Getting to Arlington House
Arlington House is located inside Arlington National Cemetery, which is off the GW Parkway in the DC Metro area. You can drive and park on site or take the Metro. The cemetery has it’s own Metro stop a few hundred yards from the Welcome Center. To go inside Arlington House for a self-guided tour, there is a timed-ticket entry system you must do through recreation.gov. The house is a 10 minute walk from the Welcome Center, or you can pay for a hop-on-hop-off trolley tour. My ticket was $17.95 in December 2021.
Fees and Cancellation Stamp
There is no entry fee for the Cemetery. There is a $1 timed-entry ticket for the house. Parking in the garage is $2/hour. Metro fees vary by time of day but are roughly $5-6 per person per ride.
The gift shop inside the Arlington National Cemetery Welcome Center has a stamp for Arlington House and many, many other DC National Park stamps. You can also find the stamp inside the small gift shop just outside the actual house inside the cemetery.
It’s important to realize that the Cemetery and Arlington House are two different entities. The only thing the NPS operates is the house and the grounds it sits on. The U.S. Department of the Army runs the Cemetery. You can get the stamp to Arlington House at the Cemetery Welcome Center, but if you are a stamp purist like myself, you must actually go inside the cemetery to see the house to earn your stamp!
Time Required at Arlington House
Touring Arlington House and the other buildings on the grounds takes about 45-60 minutes; less if you aren’t someone who reads all the signs. However, you can easily spend all day in the Arlington National Cemetery. There are several famous sites to see, which are all pretty spread out. You will want to stay for a changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which occurs on the top of every hour.
If you are coming to see the house I highly, highly recommend carving out time to see the other sites in the cemetery.
Know before you go
There is no food available to purchase inside the cemetery. You are also not allowed to eat your own food inside the cemetery. I saw a few people “tailgating” in their cars in the parking garage, so that’s an idea. Or you can grab food in DC afterwards.
Last updated: April 7, 2023
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