U.S. Capitol Visitor Center

Here’s the thing, you know what you are getting when you come here. You’ll probably have to wait in line and security will likely be unhelpful and mad at you, but once you get inside you are in for a treat. If you are a US citizen, make sure to get Senate and House passes from your representatives BEFORE going through security. That way you don’t have to do it twice.

On June 11, 2016 I had the opportunity to visit Washington DC and Virginia. Previously I said I would move to Tewksbury Boston. However I have changed my mind. If I were to move to the East Coast I would move to Northern Virginia. I love the vibe here! I believe I had my first experience of racial prejudice in Boston. I do not want to have anything to do with that state.

We had a wonderful tour through the capital, I would highly recommend this to school groups!

They offer complimentary guided tours! You can book them directly online. The tour starts with a 13-​minute film that goes through the history of the government and the struggle to establish a representative democracy. Then the tour guide will take visitors to the Crypt, the Rotunda, and National Statuary Hall. Make sure to block out an hour or two to go through the capitol building.
Also, if you write to your representative and senator, you can get passes to see the Senate and House Chambers! Both chambers are open whenever either legislative body is in session. When the House is not in session, the gallery is open from 9 AM to 4:15 PM, Monday through Friday. The Senate gallery is open during scheduled recesses of one week or more from 9 AM to 4:15 PM, Monday through Friday.

In summary — interesting activity to visit with no-​joke security guards, statues of indigenous people, and awesome as hell tour guides.
So you’re at the Capitol building thinking «boy would I love a more in depth but vague 5^th grader level insights about my Congress» and you stumble upon the US Capitol Visitor Center. In case you haven’t been here before, the entrance we used is at the top of the hill behind the south branch of the building.
Now that you’ve found the entrance, what’s a DC tour without a security check? Security guards at the entry to the Capitol center are heavily armed. Definitely not the «lets see how they take a joke» type after what happened on March 28^th this year (thanks BearCat1!). Don’t make the mistake of putting your things back on after the metal detector in the same area. Now due to that event you have to carry your things awkwardly to another room. Follow the process and carry on.
You enter into a Mormon Tabernacle Square-​esque hall of oppressed indigenous peoples (irony much??) and other ‘notables’ (some dude from Utah who invented ‘modern tv’ that we should thank for MTV and the Kardashians) as you wait in line to get a chest sticker. Once you get your chest sticker it’s off to the picture show for you, where you watch a short film about all of the wonderful things Congress has done and what makes them so capable — basically, why you neeeeeed them…
After the film it’s a 45 – 50 minute tour that I frankly skipped.
From the security detail to the propaganda I can’t imagine why anyone visits the Capitol building other than for the architecture and the peppy tour guides which is why they get two stars. Proud of my country? (the USA) — you have no idea. But will I ever come back to the Capital building? Can’t say I see it happening.

First of all walk up on the supreme court side of the Capitol. We walked the mall and thus came up on the Ulysses Grant Monument (reflecting pool) side. No entrance from this side. The Capitol is on a HILL so walk up to the other side of the Capitol. The entrance is actually below the street level and there are elevators or a long ramp for those that need it. Security is similar to TSA but you can leave your shoes on. We walked in and was immediately told were to go for the tour. We walked up to the desk and instant tickets and into the line. Within 15 min we were all off to watch the movie that is very informative and a great start to the tour ahead. After exiting the TOP of the movie theater we were handed out headsets. The head sets let you hear your tour guide and blocked out the other tour guides. Great idea! The our is efficient and very informative. When you are done you can head off to the gift shops for souvenir’s! This was great and the staff did a great job all around.

Our guide was funny, but we’re not sure that people would have caught all of this pop culture references. He also spoke very quickly as we took the last tour of the day. At times, it was hard to understand him. It was great to see all of the statues, but we will go back again when the construction on the dome is complete so we can see more of the building’s beauty.

While waiting in line in the Visitor Center, we were subjected to a nasty diatribe about the evils of The South in requiring literacy tests for black voters. Since discrimination against blacks occurred throughout this country, in every region of the U.S., at different times, I would feel much better if no specific region — including the one I live in – got singled out for vilification. It is much more advisable to focus on – and present messages about — the things that unite us rather than the things that have divided us.

Book the tickets online — They’re free & subject to availability.
The tour starts 10 minutes after the time you book & you watch a movie. Then they divided is into 4 groups with a guide explaining 3 rooms.
Great visit. Very educational. Everything was being renovated at the moment.

We enjoyed our visit. The staff is wonderful, as is the gift shop. We found a lovely set of crystal wine glasses. Thanks!

The place you are going to visit is the Capitol Building Tour unless you get passes though your Senator or Congressperson to visit the galleries. You can sometimes get the passes at the Building tour center but that can be iffy.
Be sure to book your tour in advance online to visit the Capitol building tour. They show you a film then break you up in groups and take you to some parts of the Capitol building.
Afterwards you can walk over to the Library Of Congress through a tunnel without having to go through security again.
Closest metro: Capitol South. Follow the signs to Capitol Visitors center, it is below ground. You will need to go through tight security. NO FOOD AT ALL. THEY WILL MAKE YOU THOUGH IT AWAY!

Once you get past the surly security, the Visitor Center Exhibition Hall is much better than the Capitol Building Tour in terms of learning things.
The Capitol Dome model is literally a hands on 1:20 scale of the real thing. There’s also scale models of the how the Capitol area looked from when it was first constructed to roughly how it looks today. Pretty spectacular to see the development. Fun fact: the Capitol was built on the crest of a bluff overlooking the Potomac.
The Your Capitol/​Your Congress interactive area allows you to get quizzed on the three branches of the government and allows for you to see pictures of the Capitol you will not see on the tour.
There are two theaters: one of the House and for the Senate. People seem to blaze through the Hall pretty quickly, but my sister and I took our time to read a lot of the displays.
There’s also a restaurant on the same level as the Exhibition Hall and two gift shops and coat checks on the upper level. Apparently, there’s a tunnel between the Capitol and the Library of Congress, but we missed that and ended up walking outside between the two buildings.

The place is impressive. Being free is great. Things are well organized.
But it is hard to know where we could and could not visit. There are many police officers who are just hanging around, chatting and doing nothing. A couple of them really had an attitude. One of them even yelled at a couple of international visitors who did not seem to understand English well. This is not the right way to treat guests.

Great experience. We had a tour of the Rotunda with an excellent guide who joked and made history fun. But to see Senate and House, one needs to reserve in advance.

Kudos to the people that work at the US Capitol Visitor Center — they deal with 100s and 100s of group and individual tourists but they make it look not only easy and seamless but do so with a constant smile on their face.
After heading through some very detailed security (no food — they will find it and it will be confiscated!) my friend and I headed into the large and expansive «holding area». We did not have tour tickets (no thanks to my CT Representative) but walked up and were able to score 2 tickets to a tour that was just starting. (I will be posting a separate review for the tour). It probably would have been nice for a «private» tour but our guide was great and I have no complaints.
In addition — the are several well placed bathrooms (large enough to accommodate all the visitors that the Capitol sees on a daily basis), the obligatory gift shop, as well as a place to grab a bite to eat.
SInce my Representative was not a big help with obtaining passes and such, while we were in the city — I looked up my Representative and were able to snag some tickets to watch the Senate in action — again something that we were not able to obtain prior to our visit BUT we got his office number from the US Capitol Visitor’s Center and headed over to the Rycroft Building to grab two passes. Definately a cool sight to see Democracy in Action. We got to the Gallery from the US Capitol Visitor Center — and again there were security measures taken — only this time it was no cell phones, fit bits, GPS devices or wires of any kind. On the day we went we were able to see roll call and «discussions» about how to balance the budget.
As Kayla A mentioned in her review the US Capitol Visitor Center is more of a stop over than a destination but there are some cool features to check out while waiting for a tour and/​or to watch the Senate or House in action.
Pro-​Tip — if you get there before your tour be sure to check out the National Statuary Hall Collection — comprised of some famous and notable Americans — and the Exhibition Hall — which provides a great history of not only Congress but also of the building of the US Capitol itself.

The Capitol has probably one of the most efficient tour systems for a public space. Came here on a weekend and when I saw the number of middle school tour groups as well as the throngs of regular tourists I was a little bit hesitant. However, I was pleasantly surprised how organized their tour system was. There were tons of tour guides and each took a very manageable group. The best thing was the tour was free. Our tour guide was spectacular. He was incredibly knowledgeable and very personable. He encouraged questions and always had an answer. They use mics and each visitor has headphones so the tour guides don’t have to battle with volume becsuse this place echos like crazy.
There is so much history in this building it’s very humbling. The tour starts off with a great 20 minute video to preface what the Capitol is all about. The message in the video is showcases how incredible it is that this nation is able to make legislature when this nation is filled with millions of different wants and needs as we are a big melting pot. Whatever your political opinion, it’s truly something to step back and think about. The Senate and house of reps are not in sessions on weekends so if you plan to go on a weekend you aren’t able to tour those spaces. Nevertheless, there’s plenty to see.

The US Capitol Visitor Center is more of a stop along the way rather than a destination. Of course you have to go through the Visitor’s Center to actually tour the Capitol. The Visitor Center is where you go to start a free guided tours of the Capitol Building. We booked a tour in advance for a specific time but showed up earlier and was allowed to join the earlier tour group. All of the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. If you don’t plan on doing the Capitol tour, there are several statues in the Visitor Center from the National Statuary Hall Collection that are worth checking out.

Contact your Congressional office for one on one tour with congressional aide. Very good, very informative. Becca was our tour guide. Very nice personable young lady .
Happened to have gone to same HS school as my son … …
Other people on our tour, 2 nice ladies from LB/​Belmont park area … Down street from our house. LOL …
We did see some great statues, in rotunda, inside old Supreme Court room … The door to the House Majority Whip.(anyone think House of cards:).).
It was Great tour

Skip this. You can’t see any areas of where the real work gets done. Just the visitors center.

It was good. I wish I could view more.

This is a pretty building. All students should include this on a trip to DC (oh wait they already do). Avoid school breaks to visit but otherwise, put this on your «to do» list.

A really good place to start your tour of the US Capital building. There Are historical displays and exhibits that you could see such as the plaster model for. Miss Freedom. You would have to sign up for a tour at the information counters at the both ends of the large 2 level room. There are some statues from most of the states but the majority of them are in the capital building itself.
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I went on a staff-​guided tour of the capitol building, which was pretty disappointing. Yes, the building was beautiful. But the tour only lets you visit three rooms. And none of them were rooms that are commonly used by congress. They were really just rooms that are for show. Also, there were a billion tours going on, so it was super crowded. If you are making the trip to DC to do all the sights, then I would still recommend visiting the capitol because it is so important. But the tour just wasn’t that great.

Located in the eastern side of the U.S. Capitol Building, the Visitor Center is not only the starting location for all tours but also the only part of the building that allows unsupervised public access (You still need to go through security first though).
This beautiful visitor center matches the grandeur of the U.S. Capitol with its size and décor. The large lobby is filled with statues of historical figures from all the states, and the center has an interesting, extensive exhibit of original documents and artifacts about the U.S. Congress history and the development of the U.S. Capitol Building itself. The visitor center is also well equipped with bathroom facilities, a large cafeteria, and even a tunnel to directly access the Library of Congress!
With or without a Capitol tour, this Visitor Center is an attraction on its own to provide insightful information on what the U.S. Capitol is about! This is certainly one of the two best visitor centers I have been to (Other being the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia).

I’ll try to be brief, but this last visit was in contrast to previous visits to the House as a staffer 30 years ago and as a kid tourist 40 years ago, so it’s very much an apples to kumquats comparison.
First off, it’s extremely orderly in a way that only modern security and Disney-​like attractions can aspire to. The tours are very short, strict, and focused on very small areas of the Capitol — the crypt, the Rotunda, and the old house chambers/​statuary hall. Where you end up in any of these locales is luck of the draw depending on which tour group/​guide you draw, as they cram a lot of people into a short area. The guides are extremely knowledgeable but also very much on task and schedule, so can come off as a bit curt.
Visit your Member of Congress first to get gallery passes to the House and Senate, when in session. You will have a medium to tediously-​long wait to get into chambers, as they don’t often have many sections of the galleries open, but as a once-​in-​a-​lifetime experience, whether they’re just going through the motions with a couple of members on the floor speaking for the folks back in the district (typical) or a nearly full house (unusual), you really must do this. I was fascinated by the number of non-​US nationals taking the tour and going to the gallery, it’s an affirmation of our democracy, soiled as it is these days.
I do recommend going to your Member of Congress for the tour tickets as well, as I noted a markedly different treatment we got when our tour was canceled due to a security alert (they happen) versus folks who had just walked up for their tour tickets.
The gift shop is strangely gigantic, and while I can’t say there’s anything truly unique there, one does have a certain feeling of Americanism in engaging in the commerce of buying Cheap Tourist Souvenir Crap in the basement of the greatest representative body in the world.
The Capitol is something everyone should do at some point: just be prepared for a lot of waiting, a very very high ratio relative to the entertainment/​edcational experience, and you will be happier.

This is a «newly» built/​renovated Visitor Center. I think they opened this new Visitor Center in 2008.
I came back for a second time and liked my trip. However, I do miss my first visit here pre-​2008. I have had much more freedom back then. We started the guided tour from the main floor and then went down to the basement level. After the guided tour, people were free to explore. I was able to sit in a Senate hearing briefly. I was also able to come outside and stand on the front steps/​balcony area.
Now during my recent trip, the security is much tighter. On its website, there is a long list of items that you are not permitted to bring inside. No (opened or unopened) food or beverage. So check the list before your visit. Also they now make you watch a 20-​minute short film before your official guided tour here. Then the guided tour was about 40 to 50 minutes long. We only covered 3 rooms during my recent visit: basement level, Rotunda, and the main room with all of the statues. After the tour, we were all taken back to the waiting/​outside area of theater room. So no more wandering around on your own. Bummer!
Door opens at 8:30am on weekdays. I think they open on Saturdays as well but double check that. Make sure you get here at around 8am to get to the front of the line. I think they let people in on a 5-​minute or 10-​minute interval for crowd control. My advice is that get there early and get in line.
You do not necessary need to buy tickets in advance. Tickets are free, by the way. If you plan to visit in the morning, you shouldn’t have a problem getting the «unreserved timed» tickets. However, if you really want to secure your spot, make sure get a reserved timed ticket. I didn’t reserve any tickets. I was there early in the morning so I went through security, took the staircase down, and got my unreserved tickets right away.

Im Capitol Visitor Center bekommt man Zutritt zum Capitol und kann hier an einer geführten Tour teilnehmen.
Für solch eine Tour muss man sich anmelden. Sie dauert zirka 90 Minuten und startet zu Beginn mit einem Film über das Gebäude und die USA.
Danach werden einem einige interessante Räumlichkeiten gezeigt. Kleinere Säle und Hallen, aber eben nicht der Saal wo der Kongress tagt und der Senat sitzt.
Dieser ist für Touristen seit dem 11. September aus Sicherheitsgründen gesperrt.
Um mit einer Tour durch das Capitol zu gehen, muss man meist Schlange stehen. Viele Schulklassen und Touristengruppen werden hier durchgeschleust.
Gerade für die Amerikaner ist dies hier ein wichtiger Ort, der mit sehr viel Ehrfurcht wahrgenommen wird.