Savannah Trolley Tours: Which One Is Worth It?

Old Town Trolley hop-on hop-off

This is the day ticket. Viator lists it as 2 to 8 hours, which is how long you may keep riding, not how long one circuit takes. Old Town Trolley's Savannah page, read October 16, 2026, says the narrated loop is about 90 minutes, trolleys run about every 20 minutes, and the day is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The tour is closed on St. Patrick's Day. A 2-day ticket on the same listing has to be used on consecutive days. Children under 4 ride free.

That operator page names 16 stops. Stop 1 is the Old Savannah Distillery at 234 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., which is also the Viator start point. The list continues through Franklin Square, the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Madison Square, Forsyth Park, Taylor Square, the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, the Visitors Center at 301 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the Old Town Trolley Welcome Center, City Market, River Street, the Waving Girl, the Davenport House, and the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Viator's hop-on text still says guests can join at any of 15 stops. If you are aiming for one corner, use the operator map. Check the hop-on day ticket.

It suits a first full day, families who want to get off at the park or the river, and anyone who would rather ride the long stretches. It is the wrong ticket if you only have 75 minutes.

Narrated loops, and the shuttle difference

Old Savannah Tours is the 75-minute product. Viator calls it a continuous, live-narrated ride: the stories from the on/off tour, delivered without getting off. It meets at 217 West Boundary Street. The shared-tour cap on the listing is 38. Wheelchair-accessible times are listed at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. The from-price is $35.26, rated 4.60 from 3,006 reviews. Book it when the afternoon is the only window you have. Check the 75-minute loop.

Gray Line's narrated ticket is a different product at almost the same price, $35.31. The narration is 90 minutes and uninterrupted. After that, the ticket includes shuttle drop-offs and pickups at the operator's stops, so you do not sit through the tour again to cross town. Historic District hotel pickup is included. Hotels outside the Historic District are not. The meeting point on the listing is 301 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Rating 4.71 from 770 reviews, the highest in this set. Infants sit on a lap, and the child band starts at age 3. Check the 90-minute tour with shuttle.

Trolley and river cruise

Gray Line's land-and-sea listing is a 90-minute history trolley and a 90-minute Savannah River cruise, with a gap between them. The published duration is 5 hours. You meet at 301 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. For the boat, the listing says to check in at the riverboat office at 9 East River Street. The inclusions mention pickup at select Savannah hotels. Food and drinks are not included. The from-price is $81.32, rated 4.41 from 2,194 reviews. That is the lowest rating here and the second-largest review count.

It is worth the jump in price if you want the squares and the river on one ticket and can use the gap. The URL path says hop-on hop-off. The inclusions do not. Read them as a 90-minute narrated trolley plus the cruise. Viator allows a weather cancellation. Confirm the date you want, because a windy river day is not the same product as a sunny one. Check the trolley and cruise.

Prohibition Museum add-on

Old Town Trolley plus American Prohibition Museum admission is the hop-on day ticket with museum entry added. The from-price is $65.74. Viator shows 7 reviews and a 3.86 rating. That is too thin to rank against the main hop-on ticket, which has 7,391 reviews. Buy it only if the museum was already the plan. Check the museum add-on.

Trolley, walking, or a carriage

Walking still shows you more doorways. A trolley is the overview when the humidity wins or the group has uneven pace. If you want the squares at sidewalk speed, start with our Savannah walking tours guide.

A carriage is a third thing: slower, smaller streets, and a different price. It is not a 16-stop loop. Our Savannah carriage tours guide is the comparison for that ride.

Nighttime ghost trolleys are a separate product and are not compared here. See Savannah ghost tours.

Free alternative: the dot shuttle

Chatham Area Transit runs a free downtown shuttle called the dot, funded by the City of Savannah. On the CAT page read October 16, 2026, it is two loops, Forsyth and Downtown, arriving about every ten minutes at 18 Historic District stops, seven days a week. Hours on that page are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and listed holidays 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. CAT says there is no service on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Day. The shuttle is ADA compliant. Service dogs only.

The dot is a bus, not a narrated tour. Use it to move. Use a trolley if you want the commentary. Confirm the day's hours on CAT's dot shuttle page, because published times can change.

Where trolleys pick up, and parking

Old Town Trolley's Welcome Center is at 214 West Boundary Street. The operator's page says tour guests may park there free, the desk is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and restrooms are inside. The Viator start point for the hop-on ticket is a different corner: 234 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Old Savannah Tours meets at 217 West Boundary Street, beside that welcome center. Gray Line's narrated tour and the land-and-sea ticket both list 301 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Hotel pickup is not a blanket promise. Gray Line's narrated-plus-shuttle listing includes it for Historic District hotels only. The land-and-sea inclusions mention select Savannah hotels. The Old Town Trolley hop-on listing is meet-at-the-stop. Garage and meter rules for the rest of downtown are in our Historic District parking guide.

Holiday season, late November through December

Old Town Trolley publishes a separate Holiday Sights and Festive Nights Tour for November 27 through December 30, 2026. The operator lists it as 2 hours, beginning and ending at 234 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., with reservations required. Those holiday tickets are non-refundable on the operator's page. You may reschedule up to 24 hours ahead if seats remain. Ages 3 and under ride free as a lap child. That holiday run is not one of the Viator products in the table above.

The daytime hop-on schedule is the other ticket. The operator says the regular Savannah tour runs daily except St. Patrick's Day. December still books up around the holiday lights, so reserve the daytime ticket for the date you want rather than assuming a walk-up seat. Details are on Old Town Trolley's holiday tour page.