (P.S. skip the Mt. Vernon restaurant. It was our decision to dine there, not Journey’s and it was a very bad decision on our part. Food and service were very disappointing)
We hired a driver/guide to Mt Vernon. By doing so we could take our time, have someone very knowledgeable at hand. As well, Louie, our guide, took us through Old Alexandria. He’s super flexible and fun. I can recommend him and his tour company.
I initially thought I got scammed. We literally payed this price to be driven to Mt Vernon, dropped off by ourselves and then met for the return drive to our hotel. That was unclear in the description and unexpected. We are a family of six with older/adult kids and have enjoyed guided tours in several cities. We did a few other guided tours in DC. (National Mall, Arlington Cemetery and Archives) I’ve never done a private tour that did not include a guide for the duration of our tour. One of our other guides confirmed that he guides at Mt Vernon with his clients. The positives: we were picked up at our hotel in a very comfortable vehicle. Our guide was very nice and seemed knowledgeable during the little time we spent with him. There was some confusion over the length of the tour and the operators took care of it and communicated quickly and clearly. But that caused some confusion on the back end of the tour when we met at the appointed time and didn’t get to stop at old town Alexandria. (We had done a drive through of a few blocks on the way). This tour was the same price as the others we’ve done that included a guide for the main attractions. This was a very expensive Uber!
Great Day at Mt. Vernon ! We ( 2 adults , 3 teens) were picked up at our hotel and wished to Mt.Vernon by van . I can’t say enough about how wonderful it was to bust Mt . Vernon ! Give yourself a full 5 hours to see it all . Worth every Penny !
The best tour I have ever been part of. Outstanding tour guide. A true gentleman with great knowledge and warmth. First class transportation and very smooth process going in and out of sites. Having this kind of service available in Spanish was a delight.
The visit to Mount Vernon is very interesting, the home of the first president of USA, where there is a lot of history, super recommended
Luigi was the best guide!! Super friendly and friendly, punctual, and very professional, telling us the whole story and a lot of details that contextualized the visit in the most enjoyable way. The site is beautiful, but also the history we learned far exceeded our expectations. This excursion is very worth it!!!
Monday through Friday 9 am to 7 pm EST
Reach us by phone
Reach us by email