Tours and Tickets
Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour
4

Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour

By Big Bus Tours
About
Get a standard hop-on hop-off experience with upgrades for more tours as far as Sausalito.
Read more
from
$63.00
per adult

Lowest price guaranteeReserve now & pay laterFree cancellation

Ages 3-99
Duration: 2h 10m
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
German, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, English, Italian, French, Spanish

Highlights
  • Explore San Francisco at your own pace, and plan your own itinerary
  • See numerous attractions in one day at more than 16 main stops
  • Cover more ground by taking advantage of our bike rental
  • Night Tour included in the Premium and Deluxe Passes
  • 24 hours extra hop-on-hop-off included in the Deluxe Pass

  • Hop-on Hop-off bus tour
  • Walking Tour (with selected Tickets)
  • Buy 1 hour bike rental get 1 hour free from any Blazing Saddles shop
  • Free headphones for audio-guide
What's not included
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off

The bus tour route starts at Fisherman’s Wharf, but you can board at any of the stops. Just exchange your voucher for a ticket, and get ready to explore the City by the Bay. Highlights include Pier 39, Union Square, the Palace of Fine Arts, the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard Street. Plan your day’s itinerary based on your own interests. You won’t be stuck in one area—unless you want to. A walking tour of Chinatown is included with your pass. If you’ve upgraded, take a Sausalito tour, and enjoy a bike rental. Your experience ends on the day your pass expires. If you have the time, two-day passes are also available.

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Near public transportation
  • Infants must sit on laps
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 5096SFOHOHO

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • 1-day tickets will be valid for same day use. Tickets claimed after 3pm will be valid for 24 hours from time of redemption.
  • Night tour operates on a first-come, first-served basis, so try to arrive early to secure your seat
  • Night Tour is not a hop-on hop-off tour
  • Wheelchair accessible, please call ahead for arrangements
  • Daytime Tour: Show your paper or mobile voucher to a member of the Big Bus staff at any of the stops along your route to redeem.
  • Night Tour: Redeem vouchers at the start of the tour at Stop 1 Big Bus Tours Visitors' Center, 99 Jefferson St, San Francisco, CA 94133, No tours on July 4th, Thanksgiving, Dec 24th and Dec 31st.
  • Most travelers can participate

  • For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.

Which attractions will I visit with Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour?
How much is Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour?
Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour price starts from $63.00. Discover and book Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour on Tripadvisor
What is the Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour cancellation policy?
Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour cancellation policy: For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience. Discover and book Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour on Tripadvisor
Which company provides Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour?
Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour is hosted by Big Bus Tours. Read reviews, discover additonal experiences or contact Big Bus Tours on Tripadvisor. Discover and book Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour on Tripadvisor

If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 5096SFOHOHO

Reserve your spot

Similar experiences

About the operator
Big Bus Tours
10,133
San Francisco, California
Joined in February 2012

#94 of 547 Tours & Activities in San Francisco
  • davidbR2852VM
    davidbR2852VM
    0
    0
    Very Good.
    Our driver was Patrick. He had the gift of the gab and was providing dates and educational information for the whole trip. He is a massive asset to Big Bus Tours.
  • PoxyM98
    PoxyM98
    0
    0
    This combo was worth it!!!
    First visit to San Francisco. Hop on hop off is best way to get & see the highlights of the city. This combo was fantastic! We enjoyed the Alcatraz Tour and the bonus night tour ride with Teresa. Btw, Teresa was fabulous! Great personality, fun time.
  • Matthew John S
    Matthew John S
    0
    0
    Very disappointed
    Absolute rip off wouldn’t recommend. Bus service is terrible, either all buses arrive at once or there are none for ages. Stop 12 at San Francisco not marked at all on road and pin on app map is at incorrect place at the normal bus stop. Had to wait 50 minutes for a bus there and then multiple busses turned up.
  • Safari756622
    Safari756622
    0
    0
    Lester and the Big Bus Tour to Muir Woods
    Took Big Bus to Muir Woods. "Lester", our driver, was fantastic. Drive safely, showed us and talked about many places along the way, very friendly and overall helpful. If you go on the Big Bus Muir Woods tour, I highly recommend him for your driver!
  • 283oliviav
    283oliviav
    0
    0
    China town walking tour
    Walking tour - China Town. Blake was our guide and we were ‘team England’! He was extremely informative, in an engaging and fun manner. 2 of our group are history teachers and really enjoyed the tour and how thorough the information was. We had a much better understanding of the area following the tour, and received some great recommendations and directions for more activities.
  • johnaQ4414FG
    johnaQ4414FG
    0
    0
    redwoods
    James was a great driver. Very knowledgeable extremely friendly he made being in California almost bearable.
  • S8576RBdorothyk
    S8576RBdorothyk
    0
    0
    Beautiful SF from the Big Bus!!
    The Big Bus driver was excellent. The tour has good narration and it was wonderful to see the beautiful SF on the double decker! Would do it again.
  • 314orlah
    314orlah
    0
    0
    Great
    Tara was so so helpful in the big bus shop, she explained everything we needed to know about the bus tours and what suited us best!
  • T8552ZUestebanm
    T8552ZUestebanm
    0
    0
    Good experience
    The staff at Jefferson were very helpful and courteous. The only reason it was short of 5 stars was because on one occasion the bus driver rushed to leave the bus stop leaving half of my family still on board.
  • ryanbE5911CC
    ryanbE5911CC
    0
    0
    Fantastic experience
    Tour was a great day out. Got to see intriguing tourist sites and plenty of information about them. The bus journey was smooth, all the attractions were explained in great detail. The lady at the desk, Tara was very helpful explaining the process of the tour and gave us all the information we needed before setting out. It is a must do, highly recommend to anyone wanting to see the attractions in San Francisco.
  • eve1859
    eve1859
    0
    0
    Great wine tour!
    Chantelle at the reservation desk was very lovely and she told us all the information we needed. Thank you!
  • E3809PUsamanthad
    E3809PUsamanthad
    0
    0
    Family sight seeing experience!
    This combo package is a amazing value to see the sights and getting the history with the audio portion on the bus, and in the cell block on Alcatraz was a huge plus! Having the app with live tracking of the bus routes was so helpful! There were 5 people in my party and everyone enjoyed the visit.
  • J2301JWpaulh
    J2301JWpaulh
    0
    0
    A beautiful, peaceful place.
    Had a great time on the tour! Muir Woods is a beautiful and peaceful place. Our tour guide, James, was very informative and funny, and full of trivia. The only downside is that we were only there for a short amount of time (around 90 minutes), which unfortunately isn’t enough time to do the whole trail - especially if stopping to take photos and read the signs (we did about half of the trail in that time). Having said that, we agreed that we would go again and would use Big Bus Tours for some of our other trips!
  • christinahF9311MB
    christinahF9311MB
    0
    0
    Love the outdoors!!
    This place was so peaceful (until groups of kids started showing up). Was lucky enough to see a banana slug too yet it looked more like pickled okra to me. Lester our bus guide was awesome!
  • lettersa2023
    lettersa2023
    0
    0
    A real thrill ride!
    A fast-paced adventure into San Fracisco! If you're going, ask for Raphael. He'll make sure you have fun!
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions

4.0
2,226 reviews
Excellent
1,213
Very good
421
Average
199
Poor
146
Terrible
247

James
6 contributions
Feb 2020 • Solo
I got on at the City Hall stop and the bus drivers scanner wasn't working to scan the ticket I'd purchased online, so I was so happy he let me board and asked that I scan it when I hop off and on at the next bus. This bus stalled at least 3 times before the next stop. We sat in the roadway blocking traffic for at least 10 min at one point. The driver did what he could to get us moving and we made it to the next stop where we were asked to disembark and wait for the next bus.

Got on the next bus and got a CVS sized printout. That i shoved in my pocket. Big Bus Blake was amazing! He was entertaining and informative. He even helped us get key pictures that would make great memories.

Some hiccups, but I'd recommend the tours.

UPDATE:
Day 2 of my deluxe pass. I tried to board at stop 1 and was told I needed that long receipt, it was my ticket for both days (which I was not told the day before). I asked if they could reprint it and was told no. Even talking to a manager, the answer was no. There was nothing they could do for me at all.

I went back to my hotel and found that I had tossed it in the trash along with the other stuff in my pockets. I was lucky housekeeping hadn't been there yet.

Sadly today's start left a bad taste in my mouth at how poor their customer service is. This would have been at least a 3 star review, if it weren't for the manager this morning being so rude.
Written February 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. To ride the bus you do need to have your physical ticket at all times for duration of your trip so our drivers will see what type of boarding pass you have, expiration day and time .We can print out your boarding pass only ones due to our system being set up that way to avoid fraud. I apologize for the misunderstanding and inconvenience it caused you, especially the way staff and manager on duty handled that situation. Here at Big Bus we strive to meet our customers’ expectations and apologize this was not the case the day you toured. I would like to discuss this further, you can email infosf@bigbustours.com so I can further look into this situation. If there is anything I can do, please let me know. Be sure to include your full TripAdvisor review, for a speedy reply. Please note that your feedback has been sent to the appropriate department heads so that they may look into it. I am very glad you enjoyed your tour guide Blake and we'll let him know of your feedback about his tour. Thank you.
Written February 27, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

JeddyJJ
Gold Coast, Australia28 contributions
We’ve done many of these HOHO tours around the world and they were great. The SF HOHO is a waste of time and money. We sat on the bus for hours upon hours in traffic jams and we spent a lot of time waiting for buses. It only goes one way, the buses don’t come every 15 mins like is promised, the tracking app is misleading and often breaks, and worse of all, the Sausalito portion makes you cross the bridge 4 times and takes around 3-4hrs to complete. I’m so annoyed that we were made to wait for buses to arrive and to leave so many times.
Written January 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review and feedback of Big Bus San Francisco. I am sorry to hear you experienced longer then normal wait times and were not able to enjoy the tour. Our buses depart from our stop 1 every 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to return to North vista point with out crossing the bridge twice during the Sausalito tour. If you would like to further discuss your tour experience please reach out to me directly at Carolinaf@bigbustours.com or via live chat in the contact us in the Big Bus app.
Written January 5, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Daniel T
Twickenham, UK405 contributions
Jan 2020
I would never mark anything down because of the weather. But I would expect that if an attraction is open for business despite torrential rain, the service will still stand up to scrutiny. In our case, we paid the not insignificant fee and boarded an open top somewhat aging tour bus. Obviously we didn't sit upstairs and instead sat downstairs where the problems were. The whole bus was a leaky mess with rain coming through the roof, over the seats etc. We stuck it out until we got to the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge where we opted for a different bus in the hope it was warmer and dry, which it was. We stayed on the bus until the end of the loop when we had to change onto another bus to start the loop from the beginning to get us back to where we started it from. The last bus we boarded was much like the first. We were pleased to get off at the end and warm up in the ferry building. The commentary on the audio guide was good. We had a live guide on the middle bus who was friendly but hard to hear.
Written January 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us and for choosing Big Bus Tours on your trip to San Francisco. We are happy to hear that you enjoyed the commentary. We do operate rain or shine and are know as an open top bus company, it will get wet on the tour if it is raining. We do apologize if that is not what you were expecting, glad you were able to warm up at the nearby Ferry Building.
Written January 31, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

amy-v17
Norwich, United Kingdom64 contributions
This was the worst big bus we have ever been on. We had two different live guides the first one was super self centred and talked more about herself than the city, the second one was really rude he snapped at people when they asked questions and was more interested in telling us he was finishing his shift and had been talking for 4 hours. The buses were so busy we had to wait for the next bus a few times and on a couple of occasions we sat on the bus not moving for 10-20mins just waiting at a stop not sure what for. Wish we had just paid $5 for the public buses for the day.
Written February 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review! I do apologize we have not meet your expectations during this trip. I am so sorry to hear that you had this experience with our tour guides.Please note that your feedback has been sent to the appropriate department heads so that they may look into it and address it accordingly. If would like to discuss this further, you can email at infosf@bigbustours.com so we can further look into this situation. Be sure to include your full TripAdvisor review, for a speedy reply. During holidays there are many passengers using the BIG BUS service. Sometimes during peak hours and very popular Stops you may experience a tiny bit of a wait as everyone wants to view San Francisco's sights from the top deck. We do hope that you give us another chance in the future as we want all of our customers to have a great experience.
Written February 17, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Carlos S
1 contribution
Jan 2020
There is a long wait time between each bus. It is not true that it is between 15 and 20 minutes as the app says. In two cases I had to wait more than 40 minutes and not all buses have a tracking system, so I lost valuable time just waiting for the next bus, specially at the end of the day. In addition, not all buses have a guide. Moreover, at the end of the day, they do not complete the trip. I took the trip on Saturday. I think this experience was very frustrating and I do not recommend it.
Written January 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. In the winter months our service changes to a 30 minute service and live tour guides will typically be on every other bus. We do apologize that the tracking system was not working, you need to have updates turned on to receive up to date notices regarding our services. We do hope that you give us another chance in the future as we want all of our customers to have a great experience. If you would like to discuss this topic further with us please contact us at SFReservations@BigBusTours.com
Written January 31, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jane T
Sydney, Australia35 contributions
Jan 2020 • Solo
Very expensive US $65 for the service. Huge wait lines at union square for the 10:30 pick up. Delays at every stop. Waited at least 40 to 50 minutes on two separate occasions for pick up. One driver was friendly but his voice was loud and almost indecipherable so had to turn off commentary. The final insult was a rude driver who gave unclear instructions on getting on the bus and shouted at me to get off. He was impatient in traffic and constantly tooted the horn. Was about to get on the final leg of the trip to discover a broken down bus full of people and a queue of at least 40 at Golden Gate Bridge. I bailed and approached a competitors bus, who let me hop on for a minimal cost. Would happily receive a refund for this appalling experience.
Written January 4, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review of Big Bus San Francisco. I am sorry to hear about your recent experience with Big Bus San Francisco. If you could contact me directly at Carolinaf@bigbustours.com so I can assist you with a refund request
Written January 4, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jamie W
1 contribution
Sep 2021 • Family
Visited San Francisco on September 27, 2021 and enjoyed the Big Bus tour it was convenient for a one day last minute tour of the city. The highlight of our experience was our tour guide Joseph who took us through Union square and China Town. His knowledge of the city and story telling was awesome. My kids even enjoyed the occasional “Dad Jokes” as they called them. If you are planning a trip out to the city I highly recommend you book this online and hopefully you catch “the Emperor” of San Francisco aka Joseph while you are visiting. Thank you Big Bus Tours for a wonderful experience will definitely be using them in other cities we visit.
Written October 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your experience with Big Bus Tours! Glad to hear that enjoyed your tour, Joseph is one of our best tour guides he has a lot of knowledge about San Francisco and his jokes can make any one laugh. We look forward to seeing you and your family in other cities on a Big Bus!
Written October 6, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

A & A
Norwalk, CA3 contributions
Feb 2020 • Couples
Can I start of saying that our tour was a night tour. Our tour guide was so fun and improvised on the spot and kept us all laughing and learning about San Francisco. He had a name for my boyfriend and I, Los Angeles, since that is where we are from. We did not mind those cold winds we went through at the bridge because he made it so fun and memorable. Thank you Blake and Derrick!!
Written February 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review of Big Bus San Francisco. We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. I am so happy to hear you were able to enjoy Panoramic Night tour with our Blake/Derek team. We will definitely let them know about your great 5 star review. We hope to see you in San Francisco again. Thank you for riding with us!
Written February 9, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Liz
1 contribution
Jan 2020 • Couples
We didn’t have a great experience with them. The whole bus got yelled at by one of the drivers after someone stood up and the bus driver drove right by us when we were right next to the bus stop even after he saw us waving our hands. Wait times between buses were also very inconsistent and this was partly due to the app not working half the time with real time updates. With the cost of the service we expected much more.
Written January 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review and feedback. I am so sorry to hear that you had this experience with our drivers. If you could please contact me directly at Carolinaf@bigbustours.com to further discus your tour experience.
Written January 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Tina S
3 contributions
Jul 2022 • Couples
Initial line at Union Square was very long, but we were able to board within 30 min. Narrated tour was nice. Problem was we were straned at Pier 39. They told us the last departure from stop #1 @Fishermans warf was 5:15, but failed to mention that you had to catch the last bus back from the last stop #16 Pier 39 by at least 4pm since they shut the street down for the fire works at 9:30! We were at the stop for a good 45 min along with approx 20 other people looking at the app that said the next bus was 8-10 out, then 15-20, then back to 10min but the bus was not moving in our direction. When we saw the street being closed down we took a cab back to the hotel at a cost of $20. The should have communicated better!
Written July 6, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello and thank you for sharing your feedback with us. We are sorry for the confusion and do apologize that you got stuck at Pier 39. We are happy to hear that you enoyed the San Francisco tour.
Written September 21, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Showing results 1-10 of 2,000

Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour provided by Big Bus Tours

Product Overview: Big Bus San Francisco Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour

Prices From$63
Number of Reviews2,207
Number of Photos1,413