Haunted San Diego: The Only Ghost Tour with Exclusive Entry
Recommended by 91% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
San Diego, USA
- 1 hour 55 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Experience the spine-chilling history of San Diego on this immersive ghost tour that takes you inside haunted locations. Travel aboard the Ghost Coach, a “coffin on wheels,” and visit eerie sites like the Gaslamp Museum, Horton Grand Hotel, and El Campo Santo Cemetery, guided by professional storytellers in costume. With authentic tales, haunted hotspots, and dark humor, this tour offers a thrilling blend of history and the supernatural.
- Enter haunted sites during a thrilling San Diego ghost tour with real access
- Ride the Ghost Coach, a coffin on wheels with theatrical flair
- Hear chilling tales told by professional costumed storytellers
- Explore locations where real ghostly events sometimes happen
What's Included
- Experience the Ghost Coach, our Coffin on Wheels.
- Historically Accurate Ghost Stories
- Spooky and Haunted Locations
- World-Class Storytellers and Trained Thespians
- Disembark at All Locations and Enter the Majority of Them
- If you have a member with ambulatory challenges, please call us to go over it.
- Children under 10 - there are no car seats hookups. You have to comfortable buying a seat for them.
- App/email messages from you are not seen. Vist our website, get our number and text us directly.
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- 2425 San Diego Ave, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Meet at the south corner of Conde Street & San Diego Ave, 2425 San Diego Ave, San Diego, CA 92110 15 minutes early. Look for the purple or white bus.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Meet up with your small group, limited to just 14 people, and allow your guide to introduce you to haunted San Diego.
Travel by bus and on foot, arriving at your first of five eerie locations. Immerse yourself in the history that has earned San Diego its reputation as one of the most haunted cities in the west.
As you continue moving to various locations, enjoy hearing stories, jokes, and commentary from your guide. Walk through each destination and learn about infamous residents of the city.
Return back to your starting point after both getting your steps in and getting spooked during the experience.
Travel by bus and on foot, arriving at your first of five eerie locations. Immerse yourself in the history that has earned San Diego its reputation as one of the most haunted cities in the west.
As you continue moving to various locations, enjoy hearing stories, jokes, and commentary from your guide. Walk through each destination and learn about infamous residents of the city.
Return back to your starting point after both getting your steps in and getting spooked during the experience.
1
Gaslamp Museum at the Davis-Horton House
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Horton Grand Hotel
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Villa Montezuma Museum
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Whaley House Museum
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
5
El Campo Santo Cemetery
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- 8 person minimum!! Beware especially in winter. Our Haunted Guided Tour are smaller than our competitors. Plus you actually enter mutliple locations on our tours! As such we require at least 8 people/ghost hunter in our to run. If for some reason it looks like the tour will not go (this is rare but does occasionally happen), we will personally call you with a tour update 2-3 hours before your tour is set to go. If your tour does not go, again very rare, we will refund you or move you to another date. Feel free to call or email us with any questions or if you just want an update on how many have signed up so far. If we don't pick up immediately we will get back to you shortly.
- We meet you at the south corner of Conde Street & San Diego Ave, 2425 San Diego Ave, San Diego, CA 92110. 15 minutes before tour time please.
- Please make sure to use the bathroom before your tour. You will be going to historic locations which have no bathroom access, and your party definitely should use the bathroom before joining us. Bathrooms can be found in the neighboring restaurants and businesses. There is a public restroom at the back of Cafe Coyote a block away. Just walk to the very back of their plaza.
- If you are driving, please show up early to get parking.
- Service animals are allowed provided they are small, can be carried in their crate and do not disturb the other attendees. If you have a larger animal like a German Sheppard you would need to purchase an additional seat,potentially crate the animal and will not be able to enter some of the locations as there are antique and very valuable, fragile historic artifacts in them.
- Due to our bus size and the older nature of our locations we are not wheel chair accessible. If you have a member with ambulatory challenges, please call us to go over it.
- Children under 10 are not recommended. If you have a child under 10, please call us to make sure this is a good fit.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 12 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 669 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
We were expecting to go inside of 3 haunted homes. 2 of the homes were booked for private events so we just stopped by the outside of them and heard stories. It was a huge letdown as these homes were the only exclusive part of the tour. Entering areas that are not open to the general public would have made the ticket cost worth it. But we didn’t get that. So we paid to just stand on the sidewalk and use our imagination of what the inside looks like. The rest of the tour was a hotel lobby and a cemetery that you can 100% visit on your own time. Waste of money. Also the tour guide was trying too hard to sound spooky.
Response from Host, Nov 2026
Anyone Reading This
If you don't like the host or have legitimate informed (not made up) expectations that are not met. Please reach out to me with constructive feedback and we will likely give you a full refund up to 3 people. We stand behind our tours. We care and want you to be happy. Your informed thoughts can absolutely affect how we run our tours.
Personally - sorry for being human and offended. We will get AI to answer everything bland(ly) some day. Just, all of you out there, please don't go on our tour if you can't be bother to read what we send you. I really tried to scare this type of person away but I can't if they ignore what we send them.
Hello Navie C - Your review is upsetting and I am human. I'm upset by this.
Full Disclosure
You went Halloween night - that night affects things. You were sent several text messages (number ending in 5715 the number you gave us on file - first one sent at 8:47 AM plenty of time to cancel) and emails warning you about Halloween night expectations and asking you to CANCEL :
"PLEASE CANCEL NOW if you need everything on time, are bothered by crowds, noise or waiting, or will be upset if tonight isn’t perfect."
You were also warned the Villa would be from outside (the other locations went as advertised though you do not acknowledge this) and told exactly what places you would have access to that night.
Several times we reached out to you. I have proof. Why did you not CANCEL?
Locations that Halloween Night
First in general - On the bus tour we have 5 locations and you enter 4, 95% of the time. Out of those 5, 3 are exclusive to us.
That night you went to the whaley house (no ghost tour company goes into the wh ever - no night ever. That is ran by a national coroporation). The wh was done from the outside. We are very clear in our marketing and expectations all year round that you do not enter that location.
Still you went there and heard the stories.
Villa Montezuma
Regretagbly that locations had a special event and we had to do it outside. Which your were warned about several times via text and email. We asked you to CANCEL if that bothered you. You should have cancelled and got the full refund.
Normally we have access to that location.
*Any location, at any time, can have a closure or access issues. That is why we say we go into locations 95% of the time. Super rare not to go into a location but it happens.
Horton Grand
We have exclusive access to this location the lobby, side area with interesting (to me) stories and sometimes the bar. Yes you can go into it yourself at any time but you can not go into it with another tour. We pay for exclusive access.
DH House
We have exclusive access to this location and you went into it. We have access to the first floor and yes we pay for this access. Now can you go in as the general public - you can pay to go in yourself. Can you go in with another ghost tour company? No.
You don't acknowledge going here but the recording shows that all groups went inside this location.
Graveyard
Yes that is a public space and yes you enter it. Yes totally yes on this location and the whaley you can go to the public parts of them anytime by yourself. And you should you should skip paying for ghost tours - you should totally go to places like that yourself for sure. I agree and encourage you to in the future. Skip the tours. Go yourself.
Tour Guide
Fair enough. If you did not like the guide I get that. Each guide is different and it just like people sometimes the chemestry or whatever is not there. So I hear you on this one - legit. Also your line on trying too hard to be spooky is useful feedback and I will bring that to the host. With you on this one. The rest no.
In Closing
I think this review is very unfair. I tried to get you to cancel several times. I was very open on expectations and warnings for the crazyiness of Haloween night. We are also very clear in our marketing on what you have access to all year.
If you can't be bother to read what a company sends you then you are just creating expectations out of thin air. Which you did here. Then you go blaming the company for not meeting your made up expectations...
Just stop going on tours and go to locations open to the general public yourselves. Good point do that.
Bottomline - I am bummed you went. We don't want you to have a bad time - we want the opposite we want you to enjoy our tours.
After the deep cut from your booking software, the payment to the locations, host, etc the company only makes about 10% of each ticket. We are doing this for the love of most people enjoy the tour. Not this just bummed.
I don't want to spend part of my life writing this or sharing this with the host and team. It hurts all our feelings.
I really just wished you all had read the stuff and cancelled. We were offering a full refund. I was clear about all of it just wish you had cancelled.
We were not able to enter Villa Montezuma because they had an event going on when we arrived. They invited us return the next day at 2:15pm, but unfortunately we were not able to do so. Also, our tour guide left the keys on the bus and she had to literally chase the bus down and after a few calls to and from the bus driver, we were finally able to enter a locked gate and house that was haunted.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Fair enough I hear you and sorry about that - the host said they really had an off night on that one. Normally she does great and gets amazing review an off night could be the Oct stress. Apologies.
Generally we go into our locations about 95% of the time. If there is a event, or sickness, repair or something entry we will be stopped. You should have been notified of that chance in the marketing and follow up emails. We don't own these locations or control them so it is out of my control. So there is a 5% risk factor when booking.
Often times on something like that I will offer a discount or partial refund to our customers. However when booking through massive booking coporations their cut of each ticket is 30-50% is so deep that we barely make a profit as it so can not offer that to corporate bookers. After their take our margin is around 10% after host, locations and they are paid.
We still pay the locations we go to even if they are closed as they are local San Diego ran places (not whaley that is ran by an out-of-town company that loves money more than anything) they need the money and we want to support local.
Still I hear you though. Deep apologies. The host was super embarrassed that night.
Great tour group. Cowboy Pete was funny and informative. Plenty of spooky facts. Went into two houses that other tours don't have.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thank passing that on to Pete and glad you liked the walk lenght. We try to accomidate all.
We had a great time with Pete! Interesting and entertaining tour in a couple areas in San Diego. Good communication.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thanks - passing ti on to Pete :)
My wife and I love spooky stuff! Cowboy Pete definitely delivers! He is very knowledgeable about the spooky bits of Sam Diego. The door affords the opportunity to get in and off at different haunted locations all around San Diego, which we both loved! Not only that, it afforded us the ability to take a peek at places we wanted to spend more time at later! If you come to San Diego, carve out a a couple hours, hop on the Ghost Bus and enjoy some ghost stories with Cowboy Pete! Thanks for a great tour!
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Ah thanks Jason really appreciate the detailed and supportive review. This is why we do it!
The tour was very informative on the history and fun! Luther was knowledgeable and entertaining. Loved the smaller size bus (coffin on wheels). The tour was quaint and small which in my eyes made it more personable.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Another Luther so cool! He is doing good :)
Glad you like the bus we almost went with 36 people per bus like our competitor does and grab all that cash but our smaller 24/25 size just seems like a better show so sticking with that. I appreciate you calling it out.
Unfortunately we did not get to go on this tour. Our tour guide was sick and had to cancel. They were very kind.and very concerned about spreading their illness to us. Based on this alone, I would definitely recommend this tour. If the guides care this much about their customers, they must do an amazing job on the tour. Unfortunately we are not able to reschedule as our time here is very full, but I really appreciate these guides. I wish them well and lots of happy tours!
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thanks William and terribly sorry to miss you you all would have been a blessing to go with.
It is a debate within our world on if we should go with sick hosts (particularly if they are contagious). The corporate booking platforms want us to they want their cut. Some of our customer don't care and want us to. Sometimes the host maybe sick but able enough and will do it.
We have so far leaned on cancelling though because we know you would be exposed and likely would get it some of the recent ones are highly contagious we are told.
If anyone out there has a vote on it let us know I am always trying to sort how you all feel out there about stuffl like this.
Thanks again William you are a true gem - really appreciate your understanding and forgiveness. If you ever come back in town hit me up directly and remind me of this for a personal discount. - Brian :)
Dante was our tour guide for the Haunted Tour and he was exceptional! It was spooky and was filled with San Diego history. This tour is a must!
This tour was great! We attended Oct. 7th, 2026, in the care of our intrepid bus driver, Linda, and part time thespian, Archie, after dark at 7pm. While there were No paranormal experiences, to my knowledge, there was a really surprising wealth of history, primarily of the Villa Montezuma House (now museum), and the notorious Gaslamp District, including the Davis-Horton house, which is the oldest surviving structure in downtown! My husband and I spend a lot of time in San Diego, (we lived there for a few years as newlyweds, years ago), and didn't know about these (and other historic buildings and stories). There is very little walking, really, for those who may be concerned about that, and given the very high temperatures we've been experiencing, the minibus was very comfortably airconditioned. Linda, our bus driver, provided water ½ way through our tour. Archie, our guide, was very knowledgeable, personable, friendly, and often, funny, making this trip very enjoyable. For those old enough and interested in San Diego history, this was perfect. (This was no haunted house experience with costumed people jumping out at you with fake chainsaws! If you're looking for that, there are other tours/venues for that).
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thank you Gail and really appreciate the details. I am pssing this on to Linda and Archie :)
Archie was an excellent story teller. It was one of the best ghost tours I've been on because you got to go inside some of the locations which was such a treat. The Villa Montezuma stop was amazing. I want to go back and do the full history tour of that one. The tour was also a nice mix of walking and bus so you got to cover a lot more of the area and see things up close. Our bus driver was fun too, he shared stories with us before the tour started. I would recommend this tour to everyone. It's much more history than scary which I enjoy.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thanks Renae - I am going to pass this on to Archie and Ken :)
And your right it is not scary more like spooky. A history tour with a haunted twist though some of the locations have some real energy.
We usually always take the ghost tour with the exception of Boston. It’s about the only way to actually learn a lot of history of the area. Pat was our God. She was fabulous and we got to see a very beautiful home called Villa Montezuma . Well worth going.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
I am ont sure you took our tour sounds like you might have taken a national. Our competitors are out of town massive corporations so they would have tours in other cities we are just here in San Diego.
I think we are the only ones that go to the Villa though so hard to say.
I convinced my friend who is terrified of anything scary to come with me and it was a really fun and spooky experience! We learned a lot about the history and going in the buildings was so fun. Pete made the whole experience a blast and Ken the bus driver is a sweetheart make sure you bring cash for tips!
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thank you! Passing it on they will be delighted :)
Very entertaining and educational about San Diego’s past. Really liked the information about the Horton hotel
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Excellent - we just fully exclusive access to the hotel the competitors will be pointing from outside. I debated getting it because of the cost but seeing this really helps thank you :)
Pretty much exactly what I expected. Unfortunately the old decorated bus was out of commission so we had just a normal shuttle bus that they just got. The host (Archie) was knowledgeable and entertaining. The tour was of historic nature, not a jump out at you kind of horror house, which I feel was properly described in the event details. If you enjoy history, and spooky stories this is for you.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thanks Brandon and appreciate you read the info before you went we try to be transparent. Come check out the new bus next year it is in the process of being ghostified. :)
The spots we went go into were great, good historical information, terrible puns and jokes that still make you laugh.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Totally have a sense of humor ;)
Good tour, lacked depth, were able to go into 2 of the haunted houses and 1 hotel, but not the Whalen house. Great tour guide, funny and witty. Would love it to include a little more for the price.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Thanks - keep in mind your booking corporation take 35% of each ticket. I only want to make 38 a tour but you all love these corporate platforms so we have to raise prices for that.
You should have also gone into a graveyard and yea no ghost tour is allowed in the whaley anymore it ran by an out of town group so they focus on using it to print money.
It's all about money unfortunately wish it wasn't we really would just prefer to tour have fun and charge a lower price but there you have it.
Clara was the best. Absolutely the best to go to so many interesting places with such amazing backstories. So rich in paranormal history!!! Highly recommend. Plus the bus was decorated so well and it’s nice to support a locally owned business.
Contact for tour had quite an attitude – berating us for booking through Viator instead of directly, claiming we were foolishly overcharged. However, we would not otherwise have found his business. Our guide was friendly and capable. The ride from the historic town into the city was a bit lengthy, but Archie covered the time with pleasant stories. Overall, a good experience, minus the initial contact.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thanks I will pass the compliment on to Archie. He will be delighted and glad you end up going. :)
Didn't mean to offend - I always give a breakdown of the fees during most tour so people understand why things are priced the way they are.
We only want to make 40 a tour (I think that is a fair price) then the price you see here reflects viator or whomever's take. I think they make about 18 per person. They are not alone it is similar (give or take) on all the other corporate booking platforms. It is just meant as a pricing transparency.
Also to make sure that the right amount of people are booked. Sometimes booking through viator will have the wrong amount of people (it is rare) so I like to confirm that as well.
You all were interesting because you said you could only find us on viator which made me curious if you used other search engines etc. I am always trying to understand the customer journey.
Total apologies it was not meant to offend at all just curious. Will double check that messaging in the future. You all be well glad the tour went well beside my stumble :)
Rosalinda was our tour guide. She was great! Very informative and fun! Loved all the historical context.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thanks Daniel passing that on now :)
More story telling which was awesome then being able to look inside the locations. We didn't get to spend a lot of time inside the locations. Was like 5 to 7 mins tops, to get pictures and explore but the locations were small so exploring wasn't that great. Our host Pete was amazing and was the best part of the attraction/ tour. Very informative and awesome.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
I'm with you - would be nice to have more time. With the tour running roughly two hours give or take when we have made it longer it was too much. The other move of cutting locations to give more time is challenging - which location to cut? Let me know if you have feedback would love to know. Appreciate it - Brian
Luther was a great guide, and it was so cool getting to go inside some of the sites on the tour. Getting to go inside Villa Montezuma was really a treat, and the lady there was a wonderful storyteller! You could tell she was passionate about the history and preservation of the villa.
Archie knew a lot of history about all the places we went to. His personality and knowledge made the tour memorable. I’m uploading a picture that I took with my phone. Look at the top left window. Enlarge it so you can see that something came out on that window. It scared us. Also in that house we saw a tasle move on its own and try hen it would stop and move again. I felt dizzy and lightheaded in that house. I only told my daughter how I felt.
Terrific your! Very informative tour learned so much about history of San Diego. Terrific tour guide
i did the 9:00pm tour in a group of no one i knew and it was SPOOKY! our tour guild luther was incredible with his story telling and the different locations were amazing. if you do this experience i recommend bringing cash for tips for the driver and ur guild, they’re all very wonderful and are a small business here in San diego.
Really fun thing to do I the city. We didn’t know what to do with our teens on our summer trip and this was really fun and they loved it. 2 hours went by fast.
This is a must do tour if you are in the area and like haunted tours. Cowboy Pete is such a fun and informative tour guide. He is a great storyteller and is constantly keeping you entertained with stories while riding/walking from location to location. This tour is also the only haunted tour in San Diego that gives you access to certain locations. I highly recommend this tour!
It's not just a haunted tour, it's history. I grew up in San Diego and I learned so much from this tour and from Kat, our guide.
Historical info and photos while visiting interesting places. Pick up was very late due to traffic from a ball game, but the host was flexible to adjust the tour. I recommend this event.
Don't get traveler's diarrhea at the last minute because they won't issue you a refund. Started pooping on the drive to the event...had to stop multiple times before deciding they wouldn't appreciate me having an accident on their bus. I probably should've just come & let the cards fall where they may.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Angela, It's a bummer you were unable to attend. We were there waiting for you. However, we did not receive notice before the tour that you would not be joining us. A reminder was sent personally in advance you could have replied to, and our host also attempted to contact you when you did not arrive. The group waited, and we did not receive a response until after the scheduled tour time.
Your group didn't even bother to let us know you all would not show.
Because we were not informed beforehand, we had no opportunity to resell the reserved tickets or depart on time. That delay affected the other guests, who could otherwise have enjoyed additional stories and more time on the tour.
We also encourage guests to contact us directly when an unexpected situation arises. Refund requests made through a third-party booking platform are subject to that platform’s rules as well as the cancellation policy accepted at the time of booking, which can limit the flexibility available to us.
I have records and contact information of all the correspondences in this case, the host's reachout text, my personal pre-text to you all. You no show, no responded until after the fact and then asked for a full refund for no showing and no responding. Then you hurt us with this review.
Full Disclosure
This review is so unfair and harmful I am thinking of seeking legal consule which we have never even considered before. I hate even thinking of that but this is so harmful and mean we did nothing wrong. I am bummed to have to make that effort and spend our time on something so lame. We just want to take people on tours, have then have fun and enjoy doing that.
Please come and join our tour people. We are the only local SD ghost tour left, the one that has inside access, the highest reivews overall on the major review platforms. We care. I am a real person we all are. Just please let us know if you are not going to show, don't make the group wait when you aren't coming, don't get mad at us after the fact and please give us a chance to sell the spots when able. Appreciate you all.
This tour was very fun! We got to learn the history of the places we visited and the stories were very intriguing. Cowboy Pete was a great tour guide with a fun personality and great story telling skills. Perfect mix of riding on the bus and being in or near the locations.
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per personWas $58.00(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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