snowroosterlisa

We will be in San Francisco late March with our two teens. It will be their first visit and we would like to do an overall tour of the city. I was looking at Big Bus tour because I like that a walking tour of Chinatown is included, but I've seen some negative comments (bus breaking down, hard to get seat on top). Anyone have thoughts or suggestions?

tomfuller

Paging Stu Dudley..
Click on Stu Dudley's recs on the search box at the top of the page.

StuDudley

I've never taken an "overall" tour of The City - so I can't recommend anything. Here are my recommendations:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

garyt22

We did the grayline city tour... you can also get a hop on/off bus or trolley that gives you you more flexibility... start your visit with the tour and you can always go back to your favorites...

Don't forget to plan your Alcatraz tour early...

Fodorite018

Last winter we did the hop on hop off tour and it was really good. I was with a local, and I have been there numerous times, and we both still enjoyed it! We did not have any complaints FWIW.

MP07950

During my last trip in April, I took the Chinatown tour through Sidewalk Food Tours and it was wonderful. Learned a tremendous amount about Chinatown and Chinese food and history, and ate some great food. It's not part of a full tour (as you're ideally looking for) but was very good. Plus....I purchased the ticket through groupon so it was also a good deal!

DebitNM

Sfcityguides.org

Donation only, great guides, a huge variety of subjects; tours; day; night etc.

Do give a decent donation as these are non profit and all guides are volunteers and don't get the $, it goes to sustain the tours.

MichelleY

Second the SF Cityguide tours.

StuDudley

>> all guides are volunteers and don't get the $,

Momof3boys

I've been in SF for a week and did an on/off bus tour on my 1st day to get an overall view of the city. I used Big Bus Tours and never waited more than 20 minutes for a bus and always found a seat on the top. My only compliant is only every other bus has a live guide and the other is a recorded version; you listen to both w/ earplugs, and the live guide is better.

I took almost the entire trip w/ a live guide and then started hopping on/off to see sights and would sometimes walk to different stops so I didn't repeat the entire tour. It looks like the other lg on/off companies are Big City Bus & Grayline. I wanted to use Hornblower Classic Cable Car Tours, but they don't have an on/off version any longer. However, they are smaller, use retrofitted cable cars into buses, stop at the major sites, and I met a couple who used them and were very happy.

I did not take any of the optional tours included w/ Big Bus...didn't fit my schedule, but I did take a Chinatown walking tour & lunch w/ Wok Wiz which was wonderful! I upgraded w/ Big Bus for a night tour which was good...not great, but enjoyed, but be prepared for the cold wind!

I should have taken some tours w/ sfguides since I hear wonderful things about them, but this just means I have more to do on a return trip to SF!

W/ Big Bus, I got off and walked UP several blocks to see the top of Lombard crooked street and then walked down through Little Italy for lunch and pastries before catching the bus at a different stop. Big Bus was helpful in showing me where to go. I didn't know that the trolley car stops right at the top of Lombard and could have saved myself the trip UP, but I sure got my heart work-out that day!

Good luck finding a company that works best for you.