The Best Tours & Things to Do in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery carries two distinct chapters of American history within walking distance of each other: the domed Alabama State Capitol, where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy in 1861, and the Civil Rights Memorial and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott a century later. Rosa Parks was arrested blocks from where her museum now stands, and the city has increasingly built its identity around telling that history directly rather than around it.

As the state capital, Montgomery makes a logical home base for exploring further. The complete Alabama Tours & Tickets guide covers the rest of what Alabama offers, from Gulf Coast beaches to the mountains up north.

Top Attractions, Tours and Tickets in Montgomery

Civil Rights History in Montgomery

Montgomery's civil rights sites cluster within a few blocks of downtown: the Civil Rights Memorial Center, designed by Maya Lin and operated by the Southern Poverty Law Center, lists the names of 41 people killed during the movement around a black granite fountain; the Rosa Parks Museum sits at the intersection where Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in 1955; and the Freedom Rides Museum, inside the former Greyhound station, covers the 1961 Freedom Riders who were violently attacked there. Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where King served as pastor during the bus boycott, still holds services today and offers tours of the sanctuary and his basement office. The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, run separately by the Equal Justice Initiative a few blocks away, add an unflinching look at slavery, lynching, and mass incarceration beyond what the city's other civil rights sites attempt. This same story continues north in Birmingham Tours & Tickets, where the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and 16th Street Baptist Church pick up the thread. Tickets to several of the sites above are bundled on a 3-day multi-attraction pass covering the Civil Rights Memorial Center and Freedom Rides Museum alongside the Alabama State Capitol and Montgomery Zoo.

Alabama State Capitol, the Zoo & Family Attractions

The Alabama State Capitol, a National Historic Landmark since 1960, has served as the seat of Alabama's government since 1846 and briefly as the first capitol of the Confederacy, with free tours covering both roles in detail. The Montgomery Zoo and Mann Wildlife Learning Museum, home to more than 400 animals from five continents, gives the city a genuine family-attraction anchor a short drive from downtown, and both sites are included on the same multi-attraction pass covering the civil rights museums above. Music and literary fans can also find the Hank Williams Museum and the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum downtown, covering two very different chapters of the city's cultural history, both also included on that same pass.

Selma & Tuskegee Day Trips

Selma, less than an hour west of Montgomery, is anchored by the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where marchers were beaten by state troopers on "Bloody Sunday" in March 1965, a turning point that led directly to the Voting Rights Act later that year; the bridge remains free to walk across today, unmarked beyond the weight of its own history. Tuskegee, roughly 40 minutes east, is home to the Tuskegee History Center and the campus of Tuskegee University, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 and later home to George Washington Carver's agricultural research and the training grounds of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. A regional multi-attraction pass bundles tickets to sites across Montgomery, Selma, and Tuskegee together, useful for visitors planning to see all three in one trip.

Haunted Montgomery

Montgomery leans into its ghost-story reputation after dark, with tours built around the city's slave-trading history, Civil War-era hospitals, and a downtown that has stood largely intact since well before the Civil War. A guided ghost tour through the historic district covers murders, disease, and dark local legend alongside genuine architectural and historical detail, giving visitors a very different lens on the same streets covered by the daytime civil rights tours. Tickets typically sell out on weekends, especially in October.

Universities, Colleges and Sports Teams in Montgomery

• Alabama State University - A public historically Black university and member of the SWAC conference, with the Alabama State Hornets competing in NCAA Division I.
• Faulkner University - A private Christian university competing in the NAIA as the Faulkner Eagles.
• Montgomery Biscuits (sports team) - Double-A minor league baseball affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, playing home games at Riverwalk Stadium downtown.

Frequently Asked Questions About Touring Montgomery

Official Montgomery Resources

The following official government and visitor websites provide additional planning resources for travelers visiting Montgomery.

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