If you have read our previous blog posts, you already know that we love taking bus tours when exploring cities. We had a great time on bus tours in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Los Angeles. Although we also had a bad experience in Paris, we decided to give it another try in San Francisco.
We walked to the Big Bus office at Fisherman’s Wharf and inquired about the different tours, including the wine tours. After considering our options, we decided to go with the day and night tour – the San Francisco Essential Ticket. The wine tours weren’t suitable for Yuven, so we skipped those.
San Francisco Big Bus Day Tour
We hopped on the first bus from the stop near our hotel. We had planned our entire day around the farthest points the bus could take us. We planned to cover Alamo Square (Painted Ladies), Golden Gate Park, North Vista Point, and, if time permitted, Lombard Street.
As the bus moved through the city, we passed through Chinatown, the Financial District, Civic Center, and several other landmarks. The recorded commentary, which shared interesting facts as we passed by different places, kept all of us engaged.
Alamo Square and The Painted Ladies
We got off at Alamo Square and took a 10-minute walk to reach the garden opposite the famous Painted Ladies. There were only a few people when we arrived. We enjoyed the sunshine, clicked some pictures, and had a quick snack. We then roamed around the area before walking back to the bus stop for our next stop—Golden Gate Park.
Golden Gate Park
After a long wait, the bus finally arrived, and we reached Golden Gate Park. The bus dropped us off in front of the California Academy of Sciences. It is one of the best things to do in Golden Gate Park, but we skipped it because we had decided not to visit museums during this trip.
de Young Café and Hamon Observation Tower
We first headed to the de Young Café for a quick lunch. After lunch, we wandered around the garden adjacent to the café and later went to the Hamon Observation Tower to enjoy the city views.
It was foggy on one side, but the views of the city on the other side looked fabulous from that height.
Japanese Tea Garden
Later, we decided to visit the Japanese Tea Garden located inside Golden Gate Park. The garden hours were 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and we paid an entrance fee of $16 per adult and $3 for our 11-year-old. The opening hours vary depending on the season.
It was one of the most amazing setups we experienced during our trip. Walking through the garden almost felt like we had been transported to a small town in Japan. The small pond, temple, gift shop, and café serving Japanese food made the experience even more enjoyable.
We immediately regretted having lunch at the museum café instead of eating here!
Originally, we had planned to visit Blue Heron Lake, the boathouse, and the windmills, but it was already almost 4:00 p.m. We also wanted to reach North Vista Point via the Big Bus, so we headed straight back to the bus stop and waited.
The first bus arrived, but it could hardly accommodate a few passengers. After almost another 20 minutes, a second bus arrived, and we were finally able to board.
It wasn’t a great experience with the bus service, as we had to wait for almost 45 minutes in total
Golden Gate North Vista Point
We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on the bus and reached North Vista Point. Unfortunately, the wind was extremely strong, so we couldn’t enjoy the stop as much as we had hoped.
The views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay were spectacular, but the harsh wind made it difficult to stay outside. We ended up waiting inside the area near the washrooms to protect ourselves from the wind.
After around 15–20 minutes, the last bus arrived, and we headed back towards Fisherman’s Wharf.
Our Experience with the Big Bus Day Tour
Overall, I would rate our Big Bus Day Tour experience as average, mainly because of the long waiting time.
While writing this blog, I visited their website and found that they have since changed their route. When we took the tour, there was only one route, but now they have two routes—Red and Yellow.
These changes might help reduce waiting times and make the overall experience more enjoyable.
Big Bus Night Tour
After our previous experiences with night tours in New York and Paris, we decided to take one in San Francisco as well.
Our Big Bus Essential ticket, which cost us around $172 ($60 per adult and $52 for a child), included a night tour as well.
We were super excited about the night/sunset tour. We were the third group to board the bus from the Big Bus office at Fisherman’s Wharf. The tour was scheduled for 6:30 p.m., but it actually commenced around 6:15 p.m.
One of the coordinators advised us to take seats on the lower deck, considering the chilly wind. After our experience at North Vista Point earlier in the day, we decided to follow the advice.
It turned out to be a wise decision because many passengers who initially sat on the upper deck eventually came down.
I do admit that the tour would be much more fun from the open upper deck rather than the enclosed lower deck, but the chilly wind is real!
Big Bus Night Tour Route
Unlike the day tour, this was not a hop-on-hop-off tour. The route started at Fisherman’s Wharf and continued through:
- Ghirardelli Square
- Nob Hill
- Russian Hill
- Union Square
- Ferry Building
- Oakland Bay Bridge
- Treasure Island
- Financial District
- Fisherman’s Wharf
The bus crossed the Oakland Bay Bridge and took a U-turn from Treasure Island, returning via the Financial District before completing the tour at the starting point.
The views of the streets around Nob Hill were breathtaking.
A Chilly Stop at Treasure Island
The driver gave us a few minutes on Treasure Island to get down and click some awesome pictures of the city from across the bay.
Yuven and I didn’t dare to get down, but Mihir went ahead to take a few pictures. Within a minute, however, he was back on the bus, telling me that his entire body had gone numb and he couldn’t feel anything because of the chilly wind!
It took almost 8–10 minutes for him to feel normal again, but the view was worth it.
Our Experience with the Big Bus Night Tour
All in all, we enjoyed the tour. However, it would have been even more enjoyable if we had been able to sit on the upper deck.
Despite that, I would definitely recommend taking the sunset/night tour over the day tour. The views of San Francisco in the evening, especially around Nob Hill and from across the bay, made the experience memorable.
After experiencing that strong wind, though, we decided not to take a sunset cruise.
We did take the ferry during the daytime the following day, and I’ll write all about that experience in the next blog.
Stay tuned for our next adventure as we head to the charming town of Sausalito!
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