City By the Bay Tours

Great way to start off your trip! We saw more of San Francisco in a few hours than we could have in a week. Brandon took us to places that would have been very difficult to get to or know about without him. He also had great suggestions for things to do at night. This Wisconsinite highly recommends this smaller, more intimate tour. Worth every penny.

We went on their tours primarily because a random individual at Fisherman’s Wharf gave my uncle a ton of tickets to ride the bus for free (thank you anonymous stranger)! As a result, we did not have to drive our own vehicles around.
Despite the man’s cheesy humor, our tour guide had one hell of a sense of humor (wish I knew his name) as we toured around the city. The man appeared knowledgeable about the city as we went through its many districts and tourist destinations. My favorite was when we went through the Haight-​Ashbury district (he pronounced it as «hate») and as he finished telling the folks that we entered the Haight district, there was a guy shouting at a security guard in front of a McDonald’s saying, «I HATE YOU!» and so on and so forth. We also saved $ 8.00 as the bus went through the Golden Gate Bridge so we got to experience that as part of our tour. We also went through neighborhoods that were known as «sketchy» parts of San Francisco were we got to see how the locals felt about tourists (we got a couple of finger salutes from the people in that district which I forgot the name of).
Bottom Line: We had a lot of fun in that tour! I would not hesitate to use these guys again if I’m ever in San Francisco again! I highly recommend it!

The tour was great. If you want a smaller more personable tour this one is perfect! I enjoyed it so much I actually went twice!

The Driver was terrible and skipped past many historical spots in SF that the group and I were looking forward to. He was hard to understand and only stopped at stops for a few minutes not letting us check out the actual location. I consider this tour service and a scam.

If I could give this company no stars I would
I took a group of 16 Resident Advisors from a local university, renting out the entire bus (over $ 850) to make it an interactive and engaged experience, and I could not have been more disappointed that I allotted this amount of money for a fun day in the city (something college students from out of the area rarely get to take advantage of).
With CURLY behind the wheel (after being told JP would be our tour guide), he talked more about where the students should go into the city and drink (most were under 21), than it’s unique history.
It was only when I requested that we were told more of the history of the city did Curly take the hint and change his tune.. .ever so slightly. However his chewing gum, and breathing heavily into the mic provided enough distraction from his obscure way of telling the story of San Francisco.
With no rhyme or reason to the tour, zig-​zagging across the city, this group of selected leaders and above average students, became restless, disengaged, irritable and bored out of their minds.
After stopping at Twin Peaks and making his way back to Golden Gate Park, not a word was spoken about the city or any sites for over TWENTY MINUTES. While driving through the park, no history was given, or sights were seen, it was a simple pass through in front of the DeYoung.
Short on time, due to his inability to manage time CURLY could not take us over the GGBridge, and we were happy to give the word that we wanted to end the tour as soon as possible, after 3 hours and twenty minutes.
With no history given of the Bridge or Chrissy Field or even the Marina Green, CURLY dropped off this once happy-​go-​lucky group of student leaders who could not escape his gum chewing and his jokes that were way before these ¹⁹⁄₂₀ year old’s time.
Spending this kind of money from the training budget of this, was a huge disappointment, only to be offered to take another tour for three more hours with time we did not have.
I will never recommend this company to anyone. I had a more enjoyable tour out of Pier 39, and it was only $ 20, spend your money elsewhere.

Brandon was an amazing tour guide. He is very passionate about food and we went to all the food spots he recommended– we too love food! It’s an intangible tour and I saw places I didn’t see from past visits to San Fran. I would recommend this tour to all my friends and request Brandon– funny guy. Oh and I hope that food tour works out because we would definitely come back for that!

Took my Mom on one of their tours. It was great, if pricey (aren’t all things touristy in SF expensive?).
The tour guide seemed knowledgeable and cheesy. After having done quite a bit of tourist activity in SF, I can see it is one of the more relaxing ways to take in the sights. No long walks required, no pedaling a bike, or sitting in a boat going through choppy waters. It’s like taking a taxi around town.
These tours are pretty homogenous so if I were to do this again, I probably would have done a better job of calling different tour groups to get the rates for each.

Our tour guide Curly was really nice, but the person over the phone is so rude. She never picks up, always sounds like she in a rush and talks with attitude.
When they tell you to meet at 400 Post, it’s in front of the Morton’s Steak House, NOT the Chase Bank. You can come as early as you want, but they show up right on time. Not later and not earlier. Had a living social deal and I still think it was expensive.
This is just a small shuttle bus. Not those big buses with the upper deck and you can see everything.
Only a few stops and very limited time to browse around. You really are on the bus for a long period of time and it gets boring. Only get off to see Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, and some really nice view, but it was super duper windy.
I was disappointed to take my family from out of town on this. I’d rather just drive around myself and show them, especially Fishermen’s Wharf, Painted Ladies, Palace of Fine Arts, and all the other good stuff they missed.
We also started over 15 minutes later because some people couldn’t make it on time. That’s not fair to those that all were on time.

My friend and I bought the Living Social deal for $ 22 per ticket since we would be hitting San Francisco on our road trip through California last week. We called several times leading up to our trip to reserve a space, but it’s hard to get anyone to answer the phone in their office. I had left a message requesting a call back, which never happened either. When we finally did get through, and mentioned our situation and that we hadn’t received a call back, the lady from City by the Bay said «Oh well.» I was in total shock at that kind of customer service and seriously considered just canceling the whole idea (especially when we saw on Trip Advisor that someone from the company basically berated a less-​than-​positive reviewer). We ultimately decided to go through with it anyway since we would only be in the city for 1 day and wanted to see as much of it as possible.
The day of our tour we loaded onto the bus and I immediately understood why others opt for the open-​top bus tours instead. This bus, while it’s small size does offer some advantages, offers practically no view to the front. I snapped a photo from my phone and will upload it here to give you an idea of what you see when looking straight ahead. There are large windows on the side of the bus that offer plenty of viewing opportunities to the left and right. There were just a few times where they were talking about something up ahead of us that I could not see.
There was an actual tour guide on our bus (Daniel) as well as the bus driver (Clay) — both of whom had microphones. I’m not sure if that’s how they all are or not (perhaps our guide was in training, not sure)… but it got a bit awkward at times when the driver would interrupt the tour guide with a side story or cheesy joke — or to point out a driver next to us who was primping in their car. I felt sorry for the tour guide who then had to resume his story which everyone had since forgotten about. He seemed to be annoyed at times and honestly I don’t blame him.
It was over an hour into our trip before we made our first stop, which was at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. We then crossed the bridge and stopped again at the other side for a different view. Then back across the bridge again and on to some other areas of town — not a single word about suicide jumpers on our tour. I wonder if they have taken that part out based on other reviews about guides who talked and joked about it too much.
Overall I think this tour was worth it at the steeply discounted price we got. We definitely saw more areas of town than we would have in our rental car (not to mention the stress of driving and navigating a congested city). There were some major drawbacks though with not being able to see ahead, only making 4 stops, the awkward interactions between guide and driver, not getting anywhere near Lombard Street and also not being able to see the 7 Painted Ladies (due to road construction). I am glad we did a bus tour and got a great price on this one, but if I could do it over again I’d probably pay more and go with a different company.

I would give this tour 5 stars, but I agree with the reviewer who mentioned that JP fixates on Golden Gate suicides to the detriment of the overall experience. City by the Bay Tours gets a 3.
JP seems like a good guy, but he spent way too much time talking about people jumping off the bridge. It’s a serious issue, and should be treated as such. Instead, we were treated to bad jokes about the extremely sensitive topic of suicide for a good 10 minutes as we approached and crossed the bridge. The rest of the trip leading up to the bridge was pretty decent.
So, JP, stop and think about what you are saying about the suicides to a bus full of strangers. It doesn’t work. It has no place on the tour. It detracts from what would have been a very good tour. It cost you a tip.

My father was in town and rather than driving him around the city, the whole family took this tour. The weather was very SF … cold, rainy, foggy, etc. However, despite that, the tour was fabulous! Our tour guide was Jean Paul (JP) and he was wonderful.
Highly recommended!

Loved this tour, very informative and just a great time from beginning to end.
Our driver/​host was just Awesome, more then we can ask for and extremely kind.
Took us everywhere within San Francisco, highly recommend this tour.
Brandon is the name, he knows his game!
Thanks Brandon for a great tour of your city.

Best tour for getting to know the city! As first timers to SF, the tour was a great way to get to know the city. Brandon was very knowledgeable and entertaining. I would prefer this tour any day over the big bus tours, 3.5 hours seemed to fly by.
Overall, I don’t have any complaints. This is an inexpensive tour with great tour guides. Perfect way to get to know the city.

Great tour! Patrick was our guide and I couldn’t believe how quickly 3 hours went by. There were several good stops for photos and Patrick’s local knowledge and sense of humor along with the tour «soundtrack» made for an awesome afternoon. I’d recommend this tour to anyone visiting SF. It gave us a great appreciation of the city and it’s history.
Keep up the great work, guys!

I have been on several tours of SF– and I mean several. We’ve done the walking tours, Segway tours, the big bus tours, and even a small bus tour. But this was hands down the best experience. Luckily, this is the one I chose to take my adult children on. It was just my husband and I on all the other tours.
My kids and I loved this. Brandon has the most extensive knowledge of any tour guide we’ve met, and his delivery is excellent. I don’t know how he stays so peppy, even with that coffee he says he drinks.
We had a Living Social deal, and I felt it would have definitely been worth the full price, without the discount. I don’t always feel that way. On the open top bus tour I took, I felt even the discounted price was a rip-​off (you can see my review on Unilocal). Not so for this tour. It is excellent in every way.
I loved the visit to Sutro tower, the Presidio, the trip across the bridge, and the gorgeous photo op on the Marin side, looking down on SF. There was a stop to view the painted ladies, a nice look at the civic center — i love that installation of the giant lotus there. I do wish we could have gotten out to photograph the Palace of the Legion of Honor– but no one seems to stop there. I guess I’ll have to just go there some day. I really need to do that.
I have to say that the only other tour that came close to this was our Segway tour of Golden Gate park. That was pretty freaking amazing. So if you are only in SF for a short time, take this tour, do the Segway through Golden Gate park, and eat your way through the Ferry Building. I love the art museums too– if you have time.

If you are thinking about doing a bus tour in sf, this is the only one you should consider. Don’t even look at the others, not worth it.
We had Brandon as a tour guide and he was incredible. I had bought a google offer for this tour and brought my Inlaws and husband on June 19… here are some notes. Since I had a google offer, I wasn’t expecting incredible. This tour actually far exceeded expectations.
Pros
— very individual tour, this is not your cookie cutter type of tour. You will see everything you were hoping, but much more than that too. Every day is slightly different, as it depends on the weather what you can see, but Brandon likes to keep it all different so you never experience the same thing twice!
— saw things that the big buses can’t access because of size
— Brandon has a great sense of humor, and was incredibly knowledgable about not only the big sites, but a lot of interesting other pieces of information.
— music montages associated with certain areas of town, perfect balance of talking and quiet time for own group discussion
–we haven’t been in California that long but have been to sf many times, but we learned so much from Brandon, history and trivia.
— Brandon gave everyone a 7 page restaurant recommendations. Incredible service… and he doesn’t get paid or receive benefit from any of the restaurants either in case you were wondering. He just loves to give info to ppl.
— bus was comfortable, padded coach bus seats and the air conditioning was on
–Brandon offered to take pictures of anyone who wanted them, and encouraged questions.
Tip Brandon because he does an awesome job… and he needs to keep making good money so he will continue because he is a gem of this tour company. He very clearly loves what he is doing. He used to work for a large company doing tours, and was offered a job with this company. City by the bay has only been around for 8 months and are still new. Give them a try because they are worth every penny and won’t leave anyone disappointed.
Cons –if you sit at front of bus, you can’t see everything. If they could get domed buses, that would be perfect! This tour bus is NOT on an open bus, but trust me, with the sf wind, you will be happy about that!

We were on a girls getaway in San Francisco and my friend booked this tour for an afternoon. Our guide was Brandon and he was very engaging, informative, funny and personable. He had some great background information to accompany the traditional facts about San Francisco.
The tour shuttle was much smaller than the traditional tour buses and allowed the driver to get into tighter spots and places thtat the larger groups couldn’t access. We got the best pictures of the Golden Gate bridge that afternoon — clear skies and all.
Finally towards the end of the tour, Brandon shared his opinions of many of the local restaurants. These recommendations were his personal opinions and he is not being compensated for this information. We have taken two of his recommendations and they were excellent.
We highly recommend this tour!!! Thank you, Brandon, you did a great job!!!

I didn’t realize until we landed in SF that it was my boyfriend’s first time there. That changed everything! I wanted him to see as much of the City as possible. I found City By the Bay Tours on Unilocal and with one quick phone call we were booked for the following morning!
The price was reasonable, the tour vehicle was more of a shuttle than a bus so I liked that since I have a major disdain for giant buses. The shuttle arrived on time where it said it would and our tour guide was Patrick.
What I really liked about this tour is how small it was and we could ask the tour guide questions. He told the best stories about the things he was pointing out and he had an appropriate sound track to accompany his commentary. When we stopped at certain locations I observed him totally getting into «Asian tourist» poses to take the perfect shots of people with their cameras. They really want to ensure you get a good experience.
The only thing I would have done different is not booking the early morning tour because the City wasn’t awake and bustling yet. Also, it would have been cool if the tour drove down market towards the Embarcadero to point out the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge, apart from that we saw everything except fisherman’s village and the Mission. It was a very comprehensive tour.
I was surprised that they didn’t play Journey’s Lights since the name of the company is referenced in the song.

We went on a tour this past Sunday (²⁄₁₉), during a weekend getaway to SF. We had planned to run around and see the sites ourselves, as my wife has been here a few times (my first). After checking Groupon, we decided to jump on their offer.
The bus (smaller bus, holds around 20 people I’d guess) arrived right on time, by a super friendly host/​driver. There ended up being a few cancellations, due to the Bay Bridge being closed on 80W, so it was just us and another couple. Talk about a personalized tour!
We hit a lot of the sites we wanted: Haight/​Asbury, 7 Painted Sisters, the Presidio & the Palace of Fine Arts… but the guide showed us a lot of places we hadn’t even considered. The guide, Brandon, is very knowledgeable about the city, as well as how to maneuver through traffic. Having a smaller bus is great… yeah it isn’t a double-​decker, but you can hit side streets and get around a lot quicker and easier this way.
I’d definitely recommend these guys… great price, personalize service and a fun atmosphere… just what a tour should be! As someone mentioned as well, he’s great at offering dining suggestions… we took him up on a couple ideas and they were awesome!

This is a tour for people that want a personalized feel to their experience. Our tour guide, Brandon, was very friendly and upbeat. He was also very excited about his city; a quality oftentimes lost in tour guides.
We saw quite a few sights. On a few stops, we were treated to great photo ops, just outside the regular touristy norms. Oftentimes, we’d see throngs of tourists crowded around one scenic view, while Brandon got us to a better spot. He would also offer insight from a local’s POV. That’s something you don’t find in the larger tour buses.
Brandon also has a good know. edge of the food scene in SF. If you’re into food and find yourself on his tour, just ask. As someone that has worked in the industry, I know that Brandon knows EXACTLY what he’s talking about. In fact, I think he should just do a food tour of this city.
Wonderful tour!