Sarasota City Sightseeing Tour

All Aboard the Classic Sarasota City Sightseeing Tour

A perfect overview tour for residents or visitors wanting to know more about Sarasota’s history, culture, and things to do.

On this air-conditioned 90-minute trolley tour, meander through Sarasota’s historic downtown neighborhoods of Gillespie Park, Burns Court, Indian Beach, and the Rosemary Design District while visiting historic spots and hearing stories about the Ringling family, Bertha Palmer, John Hamilton Gillespie and many more founders and influencers. (Due to traffic in high season the route may change.)

You will learn about the many attractions and things to do as well as restaurants and shopping. See our world-class artistic and cultural organizations: The Ringling Museum, Ringling College of Art and Design, Asolo Theater, Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, Selby Gardens, Sarasota Opera House, Art Center Sarasota, and Sarasota Symphony Orchestra.

Learn more about the architects and developers who designed some of our most unique homes and buildings, like the Blue Pagoda, Bidwell House, Crocker Memorial Church, and Splendida.

Circus history, Amish culture, real estate development booms and busts, and colorful stories about Sarasota’s founders give you a true overview of Sarasota’s rich and amazing cultural history.

ALL guests must be 10+. No children under 10 allowed except on family tours designed for children—The BooMobile and Christmas Carol Trolley. Every guest must have a paid ticket in order to board.

Tour ticket includes FREE Parking!

THE REVIEWS ARE IN!

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You won’t be disappointed
We went with a small group of “locals” on the Discover Sarasota City Sightseeing Tour. What a great time! First, the folks at Discover Sarasota are just delightful to work with. They are so friendly and informative and you can tell that they really enjoy being there and interacting with their guests. There’s a quirky little gift shop that’s fun to browse, with a restroom to use before the tour which is 90 minutes. The tour trolley is clean, and pretty, and best of all air conditioned. Our tour guide (I’m so sorry I don’t remember his name. He is originally from Dublin, Ireland.) was just absolutely great. He gave us lots of information and was entertaining and enthusiastic. Even as locals we all learned a lot of things we didn’t know. Take a Discover Sarasota Tour and you won’t be disappointed. — Janice L. 

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Best in the US City Tour (In our opinion!)
OMG- We have been on many city tours across the country, but this particular tour was the best of all. Our tour guide, Jon and driver Kelly were just fantastic. We learned so very much about the city we didn’t know and we live here. Bus ride was nicely air conditioned, driving was excellent and Jon, our guide, was the best. Jon is an amazing wealth of knowledge regarding the area and has lived in Sarasota since the 70s. We weren’t sure how he could remember so much information.

…Well worth the money. We will for sure be going on other tours in the future. — Spartan Fan (TripAdvisor)

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This will be a highlight of your trip to Sarasota
This was fantastic!! I’ve done trolley tours in other cities and this was one of my favorites. Shout out to Jon-so interesting and entertaining. Take the tour-you’ll be glad you did. — Beth W.

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Great for Locals and Visitors Alike
If you’re local to Sarasota, don’t wait for out of town guests to find an excuse to take a Discover Sarasota trolley tour. This summer and fall, we already have booked the city tour, the murder mystery tour, and the circus tour. This fall we’ll be watching to book the Christmas lights tour. And don’t forget the architectural tour. The city is rich with sights. Get out and Discover Sarasota. — Mark S. 

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Fabulous tour
What a great time we had with our tour guide , Ed and driver, Paul. Ed was so knowledgeable and gave us tons of information in a way that was entertaining and interesting. Paul navigated around all the traffic which was particularly busy due to the boat show and Saturday Farmer’s market. We had a blast and highly recommend this company and the city tour. Ed is so engaging and clearly loves Sarasota. It was one of the highlights of our trip.— Brenda 

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Great Tour for Residents and Visitors
We enjoyed a great tour with Jon and John. We are part-time residents of Sarasota, and we really appreciated learning more about the history of Sarasota and the city’s best restaurants. Jon did a great job sharing his 40+ years of experience in the city. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We plan to do the ghost tour sometime this year. — Jeff8897

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AWESOME!
This tour was so awesome! So much history I discovered. The tour guide Jon Mac Donald was so informative and knowledgeable of the history of Sarasota. The trip was good from beginning to end! I would highly recommend this tour of Sarasota. — Tonya G.

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Best Tour We’ve Been On
This is the best sightseeing tour we’ve ever taken, and we’ve taken quite a few. We were shown all, or at least many, of the important and interesting sites. We were given excellent suggestions of what to go back to and the amount of time to allot to each. The vehicle was nice and quiet. Our tour guide, Pat, was well informed and very funny. If you get him, it’ll be a bonus  — Linda

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Sarasota: Past and Present – Jun 2022
This tour is stuffed with good information about the downtown area–from history to neighborhoods to culture to cuisine. I highly recommend it as a way to acclimate to the area or if you’re a resident or frequent visitor to broaden your knowledge.  — Pamela L.

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Fun! Fun! Fun! – Jun 2022
This is probably the best way to see Sarasota to get to know the area. Our tour guide, Steve mixed in personal info with what we were seeing but that just added to the whole tour. Well worth the money. Plenty of parking and easy to find. There is also a neat vintage gift shop that is a must do. Very nice staff and TJ was an excellent driver. We plan to go again for one of their other tours as they seem to have quite a choice. — sskroll

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Excellent Customer Experience – Jun 2022
Loved It – A must do in Your Sarasota visit. My wife and I visited Sarasota for the first time in June. We learned so much about the culture, history, art and restaurants to enrich our stay. Jon MacDonald was friendly and very knowledgeable about Sarasota and surrounding areas with some great restaurant tips! A great customer experience – excellent. Make your reservations, can’t miss. — Tim D.