Yosemite Tours (San Francisco, Monterey: broker, how much, hotel)

[riaselva]

hi guys,

i am planning to do a day trip to Yosemite when i am in San Fran. I was wondering if anyone knew of a reliable tour company to use?
i have looked at a couple and torn between a 'bus' tour or a 'van' tour.
the main difference is the van seems to be less comfortable but offers more time in the Park and a trip to see the Nation Sequiaonas

any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[humboldtrat]

San Francisco tours and regional sightseeing options by Gray Line

[philltx]

First I'd like to say I'm a real customer and not some PR guy writiing this review. I'm writing this because I believe good service should be made aware to others who are looking for an unforgettable experience just as I was last week. To save on search time, I figured I'd write a review on my experience with golden horizon travel (Tours to San Francisco city tours, Wine Country tours, Yosemite tours, Muir Woods tour, Monterey tours,private tours,suv tours,private wine tours). I just came back from an amazing Yosemite Tour and I just have to say, our tour guide adam was not only very knowledge but also super accommodating. When I was evaluating different tours, my priorities were to make the tour as comfortable as possible which meant I wanted a tour that was :
- small, comfortable means to accomodate my motion sickness (winding roads really mess me up),
- an SUV tour (only 3 tour companies offer SUV tours in San Francisco to Yosemite),
- see the Sequoia Trees (most tours do not offer sequoia tree viewings as part of their tours) ,
- a very knowledgable and well rounded tour guide..
- 1 day tour... because we were just in town for memorial day weekend
- hotel pickup .. I didn't want to go around looking for a meetup point when visiting a city for the first time
- knows where their drivers are and their scheduling.. I've called 3 other tour companies prior to this and learned alot of tour companies just broker out their tours to other big tour companies. Alot of them didn't know what dates or what kind of cars we would be getting. There was another company that offered 4 dour jeeps but riding those in a prior experience was beyond rough.
- was responsive to all our questions and wasn't condescending to whatever question we asked about the tour.

Well my girlfriend and I found all this with http://www.goldhorizontravel.com (broken link)
Our tour guide adam not only stopped at a grocery store prior to arriving at the park to save on food for the hike (park prices are astronomical) but he also went as far as giving me the coat off his back to combat my cold and headache condition as a result of my car motion sickness on the way up. The weather conditions this memorial day weekend were rainy and despite how much we were a little bummed because it was cold and rainy, his spirits were up and still tailored on the fly which sites we still could see and better shortcuts to get there to avoid the major crowds. By the afternoon, the crowd at Yosemite was insane and the 2 lane roads were all backed up in most cases but Adam always seemed to know where to turn to avoid it. I was particularly impressed that he knew how to combat the areas where there was construction going on and how to get out of a backed up situation so quickly to get to where we're going instead of wasting time waiting in traffic. We got to see Bridal Falls, Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, and a bunch of other places which I don't remember names of. now that I'm home and thoroughly exhausted from the tour ( which was just 2 days ago), my girlfriend and I were very happy we went and would more than likely book the tour again when we make it back to yosemite. This time around it will probably be more than one day. Not knowing how many places there are to visit and hike in Yosemite...one day just isn't enough and there is something to be said about having a tour guide to show you around the in's and outs and knowing the key places to see most tours don't cover is a definite bonus especially for first timers like us.

I hope this helps others in their search for a tour.

Good luck,
Phill

[Luke9686]

Yosemite is really something spectacular. I could be there for a year and still not do everything. If you ever get the chance, go on a 3 or 4 day backpacking trip in the high country. Nothing like it in the world.