These folks rock! I have been on several tours and been on several chartered busses in my life, but this is hands on the best that I've been on. Back-office: They were on-time, easily contacted and very responsive. The busses: They were clean, roomy, had the ever important power at each seat and the ride was enjoyable. We spent four days on these buses and would travel 4 hours at a time so I spent a LOT of time on them and came away pleased. The drivers: This is what sets a company apart. We had a group with three drivers. The other two drivers I came into less frequent contact, but the others in the party said that they were just as exceptional. We had T. Brown and I would HIGHLY recommend him as your driver. 30+ years driving city buses, the calm attitude of the Dhali Lama, the ability to weave thru traffic like Mario Andretti, knowledge of DC like he's been here his whole life (he has!). I would recommend this group to you any time you have the opportunity to need a tour bus or charter bus in the Washington area. read more

Update: lowered to 1 star. I initially posted this review in 2017. Yesterday (2019) the company posted on my review about how seriously they take these matters... if that were true and not just a ploy to save face, then why wait 2 years to reach out? NOT OKAY. Initial review: Bought a groupon for this tour well in advance of our trip. The company offers an app so you know where the stops are, what you can visit, and where the busses are in relation to the stops. Very handy. Over all the actual tour was great, lots of information and stops. The problem comes when you look at how many busses are running. We came on a slower day (grey and drizzly Thursday in October). We were told that busses leave stop one every 1/2 hour. We boarded at noon and did a loop to figure out where we wanted to spend our time, got off at stop one to use the bathroom at 3:00pm there were 3 busses out of service. We ran to the food court to use the restroom, and we were back at the stop at 3:23. We were told we missed the bus because she dispatched it at 3:15. There were still 3 busses out of service just sitting there. When we questioned the 1/2 hour rule she said "oh I dispatch from here when I feel like it" we were like WTF $150 and we were expected to wait for 45 minutes for the next bus? That and our ticket was good for 24 hours but they wouldn't let us board the bus after 5 pm. We apparently needed a different ticket to use the bus for the night?!? If that was the case then it should have been a day use ticket with hours specified. Not a 24 hour pass. I bought this Groupon even though it was more expensive than other tours because it read like we could use the busses for a 24 hour period as long as they were running. This turned out not to be the case. In the end. We decided to walk an catch an uber to our last destination. As we were walking we noticed that other toe companies had way more busses running. My advise... go with BIG BUS tours. They seem like they have way more frequency in their stops. read more

Great company with drivers that love working for them. If you use this company ask for Khaled Ismael. Great guy, great driver and super funny read more

This review is specific to the Mount Vernon bus tour with Charles Smith as the driver/tour guide. He is very nice and his tour is interesting - especially through Alexandria - BUT he talks way too fast and does not enunciate well when speaking so fast, so it was hard to understand him and I missed a lot of what we was saying. He knows his history and I'm disappointed that his delivery of that knowledge wasn't better. I get it, he does this all day every day, but please ... slow down and enunciate so we can enjoy what you are sharing with us! read more

Do not use this company. Use big bus or old town trolley. Bought 48 hour pass only to find out AFTER I downloaded the app that busses won't be running on Sunday as most of the roads will be closed for rolling thunder. Understandable but they still won't offer a refund and this information wasn't on the site where I purchased tickets, only in the app. Secondly we have spent way more time waiting for these busses than is reasonable. We'll see two or three busses from the other tours come through before ours shows up. The times in the app are way off and have caused us to miss busses. For $59 a person it's just not acceptable. I called but was told there is no manager available. They were supposed to have him/her call me back but it's been over two hours. No manager on Memorial Day weekend? This company is terrible. I spent $180 on this and if be better off just using the metro. Edit: the company responded to my review to say I would get a refund if I emailed them. I've sent three emails and have not received a response or a refund. read more

If I could give 0 stars I would. Do not, I repeat DO NOT go on this tour. Find another tour to go on. First we couldn't find where the bus was supposed to pick us up. It also took an hour to pick us up at the location. Which the map said it would be there in 20 minutes (not true)! We finally got on the bus and there were no seats and the tour guide was VERY rude. I had to stand up. We got on stop 6 and got off on stop 9. The tour guide was boring and didn't talk a lot. I didn't learn anything. Please do not use this tour line. read more

Overall good but we stayed on the bus to complete the loop. Glad we did as getting the bus back we had a lengthy wait in the bus which had no a/c. Supposed to be hop on and off but we had to constantly wait for a bus read more

Service was terrible. Waited at stops for 45 minutes to an hour for bus. One bus had no air conditioning and was hot and stuffy. Had to call service multiple times to find out why no bus coming by. On one occasion they stated the stop was closed but yet no indication of that on the map DC Trails provided to us. Received multiple different reasons or excuses. Book with Old Town Trolley, saw those everywhere and at one stop there were two there to provide timely service to their customers. read more

First, it was unclear from the website and brochure where the customer must start. Apparently, you can hop on and get your tickets at any point along their destination. Then we waited over an hour at stop 3 for the next bus. We were initially informed a bus would be coming around every 30-40 minutes. Three Old Towne Trolleys and two Big Bus buses came through before a DC Trails bus arrived. When we told the bus conductor, he dismissed our concern without even an apology or effort to look into the issue. Unacceptable. DO NOT USE DC TRAILS!!! Use one of the above mentioned tours instead. read more

Dre was our tour guide during one trip of the day (the hop-on-hop-off trip) and we were lucky to get him for the night tour where the bus goes to all the main monuments when they are all lit up. Dre knew the history, the culture of the times, and he was very moved by what occurred in our US history. He was extremely intelligent yet still humble. He made the trip for us!! What a tremendous education and a great experience. Computers will never, ever, replace people, guides, like Dre! read more

We did the night monuments with Tamara as our guide. She was very knowledgeable and fun! The monuments are beautiful at night. We also did the 2 day hop on and hop off and some guides/drivers were better than others. Some stops were a little difficult to find, but overall nice way to get around. read more

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON THIS CRAP! Came here with my family and thought a nice hop on hop off bus tour would be an excellent way to explore DC. When buying the tickets, I was assured that there is a bus every 15 minutes, and that there would be an air conditioned lower level of the bus. It was about 100 degrees outside today, and after getting onto the lower level of the bus after spending hours in the hot sun all day, we had to wait over 30 minutes for it to even leave. The "air conditioned" lower level had NO air conditioning and felt no different, if even worse, than the 100 degree heat outside. I was extremely uncomfortable and literally dripping with sweat, and there were small children on the bus who seemed to be near passing out from heat exhaustion. When I asked the bus driver if he could turn on the air, he refused. When the mother of the small children and other passengers complained about the heat later after the bus finally got on the road, he simply ignored everyone. I don't know HOW this company gets away with this scam... will NEVER use this bus again, nor recommend it to any of my friends. The ONLY redeeming quality was the friendly tour guides who I spoke with, but even this is not worth giving these con artists any money. Would give this 0/5 if yelp would let me. read more

Don't waste your money! You'll do more waiting than riding. Go ahead and pay more for the Big Bus, it's worth it. Seems to be lots more of them. Or better yet ride the Circulator instead, it's FREE ALL SUMMER and basically goes to the same places. read more

Big Sarge is an absolute unit. He is truly the best bus driver in Washington D.C. Maryland Virginia.

Monuments at Night- Twilight tour. Evening April 1st. "Dre" Tour guide was the worst. Group was 6 adults and 1 teen. 1. Dre introduced himself at the beginning by saying he was tired and had already worked 12-13 hours. Slurred his words, A LOT. His speech was wet and gurgly. Clearly gave us the message that he did not want to be there. 2. Distracting- Lost count of how many times he used the word ACTUALLY. It was insane, every 2nd or 3rd word. If ACTUALLY had been a drinking game we would have died of alcohol poisoning within the first 5 minutes. It was torture to listen to this for 3+ hours. 3. Quality- Guide repeatedly made incorrect statements about historical figures and historical facts or referred to them in such an incoherent way it could not be understood. People the tour kept looking at each other first with confusion, then frustration as it went on, then disgust. Several vets, who seemed to be on a special trip, just looked heartbroken. a. did better 3/4 of the way through when tour reached WWII memorial 4. My brother, also a vet, was offended. Looking back I should have called an Uber for him to leave. People started disappearing off the tour after reaching major landmarks. My group kept texting me- when is this over? 5. Low point of our DC trip Pros Bus driver was good, felt safe Coach was in good condition Office was helpful before tour read more

I had a great time with my tour. I went on a two day trip with a night tour. It was so fun getting to sit on the top of the bus with an open top view, in no small part to the fact that it was a beautiful couple of days. Thankfully, I went after the initial cherry blossom rush this time, which to anybody reading this, makes it really, really hard to get around, so plan accordingly. The driver and tour guide were great. They were so nice and helpful to me and the people on the bus. I look forward to going back on their buses next time I'm in DC. I recommend people check them out. read more

0/100 .... they were 20 min late picking us up. We were told to come early so we were waiting out in 45 degree wether for 45 min. We get on the bus and the heater in the upper part of the bus is "broken", so we were freezing cold the whole 3 hour tour. We then asked the tour guide about being dropped off at our hotel and he gave us attitide and was very rude. Would never recommend this tour bus company for people visiting. read more

A "must" for a comprehensive tour of the sights of D.C.! I purchased the 48 hour hop-on/hop-off with the Twilight Tour option, and I am so glad that I did! My father is getting older and has issues walking, so I thought that this would be the best way to get him around the area and see as much as possible. We actually started with the Twilight Tour--Devereaux Jones was our guide and this man is a ROCKSTAR! His sharp wit and humor made the excursion even more enjoyable than merely reciting landmarks and historical facts. He encouraged participation from the crowd and offered prizes to those that were paying attention. He made us feel like royalty and really made the trip for us. The bus was clean and even had wi-fi. The day tour was informative and relaxed--chock full of information and anecdotes that caused me to research some historical persons even when I had long departed Washington D.C. I'm now looking into similar tours in my area to learn more about the local history. Thank you so much!! read more