Mackinac Island Carriage Tours Review

We took this Tour because we wanted (and expected) to learn about Mackinac Island, but were very disappointed that we did not. The two drivers we had spent way too much time telling bad jokes (and commenting on how proud they were of the "badness") rather than telling us the facts and history of the Island and it's inhabitants (both current and past).
I definitely do not recommend this Tour.

This is a fantastic way to get a tour of the island! There was a mixup where our handicap accessible carriage was sent on its way without us, however staff sorted it out and they were able to get us on a carriage about an hour later. Our tour guide was Harvey, and he was hilarious. Everyone really enjoyed this experience! Highly recommend!

1st time going on the tour, it was worth every penny!! A great time to be had by all! I was a le to take my small dog with me also

I know, I know. You feel like a tourist. But we'll worth the price for the history and stories of Mackinac!

The carriage hosts were all friendly and knowledgeable. We would have liked to have known beforehand that even though we purchased tickets in advance that there could be an hour wait. Also would have liked to have been forewarned that the ride went through the cemetery and included stories regarding deaths, skulls, sky spirits etc.. as we might have not taken our toddler.

It's okay. Cost was around $50 per person. I would recommend to rent a bike $10/hour or bring your own bike. You can see more of the island than the tour.

Dispatcher told me "you can walk"... you're a taxi service...

Great tour guide, entertaining. Waiting for out turn was the worst, hot, tons of people, and they want you there ahead of time. They tried cramming us 5 wide on first one when the other seats had 2-3 and wouldn't let one of us go to another seat, so we all got off and took next one. Other than that the tour was excellent and horses were impressively trained.

It was a rainy day - the carriage tour made the day a bit sunnier! Our trip was enjoyable and beautiful views.

We had Jon, a student here for the summer from Transylvania and he was amazing. Highly recommend trying to him as your tour guide!

Very informative and interesting. I had a great time.

We thoroughly enjoyed the guided tour by horse drawn carriage and Maddie our guide was excellent. Great job Maddie!

Management needs to supply their drivers with quality fly spray for the horses so the horses do not suffer constant fly bites. Our driver on the other hand, was very nice and did a good job!

Great way to see the island! Only reason they didn't get the last star is the carriages are very difficult to get in. If you are totally mobile, you'll be fine, but one of our party could not do it. They do have an accessible carriage, but you have to reserve it ahead of time. Since it was our first time here, we weren't aware.

Great way to tour the island - the guides are very knowledgeable.

I have gone on MANY carriage tours with large groups, including school aged children (as a teacher). We just left from an adult group trip and we had the BEST guide I've had in all my years on the island. His name is John and he is from Transylvania in Romania. He was absolutely fantastic! I was shocked to learn it was his first year driving yourself. He was outstanding!

Disappointing trip. Not worth the money. We got in line and they scheduled too many people for our carriage so we had to cram onto the carriage. Some people ended up waiting for the next ride. Our tour guide was Katie. She consistently talked about herself and very little about the island. She kept talking like she needed to in order for the ride to not be awkward. We were tired of listening to her about halfway in. Expected to be shown more of the island like Fort Mackinac, butterfly house, etc. but we did not. A lot of the tour was through the woods and in May it s still a lot of dead trees/plants. It was cold and we stopped too many times along the path.

After so many years of growing up and coming to the island, I saw and learned many many new things by going on the tour. I plan to go again. It was fun and a refreshing break-in the middle of a long day.

The taxi drivers on the island are horrible! Within five minutes of dealing with 3 taxi drivers we seen one almost injure an elderly person by telling the horses to go without waiting for all passengers to finish climbing in. Two other taxi drivers were incredibly rude as we were asking island questions and started mocking us loudly as we walked away. I would suggest avoiding the dangerous and rude taxis and take the wonderful tours with the nice tour guides or bike to your destinations. The tour guides get five stars.

Entertaining and informative. This is an especially good option for people unable to bike.

It's sad that our great experience with our first tour driver was overshadowed by just how awful the second was. Bridgette was our tour guide when we switched to the second carriage for what is my favorite part of this tour through the woods and to Arch Rock. She immediately sarcastically let us know how excited she was to serve us when we interrupted her Sunday afternoon nap, repeatedly told us how terrible of an audience we were, and at one point made a young girl cry when she "woke us up" by quickly screaming into her microphone. If we didn't have young kids with us that had already done enough walking for the day, I wouldn't have gotten back on at Arch Rock. Never again will I pay over $80 for a family of four to take this tour.