Every San Francisco day starts with the same question: which side of the fog?
Whether the Alcatraz ferry is gone before you land. What a day up-valley in Napa actually costs. Which Muir Woods trip gets you back in time for a sunset sailing. Reviews of every tour you can book in San Francisco and the wine country behind it.
Alcatraz, the redwoods, a wine valley and an hour on the bay.
The four bookings a first San Francisco week is built around. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The one to book firstAlcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided AppFerry, island and the cellhouse audio guide. Sailings are capped and there is no walk-up window on the pier.
02Over the bridgeMuir Woods and Sausalito (Return by Bus or Ferry)Coast redwoods in the morning, then Sausalito, then a ferry back across the bay in the afternoon.
03The day up-valleyNapa and Sonoma Wine Country Full-Day Tour from San FranciscoNapa and Sonoma in one run with the tastings arranged, so nobody has to drive between them.
04One hour on the waterGolden Gate Bay Cruise (1-hour)Under the Golden Gate, past the island, back to the piers. The cheapest way to see why the city sits where it does.
Napa, Sonoma, or a wine day that still gets you back for dinner.
The vines start an hour north of the Golden Gate. Three ways to spend a day among them, what it costs to join each one, and how long you are away from the city.
San Francisco, Alcatraz, the redwoods and the valleys behind them.
San Francisco is small enough to walk across and ringed by day trips that are not. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
Alcatraz: the ferry is the ticket, and it goes early.
Everything on the island →
The island held a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963 and is now part of a national recreation area, twenty minutes out of the Embarcadero piers. Every visit runs on a scheduled ferry, the cellhouse audio guide is included, and the last boat back is fixed. Settle which crossing you want before you settle anything else about the week.
Island only, or island plus the city
The plain ticket covers the crossing and the cellhouse audio guide. The combination trips add a city coach or a bay cruise on the same day, which earns its price when the island slot lands mid-morning and the afternoon is otherwise empty.
The cruise that rounds the island
When the island is gone, the bay cruises still run under the Golden Gate and close enough to Alcatraz to read the water tower. An hour on the water, and the rest of the afternoon stays yours.
The night crossing
Fewer boats run in the evening, the cellhouse programme is a different one, and the city is lit behind you on the way back. It fills further ahead than the daytime slots.
Half of San Francisco only makes sense from the water.
The bridge from underneath, the island from the channel, the skyline pulling away from a ferry rail. The bay is a working part of this city and the cheapest hour you will spend in it.
San Francisco’s most popular days out.
Every San Francisco tour review →The tours more travellers take than anything else here, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Muir Woods and Sausalito (Return by Bus or Ferry)
Visit Muir Woods, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, browse Sausalito, and choose a bus or ferry return on this flexible San Francisco day tour.
From · $91
Read our review →
2
Big Bus SF: Hop-on Hop-off Tour with 17 Stops and Sunset Option
from $56
3
Napa and Sonoma Wine Country Full-Day Tour from San Francisco
from $165
4
Small Group Yosemite and Giant Sequoias Day Trip from San Francisco
from $239
5
Yosemite Highlights & Giant Sequoias Day Tour from San Francisco
from $219
6
San Francisco Super Saver: Muir Woods & Wine Country w/ optional Gourmet Lunch
from $179
7
Golden Gate Bay Cruise (1-hour)
from $38
8
Hop-On Hop-Off Open-top Sightseeing Tour
from $63
What a day out in San Francisco actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. This is an expensive city to sleep in and a surprisingly cheap one to spend a day in.
Neighbourhood walks, an hour on the bay, the cable-car routes and the self-guided city loops.
The standards: Alcatraz with a city tour, Muir Woods and Sausalito, an afternoon of tastings.
Full days up-valley, Yosemite and back before midnight, private drivers and chartered boats.
Three things that only happen in San Francisco.
Bridges and vineyards exist everywhere. A federal prison you reach by ferry, a street railway dragged along by a moving cable under the road, and thousand-year-old redwoods twelve miles from downtown do not.
Alcatraz
The island carried an army fort, then a federal penitentiary from 1934 until 1963. It closed because salt air was eating the concrete faster than the budget could patch it, not because anyone escaped. The cellhouse is kept as it was left, and the audio guide is narrated by men who worked there and men who were held there.
- 1Alcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided App★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,460 reviews
- 2Combo Tour: Alcatraz Island and San Francisco Grand City Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 2,228 reviews
- 3Alcatraz Island & 48-Hour Hop-On Hop-Off Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,601 reviews
The cable cars
There is no engine on a San Francisco cable car. A steel cable runs continuously in a slot under the street at nine and a half miles an hour; the gripman clamps onto it to go and lets go to stop. Three lines survive out of the twenty-three that once covered these hills, and they are the only moving national landmark in the country.
- 1Self-Guided Cable Car City Tour in San Francisco★★★★★★★★★★ 3.0 · 226 reviews
- 2San Francisco Full-Day Tour by Cable Car & Foot★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 187 reviews
- 3Half-Day Tour by Cable Car & Foot★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 14 reviews
Muir Woods
Coast redwoods once ran the length of this shoreline and almost all the old growth was cut. The valley at Muir Woods survived because it was too awkward to log, and was handed to the federal government in 1908. Parking and shuttle slots inside the monument are reserved in advance, which is why most people arrive on somebody else’s minibus.
- 1Muir Woods and Sausalito (Return by Bus or Ferry)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,098 reviews
- 2San Francisco Super Saver: Muir Woods & Wine Country w/ optional Gourmet Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,352 reviews
- 3Muir Woods and Sausalito Half-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,722 reviews
The hills are the reason to walk San Francisco, and the reason not to.
Seven blocks here are worth twenty anywhere flat. Guided walks take the gradients off you: murals in the Mission, bakeries in North Beach, the alleys of Chinatown, and the corner where Haight meets Ashbury.
Every walking tour in the city →
Four San Francisco bookings that will not wait.
Most of this city can be decided over breakfast. These four run on ferry manifests, park reservations and a single departure time that takes no interest in when you land.
- 01Alcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided AppSailings are capped and the pier has no walk-up window. In summer the slots go weeks ahead.
- 02Small Group Yosemite and Giant Sequoias Day Trip from San FranciscoOne coach, one departure, fourteen hours door to door. Miss it and the next one is tomorrow.
- 03Muir Woods and Sausalito (Return by Bus or Ferry)Parking and shuttle slots inside the monument are reserved in advance, which is why the guided trips fill first.
- 04Napa Valley Wine Train: Gourmet Express Lunch or DinnerSeats are sold as a fixed meal service with set sittings, so the date is chosen long before the menu is.
San Francisco summer: grey until two, and choppy on the water.
June through August the marine layer sits on the western half of the city all morning and the wind gets up on the bay by afternoon. The answer never changes. Go east or go inland: the valleys run twenty degrees warmer, and the food streets never noticed.
North Beach cannoli, Mission taquerias and the oldest Chinatown in North America.
Three neighbourhoods do most of the eating here and every one of them walks better than it drives. Take the bakery and market walks in the morning, the taqueria crawls in the afternoon.
By place — city, bay and wine country
By kind of day — water, walk, table or road
Four days in San Francisco, then a fifth one north among the vines.
The newest San Francisco tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
San Francisco Urban Hike: Coit Tower, Lombard Street and North Beach
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San Francisco Haight Ashbury Hippie Exploration Game
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San Francisco Ghosts Boos and Booze Haunted Pub Crawl
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Private San Francisco Sunset Photography Experience
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Private San Francisco Sunrise Photography Experience
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San Francisco Half-Day Tour by Cable Car & Foot
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Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur private Day Trip from San Francisco
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