The premise of the tour is you can hop off at a site and catch the next one(1 hour later) unfortunately if they are short staffed you don't know this because no updates are posted to their site and no one answers the phone. Too bad. read more

This is a good way to get the "lay of the land". After taking the Jolly Trolley we had a much better understanding of the island and went back the next day in our car to several of the spots that were featured on the tour. I give it a thumbs up. read more

We planned on taking the Jolly Trolley to tour the island only to find out that the tour we had checked on the previous day was cancelled due to a "private event." The next available tour would get back too late for us to board the ferry home. We were traveling with my elderly parents who aren't extremely mobile so this was how we had planned to see the island. Very disappointed. read more

Kya and Rick, you both made my mother and my trip to the island! Thank you Kya for all the amazing recommendations! Rick, you were a hoot to ride along with! It was such a nice experience and nice to not need to worry about driving but still hitting the spots we wanted to see. Thank you! read more

Jolly Trolley is a good way to get around the island if you don't rent a vehicle. FYI, the lavender farm is closed, and so not on the route. Also, you may not get to make so many stoos due to the ferry schedule not being so reliable. read more

Friday Harbor Jolly Trolley - Downtown San Juan Island - Bus Tours Near Me

See all

First time trying the Friday Harbor Jolly Trolly. Great experience, great team from buying tickets to the trolly drivers. All were kind, funny with cheesy jokes and a great tour. Stopped at San Juan Winery which was awesome, Pet and fed Alpacas and looked for Orcas at Lime Kiln State Park. No Orcas, but all ok. Overall this was a great tour with great staff, try them you won't be disappointed! read more

Did a tour yesterday on the Jolly Trolley. Had a great time. JR was a wealth of information! Really enjoyed it

I was somewhat hesitant to use the trolley after reading some other comments here, but had a good experience and want to record it here. The ticket booth is right at the ferry, and the woman at the counter assured me they were fully staffed and running once an hour (doesn't hurt to check). She also repeatedly said to me to be at each stop five minutes before the scheduled departure time. She gave me a slip of paper with all the stops and pickup times. I took a photo of my ticket and the schedule "just in case." The trolley is what it is-- historic, open air, and the weather is whatever it is. Be prepared. The drivers were courteous and added to the recorded narration as needed. They do leave the stops on time. They were running on time the day I was there. Keep in mind that each time you get off, you need to either hit that one hour mark or else plan for two whole hours. The tour takes about 90 minutes but the stops add time up quickly. Overall, well done, I got what I paid for, and I will be back. read more

Tony is an excellent tour guide and the trolly is a fun way to get around the island. It's open air (at least in the spring) and there is a lot of information provided. I would like to give more than 3 stars but I don't feel there was adequate information on how the trolly works. It seems nice that you can hop on and off the trolly however in the spring there are only 3 trolleys daily and the last goes the opposite way around the island. We didn't want to get off because with the last trolly going the other direction it meant we would not get to see the whole island. The summer schedule has several additional rides and I assume would be much better for your money. The island has a lot to offer but taking the 2nd trolly was more like a long guided drive with little to no time at the stops. The cost is high if you're in a group of 3-4 because you would be better suited to plan ahead and drive onto San Juan Island with your own vehicle for the same cost and therefore be able to come and go at each location as you pleased. In the end the ride left me wanting to go back (with my own car next time) with more time to spend at each stop so I can explore all that San Juan Island has to offer. read more

Friday Harbor Jolly Trolley - Photo taken at a beautiful location along the way. The driver stopped only for a quick photo op - Bus Tours Near Me

See all

DO NOT USE. They will strand you, then lie and refuse to take responsibility. My experience: we pay $50 for 2 tickets and get dropped off on the far side of the island. I ask driver JR, "So you'll be back to pick us up in an hour?" He responds, "Someone will." 50 minutes later we're at the stop, no trolley. I call the rep, who refuses to take responsibility and gets JR on the line who says we were given the schedule (not true) and told to be there 5 minutes early (not true). So I pay another $50 for a taxi to come get us Add on in response to the comments from the owner below: I set the timer on my phone for 50 minutes, and no I did not change my story. The people at this company are quite dishonest. read more

We had a great experience on this trolley. JR was super knowledgeable and gave us some locals only knowledge of the island. we took the last trip of the day and were the only ones on the trolley! Would highly recommend. read more

Friday Harbor Jolly Trolley - Bus Tours Near Me

This was a very disappointing experience for our party of 3 adults. From the time we arrived to buy our tickets (which were much more expensive than advertised) to the schedule not being accurate on the web site- we were told the site had not been updated for years! The physical condition of the trolley was awful- every little bump in the road it groaned and rattled like it would fall apart. Extremely uncomfortable ride- from bad seats to so jarring that our kidneys were hurting. It was so noisy we could not hear what the driver was saying. But worst of all was that the "hop on- hop off" aspect meant that if you did choose to get off you were stuck there for 2 hours! Not worth even one tenth of what we paid. read more

Unfortunately, we had an awful experience aboard the Trolley around Friday Harbor. The driver/guide on that day was polite, yet very undertrained with the technology for the island tour. The video would skip, audio would cut out, and she didn't know how to work her microphone. I tried to assist her with helping but she couldn't give any real direction on fixing it. At the end of the trip, we asked for any sort of refund and were denied. She told us to go to a desk that didn't have anyone working at it to retrieve more information. We saw a sign that was charging $10 per person for the tour (we paid $20 PP) Finally after finding an email address and addressing our unsatisfied experience, we never received a response. Many people recommended this, so it was very upsetting it didn't live up to the hype. read more

Nice way to get around the island. Get on and off when and where you want, all day. We had several different drivers throughout the day and all of them were witty and made the ride pleasant. Cheap considering you get all day transportation as long as you don't mind taking their route. read more

The trolley itself was adorable and open air, and we were looking forward to the ride. At first greeting the driver was very friendly, but holy smokes does that guy like to talk. Almost non-stop the entire drive. It would've been nice to take a break and enjoy the scenery we came to see. At one point my fiancé was talking to my mother about getting off at the next stop and the driver actually told us to keep the talking for off of the trolley! All of us in our group were just done with that driver at that point. The second driver was way way better as far as talking. Loved his character, except every chance he got he looked away from the road. I had anxiety the whole way with him, Especially when you're driving along a cliff. Loved the trolley itself and the route, not a fan of the drivers. read more

I don't ever give bad reviews but my friend and I had such a frustrating experience last week that I wanted to write this review to inform others. Their website is super outdated. The website says $5 pp hop on and off and we were charged $20 pp and $2 for using a credit card. If you get off, you have to wait an hour at the stop for the next one. There were so many people at one stop that there were no seats and they didn't initially want to let us on. So we would then have to wait another hour at a stop with barely anything to do? And we were the first ones waiting at that stop, even. Then, when we got to another stop, we literally waited an extra hour because their trolley broke down....which we only knew about because we called them after waiting 30 min. We startred waiting 10 min before because we were afraid there was no room. Also because we didn't trust them to be on time so we could make our ferry, we bypassed one stop that we wanted to make. And you don't realize that the trolly doesn't actually stop at a lot of attractions on the island until you are already committed. Granted it is a big island so it depends on what you are interested in. With the cost of parking at the ferry $13, the cost of one ferry ticket $14 pp, and the cost of the trolly $20 pp, do yourself a favor and spend $70 total if you have more than one person and DRIVE your car onto the ferry. Wished we had known and been able to actually enjoy San Juan Island AND gotten to see everything we wanted. Parking looks to be plentiful and free on the island. If you are okay with a canned tour, then the trolley is the way to go, if that is your preference on how explore the island. read more

We had the most amazing time on the Jolly Trolley! We saw everything on the island and all the pick ups and drop offs locations easy to find during the day. The driver was awesome and the videos about each stop were informational and interesting. Even the history of the actual trolley was cool to learn about. Highly recommend and very affordable! P.S. The chocolates at the beginning of the tour are a nice touch :) read more

Friday Harbor Jolly Trolley - Bus Tours Near Me

See all

Such a fun way to see the island and get around. Our trolly operator was Tweety, she was great, it was on time, I loved it. read more

Friday Harbor Jolly Trolley - Bus Tours Near Me

Price and concept are attractive but be ware that schedules and "stops" advertised on website are not necessarily accurate such as for the Winery and Snug Harbor not provided on our tour. "Lay-overs" were advertised as "one-hour" but were actually two hours and getting back on trolley meant "packed standing". Driver was "pleasant" but it is concerning that one of driver's two dogs was introduced as "my service dog"; additionally, driver was required to operate a video which meant only one hand directly on steering wheel. read more

My husband & I paid $20 each for a day pass to this hop on/off island service. We were given a pass & a schedule. Our driver (Candy? sorry, can't remember) did a nice narration while we were on board. We disembarked at English Camp, the 4th stop, to take a hike & she reminded us of the pickup schedule. After a 2 hour hike, we waited 30 minutes then called to ask about the scheduled trolley - "oh, do you need to be picked up? we've had a vehicle breakdown. I'll send someone out to get you". We waited another 20 minutes, and lucky for us, the competition showed up. The friendly driver of a San Juan Transit van, learning that we were stranded & our day was being ruined (remember, we had birthday dinner reservations, and a ferry to catch to return to the mainland!), re-routed himself to deliver us to our next stop, which was Lime Kiln Whale Watching Park. We no longer had the luxury of 2 hours to stay, but wow, we got lucky & saw 3 ORCAS!!! The driver from San Juan Transit had given us a pass to return to Friday Harbor via their next van, which is what we did. We did contact the Trolley company to say that we were not happy to be left behind, & wanted at least a portion of our money refunded on our return. We got a text saying they would be closed, with no offer of refund or apology. Not handled well at all - they could have saved us as customers, because we will be back to San Juan Island - but we'll be taking San Juan Transit (which, come to find out, goes to additional wonderful sites on the island that the Trolley Co. omits. Poorly done, Friday Harbor Jolly Trolly - not so Jolly for many customers on August 13, 2021! read more

I am a frequent traveler on San Juan Island, a walk on, no more bringing a vehicle, it's not needed. I use the local transit, and boarded the JOLLEY TROLLEY this past Sat. to get to Roche Harbor, and back to Friday Harbor. I have been going to San Juan since the 80's and have seen a lot of the island, while I have been the driver. I have been using local transit for the past 5 years, as a walk on, and hopped aboard the trolley and saw more of the island then ever before. Having open side allows the smells of the island and unobstructed views become part of the experience of getting around the island. I believe that once on the island supporting the local economy and those who provide for the tourists should be supported and thanked for making the island so accessible to visit. The San Juans are an incredible place to visit and to enjoy for for the local aloha spirit. Check out the JOLLEY TROLLEY, it will become your only method of travel. You will make your ferry, which is vital. The schedule is written so that you will not miss the boat that you want to catch. Safe travels, Drew read more

If you are in San Juan, this a wonderful company to use to see the island. But more than that, this is an amazing company of people. My son left his sunglasses on a trolley, and the company took the time to package and return them. This kind of customer service is rare, so please support this company with their amazing employees! Thank you Jolly Trolley! read more

A brilliant way to get around the island! So many more frequent stops at different locations than the island transit. The drivers were funny ("Dad" humor) and insightful. Definitely the best way to travel around the island. read more

The Captain was Tony. I somehow got the idea he was owner or in charge of the company. The ferries were wacky on their times so I'm thinking this did not contribute to the trip. It was to be a 2 + hour tour. I thought there was a 4 hour tour but not to be. It was a 2 hour time share. We SAW a lot of places. The only place we did stop was the lighthouse where Jolly Trolley had a refreshment stand, but there were toilets. In the prosperous little town on the trip were zipped through because they didn't want us on the streets. At the Lavender Farm I got a picture out of the window as we quickly executed a u-turn in the parking lot. I'm afraid what really set me and my husband off was the continued litany of how "natives" of Friday Harbor like to think they are not part of "America". They go to the island to escape "'Merica". They owe nothing to "'Merica". I'm sure all those harbors and roads, water systems, and myriads of doctors on the island received nothing from "'Merica". I'd try a different tour system. read more

The videos plus the excellent comments provided by the driver gave a great introduction to what San Juan Island has to offer. We have been visiting this island for decades (until our boat conked out) and had been to most of the places on the tour and still learned many things we never knew. read more