Old Town Trolley Tours — Attraction in San Diego

We bought our tickets on their website so we could be prepared and ready because after all we were celebrating my birthday! Well we go to "check in" at the Old Town ticket booth and first thing I told the lady was here are our tickets we bought them online and first thing she says is "you should've bought them here because we get commission". Wow what a big turn off, I feel as a customer I should be able to buy through whatever platform I want to especially since I bought through the company's website. Our first driver was Deb, she was great!!!! If you get drivers Deb or Milo you will definitely be impressed, they both make it a very personal experience.

We stayed on the trolley until Seaport village, we got off and stayed there for twenty minutes then hopped back on, the trolley came on time and there were no issues. Next we got off at gaslamp (F) and decided we walk through gaslamp and Petco park and get on at (G). Well that was a big mistake getting on at (G). I DON'T recommend getting on or off at this stop definitely not a good stop!  And during that time there was a homeless man had a weapon in his hand walking toward us and the policeman was trying to stop him from coming our way anymore then be did, finally the policeman stopped him. Having a child with us, we definitely felt extra unsafe at this stop. We waited over 20mins for the next trolley to come and when it did come, it was full. They called an empty trolley to come, by the time that trolley was coming another trolley was infront of it but that trolley was full too. Finally when the empty trolley came, we had waited just over 35mins. When we sat down. The trolley conductor asked us, "what happened, they called me and said there were angry people waiting" if that conductor meant it as a joke or not it wasn't appropriate to say. We got off at Coronado and Balboa Park and those went smooth.

All in all just know that just because the trolley comes to each stop approximately every 20mins doesn't mean you will be getting on it due to the fact the trolley is either full coming to the stop or there are too many people waiting for the trolley and not enough open seats. I am not sure if we would take this...

FREE in January for San Diego County Residents

No catch! No fine terms. You only need your ID and your middle or high schoolers are recommended to bring their school i.d.

It's a beautiful tour even if you are familiar with vistas of San Diego. The tour emphases is 11 hot spots from Old Town to The harbor to Coronado Island. Even if you're not a history buff, you'll learn cool facts like: Wyatt Earp had his own saloon in the Gaslamp or the convention center is actually built on water or Bullfights included Bears. Heck! I enjoyed finally being a passenger and seeing San Diego through a tourist lens.

Come experience where your taxes go and what the money does. At least for January you get a kickback on your taxes through tourism. I'm sure Old Town Tours is privately owned.

Our tour guide was enthusiastic but stuck to the basics. I like the guides that add more flavor.

These tips are excellent all year long but most important for FREE January.

First tour is@9 a.m. Runs every 30 minutes. Lines get long at Old Town ticket booth. The entire loop is two hours if you stay on the tour. You can hop on/off at any of the 11 locations but if the train is full you may have to wait an additional 30 minutes. Sit on the right side for best pics of the vistas. If you deboard at Barrio Logan all the murals have QR codes for the "real history". Also Maggie's Cafe is an excellent eating diner. And check out the village boutique shops. The Barrio Logan experience is on your own and may take up to 2 hours. A light jacket is recommended, it can get chilly with the breeze. If you take kiddos, have them write down a couple of interesting facts to stay engaged.

High Fives Free in January. Now you have something to do. You can catch the trolley and walk to the Old Town ticket booth. Nice history.

Meh The on/off stops are not all that clearly marked.

"Tour guides and gratuites are friends. Make someone's...

My husband and I took this company’s trolly tours over a two day period in September 2024. If I could, I would give 10 stars instead of five. All the drivers we encountered, were professional, funny, entertaining and informational. My husband and I were staying at a hotel right near the stop for the Gaslamp Quarter. When we went there to look to buy tickets, there was no place to buy them even though online, it said you could buy them there. We decided to ask the driver of the next trolly that showed up for help.To our surprise he invited us to come onto the trolly anyways, and indicated we could purchase our tickets at one of the other stops along the route where they sold them, which is what we did. That level of service really impressed us. There were many stops to choose from so a great selection of places to hop on hop off such as Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, Seaport Village, Coronado Island, and Old Town, just to name a few. On our second day using this trolly service, we caught the last trolly of the day leaving from Coronado Island. We thought it would drop us off at the Gaslamp Quarter but instead it ended at the Old Town stop, which was nowhere near our hotel. We were really worried we could be stranded and have to call an Uber. Amazingly our driver, said no one gets left behind, and he found another trolly out of service with the driver still in the trolley, willing to take my husband and I and another two young girls who had also missed their stop back to our stop of choice. I was really amazed by this level of customer service. What could’ve been a bad experience, turned into an amazing one. Shout out to Kevin and Jesse drivers from day one of our tour. On the second day shout out to our driver Mike who made sure we weren’t stranded and to Orlando, the driver that took us back to our stop of choice at the...