If you are not an American citizen there is very little hope of visiting the actual White House. Even citizens have to apply to their State Senator if they want to visit? As a Brit I find this really odd. Anyone of any nationality can buy tickets to visit Buckingham Palace or tour The House of Commons here in the UK. The Visitor Centre, as other reviews state, is the next best thing. There are many artefacts and some interesting information about how the White House operates. We spent probably 1-2 hrs enjoyably meandering around the exhibits.

It's not easy to get tickets and access to the White House these days. Not like in the good old days when people could just line up and get in the same day. Unless you're among the lucky few to get tickets (best chance is by requesting through your Congressional Representative), you might enjoy the exhibits in the White House Visitors Center. They have lots of displays about the history of the White House and interesting videos of president's speeches and events that took place at the White House.

It's probably the best alternative if you can't access the white house. As British citizens, the embassy won't facilitate white house tours at this time. It's okay. Designed to give you the history of the building and its various occupants. Nice video towards one end of the hall. It's free so you can't complain too much I guess.

Sadly we found that we couldn’t submit a request to visit the White House for the time we were in Washington as it’s simply not possible right now for UK citizens. My trusty guide book said that the visitors centre was a great alternative and I have to say it wasn’t wrong. We arrived early as we wanted to do the Monument after and we needed to get tickets for that so we arrived for 7:30am opening and of course it was dead. Only a few visitors trickled in while we walked round but we mostly had the place to ourselves. There are many interesting items from past Presidents as well as a detailed history of the White House and all its former occupants. I would allow yourself an hour, or just slightly more to take everything in. I’d love to be able to visit the actual White House one day but I definitely came away from the visitors centre feeling enriched with knowledge. Well worth a visit.

Interesting exhibits on the White House and its former occupants. Exhibits include items such as furniture, dishes, decorations, photos, former occupants, etc. and there is a gift shop inside. The exhibits were worth seeing but we didn't get the impression there are constant additions to the collection.

This is a separate building from The White House and it's located a few blocks away. You don't need a tour pass to enter here like with The White House and it's a nice place to visit along with the actual White House (or instead if you can't get a tour). It houses a large museum to The White House and has a great amount of information inside. It also houses a nice gift shop, so you can get souvenirs here (there's a small gift shop inside The White House too, but this is the big one). It's a nice little museum and I would recommend coming here!

Quiet little gem. Great video about recent families who have lived in the White House telling what they found exciting about being in the White House. Great little shop; has past White House ornaments. Not all years, but they have several to choose from. Great sitting area if someone in your group needs to rest. Clean restrooms. Close to Reagan Building where you can get a quick lunch.

We hadn't heard about this Visitors Centre until the girl in the Capitol gift shop mentioned it. It is quite near the White House but check it on the map. It was a very good museum with various artifacts from the White House over the years and lots of information about it. There was a film with Reflections from presidents and other photographs on TV screen. There is also a gift shop. It's a very spacious museum. There was no entry fee. There is security screening at the entry. We were there in early March and there were very few people visiting. I really enjoyed the visit and would highly recommend it.

At the White House Visitors Center, our US History Tour group was shown a film about life at the White House, featuring quotes, videos, and pictures from people who had lived there. There were artifacts and displays about the presidents and families, a scale model of the building, and other interesting information. I enjoyed a cute interactive quiz with a table, showing favorite foods of a number of presidents, and you guess which president it was—two of the foods were squirrel soup, and jelly beans. There was a small gift shop where I chose my favorite from a number of official White House Christmas ornaments. This Visitors Center was a great intro before going to see the White House and grounds.