Overview
Some afternoons the smartest thing you can do in wine country is hand someone else the keys. That is the whole premise of Crozet Trolley Co., which loads up a trolley or a shuttle bus at Downtown Square and spends the day carrying you between the wineries and breweries that ring the Charlottesville area. You relax, they drive. It is a simple trade, and on a Saturday afternoon in the foothills it turns out to be exactly the right one.
The regular public tours run on a weekly rhythm, each one shaped to the day it falls on. The flagship is the Spirits Loop Tour, which departs Saturdays from 12pm to 5:30pm for $59 and strings together three wineries and one brewery over the course of an afternoon — the kind of unhurried, unlimited-fun itinerary that would be a logistical headache to assemble on your own. Fridays bring the Sunset Wine Tour, a shorter and quieter run from 5:30 to 8:30pm for $39 that visits two of the area's prettiest wineries, Grace Estate and Knight's Gambit, and lets you wind down the week with the light going gold over the vines. And the Sunday Drive Wine Tour, 1 to 5pm for $49, caps the weekend with a loop through some of the region's most popular wineries. Across all three, groups of six or more get $5 off each ticket, which makes the trolley an easy call for a birthday, a reunion, or a bachelorette weekend.
How it works
The appeal here is less about any single stop than about the arrangement of the whole day. You book a seat, you show up, and the driving — the part that turns wine tasting into a designated-driver negotiation — simply disappears. The company's fleet includes both trolleys, which seat around 30, and shuttle buses, which seat up to 18, so a tour can scale from a couple of friends to a good-sized crowd. Tours depart from Downtown Crozet and range out into the wineries and breweries of the surrounding Charlottesville area. To see which tours are running when, the tour calendar is the place to start, and each public tour has its own booking page linked from the site.
Charters, weddings, and the North Pole Express
Beyond the scheduled public runs, the trolleys and shuttles go out on private charters. You can follow one of the company's suggested routes or build your own itinerary around whatever destinations you have in mind — the shuttle buses seat up to 18 for a private group, which makes them a natural fit for a company outing, a milestone birthday, or a day trip with no fixed script. Weddings are their own category: the wedding trolley seats 30, the shuttle 18, and the company provides transport throughout the Charlottesville area, the sort of detail that quietly solves the problem of moving a wedding party and guests between ceremony, reception, and hotel.
Then there is the North Pole Express, a seasonal tour aimed squarely at kids. Children board for a ride to the "North Pole," where the itinerary includes reindeer games, hot chocolate and cookies, a small gift, and — if the timing is right — a chance to meet Santa. It is a different register entirely from a Saturday winery loop, and a nice reminder that the same fleet that runs the adults around wine country also knows how to put on a show for a busload of six-year-olds.
Booking and getting in touch
Public tours are booked online through the individual tour pages, and the calendar shows what is scheduled. For a private charter, a wedding, or any question that needs a real answer, you can reach the company at (434) 422-7660 or send a message through the contact form on their site. They are based at Downtown Square, Crozet, VA 22932, which puts the departure point right in the middle of town.
If you have been meaning to get out to the wineries but keep running into the problem of who drives home, Crozet Trolley Co. is the answer that has been sitting in downtown the whole time. Book a seat, leave the car, and let the afternoon do what it does best. Everything starts at crozettrolley.com.
More other in Crozet
Frequently asked questions
Where is Crozet Trolley Co.?
Crozet Trolley Co. is located at Downtown Square, Crozet, VA 22932, USA, in Crozet, Virginia.
What are Crozet Trolley Co.'s hours?
Monday: Open 24 hours Tuesday: Open 24 hours Wednesday: Open 24 hours Thursday: Open 24 hours Friday: Open 24 hours Saturday: Open 24 hours Sunday: Open 24 hours
How do I contact Crozet Trolley Co.?
You can call (434) 422-7660 or visit https://crozettrolley.com/. Hours and current information are most reliable directly from the business.
What kind of business is Crozet Trolley Co.?
Crozet Trolley Co. is categorized as other in our Crozet directory. See the description and quick facts above for what makes this listing distinctive.
Sources: crozettrolley.com