Golden Gate Bridge Tour

This is another perfect example of why Unilocal is so awesome. I knew going to San Francisco that I would plot out my trip on Unilocal via bookmarks so a quick search for the Golden Gate Bridge brought up the Golden Gate Bridge Tours and after reading a few reviews I quickly decided that I had to do this tour. Yes, you can save yourself the $ 12.95 and walk across the bridge yourself however what makes this so great is history of the bridge.
The tour itself was about 45 minutes and was filled with historical facts about thsthat I never knew, a major bonus was our tour guide, Lisa. Lisa really hit this tour out of the park, she was simply amazing, her personality really shined and made everyone have a great time. I highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting San Francisco, it was amazing and well worth the small fee.

Lisa was our fabulous tour guide yesterday at the Golden Gate Bridge.
She was friendly and knowledgeable, and also customized the info she gave us based on our preferences — architecture, engineering, art, gossip, history, etc.
She gave a truly great tour. Lisa is clearly a person who loves her job, which made our tour an absolute pleasure. Thank you Lisa!
P. S. the «season» ends Oct. 5 so book your tour soon before they close for the Winter.
Terri

Our tour guide Lisa was an absolute riot! I would have never thought I’d have so much fun on this tour. There’s so much to learn about the Golden Gate come to find out. I would highly recommend this tour. :)

I’ve lived in the area for a combined totall of 4.5 years now, yet had never physically walked across the GG Bridge.
My best friend visiting from Germany came across this guided Golden Gate Bridge tour, and we decided to do it yesterday. Had an amazing experience with our amazing guide, Bill.
Super impressed with not only his wealth of knowledge about the bridge and the area in general, but also his genuine enthusiasm and great sense of humor!
The tour was about 45 minutes long, and very informative. You each wear a set personal headphones so that you can easily hear your guide over the wind and traffic on the bridge. The tour terminates at the first tower, but you have the option to continue on at your leisure, just as long as you return your headsets 15 – 20 minutes before they close.
We lucked out and not only had a gorgeous, fog-​free summer experience on a super warm day, but also basically ended up with a private tour since no one else had arrived at our scheduled departure time.
Would definitely recommend as an inexpensive way to experience the GG Bridge!
Very easy to get to by public transportation as well: took BART from Millbrae to the Civic Center/​UN stop, walked a short distance, and then took a $ 4.25 Golden Gate Transit bus ride from the McAllister and Polk stop (near City Hall and the Superior Court) to the Bridge toll plaza.

The tour was only $ 12. Charles the tour guide wore a microphone and everyone wore headphones since it’s so noisy and windy up on the bridge. I learned a great deal about how it was constructed, how it affected the growth of the region, and so much more, such as how they might try to suicide-​proof the bridge. Ask lots of questions because we learned a lot that way, including about Alcatraz and the other bay area bridges. Beautiful views of downtown San Francisco.

I love this tour the staff was AMAZING!!! Lisa you rock!!! I would come back again and again and again!!! Even though my friend Mo is a history buff herself Lisa taught her a few things!!! And… We had our own privet tour. I will recommend Lisa and their staff to everyone!!!

The National Parks Conservancy’s Golden Gate Bridge Tour with Lisa was really cool! I’ve lived in the Bay Area for a dozen years or so. I’m embarrassed to admit that up until this summer I hadn’t ever walked across this Wonder. Lisa’s tour included everything a person could want to know about the Bridge in about 45 minutes. I loved that each guest received his/​her own headset allowing us to walk the bridge at our own pace and take pictures, but still allowing us to hear Lisa’s wonderful interpretation.
Lisa talked about the structure of the bridge, its history, its creators, its capacity, and its color. The emphasis of her tour was on the Bridge workers. Can you imagine what risks and conditions these workers must have endured of the Strait? I always love a guided tour at a National Park or Rec Area because you are guaranteed to learn something new and exciting. This was no exception. Lisa really turned over every leaf and busted a few myths that even this SF long-​timer believed to be true.
My favorite stop on this tour was the GG Bridge model where Lisa succinctly guided us through the science of the suspension bridge. You can touch the model and manipulate it to simulate how it works. I don’t want to give away too much of our tour with Lisa so as not to spoil it for future visitors. But there is something for everyone — visual aids, comedy, history, politics, military anecdotes, fog… You’re sure to get more than just Bridge history too from Lisa, a Bay Area native.
I strongly encourage you to experience the GG Bridge Tour for yourself. It is a fun, inexpensive and engaging way to spend an hour soaking up a part of our history. At the Round House, where the tours begin, you can get your picture taken atop one of the pylons. Not many people get to see it from up there (**wink wink, nudge nudge**).
I’m sure the other guides are just as awesome, but we were so grateful to have Lisa’s interpretation. Go experience this tour!

I went to the roundhouse a couple days ago for a tour of the Golden Gate Bridge and It was a very interesting to see the Golden Gate Bridge and how it was made. I would recomend this place to anyone who is visiting and is not from the area. I want to say Thank You to Kat, our tour guider was very nice and knew what she was talking about. I understood everything about the bridge.
You get a headset so that you can hear the tour guider on the loud busy bridge. You can take a lot of great pictures when its sunny or foggy. Its a little cold if you go during the summer so I recomend having a sweater or jacket. The tour overall was great and would come back here again!

This was a great tour! Be sure if you do it you take a jacket. Even if it is very nice, sunny and warm in the city it can be VERY cold on the bridge. Our sons (ages 9 & 10) loved this tour and learned a lot of about the Golden Gate Bridge.
I recommend getting the photos as well. They are really great and reasonably priced. Do it! It’s the cheapest thing you will do in San Francisco!

Fantastic tour. Lisa was knowledgeable and very entertaining. The headsets (so you can hear the tour guide regardless of group size) are a great idea that makes this tour very high quality. Great price and just the right amount of time and information!

Great Tour! I loved the headphones system, it made it easy to look around and listen. It was great to have the old photographs and history of the bridge. The great scenery and stories were great. It goes to the south tower, then you are on your own to finish looking around taking photographs. I loved it.
We saw at least 7 – 10 harbor porpoises, aka dolphins and sea lions and harbor seals.
Please be aware that the bicycles are on one side and the pedestrians on the other. it is easy to get distracted by taking photos or the beautiful scenery.
at the end you get a choice to get photos on the green screen of you on the cable near the top! Cool

Went on the Golden Gate Bridge tour today, and thought it was great! Nichole, our group guide/​leader, was friendly, enthusiastic, and spoke clearly.
You wear headsets on this tour, so it’s OK if you cannot see the tour leader — you can hear them talk while taking photos as you walk the breathtaking landmark that is the GG Bridge!
I’ve lived in SF for years, and have been across the GGB many times on car and bike, but today I learned a lot of history and trivia that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. I really enjoyed and would recommend this tour.
BTW, the tour lasts 45 minutes and ends when you get to the South Tower. You can walk back right away, or can choose to walk the rest of the bridge… your choice! I like that flexibility and I think it leaves a lot of options for visitors.

This is one of the absolute best quality and price-​value touristy things I’ve ever done! Being originally from nor cal, I realized I’d never walked the Golden Gate (bucket list). When I saw this tour come up on Groupon, a bunch of my girlfriends and I made a weekend out of it, and came up for the Nike Women’s Marathon, this tour, tea time, etc.
So thankful we started off our weekend with this tour!
(1) All the staff were amazing. Incredibly nice, and made me proud to be from the bay area. Bill was so informative, patient, understanding, and friendly. The photo guy (sorry, didn’t catch your name) was patient and helped 4 photo-​loving girls get the perfect shot. He was not annoyed when we asked to retake a few times, in different positions, etc. And the shots were AMAZING.
(2) For photos, wear the hard hats and the construction vests. Really makes it a cute and unique shot, and go for the tower walk one, where it looks like you are hanging off the post. Awesome!
(3) Shortbread cookies are so-​SF and so delicious. Pair that with a nice cup of coffee, and walk to the little park area in front of the Bridge, and just admire. It’s beautiful, and so perfectly bay area feeling.
(4) No way you can plan for weather, but if you are as lucky as we were to get a beautiful day, you can see for miles over the water, and spot alcatraz, the bay bridge, coit tower, and so much more.
(5) Tour is just the right amount of time. Not too long, not too short. Left us with plenty of time to get our day on, but we felt like we really had a full experience there.
In all, each of us 4 girls had a splendid time. Some of us are from SF, some from south bay, some from LA, and each learned something new and had a wonderful time.

As a former San Francisco resident (8 years), I’d never taken a tour of the Golden Gate. Now returning after over 4 years away, I put on my tourist cap (or fanny pack?) and planned a weekend trip up to learn about all the SF treasures I took for granted while living there. When I saw the Groupon for Golden Gate Bridge Tours (GGBT), I figured that I didn’t have anything to lose because it was so cheap! And I’ll tell you what, we definitely didn’t lose anything, and instead gained SO much.
(1) First off, we screwed up because I bought the Groupon, but my boyfriend made the reservation, and when he did, he ended up paying again. GGBT could have easilly denied us our discount because we showed up without a Groupon reservation, but they were so understanding and our refund was super, duper easy.
(2) I forgot how cold SF summers are and was dressed very inappropriately. I was ready to drop $ 60+ on a sweatshirt from the gift shop, but guess what, no need! GGBT loaned me a legit Coleman poncho to wear. It was so toasty and did the job. And unlike most companies that would take advantage of people’s poor planning and charge a rental fee for such things, GGBT did not!
(3) The staff there is so friendly and accommodating! I don’t even know where to begin! And it’s just not one staff member in particular, it was everyone from the tour guide, the photographer, and the registration team. I wish I could remember their names, but their customer service was top notch. Everything from offering to sneak me into the employee bathroom so I wouldn’t have to brace myself against the cold outside, to dropping what they were doing to offer to take a picture of us out and around the building for the perfect background, to just being so friendly and talkative during out wait. To round it out, the tour was fun, fast, informative, and well-​lead.
You can’t plan for the weather, so I don’t know why anyone would factor that into their tour. I gladly give 5 stars and recommend this company hands down!

Thank you Katy Olds from the GGNPC and your team for helping our company, Cliché’ Noe Gift Store, host the GG Bridge tour. It was so much fun and the experience exceeded expectations!
Here is a link to the photos.

Like a lot of the other reviewers, we used the recent Groupon. Can not say enough about the experience. The Groupon, first off, was a fabulous deal. We bought the 2 person package which got us the 45 minute tour, 2 digital green screen prints, a bag of shortbread cookies, and a discount at the gift shop.
We arrived near 10 for the 10:30 tour and did the green screen photos and such while we waited. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and had great stories and quotes from the workers who built the bridge. She speaks to the group thru headsets, so the wind and traffic did not cause hearing issues at all. She was a very engaging guide and we could not have been happier with the experience. Everything about the experience was top notch. I highly recommend this to anyone going to San Fran.
Quick tip to tourists like me, the bus system was a great, very easy way to get to the Bridge. The same route took us to Golden Gate Park so we could hit other sites.

This really was as good as it gets.
We had a Groupon for 4, and bought an extra ticket for an extra child.
The Groupon was fantastic. We got the tour, two bags of delicious short bread, 4 hot drinks (cocoa or coffee), a DVD of the bridge, and two green screen photos– which I loved! Everything was a great deal at full price so the Groupon was a real treat.
Be careful when you first drive up on the bridge. The off ramp to the parking area comes up fast! And watch the height limits. We saw a motorhome get caught trying to get in the tunnel. It was just too tall to get through. I’m not sure what finally happened, but there was a big traffic jam and a lot of honking. We, of course, were laughing and taking pictures.
The first thing we did was go to the Bridge Café– and sampled some of their awesome chocolate croissants. Some of the best I’ve ever had! And my girls just had to buy some Hubert’s lemonade. There are a number of great drink choices at the Bridge Café, and they have excellent candies, and some really great sandwiches. It’s not cheap, but it’s such good stuff I felt like it was a decent deal.
After the café we went to redeem our tickets. The roundhouse, where you get your tickets does not open until 10am (first tour is 10:30 am). We were there at 10am, so after getting our tickets we got our photos with the green screen– which made us look like we were out on the structure of the bridge. The pictures were great quality. I’m seriously thinking of using them for our Christmas card.
The tour started promptly and Bill was great. We all had headphones, so we could hear perfectly. There was a tremendous amount of information, charmingly and enthusiastically delivered. Bill’s assistant (Sam) even brought ponchos along, in case people got cold. We have been on a lot of tours in SF– I think we’re over 10 now– and this is one I would not have wanted to miss. This ranks right up there with our segway ride through Golden Gate Park.

Purchased the Groupon for this tour, and was not disappointed.
The Place is brand new (opened in May), and the facilities are really nice. The Store is full of tacky tourist stuff, the café has refreshments (at a nice little markup), and the Round House is a nice building for the obligatory Green Screen Photos).
The tour starts by checking in at the round house, we were scheduled for the 1pm tour but arrived a little early, they put us in the 11:45 tour group, little did we know that we were the only people in the tour.
Our Guide was Bill, he was very friendly, knew a ton about the bridge, and was very very helpful. It was foggy (shocking I know), but the tour was still very good. I have gone across the bridge a few times, but never have checked it out. Very educational and a decent amount of fun.
If you go on the tour request Bill if possible, he is extremely knowledgeable, very friendly, and was more than willing to stage and take some photos for us.
A great way to kill a few hours!

This tour only started in May, but you couldn’t tell by how polished it is. For $ 13, the tour is highly worth it. They’ll take you to the first tower and back explaining a lot about the bridge.
Our guide, Bill was energetic, friendly, and welcoming. He had a wealth of knowledge about the bridge and was able to answer all our questions.
5 stars!

We went on June 3 with the SF MovieBears on a twilight-​sunset tour. Our guide, Bill, immediately introduced himself and welcomed all in the group. The evening itself was incredible: a full moon, nary a cloud in the sky and the winds pretty light for San Francisco /​Golden Gate Bridge.
We got a lot of background info before we went, and lots of historical facts that I did not know. We got photos taken and appreciated the training and people skills the tour guides have.
I would recommend to tourists and SF dwellers alike!