Washington DC Metro to Arlington Cemetery: Line and Walk

Step 1: Take the Blue Line on the Washington DC metro to Arlington Cemetery

The Blue Line takes you to the Arlington Cemetery stop, which sits next to the cemetery. WMATA's station page lists the station as served by the Blue Line, with trains toward Franconia-Springfield and Largo. WMATA is the agency that runs the Metro.

Pick the train with the blue stripe or dot on the station column. If you have never used the system, the guide to the metro washington dc map explains the colors, the gates and the day pass.

WMATA's rider guide says you can switch between lines inside a station for free. So a ride that starts on the Yellow Line works with one change to the Blue Line.

Trains run on general hours, and WMATA says to use its rider tools for the first and last train of your day.

The cemetery itself is open daily from 8 am to 5 pm, so plan to arrive well before closing.

Key Takeaway For Arlington, take the Blue Line to the Arlington Cemetery stop, the one with a 5-minute walk to the main gate.

Step 2: Pay the fare and walk to the main gate

A weekday ride costs $2.25 to $6.75 between 5 am and 9:30 pm, and $2.25 to $2.50 after 9:30 pm and on weekends. That is the range on WMATA's fare page. The price depends on how far you ride, so use the Trip Planner for the exact fare from your station.

Tap a SmarTrip card, a phone wallet or a contactless bank card at the gate when you enter. Tap again when you leave. WMATA says to use the same card or phone both times.

Here is the trip in one picture.

The walk is short. The cemetery's visit page says the main entrance at 1 Memorial Ave is a 5-minute walk from the Arlington Cemetery stop. Walk west on Memorial Avenue, away from the bridge.

Everyone goes through standard security screening at the Welcome Center. The cemetery says walkers, Metro riders and ride-hail passengers do not need REAL ID. Only people who enter by vehicle do.

From the Lincoln Memorial the cemetery is about 3.3 miles (5.3 km) by road, per OpenStreetMap routing data; no official page publishes the distance. Plan the Metro leg from your own station in the Trip Planner. Rosslyn is the other option. The cemetery says the Ord and Weitzel Gate is a 15-minute walk from the Rosslyn stop. Use it only if you want to start at that end.

Pro Tip Walk to the Welcome Center at 1 Memorial Ave first. The tram, the screening and the ride-hail drop-off all start there.

Step 3: Use a ride-hail if the Metro does not suit you

A ride-hail drops you at the same door as the walk. The cemetery says drop-off and pick-up is at 1 Memorial Ave, directly in front of the Welcome Center.

The price is not published on any official page. An Uber or Lyft fare changes with the time of day and the traffic, and the app shows the fare before you book. The Metro will usually cost much less, at $2.25 to $6.75 per person on a weekday.

A ride-hail makes sense in a few cases. You may carry a lot, travel with small children, or arrive after the Metro has stopped for the night. A ride-hail also saves the walk from the station if the hills are a worry.

Driving yourself is the third way. Cars go to the same address, and parking is in the Welcome Center garage. Adults in a car need REAL ID at the checkpoint, and the cemetery says vehicle access beyond the garage is generally not allowed.

From the Lincoln Memorial the road route to the Welcome Center is about 3.3 miles (5.3 km), and OpenStreetMap routing data (OSRM) puts the drive at about 11 minutes without traffic. No official page publishes either figure. Traffic adds to that, so the app shows the wait and the fare for your hour, and the Trip Planner shows the Metro trip. For the memorials on the Mall, see National Mall and monuments.

Step 4: See the cemetery on foot or by tram

The cemetery covers 639 acres, so choose how you will see it before you go in. The cemetery says walking distances and hills take moderate effort.

The tram is the alternative to walking. The cemetery's tours page says tram tours leave every 20 minutes from 8:30 am to 4 pm daily. They are run by Arlington National Cemetery Tours, Inc. The tram is a hop-on hop-off ride with live narration.

Its stops are the Kennedy gravesite, the Pershing gravesite, the Memorial Amphitheater with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington House, the Ord and Weitzel Gate and the Coast Guard Memorial. On weekends it adds three more stops. The cemetery's own pages do not state the tram price.

The Arlington tram ticket is from €19 per person. It has a 4.6 rating from 612 reviews and free cancellation, and it is run by Historic Tours of America. The listing describes a non-stop 45-minute loop. It meets at the Welcome Center, and your bag goes through a metal detector there.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sits on a hill above Washington and is a tram stop at the Memorial Amphitheater. The cemetery's Changing of the Guard page says soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard, change the guard in a ceremony every hour on the hour from October 1 through March 31, and every half hour from April 1 through September 30. Spectators stand and stay silent during it. The guided tours below both list the guard change.

Who is buried here? The cemetery's site says the Tomb holds unidentified service members from World War I, and from later wars added in 1958 and 1984. Its notable-graves list also names President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and President William H. Taft. More than 400,000 people are buried in the cemetery's 639 acres, per Wikipedia. The cemetery's pages read for this guide give no full list of who is buried here.

You can do all of this without a tour, because the cemetery is open to walk in alone. The tram or a guide only saves the hills and adds the stories.

The quietest hour at a national cemetery is the first one after it opens.

Step 5: Add a guide for the stories

You do not need a guide to visit. You can walk in alone and see the grounds at your own pace. A guide helps if you want the history behind the names.

If you want the stories, the next step is a tour of arlington cemetery. That page compares the guided options and shows how to book.

Here are the guided ones from the list. The Changing of the Guard and JFK flame tour is run by DC by Foot, lasts 2.5 hours and is from €35 per person. It has a 4.9 rating from 209 reviews. It starts at the Welcome Center, runs as a small group and includes entry; the listing does not state other inclusions. The listing says it is not suitable for wheelchair users, because the public tour has unavoidable stairs.

The two-hour Changing of the Guard and JFK gravesite tour is from €35 per person, with a 4.5 rating from 89 reviews. It is run by Empire Tours and Productions. It meets at 1 Memorial Ave. The listing says it is wheelchair accessible, but a steep hill needs a helper.

Before you book, check the meeting point. The tram and the DC by Foot tour meet at the Welcome Center, the Empire tour at 1 Memorial Ave, and the semi-private tour at the American Armored Forces Memorial. The Babylon tour does not include hotel pickup.

For a quiet visit, the semi-private tour is run by Babylon Tours and is from €49 per person. It has a 4.8 rating from 40 reviews and a limit of 10 people, though the page title says 12. It meets at the American Armored Forces Memorial next to the cemetery and does not include hotel pickup.

A guide is the wrong choice if you came to visit one grave and want to take your time. Walk in alone, then, and take your time.

Things to Do in Washington DC's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found 16 Arlington tours out of 207 bookable DC-area experiences, from €19.

If you came for a different kind of day out, such as dc wine tours, the dc wine tours link goes to our day-trips page, which lists no wine tour. It covers trips that leave the city instead.