Ultimate City Tour with Bay Cruise
Experience San Francisco's colorful past as you travel through history:
- from the first settlements of Native
Americans to a cosmopolitan city of beautiful architecture,
- from the Wild West and the frenzied days of the "Gold Rush"
to the vibrant culture that flourishes today.
Be awe-inspired by the magnificence of the Golden Gate Bridge. Enjoy the lush gardens of Golden Gate Park. Travel past
spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.
On your tour you will see Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Victorian homes, Presidio National Park, Palace of Fine Arts,
and North Beach. With stops at the Golden Gate Bridge, Twin Peaks (weather permitting), City Hall, Golden Gate Park, and more.
Enjoy wireless, hands-free audio entertainment where your imagination flourishes and the adventure lies ahead.
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| Tour include: |
| • Chinatown, |
| • Fisherman's Wharf, |
| • Victorian Homes, |
| • Golden Gate Park, |
| • Palace of Fine Arts, |
| • North Beach, |
| • Presidio National Park, |
| • Awe-inspiring views of Alcatraz, and the Pacific Ocean. |
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>>> click here for more details about Ultimate City tour
A typical day in San Francisco finds the fog pouring into the Golden Gate, cable cars climbing the steep
hills, and automobiles twisting their way down Lombard Street, the "crookedest street in the world".
Your tour of this magnificent city begins at Fisherman's Wharf, home to crab boats and the fishing
fleet and some of the best seafood restaurants in the world. From the Wharf, you will travel past the
Hyde Street Pier and National Maritime Museum, Ghirardelli Square, and Lombard Street. From the
Wharf, residential neighborhoods spread out in every direction, covering the seven hills that make up the
city. Traveling through the Marina District, you will pass the Palace of Fine Arts and the Presidio of San
Francisco, a former Army garrison now turned into a National Park. The Golden Gate Bridge, San
Francisco's famous icon, comes into view. This is the first stop on your tour, and you will have ample time
to take photos. Following the rugged coastline west of the bridge, your tour will take you through forested
parklands and upscale residential neighborhoods. You will pass the famous Cliff house and Ocean Beach
before entering San Francisco's playground, Golden Gate Park. The park encompasses 1,017 acres, it is
three miles long, one-half mile wide, and stretches from the Pacific Ocean into the center of the city.
Home to many museums, gardens,and outdoor recreation activities, the park boasts 6,000 varieties
of plants. As you travel through the park, you will see the recently restored Conservatory of Flowers
and Japanese Tea Garden.
Leaving Golden Gate Park, you will travel through the Sunset District's orderly row houses. Built on sand
dunes as the city expanded westward, these neighborhoods have a diverse ethnic population, ranging
from Russian and Eastern European to Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The district's most prominent
landmark is the red Sutro Tower, which provides television and radio service to the city. Turning onto a
winding boulevard, you will climb to one of the highest points in the city, Twin Peaks. From this vantage
point you will have a 360º panoramic view of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay communities
(weather permitting).
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Add a one-hour cruise to your tour on the famous San Francisco Bay.
Enjoy some of the most beautiful sightseeing in the world and a great value!
Sail under the Golden Gate Bridge (weather permitting), get close-up views of Alcatraz Island, the San Francisco
waterfront and the California sea lions.
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>>> click here for more details about Bay Cruise
• 1-Hour narrated cruise of the Bay,
• Cruise directly under the Golden Gate Bridge,
• Sail around "The Rock", the infamous island of Alcatraz.
San Francisco Bay - the center of our universe, that magnificent, shimmering, green body of water that is responsible for our
climate, the sculpting of our land, the building of our great bridges - is breathtaking to behold, but awesome to experience.
The one-hour Bay Cruise lets you feel the wind and salt spray, hear the foghorns, and cruise directly under the Golden Gate
Bridge and around the infamous island of Alcatraz.
Cruising from Fisherman's Wharf, you first sail past the 312-ft. U.S.S Pampanito, a World War II submarine that participated
in many of the great battles in the Pacific. Tied up astern of the submarine is the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship
built across the Bay in Richmond. The O'Brien carried troops and supplies to Normandy and is the last operating and seaworthy
Liberty Ship. As your vessel turns northward and heads toward the Golden Gate Bridge, you will see a diverse fleet of historic
ships tied up at the Hyde Street Pier and the National Maritime Historic Park. Overlooking the park is Ghirardelli Square a
retail shopping complex and former chocolate factory.
Jutting out into the Bay are the piers of Fort Mason, the embarkation point for troops heading to the South Pacific in WWII.
Just past the piers is the Marina District, a residential neighborhood that was severely damaged in the 1989 earthquake. The
Palace of Fine Arts, located on the edge of the Marina, is the only remaining building from the Columbia Pacific-Exposition
of 1915. The Presidio of San Francisco, Crissy Field, and Fort Point are located at the entrance of the Bay, and all are former
military installations that are now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
You will cruise directly under the Golden Gate Bridge out into the Pacific Ocean and then back into the Bay. The bridge was
completed in 1937 and was the longest suspension span in the world until the completion of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge across
New York Harbor in 1964. Today the longest suspension bridge is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan, which opened in 1998.
The orange-vermilion-colored bridge, officially "International Orange", is 1.7 miles long, and the length of the main span is 4,200
feet. To build this San Francisco icon, 83,000 tons of steel and 389,000 cubic yards of concrete were used in its construction.
In the center of the Bay sits the infamous island of Alcatraz. The former federal penitentiary housed the most notorious criminals
in American history. Robert “The Birdman” Stroud, Al Capone, “Machine Gun” Kelly all called Alcatraz home. The prison closed in
1963 and is now a national monument. There are daily tours of the island and cellblock.
Before returning to Fisherman's Wharf, you will cruise along the northern waterfront past Coit Tower, a monument to firemen
that is shaped to resemble a fire nozzle, and the cruise ship terminal at Pier 35.
The barking noise you will hear at the end of the tour is from the Pier 39 sea lions. Arriving in the Bay after the 1989
earthquake, they took over K dock at Pier 39, a shopping and dining complex, and now call it home.
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| Adult is age 12 and older - Child is 3 to 11 |
