Grand Canyon South Rim Day Tour from Las Vegas

Very disappointing and unsafe. Would absolutely not recommend. 1) Tour description doesn’t match reality. Description says 4 hours at Mount Vernon. We weren’t even there a full 3. Got there at 11:30, left before 2:30. Tour felt very rushed. We had very little time to see the mansion and the grounds. In addition to the time, no where in the tour description does it say that food and drink are not permitted on the bus. We had both food and drink with us and were told to chug our brand new Starbucks order before we could board. It’s over 100 degrees in DC with extremely high humidity and not being able to eat or drink in this weather is dangerous. Our son chugged his cold Starbucks drink and then naturally needed to use the restroom. There’s no restrooms on the bus and we were told the first stop would be Mount Vernon in 35 minutes. Instead they did the Old Town Alexandria tour first and the first stop was almost an hour later so our son nearly had an accident waiting for a bathroom. My wife had to be seen by the Mount Vernon medics as she nearly had a heat stroke. They’ve got people crammed into lines waiting outside in sweltering heat and humidity. Nothing has AC on the house grounds except the mansion in *some* rooms and with an ever revolving open door, it wasn’t that cool inside and worse claustrophobic with the sheer number of hot bodies crammed into small spaces. As a result of my wife being attended to by the medics we saw very little of Mount Vernon. After seeing the medics we went to the cafe to get food as at this point it’s nearly 2 pm with no food or drink (other than a small bottled water provided) that was supposed to hold us over from morning in extreme weather?! 2) In addition, the windshield of the bus had a huge crack across the front, the driver braked hard and at one point hit a pothole and literally sent people airborne (myself and my kids included). And the AC was mediocre at best in the bus. It was very stuffy. In closing, the tour was not 4 hours at Mount Vernon— it was very much rushed and shorter than described. We were withheld from having food or drink in extreme weather for over 4 hours and the condition of the bus was unsafe and uncomfortable.

My wife and I were expecting to have an enjoyable cool tour on this hot Fourth of July weekend however it wasn’t long after we bought it that we realized this tour is gonna be anything but enjoyable. The bus we’re on did not have any working air-conditioning and it was stifling hot. We were supposed to stop in old town Alexandria to see Christchurch, but that was a no go and then the tour operator tells us that our timed event for seeing the mansion at Mount Vernon wasn’t until 345 which was long after we were supposed to have already been returned back to Washington DC. Our tour operator took no responsibility and acted like he was just a surprise as we were, but I don’t see how they could’ve been this unprepared in having properly timed tour tickets and to have equipment that was properly functioning. I sent an email to the tour operator but received no meaningful response. Only a link to leave a review which is what I’m doing here. I highly recommend booking a Uber or Lyft and simply purchasing your own tickets. You will have a much more enjoyable time.

This was a bus tour through Alexandria and to Mount Vernon with Joey as our guide and Walter the driver. Joey was very knowledgeable about both areas, giving historical background to the sites in Alexandria--and also during our walk through the Mount Vernon grounds. She was especially engaging with our 10 & 11 yr old kids, keeping them involved and answering their questions--even on the long bus ride back at the end. The adults learned a lot as well. Walter expertly guided the bus through recent detours and tough traffic. This was not inexpensive for our family of five, but would highly recommend this tour--and this guide/driver.

The traffic was terrible in DC the morning of our tour. The tour guy called and I informed her that we were on our way, but stuck in traffic and would be there in five minutes. I was told the bus would leave exactly at 10 AM we arrived at our destination at 10 AM and we’re walking across the plaza to get on the bus and it left us. We had to pay $100 to Uber out to Mount Vernon and were then able to find the tour and join it at that time. The tour guide was great and the bus driver was nice but when we left, we were told to meet at 2:30. The bus didn’t leave until 240 so they gave leeway leaving Mount Vernon but they gave us no leeway leaving DC. I would not at this time, recommend this tour.

Our tour was fantastic and our guide was very knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and funny