My spouse and I toured the White House on a Monday afternoon
in mid-February 2019 (President’s Day). Although the National Park Service (NPS)
operates the President’s Park, you cannot book your tour through them. Instead,
we contacted our senator’s office a few weeks in advance to have them set it up.
(International visitors must go through their embassy.) After we made our
request, we completed a short online security screening process, and then we
waited to hear if we had been cleared. We learned a few days prior to our visit
that we had a tour time. Complimentary tours operate Tuesdays through Thursdays
from 7:30 am until 11:30 am, with extended tour hours until 1:30 pm on Fridays
and Saturdays. You cannot bring any bags, backpacks, or purses on the tour;
however, umbrellas, phones, and small cameras are permitted. Although there are
no restroom facilities onsite, and no food or drink is allowed, there is a
small gift kiosk toward the beginning of the tour so that you can pick up a
souvenir.
Although our self-guided tour took only 45 minutes, we spent
2 hours prior waiting in security lines. We were admitted to the queue at 1:00
pm [which was our tour time], and we did not enter the house until almost 3:00
pm. It is estimated that close to 100,000 people visit the White House every
month, so that amounts to 5,000 people per day, divided into roughly 10 groups
of 500 people. Guests line up in a mostly orderly fashion, wrapping around a
statue before passing through a series of two tented areas where you produce
your ID and tour ticket, walk by an explosive-sniffing dog, and then pass through
a metal detector. In retrospect, our advice is to secure a tour time earlier in
the day so that the lines are not so backed up at the end of the day. (However,
we were assigned a random tour time; we weren’t able to choose it.)
The White House has served as the President’s home and
office since 1800. The neoclassical building is made of sandstone that is
painted white and features colonnades on each wing and a semi-circular south
portico. The West Wing houses the work areas, including the famous Oval Office
(which we did not see). Our tour included a theater, small reception room, and
the China Room on the lower level before we climbed the stairs to pass through the
East Wing reception room, State Dining Room, Green Room, Blue Room, and Red
Room on the main level. Secret Service agents are stationed in each room to
answer questions. Upon completion of your tour, you can take a photo in front
of a mock-up presidential seal with flags at your side. The White House complex
also includes the Executive Residence, Eisenhower Office Building, and Blair
House, although they are not included in the tour.
We enjoyed our tour of the White House, even though it
required pre-planning and much more time than we expected.
