Monuments by Moonlight Night Tour in Washington, DC

Touring DC my elderly parents who were struggling with the heat as we were making our way to the nearest trolley stop. We knew we were starting our tour later on in the day but planned to stay on the trolley (bus) for a tour around Washington DC before the end of the Trolley schedule. We started at Stop 14 (The White House) with intentions to just stay on but were told we had to get off the trolley when we arrived at Union Station (Stop 1). We were advised a trolley would be available to board to continue the tour in approximately 10 minutes by the driver asking us to step off his trolley. We noted that the last trolley was scheduled to leave Union Station at 4pm on their printed map handout. A trolley eventually arrived at approximately 4.05pm and I asked a member of the team at their outdoor desk if this was the 4pm trolley to which he advised us to get on...so we did that. The team were busy talking to themselves about wanting to get home. I attempted to show the driver our e-tickets and he told me he didn't need to see the tickets. From the onset he seemed to be in a bad mood, was rude and dismissive. We boarded and took our seats. He got off the bus and boarded again once a party of 4 other people boarded and started to drive off. He made no attempt to communicate despite wearing a headset and started to speed off towards the highway. This was in stark contrast to the previous driver who was chatting away to his passengers. The driver eventually asked us to get off the trolley at the Wyndham Hotel at National Harbour, Maryland! We did not know where we were and asked if he was heading back to DC, he stated he told us this trolley was a shuttle. I advised him we did not know this and were told it was the 4pm trolley tour departing stop 1. He insisted having told us this was a shuttle and the tour bus would have arrived 10 minutes after departing on his bus (this is not what was advertised nor what we were advised by staff on the ground at the station). I advised him we would not have remained on the trolley had we known this was the case, our accommodation was in Du Pont Circle, Washington DC! He was rude, dismissive and told us to get off the bus. So effectively we were stranded in Maryland and had to find our own way back. The conduct of staff and customer relations were shockingly poor during our experience, their attitude gave the business a bad image. We entrusted our short stay experience in DC to this company over another provider and were not only deeply disappointed but lost our chance to get on any complete tour and arrived back anywhere near our starting point just before 7pm! The driver (whose name was not offered) should not work in tourism and hospitality. He was rude to my elderly parents and left three clueless tourists stranded in the middle of nowhere. Had it not have been for the kindness of a metro bus driver at a nearby bus stop, we would have been well and truly stuck and out of pocket. I called the customer service number to ask for help and was advised I would receive a refund request form by email (she kindly did this) and advised us to get a Lyft or Uber for an hour drive back! We lost out on valuable time that should have been spent enjoying the tour and seeing/learning about Washington DC.

Don’t do it. The bus is crowded and not air conditioned and the driver is not informative. We aborted the trolly after riding half way due to the long wait at each stop. We found that it was cheaper to uber to each stop as we desired… which gets you closer to the attraction, is air conditioned, and there is no long wait. The uber drivers are usually very nice and helpful. There were also 2 stops on the map that were completely ignored by our driver who then gave us attitude when we inquired about it. Saying “we don’t go there.” In a nut shell… save your money and Uber.

We were in DC and wanted to do a hop on hop off tour because we did them in Boston, Philly, and NYC. We haven’t always used Old Town Trolleys but I decided to give it a shot because they offered a deal to tour Arlington Cemetery too. The trolley drivers were good. They were friendly and knowledgeable. I definitely recommend the combo tour but recommend two days if you do Arlington too. Arlington took us about half of a day and we really didn’t see everything but we saw everything we wanted to. Overall, good experience.

Brilliant tour company. All staff and drivers were fantastic, fun and very knowledgeable. We even got a discount because we are from the UK 😅 It was a brilliant way to tour Washington DC on the day trip we had. That good, in fact, that we are planning to return to stay for a few days to explore properly for a longer time. Thank you so much for an excellent service!

This was a great way to experience Washington DV in the short amount of time we had there. Our guide Tyrone and driver Chris were terrific. The made the experience extra special!