No visit to Washington, DC is complete without a visit to the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery - even if it is technically in Virginia.
As a licensed tour guide in Washington, DC for over a decade, I have brought countless groups and families to Arlington National Cemetery; including my own.
A childhood friend, killed in Afghanistan is honored at the cemetery where I visit every December for Wreaths Across America. Amongst my tour guide colleagues with DC by Foot, we have grandparents, fathers, cousins, and best friends who are buried/interred here at Arlington Cemetery.
I'm honored to get to share their stories on every tour and now with you in this guide to visiting Arlington National Cemetery.
I've put together this easy to read guide to planning a visit to Arlington National Cemetery so that you could make the most of your valuable time at this national memorial.
Things You Need to Know
The cemetery is open every day of the year. However, you will find that certain holidays have special events that make it difficult to tour (though you're welcome to attend these events!).
The cemetery opens every day at 8 AM and closes at 5 PM year round. In the past, it remained open later in the summer hours but it has kept consistent hours since 2020.
Arlington National Cemetery does require all visitors to pass through a security station with bag check.
While they state that they will check IDs of adults, in my once a week visits to the cemetery I have never been asked to show ID. I'd bring it just in case they decided to ask, though.
You can bring in items such as food and drink, but you are not able to eat inside the cemetery. While picnics in cemetery used to be a thing, even using the Tomb of the Unknowns as a table, it is not allowed anymore.
They do prohibit items such as weapons and fireworks, but most items that you'll have with you on a trip to Washington, DC are fine to bring in. Just keep in mind, there is no luggage or locker storages so you have to carry it all with you through the cemetery.
Arlington Cemetery is an active cemetery. There are funerals and services being held every day except Sundays (and even then, families may be visiting graves on loved ones).
If you're unsure if there will be any services during your visit, check the flag at the top of the hill in front of Arlington House. It is lowered to half staff 30 minutes before the first funeral and raised 30 minutes after the last.
The cemetery is a beautiful place and you’re welcome to commemorate your visit with photographs and video.
However, please remember that as moving as funeral ceremonies and processions are, they aren’t tourist attractions. Please refrain from photographing or videotaping these events.
In addition, there are some places in the cemetery where silence is required.
If you're visiting with kids, I suggest you review these areas in advance so the family knows where it is expected:
- Kennedy Memorials
- Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers
I have seen Tomb Sentinels step off the mat to yell at people in the audience who are being disruptive. It is not something they take lightly and if your kids are like mine they would be mortified to be called out like that.
If you're concerned about the size of Arlington Cemetery (it is more than 600 acres and growing), there are a few benches around the cemetery where you can rest but be sure to note where sitting is not allowed (the walls around Kennedy Memorials, for example).
Parking & Metro
Arlington National Cemetery is located just across the Potomac River to the west of Washington, DC in Arlington, VA.
The address for the Cemetery is simply:
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, VA 22211
We will always recommend getting around Washington, DC by Metro.
The BLUE Line is the only Metro line with a stop the cemetery. The station is called Arlington National Cemetery Station and the station is wheelchair accessible.
Just note that this station does not adhere to regular Metro hours but rather stays open based on the closing of the cemetery. Entrances close at 7 PM from Oct 1 to March 31 and at 10 PM from April 1 to Sept 30 - here is the thing to note about these official hours. They are from WMATAs website, so I hope they are true but I checked with all the other tour guides and we all thought the metro station closed at 7PM year round. There is no reason to use this station after 7PM anyways, so I wouldn't plan on it.
The station is a 2 minute walk to the Visitor Center, where our walking tour begins.
You can also get to Arlington Cemetery via a trolley or tourist bus. Most trolleys and hop-on, hop-off buses make stops at Arlington National Cemetery.
- Big Bus Hop-on Hop-off Tour - this has a stop at the cemetery but will not bring you inside the cemetery itself.
- Old Town Trolley Hop-on Hop-off Tour - Old Town Trolley both offers a stop at the cemetery on their downtown route, and a tour inside the cemetery itself on a trolley (though I think a walking tour is better!)
If you are driving to Arlington Cemetery...
There is ample pay-for-parking at Arlington National Cemetery.
Parking can be paid for inside of the Visitor Center with cash or with a credit card. You can also pay by credit card at the vehicle exits.
Parking is available year round from 8 a.m. until one hour after the cemetery closes. On peak visitor days such as Memorial and Veteran's Day the parking lot has reached capacity early in the morning.
Personal vehicles and buses are prohibited from driving within the cemetery without prior consent.
- Car parking is $3/hr (maximum rate of $12 a day)
- Buses parking costs $10/hr.
You can also walk to Arlington Cemetery from a few nearby attractions! Its not something we usually recommend as it is a lot of walking just to tour the cemetery itself; but it is possible to walk to Arlington Cemetery from Lincoln Memorial. It is a direct walk across Memorial Bridge. It's about a mile from the memorial to the cemetery entrance.
You can also access Arlington Cemetery through a side entrance called Ord-Wetzel Gate next to the Iwo Jima US Marine Corps Memorial. You will still have to have a bag check and this entrance is not always open. If its not, you can still walk the perimeter of the cemetery to enter at the main entrance.
Arlington Cemetery Welcome Center / Gift Shops / Bathrooms
While Arlington Cemetery is a cemetery and military installation; it is also a tourist attraction and has facilities for guests.
At the main entrance, you'll find the Welcome Center.
There are restrooms, free maps of the cemetery, and a small shop that sells books, commemorative items, and cold water. Food and chewing gum is strictly prohibited in the cemetery, and thus not sold.
You will also find the Trolley ticket office if you are purchasing tickets for the trolley tour on site. If you're visiting Arlington Cemetery to commemorate a loved one, you can also find resources here to help you locate their headstone and sometimes arrange a ride to visit it directly.
In addition, to the welcome center, there are also facilities at the Military Women's Memorial. It used to be called Women in Military Service and sometimes is still referred to as WIMSA. This is an incredible museum; but it also has restrooms and a shop with commemorative items, books, and bottled water.
We end our tour outside the Military Women's Memorial in hopes you'll spend some time here.
Once you're in the cemetery, you'll find restrooms at the Memorial Amphitheater next to the Tomb of the Unknowns. They are underneath right next to the barracks that the Tomb Sentinels enter and exit from. So if you're trying to access the bathrooms during the changing, you might get trapped for a few moments!
You'll also find restrooms and a gift shop at Arlington House. The house and immediate grounds are basically a little National Park Service bubble within the cemetery. The cemetery is run by the Department of the Army, but Arlington House is a National Park Service site.
As part of their Junior Ranger badge program, kids can earn the Arlington House Badge and a certificate signed by the Park Ranger.
There are water fountains throughout the cemetery and a few restrooms, but it's advisable to stop here first. In true form to sites run by the government, the water fountains are not always working!
Tours of Arlington National Cemetery
You are not required to talk a tour to visit Arlington Cemetery, there are no tickets to enter, and you do not have to be attending a service. Any one can just walk in to the cemetery to honor those here.
However, I strongly suggest taking some kind of tour. There is a lot of information unique to Arlington Cemetery that you will not know by just looking at headstones or watching ceremonies.
I have been giving Arlington Cemetery tours for over a decade. The information I share with guests after all that time is 90% just answers to questions I've gotten in the past. A walk through the cemetery brings a LOT of questions.
Guided Walking Tours
Of course, I feel our Arlington Cemetery Walking Tour is the best way to gain an appreciation of the depth and breadth of the cemetery.
By taking a guided walking tour, you have the opportunity to ask an experienced tour guide questions, something you will not be able to do with the trolley options.
Another reason that our walking tour is so highly rated is that we have the flexibility to adjust the tour to the guests on that day; but also to the events happening in the ceremony.
We have rerouted the tour so we can watch a visiting head of state lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; or because a baseball fan really wanted to see the grave of Abner Doubleday (we did not invent baseball but that is a different blog post).
Self-Guided and Audio Tours
A true tour of Arlington Cemetery is more than 7 hours long and no one would enjoy that but me! So I've written some self guided tours that have specific focuses or a general history tour for times that you cannot join a guided tour.
- Self-Guided Tours of Arlington Cemetery
- I've also recorded an audio tour of the cemetery
- You can also listen to my podcast, Tour Guide Tell All, talk about WWII History at Arlington Cemetery:
Trolley Tours
The only authorized motorized tours in Arlington National Cemetery are operated by Arlington National Cemetery Tours Inc (a subsidiary of Historic Tours of America, Inc).
These tours are particularly useful if you have mobility issues, as Arlington requires approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) of walking, half of which will be a slight uphill incline.
I advise guests that walking tours that advertise they can visit it all in under 2 hours are either lying or essentially making you run up those hills; we set our walking tour to 2.5 to keep a leisurely pace but sometimes it is still too much.
Ticket Prices:
- $19.50 for Adults
- $15 for Seniors
- $10.75 for Children (4-12)
The tour makes 6 stops including Kennedy Gravesites, John J. Pershing gravesite, the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Robert E. Lee Memorial (Arlington House).
What to See at Arlington National Cemetery
While I think this is the most popular question from tourists; its also the hardest to answer. There are over 400,000 individual stories to share; do you want to learn about women in the military? war heroes? any particular war? the non-military history of the grounds?
Assuming you are looking for the must-see highlights of a visit, every tour will cover a few main sites:
- Tomb of the Unknowns
- Kennedy Memorials
- Arlington House
Tomb of the Unknowns
I think one of the most moving parts of a visit to the cemetery is watching the Changing of the Guards. While I am usually a fair weather tour guide, watching this ceremony in the rain (or snow!) is my favorite way to do it. It puts the effort of the sentinel into perspective.
This is one of the locations where silence is required and they will yell at you if not. You will also be asked to stand during the ceremony; but it is okay to sit if you arrive early and are waiting for it to start.
The Changing of the Guards happens every half hour in the summer and on the hour in the winter.
While both ceremonies are the same, there are often wreath laying ceremonies on the hour.
This is when a group participates in the laying of the wreath and a bugler plays Taps. It's a very moving ceremony that happens regularly in the Spring. It is one of my favorite moments to watch.
If you're watching of the changing on the hour, especially if you see a school group watching with you; stay longer than everyone else. There is a small break where the dismissed guard will leave and then a sentinel will come back out for the wreath laying ceremony.
It is very common March to June. The rest of the year has a only a few a day and you can find out what time they are by visiting the kiosks in the Visitor Center and checking under that days events.
For a full explanation of the ceremony and what it takes to become a Tomb Guard, read my full post and interview with a former sentinel.
Watch the video below for our advice on the best way to watch the Changing of the Guard.
Eternal Flame at the John F. Kennedy Memorial
Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy decided that her late husband belonged to the people and requested for him to lay in rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Five years later his younger brother, Senator Robert Francis Kennedy, also assassinated, was laid to rest nearby.
Finally, in 2009, the youngest bother, Senator Edward "Ted" Moore Kennedy was laid to rest next to his brothers.
The administration have also placed a grave marker for the oldest brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr., whose remains were never recovered.
Today, all four brothers lay in rest together.
Arlington House
Prior to becoming a national shrine to America's service men and women, the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery were part of the Custis Family holdings.
Martha Washington, America's first First Lady, was a Custis and passed this land on to her grandson George Washington Parke Custis.
Immediately following the death of George Washington, his famous step-grandfather, Custis went straight to work creating Arlington House as shrine in his memory as well as a home for the descendants.
One of these descendants was his daughter, Mary Custis, who would famously marry Robert E. Lee.
The land would be confiscated by the U.S. Army and turned into a cemetery under the supervision of Montgomery Meigs, partially for spite, partially for practical reasons, as the Civil War raged on and created the need for new burial grounds for fallen soldiers and sailors.
Arlington House, occasionally referred to as the Robert E. Lee Memorial, is open as a museum to the time before Arlington became a cemetery.
After these three sites, I could write literally more than 200 other people in Arlington Cemetery I think you should know about. I have almost done that one our List of Famous People Buried at Arlington Cemetery.
Some other major markers in Arlington Cemetery that I always show people on my tours are:
- Willard H. Taft Memorial
- Justice Hill (where Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Thurgood Marshall are buried)
- USS Space Shuttle Challenger & Columbia, and the Iran Rescue Mission Memorials
- Audie Murphy Gravesite
- John Glenn Gravesite
- John J. Pershing Gravesite
- Medgar Evars Gravesite
- Civil War Unknowns
- Pierre Charles L'Enfant Gravesite
- Robert Todd Lincoln Gravesite
- Omar Bradley Gravesite
- Joe Louis Gravesite
- Caisson Platoon (I never go here on a walking tour, it is really a separate visited on its own!)
Many of these sites and stories related to the people buried here, I detail in my post with the Frequently Asked Questions about Arlington Cemetery.
Finding a Grave at Arlington Cemetery
Gravesites or niches at Arlington National Cemetery can be located using ANC Explorer, an application available on mobile smart phones or online.
Launch the ANC Explorer in your browser or download a mobile app by clicking the link for your device. I use this app regularly
You may also call 877-907-8585 or visit the information desk in the Welcome Center for assistance in locating a gravesite or niche at Arlington.
Staff at the Visitor's Center can also help guests find a grave. In some cases, they will even give you a ride to the location.
Of course, any of the tour guides I work with can also help you find a grave on our tour. I cannot guarantee you'll be able to visit it on the tour unless you book a private tour; but guides can always help direct you for after a tour.
Requirements for Burial or Inurnment
There are two distinct types of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.
The first is inurnments (cremations). All honorably discharged service men and woman are permitted to be inurned at one of the columbaria at ANC.
There are no other requirements.
Additional qualifiers are necessary for in-ground burial.
In short, all service members who have died in combat or have retired from the military, received a purple heart or any of a number of medals of valor, or who make a career out of their service and qualify for retirement benefits from the military are automatically eligible for in-ground burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Additionally, all members of Congress, the Supreme Court, Cabinet Members and Presidents of the United States are automatically eligible for ground burial, regardless of length of service, as long as they were honorably discharged.
Markers are government issued, though family can request a personal self-funded larger headstone. You will see various emblems, both religious and military on both types.
Please read my full post on all burial and inurnment requirements at Arlington National Cemetery, where I also talk about the symbols and emblems of the headstones.
Nearby Attractions
Honestly, there is not much "nearby" to Arlington Cemetery. I almost always drive and park for this tour; or hop on the metro to downtown if I have a full day of tours.
The only place you can really walk to is Marine Corp Memorial (Iwo Jima). Or if you're up for a longer walk, you can go across Memorial Bridge to get to the National Mall and Lincoln Memorial.
There however a few places that are short drives or 1-2 stop Metro stops away.
- Air Force Memorial
- 9/11 Pentagon Memorial
The most popular question at the end of every walking tour, especially one like Arlington Cemetery is about where to eat. There is nothing at the cemetery to eat so you'll have to travel somewhere!
If you want to keep it short, nearby is Pentagon City Mall (2 metro stops or a 5-7 minute drive if it is not rush hour).
In the opposite direction, you can head to Rossyln (1 metro stop away or 5-7 minute drive if it is not rush hour). There are a lot of restaurants in Rosslyn right next to the Metro Station.
If you're so inclined, you can walk from Rosslyn to Georgetown via the Key Bridge. Georgetown has some of my favorite places to eat!
Since you have to get in your car/taxi/Metro regardless of where you are going, I don't suggest planning a meal or activity just because its close to Arlington Cemetery.
