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White House Visitor Center

Florian Buechting Museums & Exhibitions, Places & Sights No Comments

free entry
4.2

Rating

 4.2/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Interesting insights about White House Life
  • Free admission
  • Large souvenir store

Walking along the White House is one of these must-do things when you are in Washington. There are even tours which allow you to have a look inside of the residence of the President of the United States, but – especially as a foreigner – they are difficult to get. There more, it is nice that there is another option to get at least a bit of an impression of how it looks alike inside the iconic building and how life is organized. The White House Visitor Center is right next to the President’s Park. I had a visit in April 2024 and share my thoughts with you.

 

White House Visitor Center – Location & Admission

The White House Visitor Center is located at Pennsylvania Ave, right opposite of Pershing Park and close to the Treasury Building. The room was originally the Patent Search Room of the Department of Commerce. Walking distance to the Northern side of the White House (which is the touristic one) is roughly five minutes. The visitor entrance to the White House is also quite close. There are some – rather posh – hotels and restaurants around.

White House Visitor Center is opening daily from 7:30 to 16:00. There may be closures due to events or safety concerns, though. Admission to the exhibition driven by the National Park Service is free. You have to pass an airport style security check before entering. As the place is rather popular among visitors, I recommend being rather early during the day.

 

White House Visitor Center – The Visit

The White House Visitor Center has a mixture of mock-ups, showcases, pictures and original items about how the White House is operating. The most eye-catching part of your visit – apart from the beautiful room, in which it the visitor center is located – is likely the scale model of the White House, which you typically run into rather at the beginning of your visit. There are interactive screens around, so that you can explore how certain parts of the presidential residence look alike and how they changed over time. This part of the exhibition is already very interesting. However, there are showcases, which focus on special topics about the White House in further parts of the visitor center.

These showcases are what makes the visit in the White House Visitor Center really interesting, especially from a non-US citizen perspective. There are exhibition about the Presidential Garden, the First Lady, how it is like to grow up in the White House as a child or what is happening when a new main resident is moving in (aka election of a new POTUS). I especially liked the part of the White House Visitor Center displays, which dealt about how life there is organized, like the chefs and staff working there. You even learn about some favorite dishes of the presidential families. There were also some diplomatic gift to US Presidents.

 

White House Visitor Center – Services

Close to the entrance, there is a rather large souvenir store with a rather wide collection of items. Some refer to White House traditions like the Easter Egg Hunt. There are rather posh items like jewelry or nice tableware to rather touristic items. Of course, there is also quite a lot of literature and other items referring to the presidents.The staff in the White House Visitor Center was very friendly and helpful during my visit.

 

White House Visitor Center – My View

Some of the information presented in the White House Visitor might be much more present to US-American people than it is for me as a German visitor. I really liked my visit there and I learned a lot about how life around the political leader in Washington is organized. And – of course – it is free to visit. For many visitors, it might be as close as you can get to life in the White House as you can get. I really liked it – there may be waiting lines in peak times, though.

 

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