I was touring a group from Vancouver, Canada on a Saturday morning. Our goal for the morning was to get tickets for the tour of the Capital building. I went ahead of the group to get in line at 8:15am. The tours start 9 am but the group did not have any tickets. To get tickets for the group I had to get into the building and go directly to the public ticket line. This is very easy to do. Once you get to the floor of the Visitor Center look for the sign go directly up to the desk on the north or south end of the center. A very nice person with the Visitor Center will helped me right away. I asked for tickets one hour before the group would get into the Visitor Center. I wanted to give them enough time to get into line for security. When you do visit Capital the time you have on ticket does not mean that is the time the tour starts. Add ten minutes to the time on the ticket for the tour start.
The beginning of the tour starts with a 15 minute video about the Capital. The actual tour is 25 minutes. Our tour guide was ok but I have had better guides. The tours are given by the Capital tour guides. Most of the guides tell great stories and give a lot of details. The guides will take you to the Rotunda, Statuary Hall and the Crypt where George Washington was to have been buried.
Our tour could gone longer if we have had passes to the House or Senate Galleries. You can obtain gallery passes from your Senator or Congressmen. You can find their office on Capital and ask for tickets for the Senate or House galleries. Having the pass will enable you to watch the House or Senate in action.
If you have time to visit the Supreme Court across the street from Capital. The tour is 30 minutes and you do not need tickets.
