San Francisco in One Day: Alcatraz, Bay Cruise and Guided City Tour

San Francisco, United States of America

The perfect choice if your time in San Francisco is limited, this smaller group tour covers all the iconic sights of the city and the bay. This comprehensive shuttle tour, led by an onboard tour guide and separate expert driver, includes more stops than any other sightseeing tour of San Francisco, a cruise to Sausalito and a visit to the city's iconic attraction, Alcatraz.

The itinerary allows for stops at over a dozen renowned sights, ensuring you'll experience an in-depth tour of San Francisco. There's time for you to leave your air-conditioned shuttle at all of the sights to explore, take pictures and listen to your guide's fascinating commentary. With a maximum group size of 35 people you are sure to have a memorable and personal experience, as well as a broad overview of the City by The Bay!

Alcatraz frequently sells out from June to September - book at least 10 days prior to travel to secure your place!

Starting at the famous Ferry Building, the tour commences with a relaxing cruise accompanied by your guide across San Francisco Bay to the picturesque village of Sausalito. You will spend an hour in Sausalito, and have the opportunity to explore the town's many shops and art galleries and have lunch. Next, you will drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping for pictures and the opportunity to walk around the vista points of San Francisco's most treasured landmark.

Moving into the city, the tour will take you to Lombard Street, the famous hilly and winding street that was created in the 1920's to accommodate the steep incline. Your guide will then take you on a stroll through Chinatown, home to many captivating shops and restaurants. You will stop at Grace Cathedral, Golden Gate Park, Japanese Tea Garden and Alamo Square Park with its beautiful Victorian houses.

Finally, you will jump on the ferry to discover the island of Alcatraz, home to the most notorious inmates in America's history. The famous prison, formally known as 'The Rock', is famous for having housed ruthless criminals such as Al Capone (Scarface) and Machine Gun Kelly. You will have the opportunity to explore this renowned landmark and experience an audio tour of its spooky cell blocks.

Alcatraz by Night Tour
During the winter, you have the option to upgrade to the award-winning, limited-availability Alcatraz by Night Tour! Following the conclusion of your guided city tour, you will have about 3 hours to explore Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 before heading out by early evening ferry to ''The Rock'. Alcatraz by Night provides a more intimate, engaging experience on the island, with a variety of special programs and presentations offered at night in addition to the Alcatraz audio tour “Doing Time”. You will also see the breathtaking sunset and San Francisco skyline lit up in the evening on this renowned tour, voted "Best Tour of the Bay Area".

USD $109.00

Traveler Reviews

Review by: scott.hood	April 2012
Very good tour guide and driver. I like that they stopped often so we could get out and walk and take picutures.

Review by: Justine P	April 2012
Good fun - despite the rain!

Review by: Michael J	January 2012
Great tour! Saw everything we wanted to see in San Fran, the guide was great and the tour bus was spacious and comfortable.

Review by: madzcatz	January 2012
Day tour was a good way to learn about San Francisco and the area. Our guide, Jerry, had a large amount of local knowledge that made it quite interesting. Alcatraz tour was fantastic and very interesting. Staff at Alcatraz are very helpful.

Review by: CHRISTY G	December 2011
The city and bay tour was great. However we missed the Alcatraz tour as Viator provided us the wrong time on the voucher, so we had to book this again and pay again. The tour was great, but I would book it direct next time

Review by: Robert R	December 2011
This is the tour to take if you have a limited amount of time in San Francisco. We saw EVERYTHING! And, our tour guide, Dennis, was fantastic!! He had a tremendous amount of knowledge about the city, and he was very interesting. He also did a terrific job of keeping us on our fast-paced schedule, which ensured we got to see as much as possible. Our party of 3 HIGHLY recommend this tour, and our tour guide, Dennis.

Review by: Lewis N	November 2011
With limited time in SF this was a superb way to see much of SF. The evening Alcatraz tour was evocative and most enjoyable.

Review by: Andrew F	November 2011
Our time spent in San Francisco was an amazing time. The high light of it was the San Francisco in one day tour spent with our tour guide Victoria... also know as Mama Viki. It was a pleasure to spend the day as one of Mama Viki's chicks and to be privledged with such a intelegent and knowlegable lady. I would like to thank Victoria once again, she never missed a beat._br/_ I would like to mention also, our driver Yvonne who was alway there on time for us at all location with impeccable driving._br/_ I would reccommend this company for all your tours.

Review by: J O	November 2011
A great day out! We used this tour our first day to get our bearings in San Francisco as it covers just about everything. The only downside to this tour is in packing so much into the one day some visits are left feeling short - we could have spent half the time in the Japanese Tea Garden alone. We had very knowledgeable guides and very skilled drivers. The trip to Alcatraz, which is worth it for the audio tour alone, is a fab way to round off this tour and quite frankly a must if you're visiting San Francisco!

Review by: Mandy B	November 2011
Tour was really good and our guide Vicky was brilliant. Good way to start holiday as you can then plan where in city you would like to revisit. Alcatraz ok and I went round it in 30mins.

Review by: PATRICK L	November 2011
Excellent city and bay tour. Alcatraz by night was fantastic!

Review by: Janet	October 2011
wow....best tour guide ever ...must take this tour and alcatraz at night was unbelievable...I am now going to only use Viator in the future

Review by: deon f	October 2011
A must!

Review by: chrism	October 2011
This was a well organised tour with great value for money. Tour guide and coach driver were friendly and there knowledge of the areas covered was great. A great day out and highly recommended for all age groups!

Review by: Marie	October 2011
Once again another fabuluos day out, worth every cent would recommend for all to do if going to san francisco.

Review by: Gary W	October 2011
Once again an awesome tour. Our tour guide Victoria, was one of the best. Alcatraz was spectacular. Just the best.

Review by: Allan	October 2011
Excellent tour, with the advantage that your very knowledgeable guide accompanies you at most stops to provide commentary and answer questions. You need to be prepared to walk uphill and downhill, and briskly at times, to get the greatest benefit. Duration of stops is limited and the guide moves quickly at times. I felt stops could be longer as the bus tour portion ends well before Alcatraz starts. Sausalito was crowded and unfortunately lunch took most of the available time. "Bay cruise" is really just a quick ferry transfer from Sausalito, so don't expect more (this is only clear if you read the detailed itinerary). Also, instructions for the Alcratraz tour were not thorough. Pier 33 is a long walk from the Ferry building so use the tram if in doubt. Don't queue for tickets at Pier 33; go to the "will call" window.

Review by: Derek C	October 2011
We booked our trip to Alcatraz in April 2011 for a 9.00 am sailing and fortunately printed off the details. When we arrived at the booth at about 8.30 am to get our tickets we were told we were not on the listing for 9.00 am but were down on their list for 3.30 pm that afternoon. We rejected this information and the ticket issuer then, after a discussion with us, went to her supervisor (Kevin) who listened to what we had to say and saw our paperwork and amended the tickets issued on the day and put his signature on them. This was not a good start to our holiday in San Francisco and we feel that somebody at your end had omitted our name on the correct list and then just put them on one of the last sailing of the day when they realised that our name hadn't been included.

Review by: michael r	October 2011
excellent tour full of detail and excellent tour guide well worth the money

Review by: swifty	October 2011
Bit of confusion over the timings for the Alcatraz trip and we didnt know that we would require further id to collect the tickets but all sorted in the end and good value

Review by: Diana L	October 2011
Great way to see a few of the city's famous spots. Not a tour to really get out and spend any time but you can easily go back on your own. Found some spots way too hurried (Chinatown) and spent too much time in the Golden Gate Park area as we had small breaks and not enough time to actually go in the sites we stopped at there. Overall though, it was a good tour.

Review by: Gary T	October 2011
Best way to discover San Francisco. Alcatraz was fantastic.

Review by: Madeleine S	October 2011
For anyone who only has a few days in San Francisco this tour is perfect. We had a great time with our very knowledgeable guide Molly who made the tour very enjoyable and interesting.

Review by: HOWARD B	September 2011
We enjoyed the tour very much. We saw quite_br/_ a bit of San Francisco and the tour of Alcatraz_br/_ was fascinating.

Review by: MICHAEL B	September 2011
Excellent....

Review by: Annie B	September 2011
WOW !!!! very interesting tour. Hardly recommend!

Review by: Akehurst	September 2011
Really enjoyed the day, great introduction to the city. Helped us get our bearings and decide what we wanted to do in detail. There's no time to do any wandering of the day, but great trip, recommend it.

Review by: travellady	September 2011
This was a great tour if you have limited time in San Fran as you get to see it all. Alcatraz very popular we did the nighttime tour spooky!

Review by: Anthony	September 2011
Our tour guide "Mama Vicky" put a lot of effort into the activities that made it a memorable day. Pity the Alcatraz tour was not up to the same standard, which was mostly a self guide in the evening.

Review by: MoscowBullys	September 2011
Good tour and ferry ride but could have used more information on the stating point of the tour as we nearly missed the bus._br/_ It's 30 mins walk from Fisherman's Wharf

Review by: Julie D	September 2011
Everything was on schedule and we were able to get a good idea of the different things to see during our stay. Our guide, Jerry, was great and offered a lot of background information and history. We were able to take the public transit later on in the week to revisit some of the places that interested us enough to return to. We got on the 3:55 p.m. Alcatraz tour, which didn't offer quite as much time on the island as we would have liked, but it was still enough time to take the audio tour and see the videos, and it was great to have the tour pre-booked, otherwise it would have been 3 days for an opening.

Review by: PETER M	September 2011
Very interesting, worth the trip

Review by: sharon m	September 2011
Great tour - just didn't have enough time to spend at each place- but at least we saw more than if we had done it ourselves!. The guide mama Vicki was brilliant

Review by: jenny	September 2011
The tour was outstanding. _br/_ Our guide was so entertaining that we laughed all day long._br/_ This tour is a must do!

Review by: ROB	August 2011
Our tour guides were very friendly and provided in depth information about San Francisco. The folks at the Alcatraz ticket booth were outstanding. We did not realize Viator booked us on a 6.10pm trip (which we could not make because we had Giants tickets that evening), but they went out of their way to get us on a 3.10p trip. We could not have asked for better service.

Review by: Orlaith F	August 2011
We really enjoyed this, very well organised, trip to Alcatraz was the best part of the day.

Review by: JEAN B	August 2011
This was a great time and Alcatraz was very moving and certainly a "must see".

Review by: Robyn B	August 2011
Great day, Alcatraz is well worth a visit.

Review by: Peter B	August 2011
This was a great show for my family. I have two children one 16 and the other 8 both the chidren and my wife and I loved the show. Great value great show, well worth a visit.

Review by: Melissa F, Australia	July 2010
great tour and the guide was very informative

Review by: Judy H, Canada	June 2010
Highly recommend this tour company. The only down part of the tour is we would have liked more time at each spot but then it would have been well into the night so totally understand the interenary

Review by: Edward S, United States of America	June 2010
With only 2 days to spend in San Francisco, this was the only way to see as much as possible. We would never have found all the places we were taken to. Big thanks to all who drove and guided us through our tour. Blessings

Review by: Peter D, Australia	June 2010
extremely well coordinated and run.A great day and we were impressed by how it all went on a busy summer Sunday.Excellent tour leader who did a great job as did the driver. Also ou Alcatraz tour worke in perfectly. Thankyou to all, loved it. Peter and Sue

Review by: Angela N, Australia	June 2010
The whole tour was fabulous along with the beautiful sites and people we met in San Francisco the tour bus driver and guide made the whole experience worth every cent. San Francisco is a place I will definitely be returning to as I think " I left my heart" there.

Review by: Aaron M, United States of America	June 2010
The tour was fantastic. The tour guide was very knowledgable and friendly. The tour had just the right amount of stops and walking. It was well worth the money!!!

Review by: Vesna S, Australia	May 2010
Great tour everything was great !!!

Review by: Michael Y, United States of America	April 2010
Our experience with the tour Company was great. We had a good time on the SF tour.

Review by: Don G, Australia	March 2010
Good.

Review by: Mary S, United States of America	March 2010
loved the tour, more facts and places I would of never found on my own

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	March 2010
Excellent tour. Guide was very informed, pleasant, easy to understand. Probably the best way to see the major SF highlights when you have limited time.