Big Bus Tours San Francisco Reviews 2,444

We have taken 2 big bus tours both have been amazing, our guides were very informative, James our guide for muir woods was brilliant, so much knowledge about the area and very entertaining. I would thoroughly recommend big bus tours

It was a very nice experience, nice, clean and friendly time and it was a great value.

The buses were nice and clean...our guide person...very knowledgeable of the city...he was very funny...both of them....the drivers were amazing drivers...we had a great time on our first time bus tour....thank you so much

Enjoyed the live tours and the night tour was beautiful!

After really enjoying our Big Bus Tours in Paris and London (and our traveling companion really enjoying the Tour she did with Big Bus in San Francisco two months previously) we could not believe the awful experience we had this time. The bus spent 1.5 hours stuck in traffic in downtown San Francisco, including 1/2 hour sitting at a stop, and then we didn't even drive by the Painted Ladies or get close to Nob Hill. On the Sausalito Tour portion of the trip, our driver, Patrick, was the most unprofessional person we have ever encountered - he asked us all where we were from, and then proceeded to make fun of people from countries other than the US, including yelling in to his microphone for the entire ride to Sausalito, punctuating every three or four sentences with phrases like "You got that, Paris?" (we guessed this was to make fun of someone who had said they were from Paris). We were relieved to get off the bus in Sausalito, but the ride back to the Golden Gate Bridge was almost as bad, with a driver who spent the entire time complaining on his microphone about the traffic and other drivers. In addition, the trip back over the Golden Gate in to the City didn't even drive close enough to the Palace of Fine Arts so that you could see it, and there was no commentary for the entire drive, only music. When we disembarked the driver 'explained' that he didn't know the commentary wasn't working, and asked why none of us told him! Really? Just a terrible experience and waste of money. I will certainly review Big Bus Tours on Tripadvisor and warn others about the terrible service in San Francisco.

While the Big Red Bus gave us an excellent opportunity to view all parts of San Francisco there were several areas of disappointments.....never stopped at stop 12 on our first day of riding. Therefore we could not walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. The second day of riding the bus never went over the bridge and just skipped that entire part of the route without any explanation whatsoever! Also, stop 1 was rather unorganized leaving us waiting for a long time to even start the tour on both days. The taped narrative could have been more informative, and the tour should skip the .tenderloin district..too depressing!!

It was good and handy and somewhat informative, however quite pricey for what is essentially a bus service with specific drop off's. We also missed a couple of stops where we did actually want to get off and explore, due to the awful ear plug tour system. The first stop it was delayed, so announced the stop after the bus had continued on, and the second time it played music despite us being on the right channel, so didn't even announce the stop. Also hit and miss on whether you got a guide who talked, or one that just checked tickets.

Our tour guide Doug was very entertaining and knowledgeable but the top of the bus was always full. Sitting inside the bus made it impossible to see anything. Once you get a seat up top you may want to stay there and go through the entire tour again in order to see and hear everything. If you are just looking for a ride to these places it’ a way around town.

Very informative comments on the trip around. The highlight for me was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, truly memorable.

Our Big Bus trip started out great, however during the ride we encountered an incident where we had to change our plans and caused disappointment.

The quick online ordering system was fast and easy, our experience with Jefferson St. staff was good, and the bus staff was welcoming while loading the bus. One little suggestion is to provide a restroom for your clients at the Jefferson Street office. Providing earphones to listen to trip information was good. We stopped and got off the bus at the Union Square, the Staff there were fun and helpful. Got back onto the bus and along the way everyone in our party were so impressed with the information given and looking forward to stops we planned to stop at.

Well the incident happened, the bus #LO 108 developed mechanical problems at Stop #9 and became inoperable, so all passengers had to get off and wait for other buses to pass in hopes to join another bus. We had to wait 1 hour until we could get onto another bus, which caused us to re-plan our day and miss stops which we wanted to get off at. Also, a couple in our party had to miss the remaining stops after the Golden Gate Bridge in order for them to catch their fight out of SFO. SAD. Of course we understand such things can happen, but we were not expecting the bus breakdown and the disappointment.

However the live tour guide on the bus we joined was very informative and fun to be with, sorry I did not get his name. So the Big Bus experience started out good, but unfortunately it ended up with disappointment. :(

Excellent Tour Guide ,as we did the night tour it was very Chilly on upper deck but we enjoyed the tour.

We made the mistake of sitting in the lower area of the bus because my husband has had melanoma. It was 90 that day and we quickly found the bus was not air conditioned. I thought we might pass out from the heat!
The constant repetitive music before the tour auto guide came on was annoying and only 1 ear bud on my set worked. Other than that, it was a nice overview of the highlights of the city.

The tour whilst interesting was so slow, every stop we seemed to wait for at least 5mins and if we hadn't boarded at first stop on the Wharf we wouldn't have got on

Once we got started everything was great.. We had to change buses in the beginning. The tour guide was great, bus driver was friendly, we enjoyed the tour. Yes I recommend Big Bus Tour!!

Awful experience...have taken this tour several times with out of town guest. The tour company is not taking care of their bussess. Several with no air ventalation, guide's that say nothing and do not speak English, not safe...driver had to leave the doors open and pasengers opened the emergency exit windows for air. DO NOT GO ON THIS LINE..there are several in San Francisco choose another company.

it was awesome. the app made it easier too.

I took Big Bus in Los Angeles and San Francisco the guide were amazing very knowledgeable but i won’t recommend it because the weather was extremely hot and to ride on top was very hard but WORSE was in the first floor the buses didn’t have AIR CONDITIONING in winter this might be aceptable but in summer is just RIDICULOUS AND INSANE

Tour guides are nice and helpful. Well done.