Leaving from Charleston Visitor Reception and Transportation Center at 375 Meeting Street, Adventure Sightseeing (843/762-0088, www.touringcharleston.com, $20 adults, $11 children) offers several comfortable 1.5–2 hour rides, including the only motorized tour to the Citadel area. Tour times are daily at 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:20 p.m., 1:30 p.m., and 2:45 p.m.

You can make a day of it with Charleston’s Finest Historic Tours (843/577-3311, www.historictoursofcharleston.com, $18 adults, $9 children), which has a basic two-hour city tour each day at 10:30 a.m. plus offers some much longer tours to outlying plantations. They also offer free downtown pickup from most lodgings.

The old faithful Gray Line of Charleston (843/722-4444, www.graylineofcharleston.com, $20 adults, $12 children) offers a 90-minute tour departing from the Visitors Center every half-hour 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. March–November (hotel pickup by reservation). Last tour leaves at 2 p.m. during the off-season.