Ghost Tour Charleston is a one-hour walk sold by Adam Metropolis, booking from $19 per person at our August 3, 2026 check. The price is the argument. Across the 24 Charleston codes we banked on July 30, 2026, $19 is the lowest of any guided listing in the city, and the only cheaper product in the whole set is a $6.75 self-guided smartphone tour. It names six landmarks in the hour, it prices children and infants on their own bands rather than charging everyone the adult fare, and the listing is marked wheelchair accessible. What it does not have is a large review base: 4.6 rests on 33 reviews, 18th of the 23 live listings we compared, so this page argues from price, length and route and not from the score.
A note on the name. The live listing reads Ghost Tour Charleston at our August 3, 2026 check, and our July 28, 2026 facts pass banked its card title as South Carolina 1-Hour Historic Charleston Ghost Tour. Same product, different label. The supplier field is a personal name, Adam Metropolis, which is not the same thing as a named-guide credit: only two Charleston listings we track credit a guide by name, and this is not one of them.
| Detail | What the listing shows |
|---|---|
| From price | $19 per person (checked August 3, 2026), unchanged since our July 30, 2026 pull. The lowest price of any guided Charleston listing we track; only a $6.75 self-guided phone tour is cheaper. |
| Duration | 1 hour (checked August 3, 2026). Joint-shortest among the Charleston walks; only a 40-minute carriage ride is shorter, and that one is seated. |
| When | Not captured. Neither a time-of-day band nor a clock start time appears on the listing at any of our checks, so we print none. |
| Rating | 4.6 from 33 Viator reviews (checked August 3, 2026), unchanged from July 30, 2026. That is 18th of the 23 live Charleston listings by sample size, so read the score against the count. |
| Ages | Three real bands (July 30, 2026 pull): adult 13 to 99, child 2 to 12 and infant 0 to 1. Children and infants are priced separately. |
| Accessibility | Listed wheelchair accessible. Stroller access is not stated, so we print nothing about it. |
| Stops named | Six, in listing order: the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, St. Michael's Church, the Mills House, the Circular Congregational Church, the Powder Magazine and St. Philip's Church. |
| Inclusions | None captured. No point carries a pass-by flag, but no admission appears either, and the absence of a flag is not permission to expect entry anywhere. |
| Group size | Not published at any of our checks. |
| Meeting point | Not captured. Confirm it when you book. |
| Cancellation | Free cancellation was flagged at our July 30 and August 3, 2026 checks; the exact window was never captured, so read the terms. |
| Operator | Adam Metropolis. We do not run this tour. |
Six landmarks in an hour, and what you can actually learn at them
This is a fast loop past exteriors rather than an evening out, and the route is the most conventional in the city: of the 23 live Charleston listings, 11 name the Old Exchange, 11 the Circular Congregational Church, 10 St. Philip's, 7 the Powder Magazine and 5 St. Michael's. Nothing on it is exclusive to this listing, which is precisely why the price is the story. Five of the six points have checked research behind them; the Mills House does not, so we name it and write nothing more.
St. Michael's Church stands where the Act of Establishment of June 14, 1751 fixed it, at the corner of Broad and Meeting. The cornerstone was laid on February 17, 1752 and the first service held on February 1, 1761, the work of the Irish builder Samuel Cardy, and it became a National Historic Landmark on October 9, 1960, reference 66000704. Two corrections travel with it. James Gibbs did not design it: the nomination says the architect is unknown and the building follows the manner Gibbs made popular. And it is the oldest surviving church building in Charleston, not the oldest congregation, which is St. Philip's, nor the oldest burial ground, since the earliest burial in the Circular Congregational yard is dated 1695.
St. Philip's, at 142 Church Street, is the congregation that goes back to about 1680. The Church Street building of 1723 burned in 1835 and the present church followed, and the spire everyone photographs was added between 1848 and 1850 to Edward Brickell White's design, well after the church beneath it. From 1893 to 1915 that steeple worked as the rear tower of the Fort Sumter Range Lights, with gas piped to a burner 140 feet up and $300 a year paid to the vestry. It became a National Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973. The photograph you may be shown at the West Churchyard gate was taken by Harry Reynolds in 1987; Sue Howard Hardy is the woman buried there, not the photographer, and the claim that Kodak authenticated the negative is unverified.
At 79 Cumberland Street, the Powder Magazine is the oldest public building on the route, commissioned in 1712 and completed in 1713 on a street that did not exist until 1747, so it is older than its own address. Do not expect to go in: it closed in February 2025 for repairs, and no admission appears on this listing in any case. At the Circular Congregational Church, the congregation dates to 1681 and the graveyard holds more than 500 surviving stones naming roughly 730 people, the oldest of them slate shipped from New England carvers. The building is not round and is not Robert Mills's church, which burned on December 11, 1861, and Lavinia Fisher is not buried in the yard.
Who it suits
Visitors with one free hour, families watching the per-head cost, and anyone who wants the famous exteriors without committing an evening. The child and infant bands are real bands rather than a courtesy, which matters on a route this short: the next-cheapest guided walks, at $25 and $26, book everyone on a single adult band.
- Not for anyone who wants to go inside. No admission is listed anywhere on the route, and the Powder Magazine has been shut for repairs since February 2025.
- Not for anyone who wants a big review base behind the booking. Thirty-three reviews is 18th of the 23 live listings we compared.
- Not for anyone who wants an exclusive route. Every landmark on it is named by several other Charleston listings.
- Not a fixed departure. No time of day and no clock time appear on the listing, so confirm both when you book.
- Good on price. It is the cheapest guided Charleston walk we track, and it is wheelchair accessible.
How it compares
The denominator is the 24 Charleston codes banked on July 30, 2026, of which 23 are live, 21 carry a verified price, and 12 were rechecked on August 3. At $19 this is the lowest guided fare in that set, and the claim needs its scope: the self-guided smartphone tour is cheaper at $6.75 and is not guided, so cheapest guided is the honest form and cheapest in Charleston is not. It is also worth correcting a figure that circulates in our own earlier notes, which called a $25 walk the cheapest guided Charleston product; against the full set that is third-lowest overall. On length, one hour ties it with the Curses, Corsets and Candlelight walk at $26 and with the 60-minute address walk at $30, both dearer, and only the 40-minute carriage ride is shorter. Trade up and you are buying sample size and a named guide: the Dark History walk with Adam is $25 for 80 minutes at 4.9 from 336 reviews, and the Pleasing Terrors night walk is $29 for 90 minutes at 4.8 from 1,410. The full field is on our Charleston page and in our guide to the best haunted ghost tours in Charleston.
Questions people ask
How much is it and how long does it take?
From $19 per person at our August 3, 2026 check, one hour end to end. That is the lowest price of any guided Charleston walk we track, against a set that runs to $42.
Do children pay less?
Yes. The listing carries three real bands, adult 13 to 99, child 2 to 12 and infant 0 to 1, so children and infants are priced separately rather than paying the adult fare.
Do you go inside anywhere?
No admission is listed, so treat every point as seen from the street. The Powder Magazine has been closed for repairs since February 2025 in any case, and the listing is marked wheelchair accessible.
Were pirates held in the Provost Dungeon?
No. Stede Bonnet and his crew were taken in October 1718 and the Exchange did not exist until 1771. The 1969 National Register nomination puts the 1718 prisoners in the earlier Court of Guard on the same ground, and describes the basement now shown as the dungeon as space that was for custom business.
Was St. Michael's designed by James Gibbs?
No. The Landmark nomination says the architect is unknown; the design follows the manner Gibbs popularised. The cornerstone was laid on February 17, 1752 and the first service held on February 1, 1761, under the builder Samuel Cardy.
Is there a set start time?
None is published on the listing at any of our checks, and no time-of-day band was captured either, so take the departure from the booking page.
