Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides
Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides
Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides
5
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Full view
About
The Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides (ALBG) is a business association representing the interests of our member guides in particular and licensed guides in general. Our guides are tested and licensed by the National Park Service and are the ONLY individuals legally permitted to conduct a tour of the National Park. They are used by a number of private businesses: commercial bus companies, groups offering tours of the battlefield by a number of conveyances including, but not limited to, Bicycles, Scooters, Horseback or Segway. Walking tours and special interest tours are especially popular. Or, you can hire your own personal guide to go with you in your car!
Gettysburg, United States
Awards
Travellers' Choice
2023
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listingRevenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Similar Experiences
Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides
Booking unavailable on Tripadvisor
Want other options you can book now?
Show optionsTravellers talk about
(236 reviews)
(122 reviews)
(66 reviews)
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
5.0
1,094 reviews
Excellent
1,062
Very good
26
Average
2
Poor
2
Terrible
2
Andre K
3 contributions
Mar 2024 • Family
Lawrence Korczyk drove my family and I all over the civil war battlefield. He was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He explained the importance of the battle and how leadership decisions were critical to the outcome of the war.
Written 3 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Homestead W
1 contribution
Jan 2024 • Family
Two of us booked a tour with Dennis Conroy and had a great time learning about this epic moment in American History. We learned so much about the nuances of the three days and the shear scale of three days of battle. We are grateful for the tour and will do it again with more of our family.
Written 25 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Chuck L
Washington DC, DC64 contributions
Nov 2023 • Solo
If you are fascinated with the Gettysburg battle, take three days of tours – a total immersion. It was a three-day battle and each day was unique. Taking each day in sequence gives you a vivid sense of the wild swings and twists. And to make sense of it all, hire my guide – Mary Turk-Menna. You can contact her through the official tour guide hot line at 717-337-1709. Leave a message there with all your details and ask for Mary. She was sensational. She specializes in three-day total immersion tours because her command of the battle is encyclopedic. She is brilliant. A fantastic storyteller. She knows every boulder and every fox hole. Every maneuver. And, best of all, she loves to pose questions about every “what if” in this chaotic and ferocious battle. Mary is charismatic, enthusiastic, and articulate. Six hours a day of tours for three days with her was fantastic fun. And riveting. If you take less than a three-day tour, or worst of all if you take a one-day tour, you will get no sense of the relationships between battles on the Union left and Union right or Union center. You’ll probably miss out on the brutal battles at Culps Hill. Not fully understand the crazy story of General Sickles, the charges or retreats of the individuals who were decisive or confused, the brutality of the battle (the Wheatfield changing hands six times), the bewildering decisions of Robert E. Lee, Longstreet’s multi-day pout, the ups and downs of Richard Ewell, A.P. Hill’s absence, the Little Round Top story in relation to the Peach Orchard and Wheat Field, the bewildering absence of JEB Stuart, Meade’s brilliant just-in-time shuffling of his troops, and, of course, the bloodbath of Pickett’s Charge. Mary and I walked and walked, talked and talked…a non-stop and animated conversation. We examined all the pieces of a three day puzzle. She welcomes probing questions and doesn’t pretend that anyone knows all the answers. She LOVES guiding individuals who have studied the battle in advance (I’d read Trudeau and Sears twice, plus two other books and numerous articles, and drafted up six pages of questions). I’m a Senior TripAdvisor reviewer and have traveled to over 100 countries. I’ve benefitted from many hundreds of guides going back 60 years and Mary is in the top few all-time. Because of her I’m now even more fascinated by this battle. Don’t skimp on Gettysburg – three days is perfect and Mary is amazing. I stayed in the town at the Gaslight Inn, which is excellent and a close walk to restaurants for dinner. BTW, the certified Gettysburg guides – like Mary – can only charge $31 per hour for their tours.
Written 12 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ginge59_12
London, UK629 contributions
Sept 2023 • Couples
Worth every penny!
Mike Rupert wove the story of the battle and the town in storytelling - leaving us with knowledge we didn't have before and following a methodical route he painted the battle- and aftermath - that will be with us for ever. We only had 2 hours, but it was not rushed and we absorbed all we could. If we were ever nearby, I would go back to absorb more.
Mike Rupert wove the story of the battle and the town in storytelling - leaving us with knowledge we didn't have before and following a methodical route he painted the battle- and aftermath - that will be with us for ever. We only had 2 hours, but it was not rushed and we absorbed all we could. If we were ever nearby, I would go back to absorb more.
Written 10 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jayne A
Pittsburgh, PA7 contributions
Oct 2023 • Couples
If you really want to get a full understanding of the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg, the guided tour with a licensed battlefield guide in your own car is the way to go. The Battlefield is complicated and the key spots are not easy to find. We toured the Gettysburg Military Park for 4 hours with licensed battlefield guide, Chuck Robesco. Chuck was outstanding. He knows that all the facts of the battle and is able to connect them in a compelling story that we could understand. My husband loves history and Chuck was able to answer all of his questions, even about the various guns and armaments used in the conflict. We simply could not have understood the impact of this great battle without Chuck to explain the strategy of both sides and the outcomes. We have friends who went to Gettysburg and toured without a guide. They told us, “It’s just a field.” Gettysburg is WAY more than a field. But you need a guide to put the pieces together. Then, you can go back to the places that interest you with the Self Guided Auto Tour and have an even better experience.
Written 30 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Darian R
2 contributions
Oct 2023 • Family
My family visited the Gettysburg battlefield on October 6. Our guide was Michael Strong. He was absolutely fantastic. He was incredibly gracious with his knowledge and patience while we explored the battlefield. I highly recommend using the licensed battlefield guides. Our tour was 3 hours, but I wish we had booked longer because I could have listened to him for days.
Written 13 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
hubcityump
Spartanburg, SC57 contributions
Jul 2023 • Family
We scheduled a 3-hour tour for our family - parents and three teenage boys. Bob Gale was our guide, and he was a lot of fun, took us to areas that were of interest and pertinent to us, and made it interesting for teenage boys. He asked questions of them as we went along to keep them engaged, and they all enjoyed the tour where otherwise they may have tuned Dad out quickly. He even gave my college son a homework assignment, as Bob has family in South Carolina and knew a lot of the history of the SC regiments that fought at Gettysburg. He had my Clemson-student son research and find a grave for a soldier that was buried near Clemson who fought at Gettysburg - so we found the grave and small family cemetery where he was laid to rest.
Written 27 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
steelersgal78
Pittsburgh, PA329 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
We had Bobby as our tour guide. He was phenomenal! Our group consisted of 2 adults and a 13 year old. Bobby is an 8th grade social studies teacher, which happened to be the grade my son is going into. He had printouts to share with us, used a map with dry erase markers to show fighting lines, and even brought samples of the ammunition that was used then. We knew a lot about Gettysburg and have visited many times; however, we still learned so much more that we didn’t know. He was phenomenal! Two hours flew by and we left knowing exactly what happened, where lines were formed and unknown stories. I highly recommend Bobby if you are looking for someone who knows their material, can interact with kids/families, and give you a full understanding of the battlefield.
Written 26 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
howards692
Warner Robins, GA1 contribution
Jun 2023
My wife and I went up to participate in the 160th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. While we were there I scheduled a tour with Jerry Hahn a Licensed Battlefield Guide. When I made reservations I requested that we focus on the second day of the battle and the actions of the 10th Georgia Infantry and the 44th New York Infantry. The reenacting group I'm in portrays those two units. Well, my wife and I were not disappointed Jerry was well prepared to present the requested information. He presented the information by driving us to the spots where the events happened and supplemented that with pictures and maps. We would just like to say thank you Jerry and the tour was well worth it!
Written 17 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michael H
1 contribution
Jul 2023 • Family
My original review was x10 too long, so I'll keep it short and sweet: My dad and I planned a 160th anniversary tour of Gettysburg from a LBG. We lucked out big time with Ed G. He's been a guide 39 years and it shows; we shared some specific things we'd like to cover and he customized a itinerary on the spot: 1) He covered everything we were interested in, 2) didn't follow a rehearsed script--thoroughly listening to and answered our questions 3) weaved in our interests, wider context, personal stories to make the tour come alive. Ed G. is the absolutely best--specifically ask for him, if you can!
Written 5 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
GoPlaces797941
Atlanta, GA3 contributions
How do we book a guide? I don't see a phone number??
Shalom R
Lakewood, NJ21 contributions
Google Gettysburg guided battlefield tours
Go to the Gettysburg Foundation website
Click on Exhibits tours and events
Click on Tour the Battlefield
Select car tours
At the bottom of the page you'll see a phone number
Ask for Fran. He was awesome!
Johnsotr
Sewickley, PA360 contributions
Ronald, What is Mary’s full name and contact info? We want to engage her for 10 days from now.
Thanks,
Tom J
Ryan 2554
Katy, TX23 contributions
All you have to do is call the ALBG and leave a message. In the answering ma vine they ask if you want a specific guide and specific things to see in the Battlefield. If your guide is unavailable someone else will call you back. We didn’t know who to ask for, but our guide George Maturi was Fantastic!!! Had him drive our car for a two hour tour. Very well worth it!!!!
Does anyone know who to contact for a private tour?? Everything I see is for the bus tour. I’ve heard the private tour is the way to go.
Mike E
Voorhees, NJ3,010 contributions
Something to remember is that it is actually cheaper prebook before you arrive. I hardly recommend you call before your trip as early as possible to make sure a guide is available when you would like one since the earlier reply stated that a guide may not be available. You can take a chance and wait until you get to the Visitor Center but I would not in the busy summer and fall months. Enjoy it, my wife and I did.
Kreed
New York9 contributions
How long do we need to spend at Gettysburg? I am looking into a three or four hour tour, but aside from that how much time is recommended? Thanks.
Henrietta N
38 contributions
We spent one afternoon viewing the cyclorama and museum, then the next morning did the 3 hour battlefield tour, That afternoon we visited the Seminary Hill Museum. I really enjoy the people side of history, I was very disappointed we could not get into the Shriver House museum nor the Ginny Wade Museum. Others recommended to us that we should see the Eisenhower Farm and Museum - we did not have time. I think you can easily spend two full days in Gettysburg - three would be even better.
ajgeerm
Pittsburgh, PA
I want to know how to hire a private guide for a few hours this coming SAT 8/11 who will know how to make things interesting for an 8 year old boy.
zoltan t
Pittsburgh, PA36 contributions
You can call the Gettysburg visitor center and ask about a private guide. You also need to mention that the tour is for a child and give his age. They will set you up with one that can meet you right outside the visitor center. You can drive with the guide in the car. The normal tour is two hours but you can shorten it or lengthen it if you want, letting them know when you call how much time you want.
ajgeerm
Pittsburgh, PA
I am interested in private guide for next Saturday who is especially tuned to children. We will have our 8 year old grandson with us.
jgieryn
West Bend, WI80 contributions
Call the Association, leave a message and someone will call you back. George called us and asked what we wanted from the tour. We said that we are from Wisconsin and have a 11 and 14 year old with us. He did an awesome job showing us Wisconsin monuments and took the time to gear a lot of the stories towards our son and daughter. He even taught my kids the process for firing a cannon! We were all riveted for the entire three hours!
Andrea I
Rowley, Massachusetts, United States27 contributions
Is there a way to arrange a private tour for a group of 8 people (4 kids/4 adults) if we don't have a vehicle to accommodate all of us plus a guide? What about a carriage tour?
zoltan t
Pittsburgh, PA36 contributions
Call the Gettysburg visitor center and you can arrange the tour. There are bike tours available, horseback tours available. Check with the center and they will let you know what is available
Dell H
6 contributions
We are coming up for bike week, is there a motorcycle battlefield tour? If so, how do my friends and I book a tour? Thanks
There are several LBG's who own Motorcycles and frequently conduct such tours with advanced notice. The guide who reported they would drive ahead in a car was misinformed. That type of caravan tour is strongly discouraged as too much of the tour is missed. These answers will not allow me to include a link to that site. Do a google search for Gettysburg motorcycle tours and it should pop up.
Jim C
Dubai, United Arab Emirates5 contributions
How do a book a tour?
GORILLA555
Hammonton, NJ273 contributions
My wife went on line and got the phone number of the guide service. We called and left a message. They called back two days later. They asked when we wanted a guide and any special interests about the battle. We set up a time to meet the guide at the visitors center. He was on time and we had a very good tour which went by quickly. it took us a little over the two hours and their was no extra charge.
If you book directly through the guide service it is cheaper then booking through the visitors center. The guide service is well worth it. If you are familiar with the battle you will appreciate the guide even more.
Charley
Edendork625
Philadelphia, PA16 contributions
I am Interested in a guided tour but I am confused as to who to contact?
Kimo688889
Chicago, IL510 contributions
You can go to the Visitor's Center and proceed to the far left of the Center near the Information Booth and ask for a guide. They will obtain one from the Guide Room. Or, you can call ahead using their web site or call the Visitor's Center.