If you’re looking for a fun and unique way to explore the city of San Francisco you need to book a spot on a Vantigo tour!
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Who Are Vantigo?
What makes Vantigo unique to other tours available in San Francisco is that they offer tours in a vintage VW Volkswagen bus. Their tours are perfect for those wanting to do touristy things without feeling like a tourist.
The name ‘Vantigo’ comes from a combination of ‘van’ (for obvious reasons) and the Spanish word ‘contigo’ which means ‘with you’. This is because they strive to offer personal experiences for each tour group instead of just reading a script along the way.
Vantigo Tours of San Francisco
The Vantigo crew have a few different tours on offer. A City Tour, a City Tour & Alcatraz Combo, a Brew Tour and a Private Tour option.
The Brew Tour is great for those looking to learn more about San Francisco’s beer history. You’ll have a guided tour, stopping in on three locations for beer tastings.
Private Tours are perfect for those looking to customise their own tours at their own pace. They cost more but if you’re happy to spend the money you’ll get a tour tailored to your interests.
Vantigo City Tour
Having already purchased and visited Alcatraz at the start of my San Francisco trip, I booked a spot on one of their City Tours.
We got to pick which meeting point (from two options) to get picked up from and chose Union Square in Downtown San Francisco as our starting point. The other option was Fisherman’s Wharf.
We were waiting at our spot on Post Street and then the excitement hit me when our gorgeous red Volkswagen bus pulled up. It was so much cuter in person than I expected and I couldn’t wait to hop inside and explore San Francisco in it.
Each Volkswagen van has a personality and a name. Our beautiful red bus was named ‘Lillie’ after Lillie Hitchcock Coit who was a patroness of San Francisco’s volunteer firefighters.
Once everyone was settled on the bus, which was lovely and spacious even with 6 of us on the tour, we set off to explore San Francisco. From the comfort of the bus we were able to sit back and listen to the history of the city while enjoying the views of Union Square, Chinatown and the Financial District.
During the 3 hour tour you’ll be shown 15 points of interest while stopping at 6 popular ones for a photo opportunity and to stretch your legs. The first stop was Pioneer Park, somewhere we probably wouldn’t have gone to ourselves. From here we got to see Colt Tower and had some fantastic views of San Francisco.
From there we headed to the Marina District to see Fisherman’s Wharf before heading to our next stop; The Palace of Fine Arts. Inspired by Roman and Greek architecture it sure did make me feel like I was back in Europe.
Of course no San Francisco city tour would be complete without a stop of The Golden Gate Bridge so that’s where we headed next. To the side of the bridge is Fort Point where you can park up. A perfect spot for getting some pictures of the bridge. If you leave San Francisco without a bridge photo, were you even in San Francisco?
Next up we headed to the Lands End Lookout in Western San Francisco. We stopped outside the Lookout Centre which had a cafe so we could get refreshments. From here we had great views of the Sutro Baths.
For our final stop we headed to Twin Peaks for the sunset. From here we had 360 degree views of San Francisco. It was the perfect last stop of the tour.
Once we were finished taking in the incredible view in front of us, it was time to sadly head back to the drop off points. But before we finished completely there was still time to drive through Castro District, San Francisco’s Gay Village. I just loved how the pedestrian crossings have been painted to be a rainbow.
Just because we were picked up at Union Square didn’t mean we had to be dropped off there so we opted to finish the tour at the Fisherman’s Wharf drop off. As it was evening time we were looking for a good spot for dinner and as our tour guide is local he had plenty of good suggestions.
Overall Thoughts
I’m so happy I found out about Vantigo Tours. It was definitely the coolest way to explore San Francisco. The VW Volkswagen bus was comfortable to ride around in and there was plenty of space for the 6 of us taking the tour that day. We all rotating seats each time so we all had a chance to sit in the front at one point.
Our tour guide was very informative about San Francisco and answered any and all questions we had. Not only did he know a lot about San Francisco, he had a great sense of humour and made sure we had fun while we learnt about the city.
Key Information:
- City tours run daily at 9am, 1pm & 2pm
- City & Alcatraz combo tours run Monday to Friday at 9am
- Pickups available at Fisherman’s Wharf & Union Square
- Brew tours run Friday & Saturday at 1pm
- The bus can hold up to 7 people
- Free bottles of water are available on the bus
- Under 4s are only permitted on private tours
- Gift cards are available to purchase
Plan Your San Francisco Trip
Need some inspiration for planning your San Francisco itinerary? These may help…
Please note that while I was a guest of Vantigo Tours, the reviews and experiences written about in this post are 100% genuine. I value you guys too much to lie to you. This blog would be nothing without you and your continued support!
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