Ripley’s Sightseeing Trains

The day tour is good and most of the drivers are entertaining. I give them only 3 stars because I didn’t find a way to review their ghost tour separately. If you are interested in the house where Ripleys museum is this is the tour for you. The other 2 stops were quick and I didn’t really learn anything that I hadn’t heard on the day tour. I saw some other ghost tours where the guide was dressed in costume, that seemed more entertaining.

Amazing Tour Company… Our driver Victor was hands down THE BEST and funniest driver we had today! He was full of facts about good olé St. Augustine. Learned A LOT about the oldest city thanks to red trains and our guide! The red train made about 25 stops at different locations/​attractions where passengers could either get off or on. All in all, the tour last a little less than an hour and a half from the welcome center and back. It was great experience and form of transportation!

Perfect activity for a train-​obsessed toddler and exhausted parents.

The tour was solid. Very informative and stopped at all the best attractions in St. Augustine. Being able to get on and off the trains for however long is a great touch that made the experience very enjoyable. I ended up having three different tour guides. The first put us off to a rough start. He was easy to hear thanks to the nice speakers and microphone each train was equipped with, but I really didn’t want to have to listen to him. After that though things brightened up. Our next guide was witty and full of energy and gave us some very interesting info about the civil rights movement and its roots in St. Augustine. The third and final tour guide made the tour exceptional. He was a man who seemed to fit right into the the laid back attitude that I came to Florida for. Very informative, but not to intrusive on my viewing experience made him the ideal tour guide. Much like most tours the experience was dictated mainly by the guide, but over all this was a great tour with solid trains and great stops.

Fantastic tour ! Our driver, Smokey was very personable and knowledge. He really knew his stuff and made it a fun tour. We saw a lot of St. Augustine while learning about its amazing history. The tour was reasonably priced and parking free. Highly recommend this tour and be sure to ask for tour guide Smokey !!!

This review is for the daytime train. We’ve now used Red Trains twice. We had a wonderful experience the first time. The second time, we had an issue with the guide. We reached out the company and told them what happened. Their response was quick and kind. I was overwhelmed by the amazing customer service. We will use them again.

Great tours. Not a rehearsed spiel. The drivers give you a lot of history about the city. Added bonus the cemetery was open yesterday. We finally had a chance to tour it

We had a wonderful time in St. Augustine because of the company, with little help from the Ripley’s trains.
People were animals. You can wait at a stop for 25 minutes before a train comes and finally when it does people who have not waited as long jump in front of you to grab the few empty seats. The behavior of my fellow humans is not Ripley’s fault but the inadequate amount of trains and 20 – 30 minute wait at each stop is their failure.
I don’t even mind waiting 30 minutes if I can get on the next train. That wasn’t always the way it went down. We didn’t want to budge after we finally landed seats for fear of how long it would be to get on the next time.

My husband and I purchased the 3 day pass. We had a great experience. The train takes you to every attraction in St Augustine. Most of the drivers were very entertaining with their historical narratives especially Smokey. You can get off the train at any stop and then when you are ready for your next destination, you just go back to where they dropped you off at and wait an average of 10 minutes. Would definitely use them again.

I was in town on business with just a few hours to see everything. This was a perfect tour for me to do. I had the ability to get off at any stop or to ride the tour all the way from start to finish. Fun tour and great experience. I always worry about doing things like this by myself in unfamiliar cities, but I was completely comfortable the entire time. Love the tour and learned so many great things. Who knew such factual information was possibly from Ripley’s Believe it or Not!!! :)

It was a lot of fun hearing the different historical stories, and the guide Sally was really interactive and fun. The conductor (Cheryl) was awesome too. They had a lot to say and we got lights and an electrical reader for the tour. Highly encourage flash photography as well. I didn’t see anything really but had a blast regardless. We also got a tour of inside the castle which was really cool and creepy. Definitely worth checking out. I would visit again!

Well worth the price of admission. Very informative overview of city. Info was a little «canned» but I’d do it again. Also, the Red Trains are able to go down streets the Old Towne Trolley couldn’t:

After living in Florida my entire life, I finally made it up to St. Augustine this past weekend and everything was perfect. The weather, the company, and all of the activities we did made it to be an amazing trip! After walking around town all day long, nothing seemed better than to just sit down for a little bit. We decided to join the Red Train Tour at Ripley’s and I would suggest you do the same. The full tour lasts just over an hour if you ride it all the way through. Our tour guide was Smokey and he was incredible. Charismatic, full of knowledge and Smokey extras, and gave out points if you could answer trivia questions (which were worth nothing, but still fun). He added a personality to the tour that made the time go by quickly and the tour very enjoyable. He also made sure everyone getting off knew when the last shuttle would be and how to get back to their destination. He had to switch to another driver at the end of the tour, and I couldn’t wait to get off; she knew her history, but wasn’t very interesting to listen to.
The train itself is easy to find at Ripley’s and offers many hop-​on and hop-​off spots all over the city. But if you take the full tour, know that the seats are not padded and the ride can be pretty bumpy on the old streets
Overall, I would recommend the Red Train Tour very highly. I know the experience can vary depending on the driver you get, but cross your fingers for Smokey!

Our tour guide Benji made it an absolutely great close to our day in St Augustine. Benji is a wealth of knowledge and mixes in some comedy to make it even more enjoyable.

As a history teacher and a random trivia buff, I absolutely loved this tour given by Smokey! He was awesomely amazing and full of a wealth of knowledge! You really get a good layout of St. Augustine with this tour and learn a bit of the rich history if you are lucky enough to catch one of Smokey’s tours!

If you want to tour St. Augustine the Red Train Tour is the best bet. We’ve tried the Old Towne Trolley but definitely prefer the Red Train. Both trolleys go to the same places but the Red Train can go down one street that the other trolleys can’t. If you time it right, get on a train with Smokey. Smokey really loves history and he really goes a lot deeper than any of the other drivers. If you have a bumb leg like I do, you will appreciate that the Red Train is much easier to get on and off than the Old Towne Trolleyes.

If you don’t like creepy or aren’t intrigued by history then this ghost tour is not for you. (And anyway – why ARE you in the nation’s oldest city if history is inconsequential to you?)
The train ride at night through the narrow streets of St. Augustine was a pleasant way to take in the sights and hear the stories of The British, Spanish, Pirates, citizenry and Native Americans who lived on this sliver of land.
We began the evening getting paranormal equipment that would help detect spirits. I’m not a huge believer in this but it was a nice touch for the kids. The parlor of the museum was suitably decorated with a macabre flair. After the accoutrements for ghost hunting were obtained, we boarded the train for the tour. The driver (Benji) and the guide (Alex) were entertaining and upbeat which was surprising given that they work 80 hour weeks during the peak of tourist season (summer). I did wish they could’ve said something to the super obnoxious group of chatty, self centered girls who thought they were clever but irritated the entire train with their inane and loud twittering. I imagine this must be what living with either Paris Hilton or the Kardasians is like. Hmmmm… Maybe thinking murderous thoughts is par for the course on a ghost tour so perhaps this was apropos for the evening. Despite these rude people, we were able to enjoy ourselves.
The evening ended with traipsing through the museum at night. We were there at midnight and it is super creepy. Walking through the dim dark, strange figures looming in every unlit corner, knowing two women were murdered here, and surrounded by weird objects, torture devices and remnants of human beings is unsettling. If you allow yourself to dwell on it, it raises your hackles.
We were entertained with it all. I do enjoy being in museums after dark when it’s closed. It’s when you can believe that if ever ghosts or spirits did haunt the living, this is the time and the place to do it. Mostly, I enjoyed that the guide wove history between the spooky stories and reminded us all that St. Augustine is a many layered cake of the dead. The third most haunted place in America is not were you want to be if zombies were real.

The tour hit interesting spots but our driver was so unbearable! She was soooo negative, complaining about this and that. She also admonished us at length that we needed to have our parking ticket for our car if we were to park at the ringling museum– she must have said it like ten times. Then she told us about the time when she hit a car’s door because the driver opened the door without looking and they were at fault. Not what I want to hear. Theeeen, she complained about how people were parked. Theeeen… Well you get the pic. Thankfully she was relieved by another guy who was not as negative. When I’m on a tour I want to hear HISTORY. Period.

We took the trolley train to see the lights for the Holiday display. The tickets were cheap enough but the lines were long, the ride was short and the music was WAY TOO LOUD. I am glad we did it once but we would most likely not ever do this again.
The lights are OK– nothing spectacular– just a bunching of lights on the buildings. Neat to see but not worth the two hour drive from Orlando.

Also known as Red Train Tours. I found this company to be acceptable if you are looking for a way to tour/​get around St. Augustine. I used the «Old City Trolley Tours» on my last visit and I would give it just a slightly higher rating only because the history of the city of St. Aug was a little more in-​depth on the Old City Tour. Also because during the Red City tour, we picked up a new driver about half way through who decided to play Christmas music loudly so we had to try to hear him over the music.
Either way, the trolley’s are a great, especially if you have never been to St. Aug. You can take the tour and get your bearings on where you want to go back to when you get off the trolley or jump on/​jump off all day.