Student Trip to D.C., Williamsburg, & Charlottesville

Estimated Tour Pricing Inclusions: 5 nights’ accommodation; 5 breakfasts; 6 lunches; 5 dinners; admissions, entrance, and guide fees as stated in the itinerary, including taxes, and gratuity. Pricing based on minimum 40 paid with 4 comps in double occupancy. 

• Michie Tavern
• Monticello & Rotunda
• Academic Village
• Luray Caverns
• Udvar-Hazy Center
• Capitol Hill
• White House
• Planet Word
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Smithsonian Museum
• Arlington Ghost Tour
• Ford’s Theatre
• National Archives
• Mount Vernon
• Williamsburg Tour
• Jamestown Tour

• Arrive in Charlottesville and enjoy lunch included at Historic Michie Tavern. This is one of the oldest homesteads remaining in Virginia. The Tavern and its outbuildings offer a glimpse of 18th century life through the exhibit of handcrafted furnishings and artifacts. It contains one of the largest and finest collections of pre-Revolutionary furniture and is expanding its exhibit through the historical restoration of 18th century structures.
• Arrive at Monticello and catch the shuttle to the house. Monticello is the mountaintop home of Thomas Jefferson. The house is a remarkable integration of classical architecture and modern innovation designed by Jefferson and built on the mountain top where he played as a boy. Mr. Jefferson named his home Monticello, meaning Little Mountain and always used the Italian pronunciation of Monticello (mon-ti-chel-oh).
• We’ll also visit the spectacular Gardens and Mulberry Row, the plantation “street” along which Monticello slaves lived and labored.
• Visit the Rotunda & Academical Village of The University of Virginia for a Guided Tour.  The Rotunda was designed by Thomas Jefferson to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. The Academical Village represented Jefferson’s vision of a school with students and professors living together in a secular learning environment. The layout hinged on the Rotunda, which contained classrooms and the library. There were also classrooms in the pavilions, with the professors living above.
• Enjoy dinner included this evening prior to checking into your local area hotel. (Meals: L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast included at the hotel prior to check-out.
• Depart for Luray Caverns, the largest and most popular caverns in Eastern America. Originally called Luray Cave, it is a cave just west of Luray, Virginia, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems such as columns, mud flows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and mirrored pools. Enjoy lunch included while visiting.
• Continue to Washington, D.C. and arrive at the Udvar-Hazy Center. The center provides space for over 335 air and spacecraft that tell the history of aviation and space flight. Tour the facility then enjoy a show at the Airbus IMAX Theater.
• Enjoy dinner included prior to checking into your local area hotel. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast included at the hotel prior to departing for Capitol Hill. Tour the United States Capitol, the most recognized symbol of democratic government in the world, housing Congress since 1800 and one of the most imposing public buildings in the world. Tour the Supreme Court Building. Within the walls of this white marble monument, the third branch of government exercises its mandate to protect and interpret the spirit of the Constitution. Visit the United States Library of Congress, explore, discover, and be inspired! Established as an act of Congress in 1800, The Library of Congress is the largest national library in the world with more than 100 million items in three buildings. The library has more than 650 miles of bookshelves and more than 138 million objects in 470 different languages.
• Enjoy lunch included at the  Capitol Visitor Center. See the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This privately funded memorial has drawn millions who have come to touch the over 50,000 names, make pencil rubbings, and leave flowers, letters, flags, and personal mementos. Stop by The Lincoln Memorial. Overlooking the Reflecting Pool, this memorial was patterned on a classic Greek temple. Inside, inscriptions from his Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address flank the 19-foot marble statue of our 16th President.
• See the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The triangular field contains nineteen ground troopers, clad in foul weather ponchos, fully equipped for battle. Representing those who supported the ground troops are hundreds of faces etched on a polished granite wall.
• Stop at The National World War II Memorial. This memorial honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S. during World War II, the more than 400,000 who died, and the millions who supported the war effort from home.
• Visit the  Planet Word museum. Go on an immersive journey to awaken a love of language lasting a lifetime! Visitors will engage in activities making words and language exciting with delightful programming and playful, interactive exhibits.
• Depart for the White House, stop for a photo then check out the World War I Memorial.
• Enjoy dinner included prior to a Driving Tour to include: the Martin Luther King National Memorial, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, & the Jefferson Memorial. View other memorials and monuments as time permits. Return to the hotel for the evening. (Meals: B, L, D)

• After breakfast included at your hotel, depart for Arlington National Cemetery, America’s shrine to valor and sacrifice. This is the final resting place for President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward Moore (Ted) Kennedy, Audie Murphy, prizefighter Joe Louis, and thousands of soldiers from every major U.S. war. The Tomb of the Unknowns speaks of a nation’s debt to the many whose ultimate sacrifice helped make a nation free. The crews, service members, and groundskeepers follow an elaborate choreography to ensure each funeral feels like it is the only one taking place.
• Lunch is included today via stipend at one of the many food trucks you’ll see. After lunch, depart for a Smithsonian Museum of your group leader’s choice.
• Enjoy dinner included this evening prior to a Ghost Tour in Old Town Alexandria. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast included at the hotel prior to check-out.
• Visit Ford's Theatre. Restored as it was the night John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. It reopened in 1968 and is still one of the most visited sites in Washington D.C. Visit the lower-level museum that paints a picture of Washington DC during the 1860s and exhibits Lincoln Memorabilia.
• Arrive at the National Archives and enjoy a self-guided tour of the spacious rotunda containing the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. For the first time in modern history, all the pages of these documents are on display to the public. All the displays have been made accessible for viewing by individuals in wheel chairs and children. At night, the display is lowered 20 feet into a bomb and fireproof vault.
• Visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. Designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, the memorial encapsulates Eisenhower's legacy in a four-acre urban park at the base of Capitol Hill. The memorial features a one-of-a-kind stainless steel tapestry depicting beaches of D-Day, heroic-sized bronze sculptures, and stone bas reliefs.
• Enjoy lunch included then tour Mount Vernon today. Here is where George Washington escaped the rigors of public office and enjoyed the life of a successful Virginia planter. America’s most visited historic house, Mount Vernon sits on a grassy, shaded slope overlooking the Potomac River. Dinner is included this evening at a local favorite. After dinner, depart for Williamsburg. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast included at the hotel prior to checkout.
• Depart for a Guided Tour of Williamsburg. Enjoy lunch included today, then depart for a tour of Jamestown Settlement. Commemorating the first permanent English settlement in the New World, it features full-size replicas of the three ships that arrived in 1607, as nearly reconstructed as possible to show the size and hardships the hardy settlers had to face. The reconstructed Jamestown Fort is unique and seems to come to life with the costumed interpreters present to perform 17th century activities and interact with the crowds.
• Don’t miss the Indian Village and wonderful museum exhibits. Depart for home. (Meals: B, L)

Base rate does not include motor coach transportation, airfare, airport transfers, driver gratuity, guide gratuity, (student groups exempt) or any upgrades or add-ons unlisted from itinerary as stated. Pricing may vary based on day of arrival or other conditions. Personalized itineraries with custom pricing and/or additional transportation can be created and added based on client needs and upon client’s request. MARS will customize quotes or personalize itineraries for FREE.