Gray Line Sightseeing Tours

The WORST!!! DO NOT use this company!!!
Purchased 3 tickets through Travel Zoo. I called Grey Line Tours the prior day to get reservations the next night. The lady said to show up at Union Station 30 minutes prior to departure. I told her I purchased vouchers through Travel Zoo and asked her if she needed my name or voucher number. She said no and to just show up, but there has to be at least 10 people or the tour will be cancelled. I asked… are you taking a tally or named of how many people have called for the tomorrow night tour? And how will I know if there’s enough people for the tour? She said you just have to show up. I thought to myself that was odd and it would be a waste of time to go to the station just to be told the tour was canceled due to lack of people, but ok…
The next night went to Union Station to the Grey Line office at Union Station for the tour and the lady working the service desk asked us for a print out, I said I have my voucher along with number and barcode from Travel Zoo on my phone. She said no you have to have a print out. I said I called yesterday and asked what I needed to bring and nothing was said about needing a printed piece of paper. She gets very rude and then proceeds to tell me that I needed and email confirmation from them that needed to be printed and presented to them. Again NOTHING was EVER said about this when I called the prior day. We had words back in forth telling her I had everything she needed on my phone including the voucher numbers to confirm with Travel Zoo. She continued to be rude and unprofessional. I told her that I’m sure this has happened to many people that come here and she agreed that it had! My husband pointed at her printer behind her and said well, there’s a printer so you can print our vouchers, which she declined… So, our family was unable to take the tour we paid for that night. I have know idea how this lady is in the service industry and is able to keep a job the way she treats customers.
I think this company has the worst customer service and is scamming people out of money! BEWARE!!!

We also had a great time on the Gettysburg tour. It’s a long drive but our driver, Jay, was excellent. Great voice, knowledgeable about so much, and flexible. The Gettysburg part included a visit to Shriver House — to learn about the toll that was taken on civilians in Gettysburg. The Visitor Center — our driver provided timed tickets for the film, Cyclotron and free time in the museum — however the museum is much too big to really digest on a tour like this. Not Gray Line’s problem. Finally, a wonderful licensed guide came on to our bus and led a 2-​hour tour of the battlefield. I feel like I really learned a lot today and everyone was professional and expert. Only the traffic jams were a bummer. Our bus was not new — no phone outlets and no movies — long haul home.

We bought this for a family of five and I have a manual wheelchair that needed to be stored every time we stopped. Mike our driver was funny and courteous. Viator mislead us showing us itinerary that the tour in a day went to the newly renovated Ford Theater and had some time for the Smithsonian but we didn’t stop at either. This was disappointing since this was one reason we bought this tour. I would call and double check the itinerary before I booked anything with this group.

I wanted to give myself the 24 hour cool off period before writing a review and my opinion is still the same! Disappointed is an understatement! The 2-​Day Grand Tour was very, very misleading… This is part of their advertisement:
Board your comfortable coach at Union Station, and listen to your driver share stories about the history of Washington DC and facts about its plethora of monuments, museums and memorials. Feel free to ask any questions you might have as you travel around the city.
See the Washington Monument, Tidal Basin and J Edgar Hoover building (FBI headquarters) from your coach, and make photo stops at various sights including the National WWII Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr Memorial and White House. Walk around the White House Visitor Center to learn what the inside of the US President’s home looks like. Learn about the inner workings of the US government on your tour of the US Capitol.
1^st: Day 2 — DC in a Day, Monuments — Our bus was ½ hour late getting started and when the driver finally came to our group in a very condescending voice, said we needed to walk about 30 minutes to get to our bus, I said that my 82 year old father would not be able to walk that far and his comment was «well why did he take this tour in the first place»,
2^nd: Our comfortable coach was a Hop on Hop off tour bus and when I asked our driver (Bob) that this is not what Viator had promised in our online itinerary he handed me my tickets without saying a word and I told him that his Unprofessionalism was not appreciated. I was just asking a question. This was my parents trip that they dreamed of all their life, and I was so furious but didn’t want to disappoint them, so we boarded the bus… Because it was a hop on hop off bus, the sound system was so loud in the bottom portion of the bus everyone on the bottom complained but «Bob» said that there was nothing he could do about it basically cover our ears if it bothered us. He than told us to let Viator know if we were dissatisfied. Bob should retire as it was quite clear from his attitude and impatience with questions asked of him, that he did not enjoy his job. Not to mention his driving, I personally saw him cut off a bus (Which he didn’t even notice) and a taxi-​van which had to swerve and went up a curb to miss our bus.
The Mt Vernon, Arlington driver I don’t remember his name…
was knowledgeable and informative… he seemed to enjoy people. He was very clear as to where we were to meet and patient with everyone. The only thing about this day was that we were supposed to stop in Alexandria for lunch, but did not do. We had to eat lunch at Mt. Vernon. One of the main reasons for doing this tour was to visit the town Alexandria
The final comment is that people should be aware that they are not accompanied by a tour guide on any of the stops… instructions were never clear or instructions were often misleading. So many of the people on this tour were complaining and confused as to where we were to be picked up and this was sad for the elderly people that were on their own.
I would not recommend this tour. The hop on hop off tour you can catch at Union station for $ 49.00 was a much better deal and stopped at all the same stops…

The morning AFTER a snowstorm shut down the city, and roads were cleared and the sun was shining, and 15 people staying in different areas of town were all able to get to the Union Station Grayline counter at the A$$ crack of dawn (several of whom called the day prior with assurances tours were still going go on), we find the counter close due to… wait for it… THE SNOW STORM! Nobody tried to call or contact us. No date /​phone number on the «closed due to snowstorm» sign, so we were unsure if this had been placed the day of the ACTUAL snowstorm instead of on this perfectly SUNNY, road clear day. The Greyhound busses were all running… all other tour busses were running… but NOT GRAYLINE??? So we waited, and waited, and we called every number we could think to call – no answer. Total waste of a morning. Lucky for the 15 of us we figured out several other tour busses were running out of counters in the large Union Station quad, and all 15 of us gave our valuable business to DC Tours. While we were disappointed to not be able to go to Mt Vernon, I highly recommend you do not use Grayline and use these other hop on/​hop off downtown tour busses for any of your tourist needs. I usually try not to write one star reviews but the way this company conducts it’s business along with the fact I have yet to get a refund makes me feel like I need to do the right thing and warn other DC tourists.

They are the worst place ever don’t go there even if they offer you a free tour. You will regret it. They are rude and don’t care. I bought one of there deals, but in order to get these deals they will make you jump through rings of fire. Don’t go with them.

Uncomparable to the rest of the reviews, I actually had a really good time. I took the tour to Gettysburg which is a 10 hour long event including the time it takes to get there. we watch the movie Gettysburg on my way there and on my way back, we visited the site of where the actual battle occurred, we went to a visitor center /​museum, and the Farnsworth house which was a major staple during the Civil War.
I absolutely hate that I cannot remember our driver’s name. He has been at DC tour guide for 25+ years. Incredibly knowledgeable about the tour and as we drove back into the city he gave us a very expansive but quick verbal tour as we passed monuments and buildings before hopping on to 395 North to go back to Union Station.
The bus itself was new. It had electric outlets where you could plug in your phone or your laptop and use the free wifi. only problem about it was electric outlets shorted and none of them worked on the way back, and the driver didn’t know the password to the wifi. At least you know it is available.
When you come on the bus you are able to leave your items on the bus when taking the chores so you don’t have to lug everything around. Of course that’s on your own discretion.
I will be using Gray Line tours again to visit Monticello. Hopefully I’ll get the privilege of using that tour guide again who is hilarious.

1. Bus was 30 min late with no apology or explanation from bus driver. I emailed several employees while waiting in line. One emailed back an apology, that the bus was on its way. The bus finally departed 45 min late.
2. The bus driver did not welcome us, speak to us, acknowledge is until almost two hours into the tour. I had to go up to him before we took off to ask him what the wifi password was and to please turn on the outlets so I could charge my phone.
3. When we got off for the first part of our tour, we were only told we were getting off for an hour in downtown Gettysburg and would come back to eat. We finished the hour downtown and got on the bus. We were not told where we were eating. Just got on the bus and left.
4. We arrived at the Gettysburg Museum and had only an hour and a half to eat, shop, go through museum, and see a film that lasted 45 min. We didn’t get to the film and only ran through part of the museum.
5. I emailed the gentleman working for Martzgroup several times prior to arriving at the museum. He was apologetic but never offered a partial refund. He said we would not be short changed. So far, we have been short changed in time at the museum. Hoping the visit to Gettysburg itself is better. We have a different person for the tour guide instead of the bus driver, so thank goodness!

We purchased the Patriot tour for 24 hours. Was a nice tour with a real live person. Worked while with my family to see all the major sites and was able to hop off at select museums and then hop back on to another venue.
If I were to do it again, I would try the Old Town Trolley tour. There were times when multiple Old Town Trolley buses would pick up as we were waiting for a Big Red Bus. There were times we decided to just walk instead of waiting 20 to 30 minutes for the next bus.
They do not check tickets closely. We actually board the yellow route bus and our ticket was only for the red and blue routes. We did not notice we were on the wrong bus until a few stop later. We waited so long for the bus we just got on.

I can not say enough about our experience with Gray Line DC After Dark Monument Tour. Our bus driver Sheryl was hands down the best part of the tour. Her knowledge of DC history ROCKED. Ya ya, it’s not actually «Dark» when you start the tour but is sure is a heck of a lot cooler than experiencing these monuments during the middle of the day. By the time you get to the Lincoln Memorial it’s dusk and your pictures are perfect. We had 10 people in our party, we sat in the front and got to talk to Sheryl throughout the tour and really, really enjoyed ourselves. I’m so glad I booked this tour. Do yourself a favor, take a taxi to and from Union Square this also cuts down on everyone’s stress level.

I’m giving this three stars based on the options I took. I will state that I would *never* take a bus tour actually of the town or really anything else. However…
The Hop-​On/​Hop-​Off bus was great. It’s a great addition to getting round with the Metro system. This goes out to Georgetown, which is fantastic. The buses are not super-​regular, but I didn’t have to wait more than 15 minutes (and that only once) for a bus. I enjoyed resting on it when tired and also being able to get off when I wanted, spend as much time as I wanted, and then get back on for the next stop. I give this three stars because it was inconsistent in timing and they really ought to have a bus that does nothing but go around and around the mall itself. I thought of this as transportation option only, and so rather enjoyed it. Nothing more than that. It comes with an hour long boat ride on the Potomac (which leaves every hour, so flexibility there) which was enjoyable but not exciting. I wouldn’t do that again except for coming free with the hop on/​hop off tickets.
The DC After Dark tour was… disappointing. I would rather hire a private driver than take this again (and with 4 people, the cost was almost worth it). It was not dark until the last 10 minutes at the last stop (Lincoln Memorial). We deliberately took this tour because I have been at all the monuments and told my companions how much better they are at night. Nope, didn’t get to see them at night, despite the advertisement. Also, our tour guide was awful. I couldn’t understand a word that man said. He spoke really fast and with an accent/​drawl. I just tuned him out because I couldn’t understand anything. Several other people on the bus complained about the same thing, so it wasn’t just me.
I’ll do the Hop On /​Hop Off tickets again just purely as a getting-​around option (it stops RIGHT IN the National Zoo, which is WAY better than taking Metro) and nothing else. I would never take any other option this company offers.

Normally I avoid bus tours, but we were traveling to DC with another couple and they really wanted this, so tally ho. Was actually somewhat impressed. We got a big package that included a 3 hour DC after Dark tour, 2 day Hop-​on-​Hop-​Off Bus Tour, and hour long river cruise (this was included for free since we got the 2 day Bus Package). It was kind of pricey for everything but on the whole worth it.
DC After Dark: It was ok. During the summer days it’s not actually «Dark» until the tour’s almost over, which is too bad, because the monuments are gorgeous after the sun sets. Our driver didn’t seem too enthusiastic with his narration. Stopped at Jefferson Memorial, MLK, Lincoln, and Iwo Jima. The stops weren’t very long (MLK was the shortest at only 15 minutes, how’s that for symbolism of American race relations?) Frankly would have preferred they cut out Iwo Jima and allow more time at others. Wouldn’t do this again.
Boat Tour: Also ok. DC isn’t really a river town like Philly or Chicago, so not really a lot of stuff is oriented towards the Potomoc and therefore you only get a good view of bridges (though you get a nice view of the Watergate and Kennedy Center as well as a cool view of the Lincoln Memorial). Big pro is the on-​board cocktail bar. Wouldn’t do again on it’s own, but worth it when it’s included in the 2 day package.
2 Day Hop-​on-​Hop-​Off. As others mentioned the buses aren’t as regular as they claim, and the green tour can be a time bandit, but the Red line is great for getting around the Mall and resting in between Smithsonian visits. And I really enjoyed the Yellow for taking us to Georgetown which I’d never explored on previous visits because the metro doesn’t go there. Would definitely do again… in fact our goal for next trip is to find a hotel within a block of both a metro and bus stop.

Took the DC in a Day tour & was a huge waste of time. I paid $ 45 to be ferried from the Capitol Hill to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum then the World War 2 monument & Roosevelt memorial. It didnt even stop in the famous Lincoln or Jefferson memorials but they made is spend 3 whole hours at the air & spacd museum which was way too long a time. they couldve easily squeezed it in. There are no guides to assist you at the stops, you’re basically on your own. The bus driver was extremely nice, but looks & sounds like a bus driver that was asked to read a tourist flyer aloud. You’d be better off reading the sites off the Internet. Worst of all, the aircon in the bus broke down at around 2pm at the height of the heat and the bus got stuffy, stinky & sweaty, and I just wanted to get off & take the metro back to my hotel. I mean, if you’re paying $ 45 for a bus ride, at least make sure that the bus is in good working condition! I highly regret taking this tour & wish I has just gone around on my own. Do not get this tour, it is so not worth the money you pay for. Just use the money to take the metro, cabs or rent a car to get to the places you want to go.

This was the worst tour. For $ 45 dollars, Grayline picks you up at Union Station and the driver we had was nice but not informative. They first drop you off at the Capitol for two hours where it takes an hour and a half to get in so you can’t see it fully because you have to wait in line to get in. We went to the Library of Congress instead. Then they drop you at the Air and Space Museum for two hours, then to the White House Visitors Center which was closed and was told you could take pictures from E St. The security is so tight there, you are across the street and have to walk way out of the way to get to the point of seeing what you can see on the back of a $ 20 bill. Then we get back in the bus to go to the Smithsonian American History Museum. I live here in DC and for the money, you could do all of it by yourself for less money and a better time. It just was a ripoff, and buyer should beware!

I wish I had paid more attention to the Unilocal reviews on this one. We took a tour to Monticello and it was a colossal, disappointing waste of money and time.
Here’s the short version:
$ 100 per person for the «tour» + $ 18 meal at Mitchie Tavern
12 hours on a bus
2 hours at the fake historic Mitchie Tavern where they squeeze every possible dime out of you.
less than three hours at Monticello, timed so that you can’t see most of the tours or museum.
Don’t waste your money or time ! This was so disappointing!
For $ 100 per person, we got a trip to a fake historic «tavern,» where we were held hostage for more than two hours. We were fed food that was only moderately edible for the low, low price of $ 18 per person. Then we were sent on a «historic tour» of the tavern, which involved walking through like eight different shopping opportunities. I have never felt so manipulated and abused as a consumer. I am certain that Gray Line and Mitchie Tavern are business partners or there are some kind of kickbacks.
Oh, did I mention this was a tour of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, not a historic tavern? Yes, well, we got to TJ’s Monticello, waited half an hour for the bus driver to give us our tickets. We had to be back on the bus less than three hours later, so we were unable to see the garden tour or the slavery tour (both are critical to really getting a feel for Monticello). The house tour was timed such that we didn’t have time to see the museum, movie theater, or shop in the gift shop.
The icing on the cake was the delightful Café at the brand-​new Monticello visitors center, where we could have easily eaten, saved a lot of time and money, and gotten much better food. I even directly ASKED the bus driver if there was food available at Monticello, and he lied to my face. As a PREGNANT WOMAN I can’t possibly go all day without eating, so I was forced to buy a meal at Mitchie Tavern.
I wish I had known this would happen so I could have packed a picnic and walked to Monticello from the M.T. It’s only half a mile.
This tour company is a scam. Please, for the love of everything that is holy, do not give them a dollar of your money. They do not care about your experience at all.

Today, along with 8 other people, my parents and I were on a tour of DC at night with the driver Keith. For the first two hours, everything was fine. But at the FDR/​MLK memorial, Keith left while everyone was off the bus. As a group of 11, we waited from 8:50 to 9:20 at which point we took a cab.
During this time, I called the office at Union Station, Mr. Snyder, Mr. Turley, and Mr. Burden (so did another member of our abandoned group). There was no answer at any of the numbers, though I left messages. While being abandoned midway through a tour is bad enough, my bag was also on the bus – I didn’t think our bus driver would leave us.
So yeah, shady bus company.

the night tour of the monuments stunk. it was recommended by the willard. take the trolley tour. gray lines had to switch us to three different buses because of mechanical difficulties. tour guide went through tour as if he did not want to be there. we even skipped part of tour. we started an hour late but finished on time. i have been on vacation to five major cities over the past nine years. we have been reccommended to gray line four times. they have underperformed every single time. do your research and find local company. do not use any tour service connected with gray line.

I have mixed feelings about living in a touristy city. Granted, San Francisco isn’t quite at the same tourist level as DC, but I still get annoyed when tourists clog up the street because they don’t understand that if they want to stop to read the map, they should stand off to the side and not in the middle of the sidewalk.
However, I’ve always secretly wanted to go on one of those double-​decker buses. What a great way to get around the city. So when BF and I headed to DC, I wanted to make sure he saw EVERYTHING, and that I could go on one of those buses.
We booked the hop-​on hop-​off double decker bus for a one-​day ticket (buy online — you won’t have to wait at the bus to buy a ticket the day of). Here’s the breakdown of how it works:
1) Pick a line to hop on. There are three: red, yellow, blue. The red bus takes you around the monuments, White House and the Capitol. The yellow bus goes through the monuments and up through Dupont Circle and Georgetown (since there is no direct metro to get to Georgetown, I highly suggest getting off while you’re there), and the blue line goes from the monuments to Arlington. There’s also a green one that picks up from one of the yellow stops, and goes all the way up to the Washington Cathedral (which is gorgeous — don’t miss this). Fret not — you don’t have to stick with one line, because there are several stops that are shared, so you can easily hop from one color to the other.
2) Sit on top (that is, if it’s not filled up already). This seriously will get you some great photo ops. Remember to duck if the bus is passing under some low branches. Also, it’s pretty windy if the weather isn’t blistering hot (we went mid-​October), so make sure you have a jacket.
3) Don’t be ashamed to use one of their maps. You’ll need this to figure out where you need to get off to transfer lines, for pickup location, etc. We were lucky to have a pickup stop right outside our hotel, but later in the day when we decided to do some exploring on our own, we had to use the map to figure out where we could hop back on the bus to get back to our hotel.
4) My personal suggestion for making the most out of the tour: just sit and ride the whole way through all the loops so you can really see the city (this will take you about 4 hours), then can decide where you’d like to explore some more and take the bus to that stop.
Things they should improve:
— Seriously, the pre-​recorded tour guides suck. Just hire one person to do the talking.
— The boarding process is slow, especially the first few rounds of the tour in the morning, because everyone is trying to buy tickets.
— The buses don’t run every 20 minutes like they say. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Instead of getting pissed off waiting, we just walked over to the next stop. I get that there’s traffic and it isn’t going to be exactly 20 minutes, but when we’ve been waiting about 30 minutes, you know it’s not because of traffic when you’re just a few stops from the starting point.
— Have at least two green line buses. We had to wait almost 30 minutes to get on the bus to see the Washington Cathedral, and we found out that because there’s only one green bus, the loop itself takes about 25 minutes, so if you just happen to miss it, well. yeah.
Overall it was actually a pretty good experience. We didn’t experience any major issues besides waiting, so 3.5 stars rounded up.

I booked the Mount Vernon Tour through my hotel — 1^st issue. The travel consulant assured me that it would be great and highly recommended it. For $ 55 the bus will pick me up at the hotel and bring me to Union Station — 2^nd issue. It was not clarified that I would have to wait for others. I had thought the tour picked you up and you were on your way. Dumb me.
Morning comes, I’m downstairs at 6:55am and another couple is waiting for the bus. 6:55am, no bus. 7:00am no bus. Phone call at 7:05 to Gray Line. No Answer. 7:10 the man in other party heads up to the hotel to find the transportation lady who sold us this tour. 7:15, bus arrives! Good mood! No aplogies from driver. It appears he just rolled out of bed. Perhaps he doesn’t like mornings… no greeting at all from driver. What’s going on?
We get to Union Station at 7:30 and stand in line and wait for another 35 minutes as the bus drivers goes to the station to get McDonalds & talk to the other drivers.
Finally, our bus starts backing up, but wait! 6 late-​comers arrive and we have to pull the bus back in, the driver has to park, go to the office and get more tickets. Then, we finally head out.
2^nd issue: it was not clarified that the tour would not stop in Old Town Alexandria. The bus driver opened by stating we would not stop there — that leads me to believe other people thought the same thing.
We finally arrive at Mt. Vernon. We got there at around 9:15am and were told to be back at the bus by 12:15pm. 3^rd issue: not enough time during summer to fully explore the grounds. Since we’re not going to Old Town Alexandria why not give us the four hours like the brochure says?
Overall, my experience started out so badly I will never book another tour with Gray Line. I would rather have spent the money on a taxi to Mt. Vernon, at least that way I would not have been rushed or experienced BAD customer service along with rude and disgusting drivers.