The St. Augustine stories to know before you book
The Castillo de San Marcos is the building every route points at, and its dates are not in dispute. The National Park Service records that the governor and his officers broke ground on the afternoon of October 2, 1672, and that the fort was not declared finished until August of 1695, twenty three years later. It was finished in time to matter: the British attack of 1702 leveled the rest of the city around it, by the Park Service's account of the old town plan, which is why so little of the town that burned survives and so much of the fort does. Night routes work the green and the seawall outside its walls, and the stories start there.
The Cathedral Basilica on the plaza is the address that shows you what a fire does to an old city. The National Register nomination on file with the National Park Service dates the building to two campaigns, 1793 to 1797 and 1887 to 1888, and notes that the parish itself is the oldest in the United States, with records going back to 1594. The 1887 fire took everything but the shell. The rebuild was designed by James Renwick, who kept the nave facade and 75 feet of the old nave walls, added a six story bell tower on the south side, and traded the wooden shingle roof for clay tile.
The nomination the Park Service still holds puts the night of the 1887 fire in one line: "the interior was completely gutted and only the four walls were left." The parts added afterward, the transepts and the bell tower and the extended nave, went up in poured concrete rather than the coquina the Spanish had used, which is why the building reads as two centuries at once.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse carries the city's most repeated ghost story and its most checkable history. Its National Register nomination records that the tower was constructed between 1871 and 1874 and has served continuously since 1874, which makes the lighthouse and the keeper's quarters the oldest surviving brick structures in St. Augustine. The same document puts the tower at 165 feet, with a spiral staircase of more than 200 steps, and explains why it stands back from the water: the stone watchtower that preceded it was converted to a lighthouse in 1823 and collapsed in 1880 after the sea undermined it. What visitors report on those stairs, including the two young girls said to have died on the site in the 1870s, is a separate file, and we keep it in our guide to haunted St. Augustine.
The Old Jail on San Marco Avenue is the address locals name first, and its paperwork is unusually complete. The National Register nomination records that construction began in August of 1890 and finished early the following year, that the building held prisoners as the county jail from 1891 until 1953, and that Henry Flagler put $10,000 toward the new building, bought the old jail and the land under it from the county for $2,500, and had the old one torn down to make room for a gambling club, per the document on file with the Park Service. It is the oldest county government building in St. Johns County, which is a plain way of saying the building the guides stop outside is the original one.
Which St. Augustine ghost tour is right for your group?
The classic evening walk
A classic walk gives up nothing: you are on foot in the old quarter after dark, and the city does the set dressing. Our pick is St. Augustine Ghost Tour: A Ghostly Encounter, the most reviewed of the five compared tours at 4.7 stars across 2,475 reviews, 90 minutes from $30, with a costumed guide working the cemeteries and the grounds of the old fort. Two things its listing settles up front: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, and wheelchair and stroller access.
- Choose it if this is your first ghost tour in St. Augustine and you want the version the most people have taken.
- Choose it if there are kids in the group; this is the family lane on our table.
- Skip it if you want the harder material or a bar between stops; the pub walk below keeps both.
Verdict: the default pick, and the one we would book first.
Book the family ghost walk in St. Augustine
The investigator-led walk
The investigator walk trades polish for method. The pick is Ghost Tour of St. Augustine: The Original Haunted History Tour, run by Spyglass Tours, the highest rated tour on our table at 4.9 stars across 426 reviews and the cheapest at $25 for 90 minutes. A working paranormal investigator takes the route through Huguenot Cemetery, Tolomato Cemetery, and St. George Street, and teaches the devices along the way. One scheduling note from its listing: bookings are confirmed within 48 hours, subject to availability.
- Choose it if you want cases and methods rather than a script.
- Choose it if budget matters; $25 is the lowest from-price among the five compared tours.
- Skip it if you are booking for tonight; the confirmation window runs up to 48 hours.
Verdict: the best-rated ninety minutes among the five compared tours, and the cheapest.
Book the investigator-led ghost walk in St. Augustine
The trolley
The trolley trades on-foot intimacy for a seat and a wider sweep. The pick is the Haunted Trolley Tour of St Augustine, one hour from $36.39, running in the evening in all weather aboard what its operator calls the Trolley of the Doomed. Two honest notes from the listing: bookings are confirmed within 48 hours subject to availability, and children have to be accompanied by an adult. Its 4.2 across 1,155 reviews is the lowest rating in our table.
- Choose it if the weather or the miles argue against walking.
- Choose it if you have one hour and want the widest sweep of the city inside it.
- Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access; unlike the two walks here, the trolley listing does not offer it.
Verdict: the coverage play, for when a seat matters more than the cobblestones.
Book the St. Augustine ghost trolley
The golf cart
The cart splits the difference: a seat, a small group, and lanes a trolley cannot take. The pick is Riding with the Ghosts, the golf cart ghost tour from St Augustine Land and Sea Tours, 4.6 stars across 301 reviews, 75 minutes from $39. Its listing is specific about the seating, three passengers per row, and about the one physical requirement, that everyone be able to step in and out of the vehicle. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the start.
- Choose it if you want a seat without the trolley's numbers.
- Choose it if plans might move; cancellation is free up to 24 hours out.
- Skip it if stepping up into a vehicle is difficult, or if anyone needs wheelchair access; the listing offers neither.
Verdict: the small-group ride, and the middle ground between the walks and the trolley.
Book the golf cart ghost tour in St. Augustine
The pub walk
The pub walk trades story time for bar time, and it is the longest night on our table at 2 hours 30 minutes from $34.03. The pick is the Booze and Boos Haunted St. Augustine Ghost Walking Tour, which carries a Likely to Sell Out chip on its listing. Its rating reads 5.0, but that average sits on 52 reviews, a small base next to the thousands behind the walks above it, so read it as promising rather than settled. The age rule is the one line on the listing that leaves no room: "All guests must be 21 years of age or older with valid ID. No exceptions."
- Choose it if you want a route that goes indoors, with bar stops on the itinerary.
- Choose it if you want the longest night out among the five compared tours.
- Skip it if anyone in the party is under 21; the listing allows no exceptions.
Verdict: the grown-ups' pick, and the one to book earliest.
Book the adults only pub walk in St. Augustine
On accessibility, St. Augustine runs opposite to instinct: the two walking routes list wheelchair access and the two seated ones do not. A Ghostly Encounter lists wheelchair and stroller access, and the Original Haunted History Tour lists both as well, with its listing marking the surfaces along the route as accessible too. The Haunted Trolley and the golf cart, the two tours where a seat looks like the answer, carry no wheelchair listing at all, and the cart's listing adds that every passenger steps in and out of the vehicle. The Booze and Boos pub walk does not list wheelchair access either. That is two of the five compared tours with wheelchair access on the listing, and three without.
Haunted hotels in St. Augustine
Almost every old building in the district claims a resident, and the inns keep the best known files: the St. Francis Inn, built in 1791, and the Casablanca Inn, a onetime prohibition-era speakeasy whose original owner is said to still signal from the balcony. Henry Flagler's grand hotels, now Flagler College and the Casa Monica, are counted in the same tier. We keep the longer versions in our guide to haunted St. Augustine; the short version is that in this city the building is usually older than the story about it.
If you would rather sleep inside the story than beside it, stay in the old city. The St. George Inn sits on a pedestrian-only street a 2-minute walk from the Castillo de San Marcos. The Bayfront Marin House is a bed and breakfast in the heart of the Historic District, an 8-minute walk from Flagler College. Casa De Solana is a smaller bed and breakfast within walking distance of Potter's Wax Museum, with hardwood floors and a home-cooked breakfast. All three carry booking cards in the list above.
The full rundown, oceanfront resorts on St. Augustine Beach included, lives in our guide to where to stay in St. Augustine.
Planning your St. Augustine ghost tour night
Two tracks work, and both start after dinner. The family track books A Ghostly Encounter: 90 minutes in the evening from $30, a costumed guide, and scares kept at a size the kids can carry back to the hotel. Put the walking earlier in the day rather than later, because the old quarter is compact and everyone will have covered it twice by nightfall. Daylight plans live in our guide to things to do in St. Augustine.
The adults track starts later and runs longer. The Booze and Boos pub walk covers 2 hours 30 minutes with bar stops on the itinerary, and its listing sets the floor at 21 with valid ID and no exceptions. If a seat matters more than the bars, the Haunted Trolley does an hour and the golf cart does 75 minutes, both in the evening, both without a wheelchair listing.
All five compared tours are evening departures, and meeting points sit on the individual listings rather than in one place, so read yours before you park. Two of the five, the Original Haunted History Tour and the Haunted Trolley, confirm bookings within 48 hours subject to availability, which matters if your date is close. If you are driving in, the city runs the Historic Downtown Parking Facility, a 1,200-space garage next to the Visitor Information Center, open around the clock; its published rate is $20 per vehicle per entry at peak and $5 per entry off peak, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., which is the window these tours run in. Park once and walk the rest.
Book the longest ghost night out in St. Augustine
