Big Bus Tours San Francisco Reviews 2,444

I think we were expecting to get a little more history on the tour. There was some history but it was also a lot of personal commentary. Also I know San Francisco has a homeless problem but there was one street in particular that we drove down that was borderline dangerous (around Tenderloin area) My 12 year old son spotted two different instances where drug deals were happening. Not exactly kid friendly (and i know that’s a city problem really) but seems like maybe a different route might be considered given there are kids on your tours.

We bought the deluxe package and when we tried to go to Sausalito they stopped the tour 1/2 hour before . We waited for one hour at Golden Gate Bridge to be picked up and then when the bus arrived they said sorry it’s too late for Sausalito. That was unfair and dishonest of the company . We left San Francisco the next day and never got to use our tickets . I am very disappointed in this company

Best way to see a city. We've used in a number of country's for the most cost-efficient way to see a lot and learn a lot.

Great way to get to know San Francisco at your own pace.

If there is a 0 star I will rate this bus a 0. The whole ride was miserable! The employees were rude. First of all, people have to wait for 30 mins to 1 hr or more to hop on. For popular sites like Golden Gate bridge, expect to wait a little longer. They have a very disorganized system. They don't show a signboard to indicate where they are heading to nor a sign to areas where it indicates where people can wait for the next bus. If you are lucky , you will be able to wait in line for the right bus or right destination, There's a young woman employee with European accent who works in the area where bus originates at Jefferson and Mason Streets who was extremely rude. Also, there is an old man who is a tour guide named Bob, he was very rude. He should not be allowed to work there. If he is a tour guide , he should know how to interact properly with people of all ages. He was very rude to my family, he even rudely stopped a little girl who was just happily singing ( singing softly ) while in the bus. I wonder if he has kids or grand children , because he did not looked like he knew how to interact properly with children. I was disappointed that day we rode with big bus. There should be a better system and they should hire people who knows how to provide good customer service. I don't think I will ride this bus again .It will be better to ride an Uber or Lyft to avoid any misery. The big bus ride is not worth it. The price of $50-55 is a total rip off! Hire pleasant people to work because you are making a bad impression for San Francisco.

Hyatt Centric sold my 89 yr father (me using a wheelchair for him) and I a hop on/off ticket at 11:59 am. Walk across to stop 2 pickup, but other buses pickup here as well and ended up on mini bus. Driver said we'd get off at stop 8 to catch the next hop on/off bus. No where did we see the pickup. It's 1 pm, and am calling hotel to find location. Larkin/McCalister. Original stop was blocked due to a temporary soccer area.
Finally a hop/on bus came...sorry folks this bus full. Wait till next bus, 2nd bus told the same thing, then a 3rd bus, and heard it again!! A 4th bus came and we were told this bus no room for a wheelchair. We FINALLY get on a 5th bus! No handicap accessible getting on, but we got it. We waited over an hour in this location waiting on a bus.
No live guide, and sitting there all you heard was the rattling of the bus window. For ones upstairs, this may have been ok, but what a joke and what a waste of hard earned money of $105.00 from Indiana. I'll never use this service again in San Francisco. Better to get a private uber to show you around.

PS Shows the Big Bus has some major issues. The Las Vegas group has it together, others not.

The audio broke. We sat on the bus in the haight/Asburry district whole we waited for someone to fix it. Wasn’t fixed So it was only a visual tour. We should have been offered 1/2 refund or a free ticket for next time.

We choose the Big Bus Company as we wanted to start our journey and valid our tickets from the area in which we were staying. The other company didn't offer this, as you had to go to their head office and valid your ticket.
We never had to wait too long for a bus. Occasionally the top deck would be full, but we would transfer to the top once there was space. Was so much better up stairs in the open air. Even though it did get cold and windy!
Would definitely use this company again.

The Big Bus tour was terrible. First, we waited for an hour in the sun to get on the bus to start the tour. When we finally got on the bus we were given headphones, because there was suppose to be a live tour. No one ever said a word the entire bus ride. All the passengers ended up taking off their earphones after about an hour. We had no idea what we were seeing or where we were stopping. It was basically like a city bus driving around the city. It was extremely long and boring. We were so disappointed. This tour was a complete waste of time and money.

The service is good. but it takes a long time between bus and bus. Waits are long. and the connections too. they can improve a lot since the ticket is high

How in the world would a company have customers ride in a hot bus with no air. Seriously complaining to the driver didn’t help he just said there’s nothing he could do, how about you warn customers before having them hop on on a hot day 😡

We were waiting one hour before getting on the bus and one employee was extremely RUDE and she was laughing in my face when I asked for explanation. My day was ruined.A big waste of time and money.

We have used the big bus tour in so many places and have found them all fantastic

Blake and marvelous Moyupe were awesome. We were going to hop off and on but we enjoyed the tour so much we just stayed on the entire time. Sincerely Missouri and Sweet Sixteen!

We had the 48 hours ticket and it was the best choice to travel from highlight to highlight through San Francisco.
We had a great view through the open roof of the bus. And the weather was fantastic.

The stuff was very helpful and friendly, but sometimes it was difficult for us to find the bus stop or to find out, when the next bus does arrive. In our 2 days ticket were bike rental included. But for us it was not clear where and how to get the bikes. In the evening a tour guide told us, that we missed the last bus. So we called a taxi. After the taxi arrived, a further bus arrived. We were unhappy about this, Because we had to pay for the taxi.

Easy to board as well as hop on/hop off during the day! We included the Sausalito trip in our ticket and it was highly worth it; would definitely recommend. The drive across the Golden Gate Bridge was awesome on the top deck of the bus. All employees were friendly and shared tips about where to eat and what to see.

Night tour is just okay. There was not much history of the city given as we drove through areas. I suggest guides talk about the city more with historical facts. I would only do the hop on and off day tour.

Great trip in total. Unfortunately the bus broke down at one stop and we had to wait over an hour for another one, while it was very windy and chilly ...
We ask for a discount and could ride the bus for half a day longer - great service.

When there was a live guide the tour was very entertaining and with the gratuity given. The recorded announcements were informative if not a bit bland.

We took the Night Tour. The tour guide was very good but the tour itself was lame. We didn't really see anything that we hadn't seen from the Cable car. The big sell was Treasure Island which turned out to be a depressing deserted military base. It was a lovely evening when we started out so we sat up top. By the time we got to the Bay Bridge we were freezing. A heads up would have been nice. The line to board was a little crazy too. One person ahead of us was holding places for 20 people that were no where to be found when boarding began. After everyone complaining, they finally let those of us who were actually on line board the bus. Overall not worth the price or the time.