Vinny was a fantastic tour guide. We did the San Fran city tour. Big bus but it was a great tour. We saw a ton of great views. Two days later we did the Napa/Sonoma wine tour with Tower. Wolfgang was a great guide and we had a really nice time. It stops at 3 wineries... not the 3 I would pick if I was on my own but it was a really nice day. read more

Our tour to Muir Woods was great! Igor was excellent! Charming, knowledgeable, funny and a great bus driver. I highly recommend this tour. Had plenty of time at Muir Woods and got great information both on the way there and back. Do this tour! read more

My grandson and I decided to visit San Francisco for a couple of days and booked a tour with Tower Tours to Muir Woods and Alcatraz. The staff is excellent, even picked us from the airport so we'd make the tour because of scheduling issues. The tour guide was informative and friendly. They let me store my luggage while on the tour as well. I'm looking forward to my next tour with them. read more

The tour to Muir Woods was awesome! The tour guide had a lot of knowledge of the area and sights on the way there and back. The national park was beautiful! WORD OF CAUTION!!! The road to Muir Woods is very windy, there are a lot of turns, so if you get motion sick easily I would take some dramamine or a bag. read more

The Grand City Tour was a lot of fun! It took us through the entire city of SF, stopping at great photo-worthy views and the tour guide (Ivonne?) was knowledgeable and friendly. The coach bus was very comfortable and spacious. I really recommend this short tour if you want to see the city and don't have a ton of time to drive around yourself. SF has a lot of history and this tour packs in a lot of info. Highly recommended! read more

My tour guide was Aaron for the Muir Woods and he was wonderful. He was very knowledgeable about the history of San Francisco and of the Muir Woods. He told personal anecdotes that were very funny that made the tour even more special. I would definitely use Tower Tours again. read more

You will not regret taking this tour! Very comfortable seating, great tour guide and amazing sights. We could not have squeezed in all these sights into our four day trip if we tried and we learned and saw so many things we had no idea about! We took the trip on our first day, luckily, and spent the next few days going back to places we saw on the tour that looked interesting! Very highly recommended. Plus, when it was all over - we were taken back to our hotel! read more

Waaaaay overpriced for the city tour. Honestly, I just wanted Alcatraz tickets. I feel like I could sleep on this tour. It's so boring. Nothing to see. The cliffs? BORING. Please just take me back to the pier. I would of had more fun watching paint dry read more

See the other warning about being left behind! With a group of 6 (3 adults, 3 children) we paid over $200 for our "tour" of the muir woods/sausalito but we were dropped off at the first stop at around 10 in the morning and the last we saw of our tour bus was as it pulling away as we approached to reboard. Driver knew we weren't onboard as this was a small bus and we were sitting in the front rows so he knew he was leaving us behind with 2 small toddlers. When we called the tour co. from a payphone (because of course your cell phone isn't going to work in the woods and you are going to be left scrounging for quarters and getting change from the nice parks people at the entrance) to see when the next bus was they told us we couldn't get on another of their buses until 4pm (are you effing kidding me?) as there wasn't enough space. Mind you I like the woods but didn't really want to be pulling pine needles out of toddler mouths for the next 6 hours. We ended up spending another $50 or so for a taxi ride back to Sausalito where we ended up waiting several more hours after getting lunch and numerous phone calls to Tower Tours. Eventually we were able to find and board another bus from another tour co. to take us back to San Francisco (apparently Tower could have asked another tour co. to pick us up from the Muir Woods in the first place but just couldn't be bothered initially). Suffice it to say, the Muir Woods and Sausalito are beautiful places to visit but if you are a large enough group, plan ahead and rent a car instead because the people with Tower Tours are complete *** ****(insert expletive)s. read more

This review is for Muir Woods+ Sausilito Tour I consider myself a pretty patient person, but when I'm on a short trip, I want to see eveyrthign I possible can in a short period of time. If you're on one of those trips too, then DO NOT do this tour. They picked us up at our hotel at 1pm...thenicked up a million other people, then they dropped us off at thier office where we stood in line to pick up our tickets (even though I already pre paid), then stood in another line to get on the HUGE bus...then have to wait to leave because they have to SLOWLY take their time giving us the obvious "SAFETY" rules by our elderly tour guide (very nice though). He was VERRYYY slow at giving us these rules all while telling us that we probably won't have as much time in Muir woods because of traffic...Ummmm OK...WHY DONT YOU LEAVE RIGHT NOW THEN????!!! I was very annoyed by this...There was TONS of traffic and he took his sweet time giving us safety rules while cracking bad jokes on top of it. At this point, I wanted to get off the bus and we hadn't even left yet! Our tour guide was knowledgable, but his voice made my eyes sleepy and I napped a little bit on our way to Muir Woods. He did not stop talking the entire time. I reallly jut wanted to enjoy the view without yip yap for a few minutes...Once we got to Muir Woods, we were given a time to get back on the bus. Even though they give you a ticket on the bus, you have to still stand in line at Woods ticket booth to get an actual ticket again (only took a few minutes but my patience was running very thin). We didn't get enough time to tour the entire Woods area before having to get back. I think it was like an hour to hour and half time that they gave us. Since the tour is labeled Muir Woods+Sausilito, I suspected we would get to get off the bus and see Sausilito for atleast 30 min, or so but NOPE, the tour just drops the people off that paid $10 more bucks to take the ferry back to Fisherman's Warf...I didn't want to do this because then I wouldn't get my free ride back to our hotel. This tour is a joke. Don't waste your money. Take your $49/person ticket and rent a car and pay the $7 entry fee to Woods. We left our hotel at 1pm and didnt get back to our hotel until about 6....so that's a 5 hour tour of driving and wiating to see 1 hour of Muir Woods... read more

CAUTION: READ BELOW FOR INFO YOU NEED TO KNOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND BY THE TOUR BUS!!!! I took the wine country tour and were picked up at the company's office by a huge bus. The drive, Alex, was chipper and very (sometimes too much) talkative. He gave us some interesting information but most of it was obvious -- and not of much use. I would much rather have had him just put on the classical music and not talk too much so I could enjoy vegging on the ride. But he was a sweet guy and harmless. The tour itself was very nice. We went to three wineries and lunch. Some may say the tour was rushed or they felt like cattle, but what else do you expect? The poor guy can't teleport you to the next winery so he has to be on time. I didn't feel hurried. The tour was something like 9 hours long! The wine country was beautiful, the ride was soothing, and I enjoyed my first visit to the area. We stopped for lunch in this little town that looked like it was built to cater to the tourist lunch crowed. Most had terrible wait times so it was nice that Alex let us stay there a little longer. Now the caution: when the bus driver says "we'll be departing at x time," he means it -- with or without you!! This really should have been made more clear. MAKE SURE YOU GET TO THE BUS BEFORE IT LEAVES BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO WARNING, ANNOUNCEMENT, AND THE BUS WILL LEAVE YOU! I was taking a stroll around the patio of the first winery when I happened to notice the bus boarding. So I got on. However, about 5-7 people didn't -- and they were left behind. They took a cab to the little town we had our lunch but they missed the second winery. I actually noticed that the boarding time had come when I was in the winery but I thought, "Oh, everyone's still here and they haven't announced anything so it must be okay." Not so! I just lucked out that saw the bus and got on. I'm not saying all this as a knock on the tour -- cuz we weren't left behind -- but just informing the yelping public. Overall, it was a great trip and I'd definitely go back to wine country or try another one of their tours. read more

Our tour agent Cassie was the absolute best, she was professional, knowledgeable and thoughtful! Our tour guide Silvio was AWESOME! He made sure we saw as many sites as possible along the drive to the wineries, was very knowledgeable and treated us just like family. Both he and Cassie made every effort to make my husband and I's anniversary and my birthday memorable!! I would recommend the wine country tour and this company to everyone! read more

Early November vacation to San Francisco...I decided on the Tower Tour option for Muir Woods given that I did not have a rental vehicle (I was using public transport with a Clipper card). After visiting Alcatraz I walked on over to the Tower Tour office and inquired about the Muir Woods tour for the next day. FYI: One can simply purchase Alcatraz tour tickets located at the pier office where the ferries disembark. The kind lady at the desk described the option and pricing for Muir Woods and I was good the go. Tower Tours even set up morning transport from my airport hotel to catch the tour bus at no extra charge. I was immediately impressed with the convenience, pricing and customer service...polite and forthcoming. The bus tour itself was comfortable and informative. Our driver (I believe his name was Patrick) was engaging and entertaining. Muir Woods is worth the visit with a good 1.5 hour easy hike. The tour is time limited given the return trip through Sausalito for those catching the ferry back to SF. There is a fair amount of popular tourist traffic at Muir Woods but this is to be expected. I am giving my review of Tower Tours 4 stars for the ease and competitive pricing given other tour options. read more

Yesterday we took the Tower Tours "Napa Winery Tour" with Patrick as our Driver/Tour Guide. He was terrific and provided so much information about the area and the grape growing it piqued the curiosity. He quickly became acquainted with everyone and put them at ease. My husband requires a wheelchair but can climb the steps into the tour bus and to the wheelchair. He is not wheelchair bound. At every stop Patrick was always quick to say "I'll get it, just one minute" even before we asked for the wheelchair. Anyone who has ever travelled with a wheelchair knows that even though they collapse to facilitate transport, they are unwieldy. Plain and simple. But Patrick was a star and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour! Oh, we stopped at Modonna Winery, Sutter Home Winery and Andretti Winery, where copious amounts of wine were the order of the day, and found them as all top notch in their niche. Patrick is a STAR! read more

I went on the afternoon Muir Woods and Sausilito tour. I also booked a ticket through Tower for a ferry ride back to San Francisco from Sausilito. The tour was fine, the bus driver/tour guide was friendly, gave a running commentary on San Francisco while driving us to Muir Woods. It was fast to book and the customer service people I spoke to on the phone were prompt and efficient. Muir Woods was memorable, but there wasn't anything particularly memorable about Tower Tours. read more

We hired tour towers as a private charter for the wine country tour. Up until the day of the tour, things were great. They worked with us to provide what we were looking for and for a decent price as far a charters went. George (the driver/guide) was great. He gave us a TON of information on the way up to Napa, and everyone on the bus really enjoyed him. We stopped at Treasure Island for photos - which was great for everyone. I was a little disappointed, however, with the wineries that we visited. We were told there would be three wineries with tours and tastings, but the first "winery" was the Napa/Sonoma visitor center - not impressed. Lunch was in Yountville, which was great, but we were given almost 3 hours, which was much longer than the original 90 minutes we were told before going on the trip. (And a little too long, quite frankly). I'm not sure how their public tours are, but for a chartered tour I would recommend really confirming what you are going to experience before you book with them. read more

We did the City Tour and it took almost 4 hours. Fantastic tour! They picked us up at our hotel and we did a loop around the entire city of SF. It was great. Our tour guide, Sibillo was awesome! So funny and sweet. He had a thick accent, but after a little bit, you can understand him. He took us through other neighborhoods even though it wasn't on the schedule. He really wanted us to see everything. Then after the tour, he dropped us off at various locations, just depending where you want to get off. We had a really nice time seeing the entire city and we learned so much!! The tour guide gave us so much information about the history of SF. read more

Really NOT impressed with Tower Tours. I booked a city sightseeing tour and was told 3 times the location that my mother and I would be picked up. After waiting in the specified location for over 45 minutes without seeing the bus, we happened to notice a bus waiting on the cross street which turned out to be our bus. I was very upset by this as I had been waiting in the location that had been communicated to me multiple times and surely would have missed the pick up had I had not noticed the bus waiting on the cross street. This was a frustrating way to begin our tour. Once we boarded the bus we were then brought to the Tower tours office on Beach st, only to be herded into a giant cluster mess of a line to check in our for our tour. We then boarded the SAME bus we had already been on to begin our tour. This whole process was disorganized and confusing. The tour itself was nothing to write home about. The guide was very unclear about which side of the bus we should be looking out to see what he was talking about, and there seemed to be a lot of time wasted driving through residential neighborhoods where there was nothing of note to see. Overall I would suggest you save your money and book your tour with a different company. read more

Took a Muir Woods tour with Tower Tours yesterday. It was wonderful! Walking through the woods was beautiful, so peaceful. Our tour guide Aaron was the best... Very knowledgeable and funny!! I would highly recommend it. read more

Went wine tasting today and had an AWESOME time. Our tour guide and driver WiILLIE made it extra special. He was very knowledgeable of everything! He started giving us fun facts and information about the city of San Francisco as soon as we boarded the bus. Than gave us even more information as we were entering wine county. All of the winery's knew him by name. It was obvious he was well respected by everyone. He gave us advise for everything including wine, places to shop, eat and even dessert. My sisters, niece and I had a memorable experience and would definitely do it again! As long as WILLIE was our tour guide and driver of course. read more

Tower Tours is the best place for tours in the North Bay, hands down! They have a great selection of tours to pick from and at reasonable prices. They are very organized and their staff is extremely friendly. I've been on several of the tours and have always been impressed. I always recommend Tower Tours to my friends and family when they come in to town... and I still jump on their tours once in a while to refresh my love for California :) read more

I really like Tower Tours! I think they offer great prices for what you get, and they really are a lot of fun. If you're in San Francisco for a short amount of time and want to see as much as possible, Tour Tours is a good way to go! They will pick you up from your hotel and drop you off afterwards. Also, don't forget to check out Groupon for occasional deals. Tower Tours is at Ghiradelli Square, and they bring you to their office after they pick you up so you can 'check in' and collect your tour voucher.. so I picked up a delicious chocolate croissant before I boarded my tour bus. It was neat to see where Ghiradelli comes from! I went on both the Napa/Sonoma Wine Country Tour (last Thursday) and the Muir Woods/Sausalito Tour (last Saturday). I really wanted to do the Monterey/Carmel tour, but I didn't have enough time. Wah! :( My tour guide for the Napa tour (I THINK his name was Harold, but I could be totally wrong) was awesome! Very informative and made me laugh (which isn't exactly easy). I actually went on the Napa tour by myself and I didn't feel awkward at all being amidst all the couples and families. I'm glad I decided to just go for it. First we went to Madonna Estates Winery, then Sutter Home Vineyards, both in Napa. Sutter Home was actually quite lovely, they had a beautiful rose garden we were able to walk through, and even though their wine is cheap, you have to admit- it's pretty good! After that, we drove to Sonoma, had lunch, and then visited Sebastiani Vineyards before we drove back to the city. Sebastiani was my favorite. It was very beautiful and I felt like we were able to see a lot more of the winery than at the first two places. I felt like I learned a lot more about the process of wine making, even though by that point, I was very heavily buzzed from all the wine tasting I'd been doing all day.. or should I say "wine drinking"? Because I certainly didn't spit any of the wine out! ;) I went on the Muir Woods tour with a friend. The tour bus to Muir Woods wasn't as nice and big as the one to Napa, but the drive was much shorter (roughly 30 minutes from downtown SF, whereas it took about an hour and a half to get to Napa). Our tour guide was SO nice, but he was a little cheesy and didn't capture the attention of the group the way my Napa tour guide did. I almost felt bad for him that no one was laughing at his jokes. Muir Woods was beautiful, but not as impressive as I thought it would be. I was expecting thicker Redwoods from the way everyone was raving about them. I will say though, it was worth going on the tour just to inhale that amazing, fresh air! Sausalito was beautiful. I took the ferry back into the city, which I definitely recommend. I captured some of the best photos of my entire trip from that ferry. Amazing views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge! Definitely consider taking a tour with Tower Tours when you visit San Francisco! I think you'll be quite pleased. read more

Had the most talkative tour guide, he would not shut up. Very knowledgeable, a lot of information about wine but lets face it, by the time the tour is over, you will probably only remember 10% of the information. The wineries were average. The best one was a small winery in Napa Valley called Madonna Estate. This smaller winery was better than the larger ones. Sutter was very bland. The last winery would give me half the sample size compared to everyone else's but that was ok. It was ass. read more

This wine tour would have been a great experience except for the driver. He was horrendous and did not stop talking from the second we got on the bus until the second we got off. While he peppered his conversation with some legitimate facts about napa and sonoma, the majority of the conversation was nonsensical. Even some outright made up facts. Pete needs to realize that not every tourist trapped on his bus is willing to listen to his non-stop gibber jabber. read more

The SFGrand City Tour with Tower Tours was awesome! With no knowledge of San Francisco, the tour highlighted the most popular areas of the city. From beginning to end, the tour was enjoyable! We requested hotel pick up which was complimentary. They were right on time! We were picked up in an air conditioned double decker bus which was comfortable and spacious. We then headed to their office near Fisherman's Wharf where we checked in and boarded the bus for our tour. The bus was full but not cramped at all. Everyone was friendly or kept to themselves. Our driver Alex was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Within 4 hours we were able to see all the highlights of the city! read more

I am writing this as I am still sitting on the bus... More than 2 1/2 hours later after leaving wine country. Overall, the tour was good. Doug is very knowledgable and a good guide. He drove safely and made sure we knew where to go, what to do, etc. I have never been to wine country so it was a pleasure doing the tour to get a "taste" of Sonoma and Napa and what wineries are like. The shuttle picked us up promptly at 8 a.m. and we were on our way at 9. We got to the first winery around 10:30. The only thing I would suggest changing is leaving from lunch earlier. We don't need an hour and 40 minutes and staying that long caused us to leave the last winery late and, therefore, have to fight 5 o'clock traffic coming back. If you left earlier, you could get through the traffic easier. We are finally off the bus 2 hours and 45 minutes later. read more

Great place to purchase tickets for tour guides and events. The staff is amazing. Great customer service. The location is conveniently located near hotels at Fisherman's wharf. Absolutely recommended. The gentlemen for the for Muir Woods tour was awesome he was so knowledgeable about San Francisco's history he made the drive so much fun. read more

My boyfriend and I did both the Muir Woods tour and the Napa Tour, and both were disappointing in different ways. Our driver for Muir Woods was really nice but extremely inaccurate with his "facts." He quoted home prices that were nowhere near factual (maybe accurate in the 1980s, maybe?) and he told the group the Palace of the Fine Arts cost $70-- word on the street it's actually free. The Napa Trip brought my disappointment to a whole new level. Our driver was late to pick us up, made very condescending remarks to both myself and my boyfriend, the bus was a sauna-- no obvious air conditioning on, and the driver dropped us off a mile from our hotel because "he hadn't planned to go to Nob Hill." With so many tour companies available in SF, spend your money wisely and don't choose Tower Tours. read more

We used Tower Tours for a 3 hour city tour prior to going to Alcatraz. To say this tour was awful doesn't express just what an awful experience this was! Yes we stopped at Golden Gate Bridge for pictures and that was great. But we were told there would be 5 stops and there were only three. We drove through a park, and then an hour later we drove through the same park again. A 20 min bus ride around the same park!? We didn't cross over Golden Gate Bridge and we didn't go through China town. The tour guide was more than happy to talk about how she was a tour guide trainer and the kind of Windows that were on the houses (didn't know this was a tour on Windows). So so so disappointed!!!! Alcatraz was amazing!!!! Didn't need to use this company to book that tour though! read more

I want to start off by saying I did not have to pay nor have any idea how much our tour cost. My group started by heading out to Muir Woods then down into Sausalito and after that over to the rock. Two things really bothered me about this day. First, the weather was awful. Obviously not this companies fault but if you want people to have an enjoyable experience why take them to Muir Woods in that weather. A back up plan would have worked really nicely here to allow people to enjoy the San Francisco experience. Secondly, our driver was the worst I have ever had to listen to. The majority of his statements included, who had died there, does some one else want to drive, and where the "nice" public restrooms are. I was hoping to learn a little more. read more

Well... Tower Tours was certainly an exciting day out! We booked the Alcatraz and Muir Woods tour in Summer 2012 and it was a complete and utter disaster! Our driver for the day, who I won't name was so annoying! He kept talking on about trees and useless anecdotes which bored the whole bus and topped off the trip by being extremely rude to a british lady and her two boys. He claimed that he didn't want to drive down to her hotel (which was on the next block) and even after he offered to do that he made things worse by publicly humiliating her infront of the bus passengers! Alcatraz wasn't that bad though and Muir Woods was breathtaking, especially in the mist as you couldn't see the top of the trees. This added to the ethereal effect. Don't think I'll be using Tower Tours again though. read more

Took a one day Yosemite Tour with Doug, Guide and it was wonderful. He made the long day pleasant and gave us so much information not only of Yosemite, but told us things all along the way. I highly recommend, but get Doug. read more

Came here because my dad received a gift certificate for their winery tours. I hadn't expected much but it was pretty nice. The bus was clean and comfy. The driver (I can't remember his name for the life of me) was really awesome. He chatted through most of the drive up to Sonoma/Napa but gave us some quiet time as well. He gave us random facts and things that, even as a resident of SF, didn't know. read more

We booked our tour to start from the Hilton at Union Square, it was convenient to meet in the lobby and board the shuttle for delivery to the main office. The departure from the Hilton was a bit delayed (think 10 minutes or so) which is kind of annoying but not a huge deal. When we arrived at the main office the staff was friendly and helpful in directing everyone to the correct bus. Our trip was to Muir Woods. Patrick was our drive/tour guide and did a great job. He was enthusiastic but not overwhelming, he provided a nice historical commentary as we departed the city and was very friendly. Tower allows one hour and a half which is more than other companies. I felt that the different alternatives (ferry or bus back to SF) were clearly explained and worked great for us. We were very satisfied with the tour and would likely try another tour with Tower if we had more time. read more

Did a tour of napa and sonoma. Had a good time. Tour guide was very informational. Almost too much. He literally never stopped talking. The bus was huge. The tastings were fun, but I was a little dissatisfied with the vineyards they chose. Sutter home? Really? There are so many good wineries to choose from. Still had fun though. I think we could have seen more wineries in the time allotted. I would have liked a choice. read more

Had a friend from out of town and booked a morning tour of SF and an afternoon trip to Alcatraz. The bus tour was long, felt like it was drigging at times, and the fact that our driver wasn't american made it a bit hard to understand his english a little bit. regardless, the tours were good, and Alcatraz was awesome! read more

We took the tour on a Saturday. They picked us up from our hotel, the Marriott outside of San Francisco at 7:30 AM. We were very amused by our driver until he spoke some bad language. So, from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM we were picking up other people for the tour that were not even going in our tour. So apparently we were the last ones that the bus was waiting on and we ended up sitting all the way at the end of the bus. It was okay but would've preferred to sit closer. It was such a fast tour for that we were there one 2nd and gone the other. We love the drop off areas that they let us walk around for 30 minutes. The only disappointment that I had was that the Golden Bridge stop was on the opposite side of the bridge, and cannot get a very good position to take pictures. Our Tour Guy, he was the best, he was very informative gave us a lot of information we were very happy with him. After the tour was over, they drop us off to do the tour for Alcatraz. Once we were done with the tour for Alcatraz. We needed a ride back to our hotel so we called the tour company and told us that we needed to walk back to the offices of Tower Tours, and be there no later than 5:30 PM not a big deal, we were just happy that didn't pay for a taxi to go back to our hotel, which was 45 minutes outside of San Francisco. That wouldn't not being a cheap fare. Overall it's a great experience. Just a little slower next time. read more

MY BF and I decided to go on a tour to Napa. The price for the tour was great, $65 for a 9 hour tour seems like a great deal. We went to 3 estate tours with wine tasting. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but learn alot on how wine is developed. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about San Fran, Napa, and Sonoma. We had a 1 hour lunch break in Sonoma Square and it was a great area of little restaurants. At the end of the tour we headed back driving on to the Golden Gate Bridge. What a great way to end the tour. Also, the tour guide dropped everyone to there hotels, fisherman's wharf, or union square. read more

Took a tour to Monterey and Carmel yesterday. Patrick was an excellent tour guide and very knowledgeable about the area.

Did a trio of tours here: Bus tour of greater SF, Walking tour of North Beach/China Town and Alcatraz. Must be cheaper when booking direct as opposed to through the hotel concierge. read more