Highlights:Visit San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Art, San Francisco Bay Cruise), Monterey, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Yosemite National Park (Bridal Veil Falls, El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls). Inclusions: 2 nights hotel accommodations, All domestic ground transportation
Visit Yosemite National Park to see the granite cliffs and waterfalls
Take an in-depth tour of San Francisco with optional Bay cruise
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I will recommend this tour to my friends but I just need to make some comments. Pls remove the word OPTIONAL to your SF cruise and SF tour because they are mandatory. We were not able to explore Fisherman's Wharf, we just get off the bus and went directly to Madame Tussauds and waited for our cruise tour. Time is not enough but we had fun.
Overall a good experience. The Tour Guide, "Summer", was excellent. Driver was OK. Hotels were nice.
The refreshment stops were too Chinese oriented and we had a hard time finding regular cuisine, as there were a number of other nationalities on board.
The 6:00 a.m. departure to UC Berkeley was much too early, especially after getting in late the night before. This made no sense. Those going on the cruise had to speed through Madame Tussaud's.
The 3rd Day Itinerary however, was much too rushed. The Driver raced through the 17-mile drive, so we couldn't even look at the palatial homes, as they were flashing by. The only stop was at the Pebble Beach lodge. No sea lion rock stop, no Lone Cypress Stop... Nothing else. This was a grave disappointment, and we got the impression that they just wanted to return as quickly as possible to LA.
Overall not a bad trip but improvement needed to itinerary.
It was great experience touring by taketours, tour guide Vivera was really energetic, friendly, patient enough to take care of all the tourists. Tour went well though felt like it would be grate if spent more time at youshmati park rest all itinerary was very timely scheduled because it was impossible to cover all of them by self with out taketours thank you taketours and last but not least to our tour guide Vivera.
Really an excellent tour ! The guide, Bevan Li, was great! Superb accommodation and transport.
One coffee break each in the morning (10.30 am) and the afternoon ( 3.00 pm ) should be provided.
This was a wonderful 3 days/2 nights tour, we had wonderful time, always the first one to arrived on the places visited. Jacko Guan, our tour guide was very friendly and caters to our need. I recommend this tour, very affordable indeed.
It was an amazing experience for my in-laws. The hotels were great, the bus was good, the tour guide was very co-operative. They had a lot of fun and I definitely recommend this tour - best value for money.
Everything was good. I enjoyed the trip really well. My only concern is you should be organized in seating arrangements in the bus. Make it so your tour guide can tell the guests to sit in the same spot from the start til the end of the trip. Two people were fighting over the seat that made our group not comfortable at the end of the trip.
My friends and I had this tour last November 13, 2015 to November 15, 2015. We enjoyed the tour. The tour guide and bus driver are nice. Everything was explained/translated in English. The hotel we stayed in San Jose was nice and clean. Although it was hectic, this tour is a good deal.
Highly recommended..
Tour guide was STANLEY.. wonderful tour guide. He is so helpful, caring for his co passengers and has loads of patience. not even once he was angry / rude to the passengers.
i would like to take a tour with this tour guide again.
We went to so many places around as per the list of places mentioned.
I feel we had less time in Santa Barbara. There are many places to show around in Santa Barbara, might have taken us to few places in and around Santa Barbara instead of only one place for just half and hour.. we couldn't walk around too.
In San Francisco, no complaints, we have seen more places in just one day..WOW..
you should go around see the places. so beautiful
I think this trip is suitable for the money we paid. Anyway the tour guide spent a lot of time explaining to Chinese people, not concentrating to others like Thai, foreigners who keep listening to English words. So many time we didn't understand what he said. Anyway, the accommodations were okay and the transportation was also okay. Thank God that we have tours like this to fill up our experience.
We enjoyed our San Francisco tour. It was a great experience. The tour bus driver and tour guide are good. We didn't experience any problems. I will recommend this to my friends. Thank you TakeTours. I will book my next tour soon.
I took this tour, and it was very awesome. My tour guide was Nik, I hope I spelled his name correctly- he was the best. The tour was very good and reasonable, but NIk knows is job inside out. He is very caring, and very concerned about anyone's needs during the trip. I like him because he is very educated about all the sights, and can relay all the information you need to know about all the sights. Oh yes, he has a good humor. But if you take this tour you would never forget it and will have very good memories. Go taKe the tour, my name is Sabrina.
Our family enjoyed the trip very much. We had a fantastic guide, Chester, who was very bubbly and easy going. We visited many sites in that short period and it was awesome. We had a great hotel in San Ramon. Highly recommended. This is our second tour from Take Tours.
The price is unbelievable for the excellent destinations. The bus was clean. The hotel was excellent. The tour guides are hard working and friendly. Overall, really nice travel experience.
Everything was great- clean hotel, bus, and very timely. I would've preferred more time in Fisherman's Wharf and at least 3-4 hours in Monterey bay since we did pay for entrance. I wish they could've added one whole day for this place.
I live in Los Angeles and have been to San Francisco numerous times. In the past I have done both: driving to SF from LA and taking a plane there. Both times it was pretty expensive. During this long Valentine's weekend I thought I would try this tour as it appeared like a very cheap option. I agree with most of the reviews that this tour is geared towards Chinese travelers. The guide speaks a lot in Chinese and a few words in English. It didn't bother me at all since I know that information already, but it may be a problem from English speaking travelers who are visiting California for the first time.
A heads up to all: no coffee or any drinks in the cups allowed on the bus!
We started from Fullerton Howard Johnson. If you are local, you are allowed to park your car there, just tell the front desk.
The seats on the bus are rotated every day: from front to middle to the back.
We stayed at Garden hotel San Jose airport. Since you have a transportation, it is not a problem.
One thing that was super annoying (and I knew it would happen), some people are always late to return to the bus.
Driving for so long is very exhausting. Also be prepared to wake up early every morning.
No time to eat breakfast, so have something with you. There is time for lunch and dinner. They take you to Chinese places, but you can find other places nearby to eat.
No use of restrooms on the bus, but plenty of stops. Ladies, have some paper napkins with you as many restrooms don't have any, only the hand driers, which have been proven to blow the germs all over you (as per Dr. Oz, lol).
Optional tours are okay for first time travelers as it is a great way to see the city. But you will not have a chance to ride a cable car, which is a must in my opinion for first time travelers :) Also we didn't visit Chinatown, but since I have been there before, it was not a problem for me.
If you opt out of the tours, the guide keeps in contact with you and you will be picked up at a specified location.
Overall, it is a great trip on a budget. So have realistic expectations, as it will not be a "Champagne trip", but it is a great way to explore many tourist places.
I had very nice experience (LA-SFO) tour.
I will recommend this tour.
All stuff was fine, including hotels, place they covered, and time they were giving.... all were good.
Hotel: Crown Plaza.
Excellent tour, it covers most of the beautiful tourist spots in San Francisco. My guests enjoyed it a lot and the package tour is inexpensive. Tour guide is very nice and a skilled driver. I recommend this tour company to all my friends and relatives.
Tour is a good deal and you get your money's worth. Though a bit hectic, it covers all the places- Solvang, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Yosemite. Cruise is also good. Accommodation is okay.
Excellent tour! Our tour guide and driver were the best. I will surely recommend this tour to friends and family. I would request the tour operators to take care of vegetarian tourist.
Recently went for the 3-day tour of San Francisco and Yosemite. Overall a very good and informative tour. However, hotels where we were put up were the Airport Garden Hotel in San Jose and Days Inn in Modesto were not up to the desired standard. Starting the tour by 6:30am which deprived us of complimentary breakfast, though in the second place some arrangement was made to give a very early breakfast. Tour program can be slightly redesigned to start a little after 7am. Forcibly collecting service charges/tips for a fixed amount (7 dollars/person/day) at the end of tour also not a good practice. The amount of tips should be left to the discretion of the customer. However, the tour guide Mr. Lee was a very good and friendly person with fairly good knowledge of the places visited. He definitely made us very comfortable. Also recommend pick up and drop point in San Diego.
We like the driver who was very helpful and nice. We admired Kevin who did his very best and remained cool. He was under a lot of pressure, while the rest of the group waited in the bus more than 30 minutes because a family of 4 was late at the meeting place.
The tour was amazing and i was very very happy. Our tour guide,Carol, was a tiny amazing person.She was very polite and pretty (neat and tidy) that made our tour even more fun filled. I would definitely recommend this tour to all. Only negative point I felt was the San Francisco extensive tour and cruise. It's better if you skip those and roam around by your self in San Francisco public transport. Adding night attractions like Golden Gate Bridge at night would make this tour fantastic.
I took this tour on Memorial Day weekend since it's the perfect time of the year to visit Yosemite National Park. The waterfalls were in full flow with the melting snow.
About the tour Ggide:
He was a good spirited man, however his English skills were lacking. I could not understand 50% of what he was saying. I had to ask a few others on the bus and try to put together the full meaning of his sentences. Work on your English skills, Sean Wong. Also he did not have much knowledge about the places we visited. In fact, I knew more than him and was telling him about it. He was smoking EVERY TIME he stepped out of the bus, sometimes even in front of little children. Bad manners, Sean!! But otherwise he had a good and friendly attitude.
Accommodation:
Very good for the price!
Transportation:
The bus was not in good condition. No restroom access on bus. Window blinds were broken so I got tanned on the way back.
Itinerary:
Bus only stops at Chinese buffet for lunch/dinner which is extremely inconvenient if you're vegetarian. Reporting time on Day 3 (Yosemite) was 4:30am which is too early! Overall trip was good for the price but too many places were crammed into 3 days. Visit to City Hall in San Francisco is useless (just another government building) and can be skipped to allow more time at Twin Peaks, San Francisco. More time can be spent at Yosemite.
Overall worth the price, would definitely recommend!
My wife and I took this tour for her birthday. The tour amount was worth it for the experience and tour package. I only have some comments that I suggest they need to address. First, the tour bus we were in was not that good. Seat spaces are small for a long legged guy like me. The restroom on the bus is not allowed to be used for the reason that it might smell as what the tourist guide said. We envied other group tours for they have better buses than us. Next,most of the people who joined the tour are chinese (I realized that the touring company is probably owned by a Chinese too) and the tour guide is Chinese as well. I don't have anything against Chinese, but if the tour guide wasn't able to clearly speak English, I find it hard to understand (. Also, the tour guide only speaks 1 or 2 sentence in English then about 50 sentence in Chinese when stating some facts about a landmark or on places we are going to. Overall, I am satisfied with the tour though, the places we went really relaxes us and enjoyed it.
My husband and I enjoyed a lot on this tour which is 3 days tour. you get your money's worth for getting to see Santa Barbara, Solvang, San Francisco, and Yosemite. The cruise was also very good for getting to see the Golden Gate Bridge and an Island. Our tour guide, Erico, was so helpful, nice and he explained everything. The bus driver was also good. They stoped the bus at the right places for meal where we had more options. He gave enough time to explore everything and take pictures. Thank you!
This was my second tour with Take Tours and the experience was good. The itinerary gets a little hectic but it is justified considering the number of places we get to see. The accommodation is great and the tour guide is helpful. The one improvement I'd like to see is to be able to spend more time at each spot.
This was an amazing experience. We started a little bit late because we waited on people to get to the pick up location. The tour was great. Hotel was very nice. Matt did a wonderful job of guiding the tour. My mother and boyfriend enjoyed the entire trip. Will definitely take another tour. Thanks Matt :)
Good value! We had an experienced driver and a good tour guide, Matt. Our hotel for 2 nights,Courtyard Marriott, was nice. The tour was a bit rushed but that's how you can see everything in a short 3 days. We didn't had our lunch in Yosemite as we were advised not to- it's expensive and there isn't good food there. I will definitely recommend it for everyone if it's your first visit to San Francisco and Yosemite.
On Sept 29, 2013 the Yosemite Park tour closed. Most foreign customers got so mad. They said, "I want my money back"; but the tour guilde Kevin Wu handled everything nicely with his customers.
This tour is a good deal for the money that you pay. The places for know are amazing. You can't do it this tour if you don't enjoy it Chinese food or people. Kevin, our tour guy, sometimes forget explain in English. The good part of him is that he was patient. The hotel in San Jose.
It was an excellent tour for the value of money. Although there were some difficulties in understanding the guide's English and the last day was a long ride back to LA. But, I suggest this tour for the ones who are visiting LA-SF for the first time or with a family.
The tour covered a lot of places which was more than I expected. You get your money's worth and more. The tour guide-Gary and the driver- Reyes were superb. They worked very, very long hours. I felt bad for them though, because some people from my tour refused or were reluctant to give them the measly $6 tip per day.
My husband and I enjoyed our trip and will be taking another one pretty soon.
terrible smell in the front office and hallways of san jose airport gardens hotel( we were in bldg 8).
when we want to opt out of city tour, we were told we have to meet them at the downtown area because they are not coming back to the fisherman's wharf --so it is actually mandatory not optional. Overall, the trip was great. Tour guide Sevenand the driver were great and friendly. I will take another tour with Take Tours again.
The tour was great, San Francisco is a really nice place, one of the best that we visited during our travel. I also recommend the boat tour that is offered for some extra charge. It gives a beatiful view to the city and also to the bridge.
This tour was great for me and other people on board. Our tour guide Tony took very good care of everyone. They are the Best tour operators. Some things amazed me about the trip were :
1> Always On Time
2> Every tourist spot was covered and explained
3> Tour Guide TONY was like local gurdian to everyone
4> No other company can beat their price
5> Hotel was one of the Fine hotels in Fremont
6> Till the last point we were treated like guests.
So, i conclude by saying "A MUST DO TOUR" for everyone travelling west coast of USA.
Overall it was definitely worth its price. However do your research an find out exactly what you are going to do on your tour and only pay for the activities that are worth going to/you want to go to. My friend and I opted out on some activities to go exploring on our own and arranged a meeting time and place with the tour guide. This worked out well for us and we found that we were able to see a lot more than what the tour offered. We stayed at the citigardens hotel and it was worth what we were paying for the tour. The only complaint we have was at the end of the tour when people were being transferred between tour buses. Instead of the original 7pm drop off time we were only dropped back at Chinatown around 11pm at night. We want to thank our tour guide-Sean and our bus driver-James who made the trip fun.
My husband and I enjoyed this tour very much. You get your money's worth for in 3 days you get to see Santa Barbara, Solvang, San Francisco & Yosemite. Our tour guide, Terry, was very helpful, nice, and explained everything, when to meet back on the bus, how long we had at each stop, etc. The only bad part was the rush at meal times and not enough time to explore Yosemite. We didn't even get to stop at Half Dome. We would definitely return for more trips. Thank you.
The tour was awesome. Vivian our tour guide and Gary our bus driver were great. I would give this tour a two thumb up! The hotel was really nice and clean. Give a 5 and half stars for tour guide, accommodation, transporttins and itinerary! I totally recommendate to anyone.
Tour was fine, but was rushed to go to places and eating. I was disappointed in the meal time hours we should not be rushed to eat, this caused me my daughter got sick of eating in a rush and ending vomiting the whole night.
Also the hidden fees you get at the tour. Before my travel I asked an agent about any hidden fees and or extra charges she sent me the for that says $29/25 for the tour, and I was charged $36 also the tip was by family number that was not explained. The trip was just good for the drive time and the attractions other than that was no trilled about it.
Tour was nice in a way that they were able to include so many places in just 3 days. But stop at yosemite was about 2 hours and in that time you have to finish your lunch also so there isn't enough time for that place. Other than that time is enough. Mostly they will stop at Chinese restaurants when available. If you don't eat Chinese food it's better to bring your own food or search on GPS/internet to find nearby restaurants & you have to do it fast because you will have limited time. Bus accommodation is nice, you aren't allowed to use restroom on the bus but they will stop for bathroom break every couple of hours.I chose both extended tour. price for bay cruise it $36 when I asked our tour guide Mark he said it's changed and $29 on the website is old price. So just a heads up for you guys. Our hotel was Crowne plaza for both nights.
My family and I went to a SF tour and we enjoyed it. This tour has great itinerary.We went to beautiful places with excellent views and met good people. The hotel we stayed on was good. The places we ate were a bit expensive but it was worth it because they were very delicious. I hope to be on this tour next time.
we had a very enjoyable trip To SFO Santa Barbara, etc. The tour guide is very knowledgeable and accommodating. the driver is experienced and both of them are polite. We enjoyed every segment of our tour especially in San Francisco Boat Cruise and Yosemite. We also met a lot of friends from different states and
country. We will definitely book another tour with TAKE TOURS next year. It is not too expensive and money's worth.
There are many things this tour should be improved
Firstly, the tour guide should be more polite and more patience to his customers.
Secondly, the hotel is very far from downtown San Francisco which made it hard for us to explore the city by ourself during our free time in the second day evening.
Thirdly, the tour should give customers more time at Yosemite. One hour and a half overthere is not enough. As I experienced it myself, most people spent their first 30-45 at the cafeteria for lunch because we left the hotel super early that morning (6.15am) and most of us didn't have time for breakfast.
Finally, we cannot use the restroom on the bus which was a bit painful for some of us lol
Only one good thing of this tour is that you will have a chance to visit Santa Barbara, Solvang, and Yosemite. You won't be able to make it if you fly to SF from LA.
Therefore, if your english are OK and you want to explore San Francisco, I recommend you to take a plane and fly to SF instead of taking this tour. But I would recommend this tour to you if you want to visit places like Santa Barbara and Solvang once in your lifetime.
Some tips for this tour
- hot food and hot drinks are not allowed on the bus
- if your are staying at Marriot in Newark, try Newark Buffet for your dinner. It's great!!!
you will definitely get your moneys worth.hotel was clean, bus was clean.most of the crowd is older.the only problem is that the hotel we stayed in was in an industrial area so there was nothing to go out and do on your own at night. we would get to the hotel each day around 6pm, but most of the crowd was older so maybe that's why. other than that you will have a great time
This was my first time buying from this company and I had done numerous research, talked to people and read many reviews before going through with it and I am so glad I did! This company did not disappoint. The bus was extremely clean, our hotel room at Marriot was amazing and immaculate. The whole trip was such a great experience. There is really no other way we could have seen all the sites in any other possible way with the amount we paid. I still can't believe everything we got to experience for the great cost. The first day we stopped in Santa Barbara and had lunch in Solvang. By evening we had got to see Apple, Google, San Jose and checked in our amazing Marriot hotel. Day 2, we got to see beautiful San Francisco, Fisherman Wharf, the Boat Tour, the Extended Tour (Highly recommended), Castro Street, Stanford University, ETC. Day 3, Yosemite was amazing. Overall, I had a great 3 Full Days and got to see a lot of great places that I would have not gotten in any other way. The price was amazing, the people were so friendly and I want to give a big THANKS to our driver David and tour guide Tracy. They really went out of their way to go to places that I wanted to see but was not on the tour. They also were very effecient and accommodating to everyone. I will definitely be back on a different tour from this company. :)
The overall tour was excellent and we enjoyed this 3 day trip. The weather and sights were gorgeous. Its been a wonderful experience to San Francisco and Yosemite was amazing
I recommend to Take Tours
1) It would be great if we have some Movies played especially for kids
2) English speaking skills of the tour Guide.
3) It will be good for vegetarians to Stop in places where there are different cuisines, other than Chinese, especially vegetarian.
4) There should be NO charge for The extensive tour
Other wise the tour is superb, Worth money to the fullest. Looking forward with our next trip with "TakeTours."
Excellent tour and service! We had so much fun and were truly grateful to Jason and Felix, our tourist guide and driver for our May 25-27, 2013 trip.
Jason speak English fluently and we recommend him for his excellent service.
Felix, our bus driver is also one of the best - he is so helpful, drives safely and responsibly.
Thank you so much for all your hardwork and for making our trip truly worth it:-)
My mother, me and a friend went to this tour. It was a great experience. It was very informative, organized and were able to cover a places on top of what is listed in the itenerary. Harry, our tour guide has bubbly personality, well-informed(well versed in earth science, economics, history, urban planning, architecture design, agriculture) and professional. We stayed at Sheraton hotel. Ienjoyed the scenic view and story behind each places.
The Tour is excellent.Myself and my wife enjoyed a lot in the tour.The Tour guide also good.I recommend people to go by this tour,life will be cool and you can enjoy with hasslefree of driving.The driver and the guide both fantastic!!!!!!
My wife and I had a great time. The weather and sights were gorgeous. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott for two nights which was a great value for the price of the tour. The itinerary was well panned. My only issue with the tour was with the English speaking skills of the Guide. Josh was barely understandable and it seemed like he had a lot more to say in Mandarin than in English. That's probably because his command on the latter was weak. Nonetheless, he was very courteous and I'll give him an A for the effort.
Barring tour guide, everything was fine. It was difficult to pick english accent of tour guide. Otherwisw beautiful scenario and nice trip in the current cost.
I came back from this trip a couple days ago.
Overall it was a good experience, and it did seem rushed because we only had about an hour at each location to take in the sights. That includes all the major locations like golden gate bridge and Yosemite. We decided to opt-in for the cruise to go under the golden gate bridge and around alcatraz island but decided not to do the extensive tour. That left us with about 4 hours to venture into the town by ourselves. The extensive tour didn't seem appealing to our family so we walked to pier 39 where the sea lions were and had eaten a meal in chinatown. Our tour was able to do everything on the itinerary. It would seem that they took Hearst Castle out of the itinerary as past reviewers suggests.
I am satisfied with the trip however there were a few surprises. The first couple surprises were the surprise collection of money.
- On the first night, the tour guide asked us for cash if we wanted to go on the cruise and extensive tour. We came in thinking the price of the cruise was $29 but the tour guide told us it's now $36 because they changed companies and it is longer. However, when I checked the itinerary it was the same. The extensive tour was $25, which we didn't take and instead we were dropped off in China town.
- The last day there was another surprise collection of money. He asked for $18 from every person for the services of the tour guide and the driver. It is mentioned on the itinerary that there is a $6 per day charge for each person, but they weren't clear about it.
- We did not stay at a Courtyard Marriott or similar hotel. We stayed at CitiGardens hotel in South San Francisco. It was similar to a Motel 6 type.
- The hotel did serve breakfast but both days the bus had to leave before the breakfast started.
- The first morning everyone had be out by 6:30am, the second morning everyone had be out by 4:30am.
- Most of our lunch/dinner stops were Chinese buffets. You can still walk around to other restaurants.
We like this tour. We got to see a lot in a short time. 3 of us went but had only pay for 2 (3rd one free), which is less than the hotel cost had we gone by ourselves.
The only thing is that I wish the bus leaves a little later on the 3rd day.
Super Great! Henry, our be-dimpled tour guide was so nice, and made the atmosphere very relaxing. The driver, Mr. Wang is very responsible and drove safely. Extremely enjoyable and unforgettable family vacation. Excellent time management that we were able to explore places. Clean hotel, nice food. Great! Great! Great! Highly recommended. Our family gave 5 stars for Tour Guide, Accommodation, Transportation and Itinerary. Worth money to the fullest. Looking forward with our next trip with "TakeTours."
I and my wife went part of this tour and its been a good experience. Its a wonderful experience at the hotel Marriott and Yosemite was amazing. Thanks to the guide Jason who updated the history of all places before making it and I would be happy to get the guide explain to their people to remain silent while he updates in English so that the English speaking people can listen easily. I expect this to be better next time. Overall its been a wonderful experience to San Francisco and I recommend people to take this as its highly secure, enjoyable and good one. Our guide Jason ensured that he never miss anybody after break at the stops.
This was my first time on this trip and I had a great time. My mom had been on the trip before and said it was one of the best she had taken and she was right. Our guide, Austin, was awesome! He was very clear to set our expectations and communicated our itinerary daily. San Francisco was beautiful and Yosemite was amazing. It was worth waking up super early for. We were able to go in to the park and made three scenic stops within the park. They were all breathtaking. I highly recommend our guide and this tour!
My Parents took this tour and were really satisfied.We stayed in bay area for nearly 2 years and still had not seen as many spots in SFO as they did in one single day.As there were extreme cold conditions in Yosemite,the 3rd day trip to the national park was cancelled and the scenic 17 mile drive was included instead.I also recommend taking the SFO extended tour as according to my parents the city hall and twin peaks were amazing.
We went on this tour in May 2012 and we had so much fun and it was especially thanks to the AMAZING tour guide we had. His name was Nelson and he was just GREAT! My mom and I would like to thank him for his kindness and for making this trip unforgettable. You get to see so many things during this trip and you are going to love it! Thank you :)
our bus driver(Kun)was fantastic!! took care of his tour bus passengers. He made everyday count and our driver(Gary)very patient and great driving to all locations.
Overall Me and my daughter had unforgettable time Thank you! :)
This tour Dec 15th to 19th was value for money. It gives a quick overview of what SFO is like in the short time. The Hearst Castle was also very interesting. Accomodation although quite a distance from SFO, was compensated by being four star.
We joined the 3 day tour to Solvang, San Francisco and Yosemite on 15th Dec 2012 and the tour is fanstatic, money worth with lots of fun. Tour guide, William was friendly and he spoke also in English besides Chinese which is a real benefit to us cos we dont speak much Chinese. Looking forward to join the tour again from San Francisco to Vancouver in our next trip if there is one. Thank you
This bus tour was a lot of fun. We got to see a lot of places, but I would rather stop a little longer at Hearst Castle and Yosemite. The price was great and the hotel was super nice!
Simply amazing! Bus driver: Leo, Tour Guide: Tom. Both were very nice, Tom made sure that everybody knew what was going on throughout the entire tour. Already booked another tour!
Really nice tour. The best was Yosemite and Hearst Castle. The bad thing is that we didn't spend enough time in Yosemite. Hearst Castle was the same, you dont have too much time to walk around.
The price of this tour is very reasonable. My husband and I had a wonderful time and saw much more than we ever expected.
Our tour guide Larry was fantastic. He put us totally at ease and was very polite.
The hotels were we stayed for 2 nights were both outstanding, very clean rooms.
We highly recommend this tour to our family and friends.
The price of this tour is very reasonable. My husband and I had a wonderful time and saw much more than we ever expected.
Our tour guide Larry was fantastic. He put us totally at ease and was very polite.
The hotels were we stayed for 2 nights were both outstanding, very clean rooms.
We highly recommend this tour to our family and friends.
We took this trip (3 day to Hearst, Solvang and San Francisco) in May (1st time) and for the money it is a well worth trip. Our tour guy Frank did excellent and was very informative. The only downfall was not being able to use the restroom on the bus and having to walk up a steep hill to see the worlds most crookedest road (lombard). Hotel was good, a little far but good.
Overall would take another trip especially if Frank is hte tour guy.
So this was our second time in California and we decided to try a bus tour. This was our first and it was really fun! We went on the July 9-11 tour and Troy was an excellent tour guide! He was kind, funny and informative! George the driver was a bit of a creep. I wish we had stayed at Solvang longer and stayed at Hearst Castle shorter. We did not go to Hearst Castle and waiting around there isn't fun. There isn't much to do other than the usual gift shop and food. So instead of H. Castle we took on the advanced San Fran city tour and the boat cruise at the pier. I recommend to go to H. Castle and the advanced city tour, instead of what we did. The boat cruise was just took us under and around the golden gate and around alcatraz. But if you really want to go on a boat cruise I say go to another boat cruise that offers a tour inside of alcatraz. Yosemite was alright, definitely not as good as the Sequoia National Park, but we did get good photo ops there. Best part of the trip was definitely San Fran and the advanced city tour! Takes you to Twin Peaks, 6 sisters, St. Marys Cathedral, around Castro/ gay district, city hall (most expensive city hall in America), palace of fine arts. Hotels we were taken to were Microtel (never heard of it until now and was ugly) and Crowne Plaza Hotel (very pretty!). The dinner buffet for the second night (we decided to have fast food for first night because the buffets are actually pretty expensive) was great although the location looked really poor. Overall really good tour! Didn't feel so rushed and well organized. Thank you Troy!
Did tour 7/18/12. Guide Troy and driver Boris were great. Very good tour. For the price, can't complain about Fremont Marriot & Modesto Days Inn. Restroom queues take too much time out of sightseeing stops especially for senior ladies. Long queues is because everyone wants to relieve themselves because use of onboard restroom is not allowed. This same problem on our trip to Yellowstone 2 years ago. This policy should be reviewed by the tour operators. It is a health and safety hazard, I.e., nonavailability of onboard restrooms.
My family go all over with your tour groups. Very reliable, comfortable and affordable. Every
tours we took, the driver and tour
guides are very informative, courteous,helpful and cheerful.
Excellent service. This was our second time in SF tour.
I recommend very very highly.
Keep up the good service.
We took this tour from May30-June 1. Our tour guide Jimmy was helpful and informative, although he failed to mention that no coffee is allowed inside the bus, so anyone who bought coffee has to throw them away. Our bus driver - George is worst. Never helped in loading and unloading the luggages, just stood and watched the tourists handle their bags at the bottom of the coaches and grabbing theirs on the first nite which was already 10pm. Overall 4 stars for Jimmy and 1 star for George.
The tour covers Solvang, Hearst Castle, San Francisco Bay & City Tour, and lastly Yosemite in rush-n-hurry, but no complains with the price. Our tour guide 'Zhang' was good but not organized.Not more than 30-minute stay at any location. No advance reservation in Chinese buffett, thus people had to go other restaurants, which created chaos, to pick 'em back in the bus. No market place around hotel, to stock-up some supplies for kids. Hotel serves free breakfast at 7:00 AM, but you 'll have to leave at 6:30AM for the day-tour. Just for advice, carry cash for tours and Tips, as no chance to find any ATM. Ladies ! Good Luck with the rest-rooms.
Nelson is the best tour guide! We enjoyed our 3 day tour! There are 5 people in our group and everyone is happy about him and SUNNY! we had fun. Although i can't say the same for Frank with bus # 1089- as we changed bus to be dropped off. My friend tried to get into the bus and he barked at them and said wait! while he let other people to pass through, even people from my old bus! This is so upsetting as we seen him favor these people who greeted him in Chinese! The driver also just throw the luggage haphazardly! We felt that these people just want to get it over with, since they will not get anything from us! Frank was so RUDE, UNPLEASANT and LAZY! He will not make any effort whatsoever, when he talk he will just sit on his chair, rather than facing the passengers, then all of sudden he just disappeared after LAX stop. The new guy spoke no English! We ended up getting at our stop at 9:40 compared to their itinerary of 6:40 all in all we felt abandoned and wish we stayed in Nelson's bus! 5 stars are for Nelson! nothing for Frank.
I truly recommend this affordable tour. The hotel was very comfortable and nice. Our tour guide Nelson was sweet, informative and fun. My family and I had an incredible time overall. Northern California was truly great! Solvang, the views at Hearst Castle, the San Francisco bay & city tour and Yosemite were all amazing! So much to see... our photos and memories are priceless. Thank you gotobus.com for making this happen. We had an awesome time!
Tour was well worth for the money spent but I think they need to trim the second day as we reached hotel at 9.30 and were supposed to leave by 5 in AM, the visit to Chinese buffet at 8.30 pm was totally unnecessary so was visit to Stanford. I think it will be more enjoyable if every one is well rested. Hearst castle is must see but Bay cruise and city tour are not, instead spend time to explore fisherman's wharf and market street in San francisco.
Our 1st time doing a bus tour with my family... was very overwhelmed how accomodating our tour guide Henry was! Very friendly and kept the tour entertaining-funny. He attended all concerns for all 50+ passengers even assisted intaking pictures =). It was the best tour experience ive ever had. Definitely will do it again and will refer to friends. It was affordable, and stress-free compared to customizing vacation plans on your own this is the BEST travel plan ive ever made... next trip HAWAII!!!
TakeTours takes care of every detail, which makes for a carefree vacation. Meal stops are always at large strip malls with Asian buffets, hamburgers, pizza, & sandwich shops, a market, and a dollar store. Bathroom stops every 2 hours or so. Mandatory $6 daily tip for guide & driver to share is well deserved. Directions always clearly given in English & Chinese. Take cash for optional tours & activities! Sam Cao is a fun host. Thanks, TakeTours, for giving us a great value for our money! Up next: Yellowstone!
I took this tour in January 2012 and enjoyed San Francisco the most-the steep streets, vibrant buildings, and colorful characters. At Fisherman's Wharf, check out the sourdough bread creatures at Boudin Bakery. The sparkling SF skyline at sunset from Treasure Island is truly a calendar-picture worthy view. We ate dinner at asian buffets most days. Our tour guide Mark was friendly, engaging, and very patient. Thank you for this interesting experience!
Best Value with the hotel and no driving to do. The tour guide was very accommodating with our request. We had 3 total tour guides on the trip. One of them (on the job training) while giving information in
Chinese for a long time, we were expecting the same amount of information in English but it was just in a few words. Like a paragraph = a sentence. Unfair. At one point we were saying, "English" good thing the main tour guide heard and got the microphone and started talking. My point is, we are all paying and we need to get the same amount of information. Exhausting but so...soo..worth it.
It was a good tour. We saw almost all of San Francisco. We couldn't do the Yosemite as there was snowfall but it was compensated by the visit to 17 miles tour. The 2-night stay in Courtyard Marriott was the best. The guides need to improve on their English though.
SFO and Yosemite no doubt about it, this is pretty awesome tour... the Herste Castle at Solvang... and the Lombard Street tour... I will never forget. Well worth the amount you spend. I would recommend the tour to everyone. We liked it a lot.
The 3 of us ladies went on a 3 days San Francisco/Yosemite trip this week, it was tiresome but interesting to see God's beautiful creation. It was very affordable. The Hotel-Courtyard Marriot was great and our tour guide Leslie was knowledgeable and excellent, he gave us tips on where to buy GOOD BUYS and where to eat. Wow! so many places to see in just one trip....very systematic and good schedule.... I highly recommend to everyone. Thank you.
My wife and I joined this tour on the 13th Oct. A nice tour and I like all the optional tours too but my wife does not enjoy the extended optional city tour. SF is a very nice place with beautiful houses, not to miss.
We were a group of 7, six single ladies and one young guy. I am very happy we took time to go and plan to go again to other places that this company offers. It was well worth our time and money which did not cost us much. I am encouraging others to make time and enjoy this beautiful world that God made for all of us.
My family and friends of 14 people really enjoyed the tour. It was well organized. Our tour guide, Leslie Lee was very knowledgeable on the places we went to. He even gave additional info/hightlights on these places. He was very patient and caring. I will recommend this to friends. We really enjoyed the tour especially Yosemite. It was astonishing! Thanks for the awesome experience.
I went on this tour in Late August and I was very pleased.. this tour went beyond my expectations. We got to see San Francisco like we never could have on our own. The tour guide Tina was so caring, patient and understanding. I liked the options we had to go around or stay with the tour group for certain optional tours or dining. The hotel was definitely pleasant as well. I enjoyed this tour very much and am planning another tour in November :)
It was a great tour; I went with 6 of my family members. Very organized, Marriott Hotel is perfect. The Chinese restaurants were great for us. The amount charged was very affordable with the kind of facilities they have provided. We loved our tour guide Mike and driver Sean. They are wonderful. Mike was very clear about other charges. We didn't have a problem with the 2 languages. I've already recommended this tour to several of my friends. I am planning for my next tour, that will be to Yellowstone.
Hello,
I was on a business trip in LA and everything was new for me. The tour organized by these guys was really great. They made sure that most of the destinations are covered and moreover, the amount charged was very affordable with the kind of facilities they have provided.
I am planning for my next tour that will be probably to Las Vegas.
It was a organized trip and we were allocated rooms at the courtyard Marriot. Only problem was that for every meal we were taken to Chinese restaurants. People from other countries might not feel comfortable. The rest was fine.
I wished we could spend some more time at Yosemite. Tour was really good, San Francisco was awesome, they covered many many places. The hotel was good too.
Only problem was the limited amount of time.
And its was too hard to us to take Chinese food on three days.
Price shown is based on the lowest price per person over the next 30 days $160 
I recommend this tour!
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