Hop on hop off service is a great idea but the frequency of the trolley running needs to be more. We used this service but once we hopped off, the next trolley would take over 40 minutes. Wasted a lot of time waiting for the trolley - ended up walking quite a bit instead. Not worth the wait in my opinion unless you have a full day to spend waiting for the trolley. read more

Emerald City Trolley - ER drama TV series building - actually filmed here for exterior shots. - Bus Tours Near Me - Seattle, Washington

STOP WARNING!! 7-12-2015 Don't buy before you read this. When we're traveling we use the Hop-on-Hop off tour buses like the double deckers and trolley's system when visiting. But this experience here with Emerald City Tour has been a disaster. This owner needs to get out and see how it's really done in other major tourist cities. They don't have no idea how to operate this business. First of all there is no schedule, no time table when the next trolly will be back, they put this lame sign at the curbside at each of there drop off points (picture submitted) and states that they will return every 40 minutes. What the hell does that mean when you come out from doing your shopping. When was the Trolly here last? 5-10 or 40 minutes ago or did I just miss it? No one present there just that lame sign, and to get any feed back just speak to the sign and you get the same response from the Trolley operators. So you wait, wait and wait! Don't bother with the phone number that's available they just forward you to an email. I waited more than an hour and a half not on one occasion but twice. Then I finally took a taxi to another drop off point thinking ok stay close not to lose sight of the trolley. After, an hour and twenty minutes I emailed. They responded that they weren't going to that drop off point because of the baseball game near the stadium not at the stadium ( game was over 3 hrs. Earlier) they had no clue, the next email I received is that they would be there within the hour. I took another taxi. This outfit took me for $84 and made it to ONLY three stops. Oh! I mention that an eraser board and a sharpe might be helpful. I suggested that maybe that once the trolly has made a drop off that they could hand write the time when the next trolly arrives. I got this look as if I confused them, and I simplified it and told them that a "chalk board" would be handy, then they got it, one attended thought that it was a good idea, and seriously said that he would mention it to his boss WOW! Relay this post to your boss, get to SF and stay on there Hop-on-hop off for the duration of the trip and your revenue will substantially increase. That's a TIP that I'm passing on to you and that cost me which in return its free to you. Other passengers agreed because we all had similar accounts. I set up a Uber account and basically used there Hop-on-hop route and found that eliminated about six of there attraction, because you walk shop and walk shop and there you are you walk right pass those idiot signs. I made less than 12 stops (3days) with Uber and cost me less than $84 and found that uber was there within five minutes each and ever time amazing system (less than 5 $$$$ a stop). Take your money else where, this outfit doesn't deserve to be in business, they should be ashamed. read more

Emerald City Trolley - Idiotic sign that indicates every 40 minutes, not likely it's more like whenever they get there. - Bus Tours Near Me - Seattle, Washington

It sounds so... touristy of me, but I've found that hop-on hop-off tours are a pretty great way to get an overall sense of a city if you are visiting for the first time. Emerald City Trolley was the perfect way to see some of Seattle's best parts in just one day. We hopped on in downtown near Pike Place market and enjoyed seeing everything from Pioneer Square to the Space Needle. It's great that a trolley comes to each stop every 30 minutes, which was just enough time to explore. The trolley stops at the EMP/Seattle center, where you can connect to two alternative route tours. We took the blue line (Overlook and Locks route) which was really fun. Spencer, our guide, was great and shared really interesting history of Fremont, Ballard, and Queen Anne. There were so many great photo ops along the tour, and we saw everything we wanted well before dinner time. If we had more time in Seattle, we would have purchased the two-day ticket. Great customer service and very pleased with our tour of the beautiful city. Highly recommended! read more

Emerald City Trolley - A quick stop to take photos of the skyline from the overlook. - Bus Tours Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Great tour, our guide was Spencer and he was friendly, funny and super informative. The driver Charlotte was lots of fun as well. Tour was reasonably priced but the biggest negative for us was that if you're waiting at a stop, it says on the sign that the wait time is approx 40 min but you have no idea when the last trolley got there. We just must have just missed one and ended up waiting 35 min. You could solve this problem and call there customer service number but we didn't have USA SIM cards so we couldn't use our phones without it being expensive. Overall I would recommend this tour. read more

Emerald City Trolley - Our trolley stopped at the EMP museum while the driver used the restroom - Bus Tours Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Don't do it! First of all they advertise as Emerald city "Trolley". To our dismay 3 out of the 4 times we got on we were driven around in a motor coach, not a trolley. Not nearly as much fun and Made taking pics difficult. I'd call that false advertising. Second, they are VERY unorganized. When we arrived at the space needle location. No one knew which bracelet color corresponded to which trip. At 10:45 they were unclear wether or not the 11am north route was going to happen or not. And when it did finally show up it was around 11:20 and not even a trolley. When we were in Pioneer square the app said that there was a trolley within blocks but that was untrue. We (along with several other unhappy customers) waited another 25 minutes for one to show up. Third, the route that goes to the locks is drawn out and the guide was very monotonous. And on our ride back from Pioneer square it seemed all the guide would point out is department stores like Macy's or Nordstrom or the Nike store... Seems like they're hurting for material. To sum it up. It was a waste of the $85 I spent for my wife and I. The people on the duck tour looked a lot happier and I wish I would have invested in that instead. read more

Garbage. Use this service if you want to spend all day standing around waiting for a trolley. Or do it and don't get off. But as a hop on, hop off tour, this is pitiful. You cannot use it as transportation around the city the way you normally can with hop on, hop off tours because these trolleys run way, way, way too infrequently. Other tour companies in other cities run more frequently and/or have a schedule for each stop. With Emerald City Trolley, you just stand around with no clue how much longer it'll take. The sign says trolleys come by every 40 minutes, but that's a lie because I've been stuck here for an hour, writing this review while I wait for the trolley. Steer clear. I really regret not researching this bus tour first - it sucks. Edit: Finally got on, but because it's later in the day and the trolleys run so infrequently, there are not enough seats for everyone. Multiple senior citizens stuck standing. Horrible. What was weird is my first trolley had a live in-person guide, but this one is just a recording. Lame. All the five-star reviews here seem fake to me. read more

Run !!!!!! Don't even think about using this service. The staff is great but I don't think anybody uses watches. They don't stick to any schedule even though they say the trolleys come every 40 minutes. We were told they only have 3 trolleys in their fleet which is not enough. Lack of trolleys shows. We stood up yesterday for 40 minutes, my husband rocking and swaying on his 7 month old knee replacement. We love taking trolleys in big cities, mapping out the lay of the land. If this is something you also do, EMERALD IS NOT like the red trolleys in major cities. I'm not sure who maps out their stops because when they tell you about great things or shopping, they don't stop there. Right now our driver should have left at 10:20. It's 10:40 and he's trying to find a mint. Our driver is Michael "the mintless man". Best wishes in Seattle! Absolutely beautiful. Take a Duck tour. They look great and we saw plenty of them passing us while we were waiting for the trolley. read more

Everyone was super nice! They let me have a really nice ride with my 3yr old son to the market from Seattle Center, otherwise it would have been a twenty minute walk (cause I wasn't about to pay for parking again.) Someone mentioned they use to have some really bad managment, but it really obvious they've turned around. Definitely would do it again. read more

Yeah, like others mentioned, their Timing is a bit off. I agree. But, if you are in Seattle and looking at their Service, chances are you are on Vacation. And on your Vacation you are not in a hurry, right? So enjoy the Tour, their Staff is great, you'll see Areas of Seattle that you'd otherwise probably miss. I like the hop on and off Service, good for the entire Day. You take the tour, decide to get off and walk around for a bit. Be sure to download their App, to find out exactly where are all the Stops are. I had a great time in Seattle and this Service made it just a bit better. read more

We've been in Seattle for about 2 years and had friends visiting this week. We used Emerald City Trolley for the first time, and thought it was great. The hop-on-hop-off feature is unique to the city and very convenient to get close to many big attractions. The Green Route goes through the downtown area and runs very frequently. We also did the Blue Route which goes out to the zoo, the locks, and through neighborhoods of Ballard and Freemont. If you don't have a rental car this is a great way to get outside the downtown area and see more of Seattle. It seems that the company adjusted their pricing shortly after opening this summer, and it's a good thing. Now at $20 per day or $35 for 2 consecutive days, it's a good value. Even though we were local, the tour guide added information we didn't know and thoroughly entertained our guests. read more

The only reason we rated this so well was because of Peggy our narrator. She was so good. It was non-stop information. We have learned our lesson in other cities...when you have a great guide, you stay on. We rode the entire loop with Peggy just so we could hear all she had to say. We rode it again and that guide pointed out 1/4 of what Peggy did. read more

We were recently in Seattle visiting and needed a good way to get around without paying out the wazoo for parking. We were lucky enough to come across the Emerald City Trolley booklet while at a visitors center, and boy am I glad that we did. When we first showed up, the gentleman selling the bands at the EMP was more than friendly. As soon as he found out that we were visiting from out of state, he was full of helpful suggestions. Once we were on the trolley we met one of the MOST friendly people ever, Spencer. He was the tour guide for the trip.. basically all 3 days we rode the trolley. He was super knowledgeable about the area and was super. It was because of him that we found some amazing places to eat and see. You can really tell that he loves his city! One of the drivers was fabulous as well. I forgot his name but he was telling us about the Deadliest Catch Boats that were in the area and suggested that we go and take a look at them, We totally did! I suggest taking this trolley if you are planning on visiting the Seattle area and exploring the sites. I liked the live narrative tours more than the recording. My husband and I were able to experience both of them. The only down fall of this tour is the wait time for the trolleys. There is just a sign at the stop and it tells you if you have a 40 or 60 minute wait... but there are no actual times on the boards for estimated pick ups. We sat at a stop for a good hour waiting for a trolley because we were not sure if it had already been there or if it was coming. Thank fully it was dinner time and we were waiting by Anthony's so we could make the best of our wait. :) ] Thank you again for helping make our trip memorable! read more

This is a great way to get around the city, but be advised--get off and back on at the same stop! Otherwise, you have no idea what time the next trolley will come around, and they are due every 60 minutes. We waited almost one hour to get on at a stop that we went to outside Pike Place Market because we just didn't know when it had last dropped off. That was a painful wait at the end of a long day. Oh, yes, and you can barely hear the recorded guides, which are very cheesy. From older reviews, it seems they had live tour guides previously. For the money you pay for this bus service basically, it would be a much nicer touch. read more

We did a two day pass. Worked out well for us. Trolley was running a bit behind schedule on the second day, but it wasn't too bad. Great way to see a lot of Seattle. read more

Emerald City Trolley - Bus Tours Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Had a fun time exploring Seattle with the family with Emerald City Trolley Jennifer did an awesome job telling us fun facts and history that we didn't know about. Naileah and Peyton were a great help explaining everything we needed to know, (stops and times, etc.) We are from Federal way and decided to play tourist for a day and it was so much fun! Riding the trolley made it easy, the hop on hop off was a great option and everyone was friendly and helpful. The only downside is that we didn't get an early start. The next time for sure we will come earlier to be able to do a lot more around our beautiful city because there is so much to see!! read more

Staffs are great. Good to just ride the whole round and listen to recordings about the town. But timing is horrible. It is NOT running every 40 minutes as advertised. We hop off to rest at hotel at 2PM. We came back to wait at 2:35PM and no trolley until 3:24PM. I understand traffic makes it hard to predict. They need to have GPS on the trolley and share with us (instead of calling into the call center after 50mins wait) so we don't have to stand around and wait forever wasting our limited time in town. We could have done something else or even wait longer in comfort of our hotel room if we can see when trolley is coming closer. read more

Emerald City Trolley - Stop at Warwick Hotel - Bus Tours Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Loved this trip! We took two full trips around the city and loved the ability to hop on and off as desired. The drivers and narrators were friendly and knowledgeable, and the app made it easy to see when the next trolley would arrive. I can't wait to use this service in more cities in the future! read more

We have taken several trolley hop on/off tours in various cities. It's a great option when you are trying to get an overview of the city. On this particular day, Jennifer did a great job as a tour guide providing quite a bit of information. We were fortunate to get her twice. Originally we had a younger tour guide who still needs to work on his technique. Despite his style we still felt it was a good option as a tour. read more

As a whole, my family and I love to go on any hop on hop off tours whenever possible. We were visiting Seattle and decided to do this. We bought our tickets at the art museum ticket booth. Both Johnny and Peyton were so friendly, patient and helpful with the million questions that I had. We really enjoyed not only the wonderful trolley experience! I will definitely recommend it to my friends. read more

What a great tour! My flight was delayed and I got in hours later than expected. Due to this, I only had an hour to do the tour which was overwhelming and not enough time. The employees were awesome, and gave me an extra day due to not fully being able to use the voucher for the value I bought it at. Each tour guide I had was extremely knowledgeable and each had a good sense of humor that made the tour enjoyable. I highly recommend and would do again to get to know any major/new city. :-) read more

took my almost 2 yr old daughter sightseeing around the city while being toured on a cute trolley and thoroughly enjoyed it. our driver and tour guide were very accommodating and kind, making this a truly a great experience for us. i think the hop on hop off concept is the best option while touring, especially with an infant/toddler. it saved us a lot of walking, driving and parking fees! thanks, emerald city trolley. :) read more

I have recently called, filled out an online form and emailed Emerald City Trolley to assist for a private event and never heard back for a quote. I reached out 3 different times and never heard back. They are not reliable when you need for a private event. When getting married I used a private trolley service for my guests and got excellent service from another company and they apparently do not need my business since I have never heard back! read more

I had family visiting from Cali, and we decided to take the Trolley, spent over 130 dollars, we got on a 3pm and the guy who sold me the tickets, at the main stop by the needle, told me the trolley ran until 8pm. We had just gotten done at the big wheel and waited for the trolley for an hour, 6pm around 7pm nothing came and I decided to check out their website and call, turns out they closed at 5pm. We ended up having to take a taxi back to the needle where we had parked and were out 130+ dollars for a horrible little trolley ride with a boring/ rude guide. DONT EVER USE THIS SERVICE, If i could get my money back I would because this was the worst experience ever!!!! read more

WASTE of time and money! Terrible drivers, poor scheduling, changed routes and stops without notice. Look elsewhere.

I've used hop on hop off style transportation in a lot of cities but in Seattle I was very disappointed. It was a waste of money. The distances here are short between city attractions and the traffic plus trains crossing are many. The trolley doesn't come frequently enough ( I think they have only 3) and you waste lots of time waiting. I will never use it in Seattle again. read more

Jon and Naileah at the SAM stop made our entire Seattle experience. Had we not stopped here there is no way we could have experienced Seattle in such an enduring way. Thank you Jon! read more

This company is only 7 weeks old and is terrific in offering their guests comprehensive tours of Seattle. They offer 3-4 different tours every day, and board at the Space Needle. The guides are knowledgeable and fun and they stick to the times the give you for pick up when you've hopped off at one of their stops. This is the only hop on hop off tour in Seattle since Gray Line discontinued theirs. Thanks, Emerald City, for giving us tourists a good ride! read more

I took the trolley tour with Clinton as our guide. I have lived in Seattle for over 20 years and I still learned a lot of new and interesting facts that I had never heard before. Clinton was really funny and knowledgeable about the city and made the tour a lot of fun. I'd recommend the trolley tour for anyone who wants to discover Seattle or re-discover it. read more

We had a great tour of the city, both downtown and North bound. But the pick up time is way too long - 40 mins!! And if the trolley is full, you have to wait for the next one. What a waste of time! They should have a lot of trolley every 10 -15 mins at least especially during peak season. We ended up either walking or taking the light rail because we did not want to wait. I should have bought 1 day instead of 2 day pass. I would not recommend it. Monorail & light rail will take you from one place to another a lot faster! read more

The Guys at the Emerald City Trolley booth in front of the SAM are just the coolest. Peyton and John not only know there way around the Seattle best sights and places but genuinely like people and want to get to know you too. Yes, the wait for any transit system on a crazy Friday can seem endless , however when engaged in friendly conversation with two very worldly Gents like John and Peyton your time is not lost, its enjoyed!! Great to know you Guys. Best of luck in your travels. The crew on the Trolley was friendly and gave us a few lessons on Seattle we did not know about even after living near by for decades. Most patient driver of any public transportation in the WORLD. Great job people. read more

We had a wonderful experience with Emerald City Trolley on our recent vacation in Seattle. Richard and Pam made for excellent historical guides and safe driving in tricky traffic. They had a fun bit of banter between them, too. Richard was an experienced guide with a robust knowledge of Seattle. We completed a full loop on their trolley and got off at the Public Market. Shortly thereafter I discovered I had lost my phone! I was able to confirm its location through Google and it appeared to still be on the trolley. I called the main office and they got in touch with Pam and Richard who quickly found my phone. The young man at the office helped to arrange to have it taken to my hotel. He was so accommodating and genuinely cared about helping me in a bad situation. 5 stars for all! Great crew who is knowledgeable and who had top notch customer service! read more

They were very late picking us up at one of there stops, about 70 minutes. We had to get back to our hotel and pick up our bags and catch a shuttle to the airport. Since we were picked up so late, I asked the shuttle driver if he could drop us at our hotel, since it was only 1.5 miles from the last stop of the day ( space needle). he told me he would drop us eventually . He would not tell me how long "eventually" would be. So I grabbed my daughter and we had to run. We missed the last shuttle. We barely made our plane. My poor daughter almost had a panic attack. Thanks Trolley guy. I can't remember his name but he is a retired Marine. read more

The tour is fine, but the conduct of the driver ruined the experience. The driver decided to stop the bus at the EMP WITHOUT telling any of his passengers. We were left wondering if we were abandoned. The driver, Michael W., came back after 40 minutes and said the line for his drink was long. News flash. We understand the law mandates you take a break. We live in a state with the same laws. What is not acceptable and professional is not informing your passengers of the stop and then getting into a screaming match with my wife and finally refusing to drive in a fit of anger when other passengers agreed his behavior was not acceptable. read more

For someone who travels all over the world and is sold on getting introduced to a city with these great hop on hop off narrated city tours this was a huge disappointment. Huge! They promise only 30 minute wait when it's more like one hour Because they aren't on time there's too many people waiting so expect to stand. The narrative is good and the staff really do try hard, but the conditions are difficult. There's a printed schedule that's not adhered to so it's difficult to get off at a stop and see a museum and know when to expect the next trolley. Most cities they are an excellent bargain but Seattle's trolley has a lot of problems to work through. The concierge tried to dissuade me but I didn't listen. My bad. Not a good idea in Seattle read more

My husband and I really enjoyed our one hour tour with Emerald City Trolley! The drivers and tour guides were awesome. My husband and I are here in Seattle celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary. I created an itinerary for the trip but I did not include the trolley tour. We just decided to take it as a in the moment kind of thing after the Chocolate Indulgence Tour we went on. I have to say our experience was awesome! They also have really good customer service. We got on the trolley with Kenny, the driver, and I forgot the name of the tour guide that was paired with him. Sooo sorry! They were both amazing and friendly. They even gave us the tour on them as the day we rode was our actual 1 year anniversary date. Thank you so much again, Kenny and tour guide! We really appreciated it! We thought that was very kind and sweet. She also did an amazing job explaining everything and knowing her information. I just loved them and couldn't have asked for a better driver and tour guide. We felt very welcomed. At the EMP and Space Needle stop they got off and Charlotte (driver) and Spencer (tour guide) got on. They were both as friendly and welcoming. Spencer was hilarious! He also knows his information and makes it funny. You will enjoy your experience with any of the four of them. We got off and got back on and I will say the waited about 30-40 min but my husband and I didn't mind as we weren't in any hurry. We got back on and rode again with Kenny and his tour guide and they got off again at the EMP and Space Needle stop. An African American driver got on with a Caucasian tour guide. I didn't catch her name but she definitely wasn't as good as the tour guides Spencer or the one with Kenny. We rode it till we got to our finally stop and got off. She didn't know her information as well. Good thing we didn't get her in the beginning. Also, if my husband had any questions he called the main number and talked to Chris. Chris was also very friendly and helpful. Overall, we had a good experience with this trolley company and enjoyed our tour. Everyone was nice and helpful and made the experience that much better. Thank you Emerald City Trolley for a good experience! :) read more

Kenny and Jennifer were awesome. They are truly knowledgeable about Seattle. Their customer service is second to none. Recommend you ask for them when touring Seattle. read more

We rented a trolley for our wedding on 9/13/14. What an amazing experience for ourselves (we live in Seattle) but also our guests (all out of towers)! Our driver, Ron, was knowledgable of the city and recommended stops for us to take some great wedding photos! They were easy to work with and we can't thank them enough! read more

On & off: not good - 1 bus was down & every time we waited at a stop to hop on, there was NO bus. So in the end we paid out of pocket to take a public bus or s taxi. Very disappointing. We did start out on the entire circuit & that was great & our guide David was great, but in the end it did not meet our expectations. read more

I had friends come in from Alaska and we wanted to do something fun. I've lived here for over 20 years and wanted to play tourist as well. This tour was great! Jay was our driver. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and engaging. We were lucky the weather was beautiful so we were able to see just how beautiful the Seattle skyline really is. We saw gorgeous homes and drove through lovely neighborhoods I never even knew existed. The highlight was definitely going to the Ballard Locks. You know your tour guide enjoys his job when he, too, taking pictures of the big, beautiful tugs waiting in the locks just like the rest of us! You also know it is a great tour when the two 15 year olds with us (boys) were trying not to act interested but were listening to the stories and history of Seattle from the driver. =) Side note: this tour is not on the trolley but an air-conditioned tour bus. Fun tour! Beautiful sites! I love my city all over again! read more

Buying passes was simple. Getting on was easy.....then Spencer opened his mouth. We have taken narrated tours in Charleston, SC, Victoria, BC, Savannah, GA, Boston,MA, New Orleans, LA and others. We know good from bad. This guy was the worst We have ever heard. Very little history or knowledge of the city. Squeaky, irritating voice and worst of all....interjected his obvious love for Obama 3 times in ten minutes. We got off ASAP....keep yer damn politics out of it. We didn't pay $67 to hear that crap. read more