Key takeaways
- The memorial needs no ticket at all. Free entry, open 24 hours, rangers on duty 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. — see the opening hours.
- Only the undercroft is ticketed. Timed entry since 25 June 2026, into 15,000 square feet of exhibits under the floor — what is down there.
- You can get that ticket yourself, free. The National Park Service does not charge; Recreation.gov adds $1.00 a ticket, or take a walk-up ticket at 8:45 a.m. — step by step.
- 16 of the 18 tours in this catalogue do not include the undercroft. A general monuments tour stops outside, and almost nobody tells you that before you book — the undercroft column, for every tour.
- The steps are not the only way in. There is an elevator to the chamber, to the left of the steps — step-free access.
What an undercroft ticket actually costs
What the undercroft entry ticket includes
One product in this catalogue sells nothing but the undercroft ticket. Here is what arrives, and what it does not change.
What you get
- A digital timed-entry ticket for the undercroft, in your name
- The Recreation.gov booking made for you, the $1 reservation fee included
- A digital guidebook to the exhibits
- Direct entry at the door — show the ticket to a ranger
What it does not change
- The memorial above is free either way; the ticket is only for the museum below
- Non-refundable — unlike most tours here, there is no free cancellation
- The service is independent, and not affiliated with the memorial or the National Park Service — the operator says so on its own page
- The Park Service can still close the undercroft for maintenance, security or weather
What you see, in order
The approach, the chamber and the museum underneath — the sequence the building was designed to be read in.
Most people arrive from the east, along the Reflecting Pool, climb the steps past the “I Have a Dream” marker, stand in front of the statue, read the two inscribed side walls, and only then go down into the undercroft. In that order it takes about an hour.
- The approach from the Reflecting Pool — The long view the architect Henry Bacon designed for, drawing on the Parthenon. Thirty-six Doric columns stand around the outside, with two more at the entrance, each 44 feet tall and cut with 20 flutes.
- The steps and the “I Have a Dream” marker — A marker set into the steps reads I HAVE A DREAM / MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. / THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM / AUGUST 28, 1963. King spoke from the upper landing; Marian Anderson sang here in 1939, after she was refused a segregated venue. If stairs are a problem, the elevator is to the left of them.
- The chamber and the statue — Daniel Chester French’s seated Lincoln, 19 feet tall, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers from 28 blocks of white Georgia marble. It weighs 120 tons, 175 with the pedestal, and the head alone is 3 feet 7 inches tall.
- The two inscribed side walls — The Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address are carved into the two side walls of the chamber. On one of them an engraver cut an E where an F belonged; the Park Service says the error was corrected by filling in part of the carving, and it is still faintly visible if you know to look. What to look at inside.
- Down into the undercroft — Fifteen thousand square feet of exhibit space under the floor, opened 25 June 2026, threaded through the grid of concrete columns that carries the memorial above. Timed ticket, interactive displays and a film — how it works.
The memorial itself is open all night and lit, so this walk works at 11 p.m. as well as at 11 a.m. The undercroft does not: it runs 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from March to October and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. from November to February, with last entry an hour before closing. See the memorial after dark.
The one product that sells only the undercroft ticket
It costs under thirty dollars a head and it is straight about what it is. The operator’s own booking page says: “The National Park Service does not charge for these tickets, though they do apply a $1 reservation fee, which is included in your convenience package.” What you are buying is the booking, not the entry. Plenty of people will happily pay that rather than spend a morning on it; if you would rather not, do it yourself in about five minutes.
Three ways to spend money here, compared
A ticket with no guide, a guide with a ticket, and the most-reviewed monuments tour in the catalogue — which does not go into the undercroft at all.
| Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Direct Entry with Guidebook | Both, in oneNational Mall Evening Tour with Lincoln Undercroft Tickets | Monuments by Moonlight Nighttime Trolley Tour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $25 | $89 | $60 |
| Undercroft included | Yes | Yes | No |
| Live guide | No, self-guided | Yes, 2 hours | Yes, 2.5 hours |
| Runs | Daytime and evening | Evening | After dark |
| Cancellation | Non-refundable | Free up to 24 hrs | Free up to 24 hrs |
| Reviews so far | 4 | None yet | 1,599 |
| Best for | Just the museum | One evening, both things | Seeing the Mall lit |
| View → | Book this → | View → |
Photo Gallery
The tours, and the light they run in
Operators’ own photographs of the tours featured on this page.
Six tours worth comparing
The two that include the undercroft come first. The other four are the best-evidenced monuments tours in the catalogue, and none of them goes into the museum. Across all 18, the spread is wide and every card below carries its own price.
Undercroft entryLincoln Memorial Undercroft Direct Entry with Guidebook
Guide + undercroftNational Mall Evening Tour with Lincoln Undercroft Tickets
Most reviewedMonuments by Moonlight Nighttime Trolley Tour
Small groupDC Monuments & History Electric Cart Tour, Day or Night
Highest ratedMonuments and Memorials Bike Tour
On footMonuments & Memorials National Mall Sunset Walking Tour
This is what the Lincoln Memorial looks like
Six photographs of the building itself, taken by people who were standing there. You could take shots like these yourself, from the same spots, on any day of the year. Click any photograph to see it full size.
What people say about the tours featured here
Reviews left on GetYourGuide for the tours on this page.
Excellent. Nice to be able to sit down and ride around after touring DC on foot all day. The trolley makes three stops where you can get off and walk around and take pictures. There isn’t a lot of time at the stops, but it is sufficient.
Joel was our guide and he was great. Plenty of information and answered questions we asked of him. Timing was good with riding and getting off for photo ops and bathroom break.
Good amount of time to cycle round with some time spent to explore every monument and take pictures. Great cycle road system for getting around.
Our guide, Robert, was fantastic. We enjoyed the tour around the National Mall. Robert was very informative and kept our family engaged.
Driver was great, a female army vet too. Was knowledgeable and spoke clearly. Drove good and respectful. Overall great tour and would recommend.
We thoroughly enjoyed this three hour ride, visiting the monuments. Our bikes were of a high standard. Our guide Greg was very knowledgeable and accommodating.
Ratings and reviews are the operators’ live GetYourGuide figures. Read our full tour reviews ›
Quick answers before you book anything
The five questions people ask me on the steps, in the order they ask them.
Do I need a ticket for the Lincoln Memorial?
No. The memorial has no entrance fee and no ticket, and it is open 24 hours a day. The undercroft museum underneath it is the only ticketed part. The full answer.
Can I get the undercroft ticket without paying anyone?
Yes. The National Park Service does not charge for these tickets. Booking on Recreation.gov adds a $1.00 non-refundable service charge per ticket, and walk-up tickets are free from 8:45 a.m. at the Korean War Veterans Memorial kiosk. How the undercroft works.
Does my monuments tour include the undercroft?
Probably not. Only two of the 18 tours in this catalogue include timed undercroft entry; the other 16 stop at the memorial and go no further down. Check before you pay — every tour, with the undercroft column.
How long should I allow?
Twenty minutes for the chamber and the walls if you are passing through. Closer to an hour and a half if you are going down into the museum as well. How long to spend.
Is a guided tour worth paying for at all?
The memorial is free, so the honest question is what you want to buy around it: an evening walk, a trolley seat, or the museum booking. A monuments tour costs less than dinner and covers ground you would otherwise walk in the dark. What a guided tour costs.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Lincoln Memorial tour and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
The Lincoln Memorial, explained
I guide on the National Mall most weeks, and since the end of June I have had the same conversation at the bottom of the steps almost daily. Someone is trying to buy a ticket for the Lincoln Memorial and cannot work out why nobody will sell them one. There are now two things here sharing a name, and only one of them is ticketed.
The memorial itself: free, and never shut
The National Park Service charges no entrance fee for the Lincoln Memorial, and it lists the National Mall sites as places you may visit 24 hours a day — the Washington Monument is the exception there, not this. Rangers are on duty from 9:30 in the morning until 10 at night; outside those hours the building is simply open. I have been in the chamber at half past five on a January morning with two other people in it.
The undercroft: the part that does need a ticket
On 25 June 2026 the Park Service opened the undercroft: 15,000 square feet of exhibit space under the memorial floor, threaded through the grid of concrete columns that holds the building up. Interactive displays and a multimedia presentation cover how the memorial’s meaning has shifted over its first century. It is fully accessible, and the film has open captions.
This is the only ticketed part, and the ticket is a time slot rather than a fee. The National Park Service does not charge for these tickets. Recreation.gov releases them 30 days ahead at 11 a.m. Eastern and next-day slots at 4 p.m. Eastern, up to six per transaction, and adds a $1.00 non-refundable service charge per ticket. Walk-up tickets are free, first come first served, from 8:45 a.m. at the Korean War Veterans Memorial kiosk. Undercroft hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from March to October and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. from November to February, with last entry an hour before closing.
What the paid ticket actually buys
One product in this catalogue sells the undercroft slot and nothing else, for under thirty dollars a head, and it is honest about what that is. The operator’s own page says: “The National Park Service does not charge for these tickets, though they do apply a $1 reservation fee, which is included in your convenience package.” You are paying someone to do the booking in your name and hand you a guidebook. If you land the night before and would rather not spend the morning on Recreation.gov, that is a defensible trade. It is self-guided, and non-refundable.
Both undercroft products have very little review evidence — four reviews on one, none on the other. That is arithmetic about a museum that opened in June, not a verdict on either operator. One of those four is worth reading first: Corina wrote that she “was expecting more from it. The exhibition was comparatively very small for this huge monument.” Go down expecting an exhibition, not a second memorial.
16 of the 18 tours here do not go down there
This is the sentence I would most like people to read first. Of the 18 Washington tours compared on this site, only two include timed undercroft entry. The other 16 visit the memorial and stop at floor level, which is what they say if you read far enough down the page, and what nobody reads. A monuments tour is still worth buying; it is just not a way into the museum. If the undercroft is why you are booking, check for that word.
The steps, and the two numbers
There is no single answer, because the Park Service counts two different stretches of stair on two different pages. Its Lincoln Memorial Steps page says visitors climb 87 steps from the edge of the Reflecting Pool to the memorial chamber, and makes the “four score and seven” joke itself. Its Lincoln Memorial Myths page uses 57 for the memorial’s own flights, while knocking down the claim that the number matches Lincoln’s age — he was 56. Both are right for what each one measures. If neither appeals, the Park Service says there is an elevator to the left of the steps, up to the chamber.
What to look at once you are up there
Thirty-six Doric columns stand round the outside, with two more at the entrance, 44 feet tall and cut with 20 flutes each. Daniel Chester French’s seated Lincoln is 19 feet tall, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers from 28 blocks of white Georgia marble; the head alone is 3 feet 7 inches high. The Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address are cut into the two side walls, and on one of them an engraver put an E where an F belonged. The Park Service says it was corrected by filling in part of the carving. You can still find it.
Then there are the steps themselves. Marian Anderson sang from them in 1939 after she was refused a segregated venue. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech from the upper landing in 1963, and a marker set into the stone reads I HAVE A DREAM / MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. / THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM / AUGUST 28, 1963. It takes most people a minute to find, and it is worth it.
How I would plan the visit
Take an early undercroft slot, because that is the part with a clock on it, and leave the memorial itself for late. The building is open all night and lit, and after about ten in the evening the chamber is closer to empty than you will ever see it at noon. Nearest Metro is Foggy Bottom–GWU, about 0.8 miles away; metered spaces on Ohio Drive SW have an enforced two-hour limit.
One last thing, because it comes up every week: Lincoln is not buried here. The Park Service lists that among the memorial’s myths. He is buried in Springfield, Illinois.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need tickets for the Lincoln Memorial?
No. The Lincoln Memorial is free, has no entrance fee and is open 24 hours a day, so you can walk into the chamber at three in the morning if you want to. The one exception is the undercroft museum beneath it, open since 25 June 2026, which runs on timed entry. See do you need a ticket.
How do I get a Lincoln Memorial undercroft ticket?
Two ways, and the National Park Service charges for neither. Book on Recreation.gov, which releases tickets 30 days ahead at 11 a.m. Eastern and next-day tickets at 4 p.m. Eastern and adds a $1.00 non-refundable service charge per ticket; or take a free walk-up ticket from 8:45 a.m. at the Korean War Veterans Memorial kiosk. Up to six tickets per transaction. More on the undercroft.
Do guided tours include the undercroft?
Usually not. Of the 18 tours compared here, two include timed undercroft entry and 16 do not, which makes it the most expensive assumption you can carry into a general monuments tour. Every tour, with the undercroft column.
What time does the Lincoln Memorial open and close?
It does not close. National Park Service rangers are on duty 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, but the memorial itself may be visited around the clock. The undercroft keeps ordinary museum hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from March to October, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. from November to February, with last entry an hour before closing. Opening hours in full.
How many steps are there up to the Lincoln Memorial?
Two National Park Service pages give two figures, because they count different stretches of stair. The Park Service’s Lincoln Memorial Steps page says visitors climb 87 steps from the edge of the Reflecting Pool to the memorial chamber. Its Lincoln Memorial Myths page uses 57 for the memorial’s own flights, while knocking down the claim that the count matches Lincoln’s age. The step count, explained.
Is there step-free access to the Lincoln Memorial?
Yes. The Park Service says there is an elevator to the left of the steps, up to the chamber with the statue and the inscriptions, and the undercroft is fully accessible with open captions on its film. Seven accessible parking spaces sit on Daniel Chester French Drive, with a two-hour limit. Step-free access.
Is Abraham Lincoln buried at the Lincoln Memorial?
No, and people arrive expecting a tomb often enough that the Park Service lists it among the memorial’s myths. Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Illinois. Where Lincoln is buried.
How do I get to the Lincoln Memorial?
The nearest Metro is Foggy Bottom–GWU on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines, about 0.8 miles away; Smithsonian, on the same lines, is about 1.2 miles. Metered street parking on Ohio Drive SW has a two-hour maximum, enforced by ticketing and towing. Getting there.
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