Vantigo - The Original San Francisco VW Bus Tour
Recommended by 100% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
San Francisco, USA
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Why travelers loved this
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Overview
Hop aboard a vintage Volkswagen bus for a San Francisco city tour to remember. Travel down streets a typical tour bus can't access while your guide fills you in on the history of the City by the Bay, from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley. Get views of landmarks such as Twin Peaks, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Painted Ladies as you travel through distinct city districts, and see more of the city than you could if exploring independently.
- Travel in a vintage Volkswagen bus
- Stops for photos and explore several popular districts
- A small group size ensures a personalized experience
- Choice of morning or afternoon departure
What's Included
- Professional guide
- Access to districts the large buses cannot go
- Bottled water
- Vintage Volkswagen bus transportation
- Photo opportunities at major landmarks
- Commentary on San Francisco history and culture
- Children 0 to 4 require you to book a private tour
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- We require a minimum of 3 guests for a tour to proceed
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting points
Select a meeting point
Type to search
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Union Square (Pass By)
Fisherman's Wharf (Pass By)
Chinatown (Pass By)
1
Coit Tower
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
North Beach (Pass By)
Marina District (Pass By)
2
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Golden Gate Bridge
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Golden Gate Park (Pass By)
4
Twin Peaks
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Painted Ladies
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Civic Center (Pass By)
Haight-Ashbury (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Recommended tip amount: $15-20 per passenger (tips make up a large chunk of tour guide income in the U.S!)
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 7 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
5,0
based on 836 reviews
Sort by: Most recent
We only had a short time to see the highlights of San Francisco since we’re arrived on a cruise ship. This was a perfect tour for us. Chad was very knowledgeable of the city and he gave us some great recommendations.
Chad was an excellent tour guide with a wealth of information combined with a very likable personality. This tour was very complete in a small setting. Letting passengers rotate seating was a great way to insure equal viewing. Grade it A+
Great tour through SF with several stops for photos. Chad provided a lot of information about the various areas we drove through. Loved that he said hi to several locals whom he knew. Also loved "Harvey" his restored VW bus which we rode in. He thoughtfully gave us turns sitting in front passenger seat. Since we had to wait a half hour for 3 passengers to show up, he extended our tour by a half hour (after making sure it was okay with us all). I also loved that he played "area appropriate " music as we drove along, enhancing the entire experience (plus he didn't object to several of us singing along whether we could carry a tune or not). Overall a great way to spend an afternoon. I highly recommend this tour whether your first, or a return trip to SF.
Our tour guide, Chad, has a wealth of knowledge about San Francisco. He cheered up the entire group of us with funny antidotes and fascinating rid bits about the city. Would highly recommend!
Chad was fantastic! Great vibes and energy! Wealth of information ! If you want to see San Francisco he's your guy!!!
My sister and I took a VW tour of San Francisco with our guide, Chad, and it was one of the highlights of our trip! We explored Haight-Ashbury, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Painted Ladies, the iconic Full House setting, and more.
The small-group experience was intimate, relaxed, and so much fun. Chad was fantastic—knowledgeable and entertaining, with funny stories and perfectly timed music to match the different areas we visited.
And then there was Harvey, our VW bus! He added just the right amount of kitsch and personality to an already memorable experience.
If 10 stars were an option, we’d give it 10! Highly recommend this tour for a fun and unique way to experience San Francisco.
Chad was the perfect guide and host. Warm, funny and knowledgeable. Loved the “groovy” comfortable van too.
This is the San Francisco VW van tour you need to take.
Harvey is a cool, authentic, classic VW van, and took us up and down the beautiful San Francisco hills like the little engine that could. Our guide Chad is a real one. You can tell he genuinely loves the city, is excited about the history, and made the tour so darn fun. We sang, we laughed, we had chocolate, got to see the sights and learn some stuff. We saw the city from an amazing vantage point only a true local could know about. We enjoyed meeting the other ladies on the tour too, it was truly such a great afternoon.
Don’t be fooled by those wild paint jobs of the others. If you want substance more than flash, this is a much more worthwhile and original tour to choose.
Thanks so much to Chad, you have no idea how much getting to spend that time touring around town with you Harvey meant to my friend. Her San Francisco dream come true.
(Shout out to George btw, you sound pretty cool and your painted lady is beautiful!)
Chad our guide was amazing.
Very personable and full of knowledge.
Managed to also play songs that related to the different ares we visited.
The VW van was so cute.
Plus he took some amazing photos for us.
Would recommend to anyone looking to get an overview of San Francisco in a few hours.
Also gave us some great tips of place to eat at.
AMAZING! We had such a great time on our tour around the city! Chad was an awesome tour guide. We definitely recommend booking !!
Josh was a great tour guide! Many photo ops and we really felt that we got to see a great deal of the city!
I don't normally provide reviews but just had to write this after our Vantigo tour. A real highlight of our trip to San Francisco
A brilliant 3 hrs of amazing sights with a fantastic tour guide (Chad). We were taken from one end of San Francisco to the other, through the middle and side ways (basically everywhere) with Chad providing great information about each area. Chad knows everything about San Francisco.. from back in the day to current. (Even his singing and jokes were all great)
Some fantastic hidden gems and view points and an really cool trip soundtrack.
We all(4 of us) loved every minute of the tour.
Being driven around in a 1971 ( I think) VW beetle bus was just sublime . With large windows to see everything you needed to.
Totally recommend this tour to everyone. A real personal touch providing any tourists a superb time.
A massive thank you to Vantigo.
You were great . Amazing and I will be telling everyone about our tour with you.
Vantigo. ..you ROCK!!!
This tour was nothing short of amazing. Chad is an absolute delight — a local who genuinely knows and loves his city. As a New Orleans native myself, I know how hard it is to convey the rich history of a place to newcomers; you want people to leave as inspired by it as you are, and that only happens when a guide is sincerely passionate about their home. I was the first pickup and Chad was so polite and engaging from the jump that I didn’t even feel the need for my regular morning coffee.
As a solo traveler on my first-ever trip to the West Coast, this tour was invaluable for getting my bearings. Landing in a totally unfamiliar terrain is disorienting enough, and I was staying in a hostel in the Tenderloin, which made for a somewhat rough introduction to the city. Doing this tour early in my trip gave me a real sense of SF's layout — so much so that a few days later, when I couldn't figure out a bus route back to my hostel, I was able to navigate an alternative route using waypoints Chad had pointed out.
I'm writing this review two months after the fact, not because Viator reminded me (they gave up on reminders after 2 weeks), but because I felt genuinely obligated to put people onto this tour — it was one of the highlights of my trip. My only real "complaint" is that for the rest of my week in SF, I found myself longing to get back in that VW bus and cruise the hills of San Francisco again. Unparalleled experience — bravo!
P.S. If you're a solo traveler, don't be too shy to ask your guide to take a few photos of you at sights or with the bus. And remember to bring some cash to tip. <3
P.S.S. If you have time, grab a cup of coffee and some beans at Lady Falcon in Alamo Square (the Painted Ladies stop).
This tour with Chad was outstanding. He is very personable, knowledgeable and made the tour very, very enjoyable. He takes you to many areas of San Francisco (many the Hop on Hop off bus can't go to) and makes every stop special. We had a great time with him.
Great tour, Chad was very knowledgable and friendly. Made stops to take pictures. Also gave info on places to eat.
Chad was INCREDIBLE!! Amazing way to start our first full day in San Francisco. Super friendly, had great historical (and fun!) facts about anything and everything on the tour. Took our pictures at every spot. We were extremely lucky due to having a personal bus tour (just the two of us) and Chad made it perfect. Would highly recommend!!
Chad’s tour was exceptional! He was very professional, kind, and knowledgeable of San Francisco. My daughter and I were very satisfied with our tour and highly recommend.
Great tour to explore the city! Chad was a fantastic host and made the experience even better. The VW bus made it even more memorable and added a really fun touch to the whole experience. Highly recommend!
It’s a great experience that I would recommend to anyone traveling to San Francisco especially for the first time.
We started our trip with a city tour and I’m so glad we did! Chad with Vantigo Tours was an amazing tour guide and a rather impressive driver. His knowledge of the San Francisco history and culture was astounding. Our tour was a very educational and also hilarious with all the dad jokes! The vintage VW bus was so nostalgically beautiful, clean and comfortable!
I’m so glad we chose Vantigo Tours, we had a wonderful time while also learning some key history highlights of San Francisco.
Listen closely while riding along, Chad gave lots of great recommendations that we tried and loved!
Thank you, Chad & Vantigo Tours, for making our anniversary trip the best it could be!
You won’t go wrong choosing a tour with these guys to see all the highlights of San Francisco!
Chad gave us a great tour. It was really fun riding around in "Lillie". The van was very roomy and easy to enter and exit. It's a small group, so there is a lot of interaction. Got to see all of the highlights and Chad took photos for everyone on the tour. I highly recommend this tour if it's your 1st visit. Even if you've visited before, you will learn and see new things.
This tour was great! Chad was a fantastic tour guide. The tour had a good mix of history, facts, and jokes that even my teenagers laughed at. I highly recommend this tour.
Great tour with a wonderful guide. Josh was informative, funny and friendly. Note - the van is bumpy so if you are prone to car sickness take an anti-nausea med ahead of time.
Only had a day in San Francisco after a business trip and boy was I glad this stumbled upon me! Great way to discover the city. Josh was phenomenal with his local knowledge and paired with the ol’ VW van immersive experience - couldn’t have been a better way to spend my day :) It is really worth taking the tour! Highly recommend!
Josh was a funny, friendly, and full of info! His tour gives you a great feel for the city, along with a history lesson. He even gives you written recommendations for events and dining!
Chad was a great guide! Entertaining, helpful and full of knowledge!! We enjoyed this tour so much!! I would highly recommend!!!
Fantastic tourbof San Francisco in a 1970s era VW bug. Chad was very knowledgeable and friendly, and gave us a wonderful tour of the city. He was always happy to take pictures, and shared not just the history of the city butbalao his memories as a native.
I loved seeing the different parts of the city I love. Price was perfect for the experience. I would have loved to stay a little longer at Coit Tower.
Chad was wonderful with an appreciated sense of humor and enthusiasm. Very knowledgeable and his love for the city is passed on to his passengers. Highly recommend!
This was such a great way to see many different areas of San Francisco our first day in town. We learned so much about the city and we had time at multiple sites to get great family photos. Josh was a fantastic guide - so friendly and knowledgeable - and a great photographer! Our teenagers loved it as well. It gave us great ideas of what we wanted to see more of in the city. Highly recommend!
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US$103,20
per personWas US$129,00
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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