San Francisco Shore Excursion: Hop-On Hop-Off Tour
San Francisco, United States of America
When your cruise ship docks, see San Francisco at your own pace on a hop-on hop-off tour! From historical sites to modern San Francisco architecture, this tour uncovers the beauty and culture of the city. On modern, comfortable, environmentally friendly double-decker buses, travel around the city and see top attractions and neighborhoods like the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Haight Ashbury, Chinatown and North Beach. Complete with live narration, this tour is a fantastic and easy way to see all the sights San Francisco at your own pace. Upgrade the 2-day All Loops Pass to discover even more of San Francisco's must-see attractions. Begin your tour at Pier 33, a 5-min walk from the cruise terminal!
This is the must-do sightseeing tour when visiting the City by the Bay! See the best of San Francisco at your own pace while you’re in port. On this do-it-yourself shore excursion, you can hop on and off the double-decker tour bus as many times as you like to see the city’s top attractions. In the summer, the top deck of the buses are open, and in the winter, clear tops shelter you from the cold and offer unobstructed views of the city.
The duration of the tour loop will cover 24 stops. Hop off whenever you want to explore neighborhoods like Chinatown and North Beach, or to see popular attractions like Lombard Street. If you miss something on your first loop of the city, simply re-board the bus and go around again!
See even more the Bay Area's most celebrated attractions when you upgrade to include the 2-Day All Loops. Enjoy two days of hop-on hop-off privileges in San Francisco, take a trolley across the Bay to visit charming Sausalito and pick a day to tour the city by night.
This excursion is located within a 5-minute walk to the cruise port, so you determine the time you return to your ship in San Francisco. Please allow yourself ample time to enjoy the excursion and ensure your timely return to the port. This excursion is not covered by our worry-free policy.
We have used Viator many times and have always been happy with the plans we made with them. Until San Francisco. We pre booked a hop on hop off bus. Greyhound. Worse experience I have ever had while traveling. There was no bus when we arrived we walked for a long distance and quite a while before we found this particular bus. Meantime there were buses all around us that we could have picked up at any time that were NOT the one we had prebooked. We finally found one of there buses. Got on and proceeded with the tour. WORSE tour guide we have ever seen or listened too. My son actually got off the bus and wandered on his own because he could not deal with this very bad tour guide. I was stuck until we got back to the cruise ship. Learned absolutely nothing about San Fran. Was deeply disappointed in the entire experience! Would not recommend to anyone!! Would have given it less than one star if possible!!!
Review by: c985, November 2016
A good way to tour
Review by: Geneva R, August 2016
Very interesting.
Review by: William N, April 2016
gave us wrong tickets that were bought on line, had to go thru that process which was confusing._br/_ Busses were overloaded, it was rainy and bottoms were packed. Busses were not on schedule, we had to wait and wait. Would never do that again!
Review by: William N, April 2016
busses not run on schedule, we had to wait and wait._br/_ busses were overloaded, it was rainy and bottom seats were full with people standing face to face_br/_ tickets bought online were not good, had to exchange them at the office.
Review by: Josephine H, March 2016
sending around a open bus when raining not a good thing. too long a wait when you get off and on
Review by: Arlene G, November 2015
Very nice experience!!
Review by: Anonymous, November 2015
I recommend this tours if you don’t have enough time in San Francisco, we did this tour the last day and we had an 8:00 p.m. flight, so it was the exact time to do the loop and had some stops. We just had to wait about 1 hour to start the tour at Union Square stop, there were telling us the bus will come shortly (even they had a bus parked there) but other bus companies had like 2 more buses there. My mom only speaks Spanish, when we start the tour the first bus had headphones and she can hear the explanation of each site, but the other 2 buses we use didn’t work so we had to translate what the guide was telling. But we enjoy all the visit and the Golden Gate Bridge stop was our favorite and the Golden Gate Park you can’t missed it. Lorena Toledo
Review by: Mary Ellen K, October 2015
This was a good excursion, except we were not prepared for San Francisco weather. We got the bus in the afternoon, all was great till we started to freeze, then we went to the lower level of the bus. the windows on this bus were covered with kind of transparent advertisement, and you really couldn't see the tour from inside. So ti was die of exposure, or not see San Francisco, or dress for the event. In all my reading about the area I never read about how cold it can be.
Review by: Karen D, October 2015
Fabulous! Great comentry and what a spritly guide and amazing driver. Well worth it!
Review by: Damaris M, October 2015
An excellent way to see the city when your time is limited to one day. Courteous drivers and guides. Clean buses with reliable frequent stops.
Review by: zreinedwa, September 2015
great bus driver very funny
Review by: Thomas D, July 2015
Excellent tour and good value for money. I would highly recommend it.
Review by: John L, July 2015
Reasonably priced and a little chilly but a great tour of places we had not seen in many years. Easy access from the cruise ship terminal.
Review by: OLIVIA H, April 2015
Wonderful tour great way to see the city. Definately worth every penny
Review by: hillyersharon, October 2014
We were a group of 6 enjoying a day trip from our California Coastal cruise. I first heard of HOHO tour_br/_ on trip advisor and I'm glad we did. It was a little confusing at first as where to get on bus. It's best to_br/_ sit on bench facing Embarcedo, close to Aquarium. We had take a short free shuttle from our ship to get there, but could have easily walked. I agree with everyone else. It's very cold and windy going over Golden Gate Bridge. Our driver "Deon" was wonderful. He gave out blankets to anyone that needed them. You need to be dressed warmly as you are sitting on top in the open air. We only got off a few stops. I highly_br/_ recommend stopping at Chinatown. Lots of neat trinkets. Union Square has a lot of upscale shopping such_br/_ as Coach, Jimmy Choo, Barneys if you are in the mood. We spend a lot of time at Fisherman's Wharf and_br/_ Pier 39. The sea lions were out which was a nice treat for my 13 year old nephew. The Boudin Bakery has great clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowl. There's a 2nd shop in Pier 39. My sister loved the left handed store at Pier 39 as well. There was a double decker carosel and arcade games for the younger ones. We ran out of time and didn't make it to the ferry building, which was highly recommended as a place to visit. Our driver, Deon, was very knowledgeable and we thoroughly enjoyed his commentary._br/_ Overall, we enjoyed our time on the excursion with HOHO Bus.
Review by: Gerald B, May 2014
Tour guides were good but bus seats were uncomfortable. One bus had virtually no suspension and was very jarring to say the least.
Review by: Mayra M, April 2014
Pleasant tour. We love the tour guide I believe his name is Ulises. Down to earth guy and very informative. Made the tour very fun:-)
Review by: caz, April 2014
this tour was great the information by the on board rep was great we loved the idea that we could get off at so many different stops and it was grate that it was so flexible we had a great time and good value for money and we will be using viator in the future
Review by: Maree, February 2014
These tours are always good value for money and a great way to familiarise yourself to get your bearings on the city. They are also good to get from one place to the other that you want to go to along the route. Our driver/guide was a crazy man and a lot of fun which made it even more enjoyable.
Review by: Tom K, December 2013
Bus stops need to be marked better, especially at the cruise terminal. The tour was great, the ride across the Golden Gate Bridge was a nice surprise. Would do this tour again.
Review by: Tomas P, October 2013
Not worth doing with this company. It took 3 phone calls to find out where to catch the bus. Apparently when a cruise ship is in (which was us) the departure point moves. Who knew. Nobody notified us. Considering we booked a shore excursion for cruise ship passengers, why weren't we told.??? We only have so much time._br/_ Also, the driver of the bus that took us to Golden Gate Bridge gave us 15 mins to take pictures, which was fine.; but he started to leave after 13 mins, even though other passengers were telling him they could see us coming. He finally did stop, and let us on. How rude! Find another company.
Review by: ZHIQI J, June 2013
The tour guide were great, but on the website it said the bus runs every 20mins in summer time, but it turned out to be 30 mins.
Review by: Per A, December 2012
The tour was nice and good.
Review by: Lorne M, November 2012
Sorry we couldn't review. Our ship as delayed and we didn't get to use the excursion.
Review by: robert p, November 2012
Good way to get around the city though confusing as there are so many hop-on hop-off buses, so different colored buses were confusing if you had never been there previously.
Review by: clarke fam, November 2012
Initially we had a problem finding where he stop was to pick up the bus. The directions had perfect instructions however due to construction (that had been going on for a while) they moved the stop and we were not told. We waited 1.5 hours for the bus and had to call to find out where the stop was moved to. After that it was a great tour. The drivers were very knowledgeable and the stops were good. I wish it stopped near where Lombard street is crooked.
Review by: Denise G, August 2012
This is a great way to see the city. Bring a wind break jacket as its cold and windy up the top. It's a great idea to get on and off the bus so that you get different commentators with different styles and information. I think you need a two day pass if you do want to hop on and off.
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