Travel Services
Whether you're traveling in a large group or interested in leading a student tour, our travel services can help.
Group Travel
Smithsonian Student Travel
Smithsonian Student Travel provides students and teachers hands-on, educational class trips to Washington, DC and across the nation. These all-inclusive packages to dozens of destinations include varying themes, itineraries and affordable pricing to create a special experience for every group.
Additional resources—travel journals, guides, games and educational online tools are tailored to accommodate every trip adding to the learning and enjoyment of students.
To view tours, prices and full itineraries visit SmithsonianStudentTravel.com or call 1-800-503-2323
Top Tours
The most popular tours among students and teachers include historical, innovative and interactive attractions. Whether touring the nation’s capital with the people who know it best, or trekking across the Eastern Seaboard. Smithsonian’s most popular class tours contain something new for everyone to learn.
History at the Smithsonian
This tour will satisfy any history buff in the class, as well as the window gazers. Students will experience exhibits at different Smithsonian museums highlighting history, culture and the arts. Encountering Native American artifacts, presidential portraits or even a pair of ruby slippers, once worn by actress Judy Garland in the 1932 film “Wizard of Oz,” insures that students enjoy and discover the collage of events that tell America’s story.
Science at the Smithsonian
Shattering Washington, D.C.’s reputation of being a town filled with pure politics, this tour exposes students the city’s rich scientific destinations. Students will explore exhibits at the National Museum of Air and Space, gaze at a show at the Smithsonian’s Einstein Planetarium and travel to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
Washington, D.C.: The Capital Tour
Students will experience the racing pulse of politics by being immersed in the center of the city. Discover American history and present-day policymaking by visiting places like the Capital and the Supreme Court. Many other destinations on the tour—the FDR memorial and the Washington Monument—provide a unique lesson in the government’s role in the past.
The Eastern Seaboard
Explore the history of four major U.S. cities. Students will experience Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. examining and discussing the history, culture and development of the key role of these metropolises in shaping the United States.
Dont Miss
One Life: Thomas Paine, The Radical Founding Father
This exhibition features Thomas Paine (1737-1809), whose pamphlet Common Sense fired up Americans to get on with a declaration of independence and whose exhortation, "These are the times that try men's souls," was read by General Washington to his dispirited troops. His story begins in Philadelphia when he arrived in 1774; continues through his tumultuous years in England, where his anti-monarchy diatribe -- Rights of Man -- brought charges of seditious libel; and ends in revolutionary France, where he barely escaped the guillotine. Paine, also the author of The Age of Reason -- a bold attack on organized religion -- returned to America in 1802 to find himself scorned by his old associates and much of the public. He died in poverty, his bones were later stolen and dispersed, but his words have resounded down through the ages. Featured in the exhibition is the museum's recently acquired portrait of Paine depicted by the French artist Laurant Dabos around 1792.
Now - November 29, 2009
National Portrait Gallery
1st Floor, East Side
Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009
- This exhibition features works by the following four artists:
- Christyl Boger (b. 1959), who creates large-scale gilded ceramic figurines that incorporate contemporary props
- Mark Newport (b. 1964), who examines issues of masculinity through knitted superhero costumes
- Mary Van Cline (b. 1954), who uses plate glass and pate de verre to construct sculptural pieces that often incorporate black-and-white photographs
- SunKoo Yuh (b. 1960), who creates densely layered ceramic sculptures that explore complex issues of family, faith, and community with Eastern and Western imagery
Now - January 3, 2010
Renwick Gallery
1st Floor, Special Exhibitions Gallery
Rules of the Road
Enjoy the museums responsibly. Reviewing these simple guidelines (and discussing them with children prior to arrival) helps ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all visitors:
- Be prepared to have your shopping bags, purses & backpacks checked by security officers
- Still & video cameras are permitted in most galleries but are prohibited in special exhibitions, this includes cellphones
- Tripods & flash photography are not permitted indoors
- No outside food/beverages allowed; most museums have cafes & snack bars; and water fountains
- Smoking is prohibited in all Smithsonian facilities
- Don't touch any of the exhibits
- Decide on a time/location as a 'meeting spot' in case you get separated from your party (most museums have an information desk at the entrance, however, some may have more than one)
