Plan your Hermitage visit today! We offer several options for various size and age groups. When planning a group tour or field trip, please schedule at least two weeks in advance to ensure a docent is available. Discover all the Hermitage Museum & Gardens has to offer by scheduling your visit today! Learn more by contacting Brie Sease at bsease@thehermitagemuseum.org
Please select one of the options below to complete a tour request.
SELF GUIDED TOURS
Admission is free at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens. Visitors are invited to take a self-guided tour of the estate, Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 – 5pm with no prior reservation required.
GROUP TOUR OPTIONS
Interested in learning all that the Hermitage has to offer? Choose a docent-led tour below here, download and complete a Group Tour Request Form here, and email it to Brie Sease at bsease@thehermitagemuseum.org.
PARKING INFORMATION FOR GROUPS:
On-site parking is available for 30 passenger buses or smaller. If your transportation exceeds this size, please contact Brie Sease at bsease@thehermitagemuseum.org to coordinate.
Please note, that parking large vehicles in the surrounding neighborhood is prohibited.
DOCENT-LED MUSEUM TOUR
Groups may tour the first floor of the museum with a knowledgeable docent, learning about the museum architecture, history, the Sloane family, and the permanent collection which spans over 5,500 years. Highlights of the docent-led tour include behind-the-scenes details, hidden throughout! To ensure the best tour experience, groups of more than 15 will be split up and led by separate guides. Tour groups are limited to 30 visitors. This tour focuses on the permanent collection and does not include current special exhibitions. Duration: 1 hour.
$15 Non-Members / $12 Members
DOCENT-LED GARDENS & GROUNDS TOUR
This outdoor, walking tour of the gardens and grounds introduces the history of our gardens and touches on the many varieties of plants and foliage onsite at the Hermitage. Groups can tour the unique landscape featuring semi-formal gardens, woodland trails, and a picturesque, living shoreline nestled on the Lafayette River. Highlights of the docent-led tour include our extensive conservation efforts and living collection. This tour takes place outdoors and consists of walking on various terrain including gravel, pavement, and turf. To ensure the best tour experience, groups of more than 15 will be split up and led by separate guides. This tour is offered April-October, weather-permitting, and does not include any current special exhibitions. Duration: 1 hour.
$15 Non-Members / $12 Members
COMBINED DOCENT-LED MUSEUM AND GARDENS TOUR
Groups may tour both the museum indoors and the gardens outdoors for a rich Hermitage experience. This combined tour is offered April-October, weather-permitting, and does not include any current special exhibitions. Duration: 2 hours.
$28 Non-Members / $22 Members
HOSTED MUSEUM & GARDEN EXPERIENCE – For groups of more than 30
Large groups of more than 30 visitors may tour the museum and gardens at their own pace. Knowledgeable docents will provide an over of the Hermitage Museum & Gardens and be stationed throughout the museum and gardens to answer questions, provide interesting facts, and additional insight as the groups explore the Hermitage with self-guided brochures and maps. Duration: Up to 1.5 hours.
Rates: 30-50 guests: $150 | 50-100 guests: $250 | 100+ guests: priced upon request
FIELD TRIPS
Field Trips cater to K-12 students and community groups and include a museum tour with a hands-on art-making activity or an outdoor Wetlands Enrichment Tour (WET.)
Field Trip groups have the option to schedule a combined Museum Tour and Art-Making Activity or just a 30-minute Museum Tour. WET Tours cannot be combined with other Field Trip offerings during the same visit. Field Trip groups are welcome to bring picnic lunches and enjoy the Hermitage gardens to eat outdoors after their tour experience.
Interested in booking a field trip? Choose an option below, download and complete a Field Trip Request Form here, and email it to Brie Sease at bsease@thehermitagemuseum.org.
FIELD TRIP MUSEUM TOUR
Field Trip groups may tour the first floor of the museum with a knowledgeable docent, learning about the museum history and the permanent collection which includes objects from all over the world. Opportunities for hands-on engagement with objects similar to those in the collection allow students to expand their understanding of artifacts in the collection. Field Trip Museum Tour groups are limited to 25 students. Duration: 30 minutes.
$5 per student
FIELD TRIP ART-MAKING ACTIVITY
Hands-on art-making activities are led by artists or arts educators. Activities incorporate themes and processes inspired by the museum’s permanent collection. Activities encourage students to explore a variety of art materials and draw connections between the museum’s collection and studio art-making methods.
Field Trip Art-Making Activity groups are limited to 25 students. Duration: Approximately 90 minutes.
$5 per student
FIELD TRIP WETLANDS ENRICHMENT TOUR
The Wetlands Enrichment Tour, or WET, is a hands-on outdoor education program aimed at bringing the Hermitage’s living shoreline restoration to life for students. The activity-based program, geared toward students in 4th grade, teaches the importance of wetlands as a Virginia natural resource, the structure, reproduction, and adaptation of plants, plant and animal interaction in natural habitats, and key vocabulary associated with the following 4th grade SOLs. This program consists of four, hands-on interactive activities that allow students to:
- Tour the Hermitages boardwalk while observing and touching live creatures found in the wetlands
- Build a wetlands model and record experiment findings
- See, touch, and smell the native plants living and growing in the Hermitage wetlands and buffer areas while doing observational drawings
- Play an interactive game to discover the various habitats of creatures that live on land and in water
This tour is offered April-October, weather-permitting and does not include the indoor Museum Tour. WET Tour groups are limited to 30 students. Duration: Approximately 90 minutes.
$5 per student
