Solvang Trolley & Carriage

We were walking around Solvang and bummed that we would have to give up our parking spot to go out of town to see the wineries and stumbled up the trolley. We opted for the motorized trolley as they said they do winery tours, being from San Diego and short on time we jumped on the opportunity. The cost was $ 20/​ticket which at first we thought was expensive but afterwards it turned into a really good value. The staff Mike –the driver Josh — the narrator and the lady in the visitor kiosk (forgot her name) were absolutely awesome. They were super helpful, and extremely knowledgeable about the area and the wineries. We even had a chance to do a quick stop at a pumpkin patch just out of town. In short we were able to do 2 wine tastings, 1 — olive oil tasting, lunch and a pumpkin patch visit for just $ 20. I highly recommend it if you are truly interested in learning about the area and seeing some of the not so touristy points of interest in and around solvang.

Friendly staff, excellent history provided, great way to see most the town and the horses are well cared for. Our family and I found this to be a favorite while in solvang

People, people, people, it’s a trolley, in a two-​horse town, for the price of a movie. What do you expect? Loops? Driving by George Clooney’s house? No, you get mildly interesting stories of bakeries and rooftops from a sweet and borderline cat-​lady tour guide punctuated with forced nervous laughter. You just chill out a bit, pulled by horses you hope don’t have gas.
Tip: Ride the driver’s side if you want to see the horses do the criss-​cross leg pattern necessary to make the U-​turns, like roller skaters on a rink.
PS. To the one one-​star reviewer who said she paid $ 50 and was on a bumpy 90 minute tour… I think you must have climbed into someone’s truck on accident.

My husband and I spent our anniversary in Solvang and it was wonderful until we decided to take the trolley tour since I have MS and tire quickly and walking is difficult. When we went to purchase our tickets, there was a sign that read that were no refunds on the tours. That should have been the first red flag and when the man at the information center, where you purchase the tickets, said that we had to talk to the woman driving the trolley before we could buy tickets should have been the second red flag. I guess we thought that she may not take another tour since it was 3 p.m. and there were no other people, other than us, waiting for a ride. We asked if she was going out again and if it was alright to get our tickets and she said yes. We bought the tickets, boarded the trolley, sitting right in the front seat and she stands on the stairs, leaning over the half wall, and says that there is no microphone. NO MICROPHONE! Big dilemma… no refund, no microphone. We stayed on, hoping, I guess, that a miracle would happen, even though she said that she would yell so that we could hear. In an hour and a half I felt that my bones were going to be shaken to bits (hurt for 3 days) and only heard two bits of information when she stopped alongside of the road and was pointing out a little information about 2 places on the 90 minute tour. We came right back into the information center, told the man, who took our, money and he was very sheepish when we were obviously upset. Very long story, shortened, b email told us who owned the ride and we made contact with them so they could do the right thing… NOT! She wrote in an email that the microphone was broken, but then they changed their site online to say that the trolley was a «sight-​seeing tour» only! But I wouldn’t expect anything less because even the city manager is so enamored with the father that he was concerned when I first approached him, but when I called back, he sang a different tune. Save your money and just drive around the city and out on the country roads. You c an also get a map and drive to a couple of little towns that are very close, which might be interesting if you parked your car and walked around a little before moving on. Your money could buy you a nice afternoon if you don’t get caught up in this nonsense. I don’t like when people the «bait and switch» thing! I feel like we were fleeced and the city condoned it by not doing anything to make it right. It’s not the $ 50, it’s that someone took advantage of you and they refuse to make you financially whole when you call them on it. Remember, just say «no!».

I had a great experience with the trolley tour despite what others mentioned in their reviews. We had a group of 15 and made reservations for 1:30pm on a Sat. afternoon in middle of Jan. Therefore we received a group discount and a trolley just for ourselves.
Our group was on time as were the driver and tour guide. Off we went! The lady was really pleasant and thorough with the history of Solvang. She highlighted a couple of restaurants and shops. My friend asked about couple of restaurants we passed by and I appreciated the tour guide’s honesty when she didn’t know about something. I rather hear «I’m not sure or I don’t know» than to hear lies. My other favorite part was the introduction of the horses (Stella and Claire).
The tour was about 30 minutes. Another fun fact was that our driver is the son of the original owner, he’s taken on the family business that’s been around a couple of decades.
All in all, I had a great time. Great service with a smile! I hope that the family business continues to thrive!

We came to Solvang because we were attracted to the old world charm. It’s a very small town but packed full of options! Lol. We were up early and had too big of a breakfast. Lol. So we decided to walk it off. We were wandering from store to store when we saw the horses! Woo Hoo! We wanted a tour! It was kinda inconvenient to run to the ice cream parlor to buy the tickets. They should be able to sell tickets at both spots. Oh well. Anyhow… they run every 35 minutes. It’s a 25 minute tour and a 10 minute break for the horses. The trolley was neat and the horses were fantastic! The town is very small and the 25 minute tour seem short… especially when waiting for traffic to clear to do a u~turn. Lol. Our tour guide host was young and was great about giving us tips on where to eat and such. Unfortunately… in todays world of google and Unilocal… we already knew which place had great ratings! Lol. Overall… it’s a little overpriced tour of $ 12 each person that we paid. Then add $ 1 to take a picture. However… if you’re tired of walking… this is great to take a sneak peak tour and rest! Oooooh! At the end… I went to thank the horses. One of them looked right at me and nodded. I asked if he was thirsty and he opened his mouth. Chomped… chomped at the air. I asked the young tour guide about water. So he picked up the water bucket and that horse went to town slurping down that water. Lol. It was pretty cool to watch! :-)

Short tour, high price. Tour guide sounded like a valley boy and couldn’t hardly get a sentence without «like» in it. Learned some facts about Solvang that I never knew I wanted to know.

So I was wandering the streets of Solvang, with a few hours to kill. I saw one of these roll past me, and was intrigued. I followed it for a bit, and found the ‘station’, where there were some people dressed up in old-​timey clothes, and some people waiting around, looking like one was going to show up at any time. I looked at the sign, and it read $ 10 for adults. Old timey clothes guy said that there would be a trolley coming by at any moment.
Fate spoke up, as I even had a ten dollar bill in my pocket, which I handed to old-​timey-​clothing dude in exchange for a ticket. I then sat down to wait for the trolley. Trolley showed up before too long, and they removed the rope that had prevented me from running into the street. I climbed onto the trolley, and looked around. This was kinda a big trolley, and there were just two horses up front. Wow. Horses are F’ing strong. We were informed that these horses were Belgian Draft horses, and they were damned strong beasties.
Before too long, we were off, horse hooves clop-​clop-​clopping on the street, and Nikki the tour guide giving us an informative historical perspective on the town of Solvang. Actually, I found it quite helpful, as I had been wondering about a couple of the buildings I had seen whilst wandering around this quaint little burg. Nikki was great, in addition to her informative shpiel, she also answered any and all questions we had about the area. The guy handling the reins was also good at his job. Twice during the ride he had the horses sidestep across the street, as to ‘U-​turn’ the trolley around in the width of a street. Apparently that’s a pretty nifty trick for a horse.
If you’ve got questions about the things your seeing while your out and about in Solvang, and would like to tour around in a big wooden trolley, I’d highly recommend checking this out. I do however wish it was longer than a half hour. But, as informative as it was, It was good. As a bonus, the used ticket stub can even be exchanged for $ 1.00 off at the Trolley ice cream parlor just a few blocks away.

Stopped in Solvang just for this. Huge waste of time because they never showed up. Skip this attraction and spend you time doing something other then waiting for a carriage ride that is not there.

it’s a nice to sit on the trolley and listen to the history of the Solvang. kids love them cause of the horses.
price:
$ 10.00 adults
$ 8.00 seniors
$ 6.00 children
if you are in Solvang the first time, i would suggest take this trolley.

This horse drawn trolley tour is the only one of its kind offered in Solvang. Prices are as follows:
$ 10.00 adults
$ 8.00 seniors
$ 6.00 children
There are prices for private parties and groups as well but I don’t recall them.
The tour starts and ends just next to the visitor center on Copenhagen Dr. And the trolley fits approximately 15+/- people; and the tour is approximately 25 minutes long.
This is definitely an eye catcher so make sure you have your picture face on because other tourist will be taking pictures of the horse and trolley so for all you photo bombers this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage!!!
The are two people who provided the tour, the driver and the guide. Our guide (I forgot his name young guy) was very nice and knowledgeable. He gives you a quick run down of the towns history and popular businesses and restaurants to visit.
I’ve been to Solvang a number of times before and have never taken the tour. This time the husband and I decided to give it a shot. As I said it was informative but the only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because it would be nice if they travel the entire town. After all Solvang is not very big and consist of maybe 3 – 4 major streets but I think we only went down 2 at most.
Overall, it was a cute experience. Now that I’ve done it I wouldn’t do it again. But, I definitely recommend it for 1^st time visitors or those who have been before but never tried it.
NOTE:
There was a couple who at the end of our tour made snickering remarks that it was too expensive for the type and length of tour. To those I say that this is a small town that is run by ma’ and pa’ business and those business give this place character. And it’s that character that attracts tourist, so enjoy it and contribute to your local small business.
ANOTHER NOTE:
Hold on to the tickets they give you, with them you can get a dollar off at the Solvang Trolley Ice-​cream Parlor.

I took a tour of downtown Solvang on the Trolley and was pretty happy with the experience. The town is relatively small so it doesn’t cover too much ground. There is a tourguide on the trolley who explains they history of the buildings as you pass them. There are some things I wouldn’t have known without having the tourguide such but for the most part we were pointed out restaurants and buildings. I think a short walking tour would have easily taken the place but it was enjoyable to be in the original cart of an important Solvang family.

While Syd and I were in Solvang we availed ourselves of the horse drawn, open air carriages. They were so much fun and they definitely covered a lot of territory.
They went up and down all the village streets and just clopped along at a lovely, relaxed pace.
Sun is shining, nice breeze… it doesn’t get any better.
WAIT it did
we got to pet the horses!!!