A Friend in Town

Your Premier
Personalized Tour Service
for the San Francisco Bay Area

We pick you up anywhere within 90 minutes' drive of San Francisco, at your home or hotel!

CALL or E-MAIL US Now! to Reserve your Best Tour Yet!


San Francisco Tours - Tour San Francisco Bay
Tour San Francisco Bay!

What You'll Pay for your Tour

 

   In business since 1999, we continue to be the most affordable customized tour company in the San Francisco Bay Area. But you do not trade quality for price: see feedback from our guests. Our goal is to provide personalized, flexible tours without any surprises when it comes to what you pay.

   Our fees do not include meals, tasting fees at wineries, snacks, entrance fees to attractions (like the Monterey Bay Aquarium), public transit fares, or lodging. However, we do not add what many other tour companies do: "license fees," "taxes," "fuel surcharges," and substantial compulsory gratuities. We usually accept $200 as a deposit to confirm your reservation; the balance due we collect at the conclusion of your tour. And we're happy to accept a gratuity should you choose to give us one.  


For information regarding our Cancellation Policy, Safety related issues, etc., please read the Fine Print.


     
TOUR
Average Duration
FEE*
Minimum Duration
Minimum Fee
Add'l Hours
   
(NOT per-person)
     
   
   

ALL WINE COUNTRY

(ex. Bon Vivant's & Connoisseur's)

8-9h

$460

7h

$400
$60  ea.
       
 
Redwoods then Wine
9-10h
$520
8h
$460
$60  ea.
     
 
San Francisco-Half Day
4-5h
$290
3h
$290
$60  ea.
     
 
San Francisco w/Redwoods
8-9h
$460
7h
$400
$60  ea.
     
 

Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur

Steinbeck

11-12h
$640
9-10h
$520
$60  ea.
     
 
San Jose/Silicon Valley
7-8h
$400
6h
$340
$60  ea.
     
 
Vertigo/SF Sites Only
4-5h
$290
3h
$290
$60   ea.
     
 

Vertigo

w/San Juan Bautista

9-10h
$520
9-10h
$520
$60   ea.
           
Groups (7+ passengers) or Corporate
ask for quote
       
           

One-of-a-Kind

incl. Antique Trains

ask for quote
       
           
Yosemite Overnight
Two Days
$1,350
2 Days
n/a
n/a
     
 
Hearst Castle Overnight
Two Days
$1,200
2 Days
n/a
n/a
     
 
Mendocino Coast Overnight
Two Days
$1,150
2 Days
n/a
$60   ea.
     
 
Oakland, Berkeley; Marin
8-9h
$460
7h
$400
$60   ea.
     
 
Muir Woods; Sausalito
4-5h
$290
3h
$290
$60   ea.
           

  * These fees are for couples, groups of up to 6/7 people or solo travelers. Fees for groups of 7 to 25 (whereby we charter a minibus), please ask for a quote. If pick-up or drop-off is arranged for a location outside San Francisco or Oakland, there may be an additional fee (depending on your destination and itinerary).

To our normal fees for Wine Country tours, add $60 for our "Bon Vivant's" and "Connoisseur's Choice" itineraries, as they require more planning by our staff.


For information regarding Tasting Fees at wineries, our Cancellation Policy, Safety related issues, etc., please read the Fine Print.


  Once we've confirmed your tour, we will run the tour even with one guest. As a solo traveler, you will not be left in the uncomfortable position of wondering if the tour will be cancelled because too few people signed up.

For most visitors, our tours provide an exciting, superior alternative to big-bus tours, limousines and renting your own vehicle: www.toursanfranciscobay.com/information/whytour.html.

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   Choosing what to do with your limited time and resources is important and irreversible. Once back home either you live in the afterglow of a wonderful experience—reviewing your pictures, recalling stunning panoramas and many priceless moments. Or you regret that you wasted your time herded in a crowded bus, tired and frustrated in a rent-a-car or way over budget in a limo. Sightseeing in the San Francisco Bay Area is expensive and while you may "save" $$ by opting for the cheaper alternative, you're sure to miss many hidden gems of the city, an unique winery, that truly memorable ocean vista.

   Make the mistake of choosing a big-bus tour and you pay the least per-person but must start the tour in a place convenient to them, spend most of your time looking through a window, missing many sites (like Chinatown) that are off-limits for buses. Forget spontaneity as the itinerary cannot respond to your requests. If going to Muir Woods, you arrive when all the other buses arrive, and must be back on the bus in less than an hour or risk being left behind... if going to the Wine Country, most big buses go to the same wineries where you'll be in crowds and exhorted to hurry...if going to Carmel, there's little time for exploring the heart of the town as buses must park on its edge. You get what you pay for.

"Far superior to the bus tours"

"It was far superior to the bus tours we have taken because it was personal, intimate, and took into account our tastes and preferences."

– Lynn & Clint H. (Drumheller, Alberta)

[ More Reviews ]

   Choose to rent a car and spend precious time picking it up then poring over maps and getting lost anyway, negotiating our famously steep hills or unmarked backroads, looking for parking and paying dearly for it, walking distances from where you've finally parked to the site you hope to visit. As you drive you won't know what you're passing and will have no one to ask. You risk getting caught in traffic bottlenecks, missing the most scenic and interesting routes and off-road attractions, wasting time searching for gas stations, and if you're the driver, you can't take in the sights if you want to avoid an accident. You get what you pay for.

   Choose a limo and pay more—often a lot more with all their hidden fees—twisting around in your seat (since limos position you with your back to the scenery), experiencing a driver who's not necessarily an historian or knowledgeable about architecture or history or wine... and forget about visiting many fascinating places where limos can't physically go. You get (less than) what you pay for.

   Come with us and we'll help you remember that you're on vacation... minimizing your stress, maximizing your pleasure.