Unreasonable tour company. Very disappointed in their attitudes during this difficult time. It’s a shame that they don’t have any compassion for other people. I guess it’s to much to expect that from a business. Honestly if you wanted everyone to stay safe and healthy you would be considerate and work out some kind of voucher program. All we wanted was to go some time next year. I was not the one who initiated the need for the first reschedule. In addition, a person with a medical condition should not be have that held against them either.

We loved this tour and our guides were phenomenal! I learned so much about the castle and also history about Phoenix. The guides were very caring and accommodating for my husband who is in a wheelchair. The foundation and its volunteers put a lot of time, and love in preserving the castle and its grounds, it really is a lot bigger then you think!This is one of those impossible Phoenix tours and I would recommend scheduling a alarm to wake up early to call for your tickets about-6 months in advance and it is worth it!Know that your ticket purchase will allow the foundation to continue to preserve such a beautiful piece of Phoenix history!

I have been wanting to check out this historic site for decades and I am not disappointed. Very friendly guides and a look into an interesting and historic Phoenix area landmark. You do not get to tour the two upper levels but the basement and ground level, with a scenic cart ride through the grounds did not disappoint.

Great staff, clean facility, great tour and fantastic views with an awesome opportunity to learn some Phoenix history.

Its a very pretty place, very verbal and visual tour, but you have to order tickets several months in advance. I placed my tickets at the end of September 2017 and attended the castle June 2018. The tour is an hour long, no hikes. They only show you two rooms and not the upstairs :( kinda bummed about that, I wanted to see the upstairs. It is very clean, neat, and there is not much AC so it gets warm almost immediately. When you want to take phots, the photos are rushed, I wanted at least 20 minutes to take photos,but they rush you out. It is an Arizona experience, I do recommend to look around, but just be prepared several months in advance with tickets. Tickets were $20 each for an adult. No student discount.

The tour is fun, the castle and views are beautiful. The surrounding buildings are decayed or destroyed, but the foundation is raising money to rebuild and refurbish.

Eh! You only get the basement and one floor. Not that much and hard to get tickets that are expensive. In a few years when theyre more complete on the restoration there will be more to see. I advise waiting a few more years. Right now you dont get to see much and you are the one that is paying for future visitors to get something to see. If that appeals to you, cool.

Due to rain the night before, our tour excluded some areas we had expected to enjoy. Black plastic covered much of the Castle exterior so photos were out. There was no ability for the volunteers to offer us any future options: when I asked if I would be allowed to come back at another time for just an exterior photo, I was told no. After booking over 8 months in advance, I must say I would not recommend this tour to others. Overall a disappointment.

Such a beautiful place filled with so much history and mystery!

A wonderful piece of Arizona history, and a great story/your. Plus a beautiful cactus garden - whats not to love!

SO COOL!!! As an AZ native, Ive been waiting my whole life for this!

The wedding cake castle certainly invites curiosity when one first sees it from the freeway or when one flies into Sky Harbor airport. When it was built in the late 1920, it was meant to become a boutique luxury hotel, but the Great Depression curtailed Mr. Cararros dream. Then the castle became the residence of the Tovrea family who own stockyards in the area. The city of Phoenix now owns the grounds and castle. A tour of Tovrea Castle isnt exactly oriented for the more casual or thrillseeking tourist. Why not? Well, for starters the castle is only open for part of the year (September to June) and tours are done on the weekends. There are some midweek group tours available. Always closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. No walk-ins allowed at any time. Pre-purchased tickets for the docent lead tours are required. Theyre only sold on the castles website, and the tours are generally booked out 6 months to a year in advance. Ticket sell very quickly once released! However, if youre a local and are very patient then the wait is definitely worth it! It took me two years to finally snag a ticket...and I still had to wait six additional months! My twilight tour was $20 but ticket prices can vary depending on the event taking place. Tovrea castle grounds and patio are available for private events and that includes a tour of the interior. The castle is worth visiting particularly if you are into either early Phoenix history, art Deco architecture or construction. The castle has a very interesting history that spans several families. Urban legends about the place are in abundance. The friendly and very knowledgeable docents are quite eager to set records straight and are very open to questions! The first part of tour is a tram ride through the grounds. They have planted an amazing array of cacti and succulents from all over the world. The white river rocks just gleam in the sunlight! The castle itself is smaller than one initially expects it to be. However, at sunset when the lights are turned on, she is a real beauty. The interior is sparse but much of the original Art Deco design remains. Only the first floor and basement are open to visitors and you are required to wear special booties in order to protect the original flooring. The plateau where the castle is built is a great place to view the skylines for both downtown Phoenix and Tempe. There is a small gift shop with restroom facilities. Lots of parking. Neither grounds nor castle are handicap accessible. Some restaurants are nearby including an iconic steakhouse opened by one of the Tovrea descendents.

We booked this tour 6 months in advance and it was worth the wait. It is a 2-hour tour of a very interesting house and gardens. The tours are limited to 15 people and the docents are very knowledgeable and helpful. We heard all the history of the house and area, toured the gardens, first floor and basement of the house. One of the best house tours weve been on and weve been on many.

We learned about the history of the area and Phoenix and our docent educated us about the grounds and cactus garden.

If you have ever been curious about the castle at all do yourself a favor and hop on over to the City of Phoenix Parks and Rec Website and sign up for a tour of the Carraro Cactus Garden. Tours are Saturdays and are $15. You will learn the about the history of the property (including all the urban legends), meet the master gardner who is restoring the cactus garden, and get a peek inside the Tovrea Castle (they opened all the first floor doors and windows for us). There are plans to create a visitor center for the castle and gardens. They would also like to allow special events like weddings, etc. Learn a little Phoenix history while helping to restore this Phoenix landmark! Sign up. You will not be disappointed.

A great tour. Good to see the mysterious house in person. A quirky Phoenix treasure.

I was invited to tour this gem hiding in plain sight by someone who ordered tickets over six months in advance. It was very interesting. They only take 9 - 10 people at a time so that explains why its so hard to get in. You tour the grounds in a really large golf cart (they call it a tram) and youre really not allowed to get out and explore. When you get to the castle itself it is also very contained as far as any individual exploring - which was fine with me but a few on our tour were from out of town and really wanted to get up close and personal with some cactus. (We suggested they go to the Desert Botanical Garden for that).They have a cute little gift shop with interesting commemorative items. All in all it was a pleasant experience.

Enjoyed the tour immensely. After 30 years of looking at the wedding cake on the hill, I finally got to see it up close. Tickets go FAST go to website and note when tickets go on sale, make yourself one or more reminders and reserve early - I think I went online at 6AM for spring 2019 and the window of tours was sold out in less than an hour.

Beautiful! The tour was great and well worth the early planning to get tickets. So happy that the city of Phoenix obtained the property and continues to restore it. Wonderful piece of Arizona history!

After seeing the Tovrea Castle from the freeway for 30 years, it was great to finally see the grounds and the inside. The docents have an interesting story to tell. Only the basement and the first floor of the inside of the castle are included on the tour. There are pictures and drawings of the other two floors, but you arent missing much, just the eight small guest rooms of what was intended to be a small boutique hotel. There are almost no interior furnishing on display, but there is a good use of multimedia about the castle. For planning purposes, note that the tickets are hard to get. There are only limited spots, walkups are not allowed, and tickets sell out months in advance, sometimes on the day that the next batch of tickets are released to the public. See their website for more details.

Nice View from freeway

Great Tour!!! Its a very pretty place, very verbal and visual tour. The tour is 45 minutes long, no hikes. They only show you two rooms and not the upstairs . I wanted to see the upstairs. It is very clean, organize and pretty. Fantastic Desert views. When you want to take photos, the photos are rushed, I wanted at least 20 minutes to take photos,but they rush you out. They should allow you 10 more minutes at the basement . Lots of interesting things to see and read . It is an Arizona experience, I do recommend to look around, but just be prepared several months in advance with tickets.

Beautiful and historic Phoenix landmark! Fabulous staff as well!!

I never would have thought that this one-time home would become a museum and attraction. My old-friend Phil Tovrea from Jerome had a nice party here in the 1970s (1980s?) and we got to go through all the rooms and exit through the long, underground tunnel passageway that lead way out from the castle. The night lights are great when viewed from here. Can you still saty til sunset at least?

After trying to get tickets for two years I was a little disappointed by this tour. I thought we would see thecastle but we only saw the first floor and basement. I thought it was over priced for what you saw.

Tovrea Castle tour was very interesting. The guides are excellent and tell you all the history, pointing out very unique subtleties that you may not notice otherwise. To get to the castle, you first take a ride on a multi-seat golf cart throughout the land around the castle. Be sure to ask your guide to take pics of you and your group from the scenic places. Our group filled up both golf carts so that was fun and our pics in front of the castle turned out great. After your tour, purchase a keepsake from the gift shop. Also, reserve your tour well in advance as it sells out quickly. Our tix were purchased a year in advance and we got the very last tour of the season. Enjoy!

What an amazing story and thanks to the City of phoenix for making the castle available to view.

Disappointing. Staff hurried us through. Not so special we have to wait 3 years for tickets. And then to be hurried through it? Dont bother. Not even worth $23.

When they get through with the renovation it will be more interesting.

Interesting piece of Phoenix area history. Worth the effort to get tickets, just monitor their site to get an idea of when tickets become available for the date(s) you want to visit.

Great spot wish we could see all floors

What a beautiful place. This is a site to see if you go to Arizona.

It is a nice place to spend time and get fresh air ever.

Total waste of time. It’s a 90 minute tour to see something that takes five minutes to grow bored of: an empty stucco building. The volunteer guides are very enthusiastic about the place; they just focus on very boring topics. We had to book months in advance. If instead of boring people to death for 90 minutes they could just run a shuttle back and fourth from the parking lot and get a lot more people in.

Wish they had more historical pieces available either on display or replicas for sale in the gift shop. Beautiful job of restoring and such a lovely location.

Pretty cool AZ history but the waiting list is forever and its pricey

Why are you not allowed to tour the upper floors and dont you think your tourist would be more satisfied, since this is what they came for instead of feeling disappointed or cheated? What is the purpose of keeping the other floors off limits? Someone pays to tour a castle is what is led to believe.. not a few rooms.. very misleading and false advertising.. Why would you not open the castle for a complete tour and give people what they are actually trying to pay for..people would even pay more which is more money for you. Please elaborate and explain for alot of people are unhappy from this.

This your just was not interesting. Only allowed on the ground floor and the basement. Have to wear booties on your shoes and are warned multiple times not to touch anything - but theres nothing interesting anyway, and the floor is just a normal hardwood floor... The city paid to nicely renovate, but lost the historic look in the process. Glad the city paid to renovate 3 floors you arent allowed to see.The cactus garden outside is equally uninteresting. Doesnt look much different from the normal Sonoran desert youd see on a hike in the area.Would thoroughly not recommend a visit to this place.

Amazing AZ history, Loved it

Interesting story behind the castle and its previous owners, but the tour is only of the gardens, basement and main floor. Upper levels cannot be toured due to no fire exits.

Very unique and interesting historical site, with a large cactus garden on the surrounding acres. However, tickets are sold out 6 to 8 months in advance! Be sure to check their website or other ticketing outlets.

Very pretty, very interesting

The tour and history of this place was awesome. Wish you could get to see the upper floors.

You can see the Castle from the freeway. The tour guides were so helpful answering questions long after the tour was completed. The telescopes set up on the patio made an exceptional view, especially on the full moon. This is a spectacular place for a first date or a special occasion.

The docents are fabulous. We did the night tour so it was difficult to see the cactus garden. I would like to go again. The tour is short and you are with a group do youll find you wont have time to read the placards. Take a picture so you can read later.

They opened this for tours and I enjoyed getting to hear the history behind it. Always wondered what this place is all about as I drive past it on the freeway...pretty cool! The people that work here are all volunteers so help support and take a tour if you have the chance.

They rushed us through the tour. And didnt give much information on the history of the house.

Awesome Christmas Party!

Wonderful historic property...see grounds and inside main floor/basement..guided tour must have tickets

Beautiful restoration open but still in process of AZ historical site.

Its a boring tour of two greedy rich families. The hotel was built by some cheap Italian guy, who failed to even open it. He salvaged trash from around Phoenix to build this hotel. The rich family who later lived in it never did anything to it. Its not historical since it was basically rebuilt in 2009. The gardens look like any other desert landscaping you see while hiking. The property has a bunch of old wood piles to represent what used to be there. The water features are empty pits. The tour was basically, it might have been pretty back in the day. There is no documentation, so its family heresay. You couldnt even go upstairs. I dont understand why this gets booked up so quickly. It was a waste of time. Mystery Castle was so much cooler.

It is always booked, they are only opened for a selected amount of time, and the tour is 2 hours long. Dont even waste your time looking for an open date. I have been living here for 6 years and its always the same thing.

The tour and story behind Tovrea Castle are well worth the stop.

Try to book in January, when reservations for the coming year start. I assume its all private donations and volunteers to staff, although the City of Phoenix does own the place, so bet our taxes support the upkeep They really should have some weekday tours if demand is so high...

Historic Wedding Cake House can be viewed only from the road. No public access allowed.

An incredible site. Worth the year wait.

Tickets are hard to get but worth the opportunity to tour this Phoenix historical landmark.

Volunteered today in the Cactus Garden!!!

Very beautiful little castle, the tour was very informative.

Very worth the wait fun to see the history behind the house.

I was so impressed with our guides and the castle was so interesting.

Weve wondered about this place for years, waited a year to get tickets, and they only let you go in the basement and first floor.

Been trying to tour this place for 10 years.....finally getting my chance today

Allot of history recommend taking the tour

Its NEVER open from what I can see. Ive lived right down the street for ten years and always wanted to visit, but Ive never seen it have opening hours.

It takes a long time to get tickets, but the wait is worth it. Beautiful place and a lot of history.

The tour guide made the tour interesting. Not much inside but a beautiful arts and crafts building.

Have wanted to go for years, it was worth the wait!

Cant ever get a chance to see it

Very nice place

I am not sure how any of you even bought tickets for this event. I have tried twice. I just tried to get tickets. They went on sale 7/1/19 6:00 am. I tried from 5:50 am and by 6:05 am they are all sold out REALLY??

It was great. Loved the history

Cool place to visit

Neat historical place in Phoenix

Great history

Restrictive tour, not very impressive

Good place

Castles made of sand..

Fantastic landmark must see

Phoenix history

Wild place

Awesome!

Great guides!

Very interesting.

Awesome

Cool place

This is a unique piece of Phoenix history

Very interesting

Good place

This is another of phoenix wonder

Breathtaking

Interesting. Great guides.