San Diego Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour: Is It Worth It?

The Old Town Trolley hop-on hop-off tour is worth it if you have one or two days in San Diego and want to cover Coronado, Balboa Park, Old Town and the waterfront without driving or parking. The loop is 25 miles with 11 stops and takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to ride all the way round without getting off, which tells you the real constraint: you cannot do all 11 stops properly in a day. Tickets start at $48.45 for one day and $93.50 for two, and the service runs 363 days a year, closing only on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Here is what the ride is actually like and how to plan a day around it.

How the San Diego trolley tour works

The San Diego trolley tour works on a hop-on hop-off ticket: you buy it once, then get on and off as often as you like at the designated stops for a whole day, or two days on the longer ticket.

You cannot board anywhere you like. The trolleys stop only at the marked stops, which are spread across the city centre, the waterfront, Balboa Park, Old Town and Coronado.

Three practical numbers shape the day. There are 11 stops, the loop is 25 miles (40.2 km), and riding the whole circuit without leaving the trolley takes about 1 hour 45 minutes. Divide the rest of your day by that and you get the honest answer: three or four stops is a realistic day, and five is a rush.

Tickets also include free or discounted entry to several museums and attractions along the route, which is worth checking against what you were planning to visit anyway before you decide the ticket is expensive.

Old Town Trolley Tours was started by three friends in Key West, Florida, in the early 1970s, originally to bring visitors into the historic part of that town. The company now runs in several US cities, San Diego among them.

What it costs and when it runs

A one-day San Diego trolley ticket starts at $48.45 and a two-day ticket at $93.50, on the operator’s own current pricing. Buy online, at any ticket booth, or at many hotel front desks.

The timetable changes with the season, and the number that matters is the last departure from Old Town, because everything else follows from it.

Tours run 363 days a year and close only on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Times are subject to change, and big events in San Diego, including Comic-Con and December Nights, alter the schedule, so check on the day if you are visiting during one.

Our afternoon on the San Diego trolley

We took the trolley with only an afternoon left in San Diego, and the compressed timing is exactly why it worked. We had already spent an evening walking the city and a morning cruising San Diego Bay, and we needed to be back in Los Angeles that night.

Because we had already covered part of the centre and Seaport Village, we joined at the Hilton Bayfront stop rather than at Old Town. That is worth copying: you do not have to start at the beginning of the loop.

The commentary turned out to be the best part. Our driver, Brian, was a genuinely good storyteller who kept up a mix of historical detail and everyday facts about the city for the whole ride. Both drivers we had that afternoon were like that, and it is the thing that separates this from a bus.

Coronado

Crossing the San Diego to Coronado Bay Bridge is the most dramatic few minutes of the loop, and mildly alarming: the trolleys have no glass in the windows and the barrier at the bridge edge is low. The views back over Seaport Village and across to Coronado are the payoff.

Coronado is not part of San Diego. It is a separate city with its own rules, and it keeps chain restaurants out to protect the character of the place, so you will not find a McDonald’s there.

There was nothing on Coronado when Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story bought it in 1886 for $110,000 at the prices of the time, intending to build a resort community. They laid out roads, built water and power systems and sold lots. The thing they built that everyone still comes for is the Hotel del Coronado, put up in a single year at a cost of $1 million in 1880s money.

Coronado today is beaches, hotels, shops, restaurants and a theatre. Hop off here to eat, walk the beach, or look round the Hotel del Coronado if you have the time.

Balboa Park

Balboa Park is where most people underestimate how long they need. It covers 1,200 acres, holds 15 museums including the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Art, and also contains performing arts venues, gardens and San Diego Zoo. There is a free tram inside the park to move you around it.

We arrived knowing we could not see it properly and had to choose between one or two museums and a general wander. We chose to wander, and it did not go well. Temperatures had been around 40°C (104°F) for most of the trip, and that afternoon I could not cope with it. After about two hours I gave up, we took the trolley back towards Little Italy, and I went back to the hostel.

That is the honest version, and the lesson in it is useful: Balboa Park in high summer is a morning stop, not an afternoon one. If you have one day and it is hot, do Balboa first and Coronado, where there is sea air, later.

Old Town

Old Town San Diego is the stop we missed, and it is the one I would go back for. It is the oldest settled part of the city and the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park preserves a cluster of restored and reconstructed buildings from the Mexican and early American periods.

Casa de Aguirre is a reconstruction of one of the first houses built in San Diego in the 1850s, with exhibitions on how the city’s inhabitants lived. Around it there are historic houses, museums and the first schoolhouse in San Diego. The Gaslamp Quarter, a separate neighbourhood downtown with dozens of historic buildings, is also on the loop.

Skipping Old Town is easy to do and easy to regret, so build it in rather than leaving it until last.

Is the San Diego trolley tour worth it?

The trolley tour is worth it in three situations and a waste of money in two others, and being clear about which you are in matters at nearly $50 a head.

Worth it if:

1. You have one or two days in San Diego and want the shape of the city rather than a deep look at one part of it.
2. You do not have a car, or you have one and do not want to park it in the Gaslamp Quarter and at Balboa Park and on Coronado.
3. You would visit two or more of the included attractions anyway, in which case the discounts close a good part of the gap.

Not worth it if:

1. You are staying a week. Public transport, walking and the occasional ride-share will cost less and get you the same places.
2. You want one thing. If the trip is really about the zoo or the aircraft carrier, go straight there.

The genuine value is the commentary and not the transport, which is the opposite of what the format suggests. I do not usually go on tours and I enjoyed this one because of the drivers.

Planning your day: what we would do differently

Five things would have made our afternoon work better, and they apply to anyone with one day.

1. Start early and start at Old Town, which is where the timetable is anchored and where the stop you are most likely to regret missing is.
2. Do Balboa Park in the morning in summer, and give it at least three hours if you want to go inside a museum.
3. Use Coronado as the afternoon stop, because the sea breeze makes the heat bearable and because the bridge crossing is better in afternoon light.
4. Pick three stops, not six. The full loop is 1 hour 45 minutes of riding before you get off anywhere.
5. Check the last departure from Old Town before you plan backwards from it. It is 3 p.m. in winter and 4 p.m. in the main season, which is earlier than most people assume.

Where to stay in San Diego

Stay in the Gaslamp Quarter or near the bay if you are doing the city by trolley, because both put you within walking distance of the downtown stops. We stayed in a private room at a hostel near the Gaslamp Quarter and the bay area, and the location did most of the work: we walked to the waterfront in the evening and joined the loop at the Hilton Bayfront stop the next day.

Old Town and Little Italy are the other two sensible bases, both on the loop, both with plenty to eat nearby. For comparing what is available on your dates, Trip.com covers the downtown and Old Town hotels in one search.

Don’t forget travel insurance

Travel insurance covers what a tour ticket does not: a cancelled trip, illness or injury abroad, and in many policies stolen belongings. Heat exhaustion in a 40°C (104°F) week is a more realistic risk on a San Diego trip than anything dramatic, and treatment in the United States is expensive.

Don’t have travel insurance yet? Check out SafetyWing. Their plans are flexible enough to sign up for while you are already travelling. They were the first travel insurance to cover COVID, and when Sofie caught it they reimbursed her related bills without a fuss.

If you are travelling to the United States from Europe, apply for your ESTA before you go, because you cannot enter under the Visa Waiver Program without one.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the San Diego trolley tour take?

About 1 hour 45 minutes to ride the full 25-mile loop without getting off. With stops, a realistic day covers three or four of the 11 stops.

How many stops does the San Diego Old Town Trolley have?

11 stops, spread across downtown, the waterfront, Balboa Park, Old Town and Coronado.

How much is the San Diego trolley tour?

Tickets start at $48.45 for one day and $93.50 for two days, on the operator’s current pricing. Buy online, at a ticket booth or at many hotel front desks.

Is the San Diego trolley the same as the public trolley?

No. The Old Town Trolley is a sightseeing tour with commentary and a fixed loop of 11 stops. The San Diego Trolley is the city’s public light rail system, with its own separate network and fares.

Does the trolley tour run all year?

Yes, 363 days a year. It closes only on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and the hours shorten in winter, when the last departure from Old Town is 3 p.m. rather than 4 p.m.

Can you visit Coronado on the trolley?

Yes. The loop crosses the San Diego to Coronado Bay Bridge, and Coronado is one of the stops, so you can get off for the beach, the shops or the Hotel del Coronado.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Four tips come out of doing this badly in a single afternoon.

1. Join the loop at whichever stop is nearest your hotel, not at Old Town. We boarded at Hilton Bayfront because we had already walked the centre and Seaport Village, and it saved us the dead time of riding through what we had seen.
2. Do Balboa Park before midday if it is hot. We hit it in the afternoon in roughly 40°C (104°F), lasted two hours of a planned longer visit, and gave up. It is 1,200 acres with very little shade between the buildings.
3. Sit on the bay side crossing the Coronado bridge, and hold on to loose items. The trolleys have no glass in the windows and the barrier at the bridge edge is low, which is what makes the view good and the crossing feel exposed.
4. Do not leave Old Town until the end of the day. It is the stop we skipped when the afternoon fell apart, and it is the one I regret. It is also where the timetable starts, so the last departure there is the hard deadline for the whole loop.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her own afternoon on the Old Town Trolley in San Diego, boarded at Hilton Bayfront and abandoned in Balboa Park in a 40°C week. The team covers the United States for independent travellers, including the tours, hotels and city transport worth paying for, and updates this page when prices and timetables change.