What Is the Best Ghost Tour in Savannah? An Honest Guide to Every Style

Savannah is regularly called the most haunted city in America, and it has the tour industry to match. On any given night in the Historic District you will pass walking groups, open air hearses, trolleys, pub crawlers, and paranormal investigators, all working the same twenty two squares. With more than two dozen operators competing for your evening, one question comes up more than any other: what is actually the best ghost tour in Savannah?

The honest answer is that there is no single best tour. There is a best tour for you, and which one that is depends entirely on what you want out of the night. A family with a nine year old wants something very different from a bachelorette party, which wants something different again from a serious paranormal enthusiast carrying their own EMF meter. Before you book anything, it helps to understand the real categories, because they are genuinely different products that happen to share a name.

Below is a straight, style by style breakdown of how ghost tours in Savannah actually work, who each one suits, and what to watch out for. We run walking tours ourselves, so we will tell you plainly where we fit. We will also tell you honestly when another format is the better choice for your group.

First, What "Best" Actually Means

Ghost tours in Savannah fall into roughly six styles. Ranking them against each other is like ranking a steakhouse against a taco truck. They are solving different problems. The useful question is not "which tour is best" but "which style matches the night I want," and then "which operator does that style well."

The six styles are history first walking tours, paranormal investigation tours, haunted pub crawls, trolley tours, hearse tours, and haunted house or museum tours. Here is what each one is really like.

History First Walking Tours

This is the classic Savannah ghost tour: a small group on foot, moving at an unhurried pace through the squares and cobblestone lanes after dark, while a local guide tells the documented history behind each haunting. The best versions of this format treat the ghost stories and the real history as one thing rather than two, because in Savannah they genuinely are. The Sorrel-Weed House, Colonial Park Cemetery, and the squares where soldiers died during the Siege of Savannah in 1779 are not stage sets. They are the actual places where the events happened, and you are standing in them.

Best for First time visitors, history lovers, couples, and anyone who wants substance over jump scares. Also the strongest choice if you want to actually understand the city, not just be entertained by it.

Watch out for Quality varies more in this category than any other, because it lives or dies on the guide. A scripted guide reading someone else's material in a city they do not know is a very different experience from a local storyteller who has walked these streets for years. Ask whether guides are local and whether the stories are grounded in documented events or simply recycled folklore.

Where we fit Destination Ghost Tours has run history first walking tours in Savannah since 2010. Our Original Haunted Savannah Tour is a ninety minute, all ages walk that leaves at 8:00 PM, and we keep an adults only version for guests who want the darker, unfiltered material after the families have gone home. We do not use actors, jump scares, or theatrical effects, because the real history does not need them. Our guides are trained in both historical research and storytelling, and because every stop is chosen for something documented that happened there, repeat ghost tour takers often tell us the material does not overlap with what they heard elsewhere in town. We run the same format in St. Augustine, America's oldest city, for guests continuing down the coast.

Paranormal Investigation Tours

These are the hands on experiences. Instead of only hearing stories, you are handed equipment, EMF meters, spirit boxes, sometimes full spectrum cameras, and taught to look for activity yourself, often inside a single fixed location rather than out on the street. Sessions tend to run longer, around two hours, and most have age minimums.

Best for Serious paranormal enthusiasts, people who want to do something rather than listen, and anyone who has already done the storytelling tours and wants to go deeper.

Watch out for Results are, by nature, unpredictable. You are paying for the experience and the access, not a guaranteed encounter. If you want narrative and history, this is not the format for you.

Haunted Pub Crawls

Ghost stories delivered between bar stops, usually across the River Street area and City Market. Savannah's open container rules make this uniquely easy here. The stories are typically shorter and lighter, and the social energy is the real product.

Best for Groups of friends, bachelorette and bachelor parties, and anyone who wants a fun night out with a spooky theme rather than a deep dive.

Watch out for Two consistent complaints show up in reviews across operators. First, drinks are usually not included, and River Street prices add up fast, so read the fine print on what your ticket actually covers. Second, busy bars and large groups can dilute the storytelling. These are adults only, typically twenty one and up.

Trolley Tours

A guided ride past the haunted landmarks, often with exclusive nighttime entry into one or two historic buildings. This is the most accessible option and the one that covers the most ground with the least walking.

Best for Guests with mobility concerns, rainy nights, and anyone who wants a broad overview rather than an intimate experience.

Watch out for Trolley tours lean theatrical and, by most accounts, cheesier. You see a lot through a window rather than standing where things happened, and some cemeteries get pointed at rather than visited. Several of the largest trolley operations are national companies rather than locally owned, which matters to some travelers and not to others.

Hearse Tours

An open air ride through the Historic District in a converted funeral hearse, usually six to eight passengers, with a guide mixing macabre history and dad jokes.

Best for Novelty seekers, small groups wanting something memorable and a little silly, and ghost tour veterans who have "seen it all" and want a different vibe.

Watch out for The hearses are old and not especially comfortable, which is arguably part of the charm. Reviews are split on depth: some guides are genuinely funny and knowledgeable, others lean on shtick.

Haunted House and Museum Tours

Time inside a single famously haunted building, sometimes paired with a short walk. Savannah has several, with the Sorrel-Weed House being the best known thanks to its televised paranormal investigation.

Best for People who want to be inside a haunted location, and fans of the specific houses.

Watch out for These are location specific, so you are betting your night on one building. Pair it with a walking tour if you want both breadth and depth.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

The best ghost tour in Savannah is the one that matches the night you are looking for. If that night is an unhurried, story rich walk through the real history behind the hauntings, told by a local guide who knows these streets, that is exactly what we have been doing at Destination Ghost Tours since 2010, in both Savannah and St. Augustine. If your night calls for a different format, we hope this guide helped you find it. Either way, the city has been keeping its stories for almost three hundred years. It is worth hearing them where they happened.