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Study Tours

Study Tours

Smithsonian Associates Study Tours takes the educational intent of our fabulous programming outside the classroom and on the road!

About our tours

Each tour is led by one of our Study Leaders with expertise in the subject matter along with a Smithsonian Representative to handle all the logistics and comforts of the group. The study leader imparts knowledge both formally and informally throughout the tour, with methods that can include a background lecture, handout materials, narrating site visits, and stimulating social engagement with all participants during the course of the tour.

Tour types

Study tours include day bus trips, multi-day and overnight tours, and shorter neighborhood walks or visits to specific sites. We offer over 70 study tours each year, and we hope you will join us!

Select a tour type to learn more:

Day bus tours visit destinations as close as Capitol Hill and as far as New York City or Maryland's Eastern Shore. Topics for these tours are wide-ranging and cover subjects such as military history, art, architecture, railroading, horticulture, gastronomy, and literature.

Popular tours have included:

  • Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
  • John Wilkes Booth's Escape Route
  • Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
  • Sultana Cruise & Historic Chestertown
  • The Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Overnight tours give Study Leaders the opportunity to take a group a greater distance from Washington, DC. Study Leaders spend more time with participants and explore the subject in greater detail. The majority of these tours depart from Washington, DC, however for some tours the group meets at the destination.

Popular tours have included:

  • Best of Brooklyn, New York
  • Berkshires Summer Sampler
  • Exploring Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago
  • Corning Museum of Glass
  • West Virginia Railroad Spectacular

Walking and on-site tours last two to three hours. Participants meet directly at the tour destination and spend time with the Study Leader exploring that particular subject or neighborhood.

Popular tours have included:

  • Inside Smithsonian Libraries
  • Architecture on the National Mall
  • Dupont Circle and Embassy Row
  • Sunrise Hike at Great Falls
  • Roosevelt Island Walks

Resources

Meet your Study Leaders

All upcoming Study Tours

Programs 1 to 5 of 20
The Golden Age of Steam: Strasburg Rail Excursion and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Saturday, ​October 5, 2024 - ​7:30 a.m. ​to 7:00 p.m. ET​
In-Person Tour
Register

A mecca for aficionados of railroad technology and history, Strasburg, Pennsylvania, offers the ideal destination for a tour led by rail historian James Reaves. Featured in the leisurely day are a round-trip steam train excursion through beautiful Lancaster County on the country’s oldest continuously operating railroad and an afternoon at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, which houses more than 100 locomotives and cars.

The Hamptons for Art Lovers
Saturday, ​October 5, ​2024 - 8:00 a.m., ​to Wednesday, ​October 9, ​2024 - 8:30 p.m. ET​
In-Person Overnight Tour
Register

The stark natural beauty of Long Island’s South Fork has inspired painters from William Merritt Chase and Childe Hassam to Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner. Participants in a 5-day tour led by arts journalist Richard Selden encounter works by these artists and others at galleries in the Hamptons; visit the former home and studio of Krasner and Pollock; and take in the Brooklyn Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery during travel to and from Long Island. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

Stories of the First Ladies
Saturday, ​October 5, 2024 - ​10:00 a.m. ​to 12:00 p.m. ET​
In-Person Tour
Register

From Martha Washington to Jill Biden, each woman who has served in the role of first lady of the United States has a story. During a walking tour of the area around the White House, A Tour of Her Own staff members share a few of these sagas.

An Immersion in Nature
Japanese Forest Bathing, Urban Style
Tuesday, ​October 8, 2024 - ​8:30 a.m. ​to 10:30 a.m. ET​
In-Person Tour
Register

Experience forest bathing as Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a certified nature and forest-therapy guide, leads a 2-hour morning walk in the Enid A. Haupt Garden at the Smithsonian Castle. This unique and restorative celebration of the beauty of autumn in in one of Washington’s garden gems is the perfect way to learn why forest bathing is popular all over the world.

An Immersion in Nature
Japanese Forest Bathing, Urban Style
Wednesday, ​October 9, 2024 - ​8:30 a.m. ​to 10:30 a.m. ET​
In-Person Tour
Register

Experience forest bathing as Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a certified nature and forest-therapy guide, leads a 2-hour morning walk in the Enid A. Haupt Garden at the Smithsonian Castle. This unique and restorative celebration of the beauty of autumn in in one of Washington’s garden gems is the perfect way to learn why forest bathing is popular all over the world.