Capital City Tours

Capital City Tours, our city's only formal tour company, offers a handful of specialized overviews of the city: it's churches, gardens, public art- and even tea-houses. A few times a year, they organize special holiday, reunion and couples or women's tours.If you (or your company) is interested an in-depth driving tour of the city, or perhaps want to organize a custom tour, contact Jean, the owner. She has conducted step-on bus/ coach/ van tours of the city for the past ten years. I can recommend her personally for her knowledge of the city and engaging personality.

My husband and I are planning to relocate to Columbus from the Washington D.C. Metro area in the near future. Having only visited here a handful of times, I considered myself pretty clueless about Columbus so I googled city tours and found Capital City Tours. I was interested in the City Overview Tour.So, I emailed the owner, Jean, and she was very prompt in getting back to me with available times, which, fortunately, fit our schedule. My in-laws live in a suburb of Columbus, so they joined my husband and me for the tour. Jean was very sweet, especially with making some special accommodations for my semi-handicapped father-in-law. Anyway, if you're looking to move here - or have lived here all your life, even - this tour is a must-see. Jean has been here 50 years and knows SOOOO much about the history of the city and its various eclectic neighborhoods! And, she's very witty, and had us laughing a good bit. An excellent time was had by all! The tour costs $25 per person, which was more than fair, I think. Her van was impeccably clean and she even used a little microphone while speaking during the tour. At first I thought the microphone might be overkill, but I'm glad she used it because my husband, who sat in the back, could hear her very well. The tour lasted a little over 2 hours. I was so happy I found Jean. I got to see parts of the city I may not have been ready to explore on my own, including Victorian Village, German Village, downtown, Franklintown, OSU's campus, and several others. She has experienced a lot and READ a lot in her 50 years here. It makes me want to learn even more about this great city I will soon call home. And it makes me want to get here all the quicker! I highly recommend this tour. My father-in-law even loved it, and he's hard to please. :)

My husband and I have lived in Columbus for 46 years and have made our way around the city pretty well in that time. We had friends visit from Boston who have never been to Columbus before, and we puzzled about the best way to give them a really good overview of the city. After much thought and many scrapped ideas, I found Capital City Tours and Jean Hayward online. Jean was a complete delight and a terrific find. She drove us around in her van and narrated a route around Columbus, showing us the high points and iconic sights. Her commentary was interesting and much more informational than anything we could have provided, and she made stops in places I had never been. Although we probably could have cobbled together some kind of meandering drive from place to place, this was a smooth, packaged presentation of the city's highlights that left our guests with a very favorable impression. She did a great job.