Santa Barbara Trolley Tour

Spent the weekend in Santa Barbara with some friends enjoying good food and great experiences. We really enjoyed the Trolley Tour. The guide was funny, friendly, polite and very knowledgeable. He made the tour entertaining and had some great recommendations as well.

I had planned a great day. It was the first time out with my family after staying locked in for Covid safety. First the instructions for the tickets were to collect the tickets in a different location then the pick up location for the tour. As my family and I walked back-and-forth looking for that location we weren’t able to find it. We went to the information booth where someone really nice told us that basically we just had to wait for the trolley and that we did not need to pick up the tickets elsewhere. I think the information when you reserve the tickets should be a little bit more clear as to how and where you need to go. So after all that we finally got into the trolley and began our tour, the information on the website also says a 90 minute tour. With this in mind, I was able to plan out the day for my family. WRONG! According to the 90 minute specification we should’ve been done by 3:30 at the latest from 2 PM to 3:30 PM however around 3:45 PM we were still at the missions stop. The driver not only took extra time but he also made it a point that he was going to give the riders time to linger through the mission even though we have fallen way behind schedule. I find this unprofessional because people have other things that they have reserved and so we were extremely late to our next event. My appointment was at 3:45 leaving a 15-20 minute cushion time just in case. But by 4 PM we were still on that tour! I think it’s safe to say that the tour was a complete disaster. My next appointment was so upset that my entire party showed up late we weren’t able to enjoy our evening there after because everything was pushed. I think part of your training should be keeping your drivers on schedule and letting them know that even if it’s the last ride of the evening as the guy had said countless times that you still have to remain with the schedule because people do have other plans and they need to stick to their schedules. It cost me extra money due to the delays of this driver and this is unacceptable. Not to mention the fact that I brought it to his attention that we were running behind and his remarks were, sorry this is how I do my rides. He not only seemed not to care that the customer was concerned about the schedule of the time, but also irritated with my question. Also maybe get a new driver all together he wasn’t just late in the timeframe but he was also horrible not really giving interesting facts or notable location information, he was obsessed with State Street which seem to come up even when we were way off State Street. I think he needs to either further educate himself in the architecture and landmarks of Santa Barbara or he just needs to work on State Street. I can say with no doubt that this was the worst tour I’ve ever done in my entire life. I would never recommend this to anyone save yourself some time and money and find another tour that’s more interesting. It looks like the ocean in land tours are a lot more fun.

The trolley driver was very good and very knowledgeable.We enjoyed the montecito and the mission cruise as well. Thank you very much we had a blast.

The tour of beautiful Santa Barbara was lovely. However, the meeting place was VERY confusing!! The directions from Viator said to "exchange voucher for ticket" at the trolley office . When we finally found it, we were told that wasn't necessary!! The voucher was enough. Also, the trolley didn't stop to pick up passengers along the way, as was suggested in the tour description. Tour itself was great and the guide was interesting and we saw a good portion of the area and LaJolla.

I liked the tour, very informative. Interesting points in the city. Very nice knowledgeable driver. Only issue was the speaker system was some what distorted. Made it hard to hear at times.

A great way to introduce our out of town guests to the architecture and essence of Santa Barbara. Our driver and host was professional and informative. I lived and worked in Santa Barbara for 36 years and learned some new things on a well thought out tour route I never would never have known had I tried to tour my friends on my own.