Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours & Oddities Parlor — Attraction in San Antonio

We got the ghost tour walk as a Christmas gift, and we finally had a chance to go last night. I'm not sure what exactly I expected, but I figured a tour guide with charisma and some spooky facts/stories. Our tour guide was...well, more like a summer camp host telling ghost stories around a campfire for 12 year old girls. It was jokey and cartoony. And, no offense, but she just had ZERO charisma, and charisma is needed to keep people's attention. - we didn't realize it at the time, but from the jump she said she needed most of the group to make it back to the shop with her - this was foreshadowing. The first part of the journey is about 20 feet from the shop, at the Menger, where we spent about 30-45 minutes, and the guide had already lost the adult's attention. The bugs were biting us, and the stories were, frankly, boring, and mostly captured on the nearby plaque, which disagreed with many of her "facts." We finally walked a short distance to the Alamo, I'm not even sure what that part was about, just some history about some of the battle, and my 13 year old daughter was already saying: "this low-key SUUUUCKS." We then walked over to the Casino Club, where she spouted some more made up facts about the place that were clearly inaccurate based on the plaque she was standing next to. It was here where the bacon wrapped hot dog stand nearby was mentioned, and she asked us to wait until after the tour to visit, we took this as our opportunity to bail. This tour was a decent idea, but just kind of boring overall, also with all the vibrant life and music around, the watered down ghost stories to keep it kid friendly, and a lack of charisma just made it...well, meh. We all felt like we would have preferred to just read the plaques, since we did that anyway because the stories weren't captivating. I probably would have stuck the tour out because I like history, even inaccurate history, but we were all relieved to get some food, and not have that awkward thing where you are expected to tip the tour guide at the end. I'm glad it cost us nothing, because I would have felt ripped off. As it was, it just turned into an excuse to go downtown. The bus ride is probably better, but it costs way more (double?) but, I for sure wouldn't recommend the walking tour, especially to locals, unless you enjoy super watered down, and frankly unbelievable "ghost" stories mixed with a sprinkling of questionable facts, or outright inaccuracies. For us it would be a "no" about going again, but maybe out-of-towners would enjoy it more. It wasn't BAD, but it sure wasn't good enough to even stay on the...

I really wanted to love this ghost tour, but unfortunately, it missed the mark in several ways. Our guide was a super sweet and funny guy who was clearly passionate about what he does. He also dressed the part—his top hat and tall frame made him easy to spot, which was great for keeping our group engaged.

The highlight of the tour was the Menger Hotel. The haunted history of this place is fascinating, and it truly had an eerie energy. Our guide did a great job sharing stories about Sally White and the more haunted rooms, but I wish he had gone deeper into some of the more well-known ghostly activity, like reports of levitating beds and unexplained cigar smoke. Still, this stop was the most engaging part of the tour, and the pictures of apparitions (one on his iPad, another framed in the hotel) added a nice touch.

From there, we got on the tour bus, where we watched a local news segment about hauntings at the hotel. This part was actually really interesting and added credibility to the stories, making it feel more like a true ghost-hunting experience.

However, things started to go downhill after that.

1️⃣ The tour was way too long—advertised as 2 hours but stretched into 3. A big chunk of that was spent in a pitch-black cemetery, where we listened to a very long-winded explanation of seances, personal stories from our guide, and previous sightings. While I appreciate his enthusiasm, it just didn’t feel like a ghost tour at that point—it felt more like a personal monologue that went on too long, especially given that we were freezing and visibly uncomfortable.

2️⃣ The tipping speech at the end felt off. When we finally made it back to the bus, the guide didn’t open the doors right away and instead gave a speech about how they “live on tips” and how this is “how I feed my family.” He then reminded us that both he and the bus driver expected tips and listed every payment option available (CashApp, Venmo, Zelle, etc.). I absolutely believe in tipping, but after paying $110 for two tickets—and with a group of 30+ people—it just left a bad taste in my mouth. It felt like a high-pressure sales pitch rather than an optional show of appreciation.

Overall, our group had a great energy, which made the night more enjoyable, but the tour itself was lacking as a ghost tour. It felt more like a history lesson with ghost stories sprinkled in, rather than a truly immersive paranormal experience. If you love San Antonio history and don’t mind a longer tour with lots of storytelling, you might enjoy this. But if you’re looking for a spooky, ghostly adventure, this may not be...

Overall fun tour. Lady Lex was our guide and she is both knowledgeable and versatile in keeping the crowd engaged and having fun. She has a great sense of humor!

The driver was a nice guy and a safe driver, I’m sorry I don’t remember his name but he definitely cared about the participants.

My feedback for the tour operator is about how much walking and standing occurs on a bus tour and being considerate of people’s time.

It may not seem like a lot of walking or standing for someone fully mobile (like me or the guides) but walking from the store to the Menger lobby and then standing for the storytelling of three different long winded stories and then walking to the bus - was a bit much for someone with mobility issues - and they wouldn’t expect it when choosing a BUS tour from a group who offered both walking tours or bus tours.

I didn’t think much of it because at the time my husband wasn’t complaining to me - but later he told me for the first 35 -45 minutes he was worried we would need to leave the tour if there was much more walking or standing.

When we got out at the other locations, three people were sharing the same mobility concerns for members of their group.

The other thing was we started 15 min late waiting for a group of 4 people who went to Starbucks and didn’t make it back before the tour start time - so Lex said we’d wait till they got back - and 20 other people stood there waiting for them.

The walking tour had a similar experience - as they were waiting to start…4 from their group weren’t present to start and the operator waited for them while the 16 other people stood there. Their tour guide said she needed to “go inside and recalculate her plan.” I wondered if that meant the other people who were on time missed out on 15 minutes of something originally planned in the tour.

Start time should be start time.

We overall had a good time and I would recommend the tour to others, with the caveat make sure they ask exactly how much standing and walking and compare that to their...