Hop-On, Hop Off Big Bus Tour: San Francisco - Day Tour and Sunset Tour (Review)

Where to start with the disaster that was The Hop On, Hop Off Big Bus Tour San Francisco. I bought this ticket with a package for the Alcatraz Tour and the Sunset Tour, which were two things I wanted to do alongside. I also heard that San Francisco was quite spread out, so I wanted to be able to see a lot quickly, but also get to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. 

A couple of days before I arrived in San Francisco, they company emailed me with a time for my Alcatraz Tour. I didn't get to pick the day or time which was the most frustrating thing. 

What they failed to mention at booking was that I first had to go to the Big Bus Tours office and arrive to the Alcatraz departure area an hour early. This meant that I had to get up pretty early in the end, to walk into the tourist area of San Francisco. When I arrived, there was a relatively small queue but it took over an hour or waiting to be served and sorted. I then had to go back, because they failed to print off one of the tickets that I had paid for which was frustrating. I arrived at the Alcatraz location just in time, but it was close. 

The bus tour itself was good. We got to visit and see a wide range of places which was interesting, and it was probably the best tour I've been able to appreciate the culture of a city through looking. Seeing baseball fields and children's football matches. It was like the television! 

The service on the other hand was just utterly rubbish. The buses were well over capacity. At times, I was waiting at bus stops for multiple buses to come and go, stating no space when I could clearly see space. They were constantly late or delayed, with the live app showing times incorrectly. The buses would terminate early and then set off late, making stop delayed. 

One of the free add ons was a China Town tour. Unfortunately, it was bang in the middle of the day at 1pm so I tried to get there with plenty of time but because of the service, I was 30 minutes late which was so disappointing. The local service and the Big Bus Tour company couldn't give me any details of the tour so I couldn't catch up to them or find them, despite my best efforts for communication. 

The other thing they fail to mention is how cold it can get on the top of the bus, especially when crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. It was like ice cold on those trips. I stayed on top a couple of times, and then the rest of the time I decided to briefly head downstairs instead of embracing the cold. That frigid air only got worse in the evening...

The sunset tour gave a slightly different insight into San Francisco and took a different route to the day time route. It was nice to see the sunset and we arrived to Treasure Island at the perfect time to see the beautiful views and take in the skyline. I was a little surprised at how little there was on Treasure Island so the trip was ultimately a little bit of a letdown for the price, but nevertheless, the view was good. I was shivering by the time I got off because I was so cold. I was in a short summer dress and on the way back I considered moving downstairs to the more covered area, but sadly too many people had the same idea and there was no space left when I reboarded. 

Alongside Alcatraz, I paid for a few extras with a High Ride where I chose the 7D experience. I'd done a few of these at this point so was excited to experience the San Francisco perspective but it was the worst version and not even worth a comment. I would not recommend. I also for a free 2 day bike pass but in all honesty, 1. I don't ride a bike but 2. I didn't have the time. The good thing about this is that they did say it was valid for 7 days so if you were there longer, you didn't have to use it the same days you had the Big Bus ticket valid for. 

Honestly, the Big Bus Tour was a complete disappointment. It caused so much stress and agro, I feel it would have been much more peaceful and relaxing to take taxis instead. Of course, this doesn't give you quite a tour which is the downside and it would have been quite expensive to get to the Golden Gate Bridge which was of course a big priority.