PLEASE NOTE: No White House congressional or public tours will take place on Thursday, June 7. Congressional tickets for June 7 will be honored on Wednesday, June 6 and Friday, June 8.

The White House is open for tours in the morning, Tuesday through Saturday, and is closed every Sunday and Monday. All White House tours are free.

All tours are significantly enhanced if visitors stop by the White House Visitor Center before or after their tour. The Center is open seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and features many aspects of the White House, including its architecture, furnishings, first families, social events, relations with the press and world leaders, as well as a thirty-minute video. Allow between 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hours to explore the exhibits. The White House Historical Association also sponsors a sales area. Please note that restrooms are available, but food service is not.

There are two ways to visit:

Public Self-Guided Tours
Visitors move from room to room at their own pace on the self-guided public tour. Visitors usually walk along the Ground floor corridor and look through the doors of the Vermeil room and the Library, walk up stairs to the State floor, and through the East, Green, Blue, Red, and State Dining rooms and exit from the north portico lobby. Tour officers are stationed throughout the house to answer questions. Visitors should allow between 15 and 20 minutes once inside the house for the self-guided tour.

Tickets are required for the self-guided public tours from the third Tuesday in March through the Saturday before Labor Day (peak season). All other times of the year visitors line up, without tickets, at the Visitors Entrance on East Executive Avenue. The National Park Service distributes free tickets during the peak season at the White House Visitor Center, located at the southeast corner of 15th and E Streets. The closest Metrorail station is Federal Triangle (blue and orange lines). Tickets are timed from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon and are issued on the morning of the tour only, on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 7:30 a.m. As the number of tickets for each day is limited, visitors should arrive as early as possible. Unfortunately, it is not possible to reserve public tour tickets in advance nor predict what time one should arrive to guarantee tickets. One person may obtain up to four tickets and each person, including children, requires a ticket. The ticket also requires a hand-stamp validation for admission. People in wheelchairs, or with other mobility disabilities, also use the Visitors Entrance and are admitted without waiting in line and without tickets with up to four members of their party.

Congressional Guided Tour
Reserved tickets for guided tours may be requested from your Member of Congress with at least eight to ten weeks advance notice. Contact their local or Washington office. Congressional guided tours are scheduled to start between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. and usually take around 30 minutes once inside the house. The same rooms will be shown on the guided tour as the self-guided tour.

Reserved group tours of 10-50 people should also be submitted through one’s Member of Congress. Requests may be submitted up to one year in advance, however it is not possible to confirm group tours until at least three weeks out from the requested date. Groups should also be aware that even requests submitted with advance notice are not guaranteed.

Tours are conducted in groups of 70 and it is often necessary for visitors to wait in line before entering the house. The guided tour narration is appropriate for high school and older. Please note that the number of tickets for guided tours is very limited.

Groups Use the Bus Zone in Peak Season
Groups arriving by bus during the peak season should use the "bus zone" (westbound curb lane of Constitution Avenue between 15th and 17th Streets); about one-third of each day’s tickets are held for groups. Beginning at 7:30 a.m., National Park Service staff boards the buses and gives the person in charge a ticket voucher for the group. The number of persons on the bus is noted and may not be increased. The bus zone closes at 8:30 a.m., or earlier if all tickets are distributed. Empty buses are not permitted in the zone. Again, it is advisable to arrive early.

Mobility-Impaired / Using a Wheelchair
Guests requiring the loan of a wheelchair should notify the officer at the Visitors Entrance Building upon arrival. Wheelchair loans are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Unfortunately, reservations are not possible. Visitors in wheelchairs, or with other mobility disabilities, use the same Visitors entrance and are admitted without waiting in line and without tickets, with up to four members of their party for the public, self-guided tours. Visitors in wheelchairs are escorted by ramp from the entrance level to the ground floor, and by elevator from the ground to the state floor.

Hearing-Impaired
Tours for hearing-impaired groups may be arranged in advance by writing to the White House Visitors Office, Washington, DC 20502. Tours are usually scheduled at 9:00 a.m., between the Congressional and public tour times. Participants enter at the East Appointment gate. Signed tours are available to groups of 8 to 20. Groups are also encouraged to bring their own interpreters.

Signing interpretation is also available for individual visitors with advance notice. A Congressional office first issues guided tour tickets to a guest who is hearing-impaired and then contacts the Visitors Office at least 2 weeks in advance to request interpreter service. The Visitors Office TDD (telephone device for the deaf) is 202-456-2121.

Visually-Impaired
Tours for visually-impaired groups may be arranged in advance by writing to the White House Visitors Office, Washington, DC 20502. The tours are usually scheduled at 9:00 a.m., between the Congressional and public tour times. Participants enter at the East Appointment gate. Guide animals are permitted in the White House and the tour will be modified as appropriate.

General Tour Information
All White House tours are free. All visitors should call the 24-hour Visitors Office tour information line at 202-456-7041 to determine if any last minute changes have been made in the tour schedule. Our TDD (telephone device for the deaf) is 202-456-2121.

On-street parking is not available near the White House, and use of public transportation is strongly encouraged. The closest Metrorail stations to the White House Visitor Center (southeast corner of 15th and E Streets) are Federal Triangle (blue and orange lines) and Metro Center (blue, orange, and red lines) and McPherson Square (blue and orange lines).

Public telephones and restrooms are not available at the White House; the nearest ones are in the Visitor Pavilion on the Ellipse, (the park area south of the White House), and in the White House Visitor Center.

Cameras may be carried after undergoing a security check as you enter, but taking pictures/videotaping is not permitted inside the White House.

Strollers are checked with the National Park Service at the Visitor Entrance.