San Francisco Shore Excursion: Napa & Sonoma Full-day Wine Tour

Easily the most disappointing tour experience I've ever had. As someone visiting from out of town, I booked specifically to have everything organized and taken care of, including knowing what to prepare in advance. Unfortunately, the most critical detail was left completely off the website: a physical ID is required at every winery. My passport is my only form of ID, and since it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the tour materials, I made the reasonable decision to leave it at the hotel. The result? I was turned away from every single wine tasting and spent the entire tour drinking water while everyone else participated. On a wine tour. That I paid for. To make matters worse, the tour guide kept the microphone cranked to an uncomfortable volume the entire time, filling every moment with a stream of unrelated commentary that was hard to tune out. When I raised my concerns afterward, I was met with a complete refusal to offer even a partial refund, despite the fact that their own website failed to communicate a basic requirement. For a company that takes your money up front, that kind of response is simply unacceptable. A single line on the booking page, "Please bring a physical ID, as it is required at all venues", would have completely changed my experience. This was a failure of basic communication, and I'd caution anyone visiting from abroad to confirm these details directly before booking.

I had an amazing time! Grady was our tour guide and driver and he killed it! He was very knowledgeable, charismatic, funny and simply amazing! We went to everything outlined on the itinerary. Thank you, Grady. You were so kind and had water for us throughout the whole ride and encouraged us to have fun and be safe. Would 100% do it again!

We enjoyed the tour and our driver/guide. Steve was very nice and knowledgeable about San Francisco and Sonoma.

All the winery’s were lovely. I learned a lot about the wine making process. Each place was different. All the staff were friendly and helpful and easy to chat with. Our bus drive was sweet and friendly. Only problem was the bus was small for taller people and there was no storage above Or below for storing the wine we bought.

We had a group of 5 friends, ladies aged 30's & 40's. This is a wonderful tour to take. We had so much fun! We realized the tour was a little too long for our taste and also there were some children on the bus, which we did not realize that children could attend this tour. Other than that, it was a beautiful day of touring the wine country!

A full day enjoyed visiting three different wineries at Napa Valley. The stop for lunch at Sonoma was beautiful as well. James our driver was very insightful and nice. Perhaps a dive deeper into the wine making process at the wineries would have made it more interesting. Worth it.

Three wineries...only one showed the us their operation...the rest was just sitting in the shower room Bus driver was hard to understand Nice bus

Great experience traveling wine country and stopping at 3 of them for tastings! Had a great time exploring and taking in information about the wines we tasted! However we didn't expect the group environment to be what it was. From the beginning of our 8:30am tour there was a big group of a super loud party that would scream at the top of their lungs no exaggeration . It would only get louder and louder after every stop we made, we could barely hear what the driver was saying while driving around sf . I couldn't hear what my gf was saying and we were sitting right next to eachother. We booked this trip for a relaxing getaway and the entire time in the bus we would get everything but that. I would literally be covering my ears while this group in their mid 30's yelled and actually barked like animals the entire trip and it was super obnoxious and really disappointing. The other couples on the tour weren't like that and actually were really nice and offered to take pictures for us , and I doubt they enjoyed the super loud environment. If you want to get drunk and yell inside of a bus then this is the trip for you! If you want a relaxing getaway with your partner for the day then I would steer far away from this specific tour company. Like I mentioned we loved the locations and drivers knowledge but I wouldn't be able to recommend this place to anyone let alone my close friends/family.

This Napa and Sonoma wine tour was an absolute dream! From the moment we stepped onto the bus, we were greeted with enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge about the region. Our guide was incredibly informative, sharing fascinating insights into the winemaking process and the history of the area. The wineries we visited were truly exceptional. Each one offered a unique experience, from stunning vineyard views to passionate winemakers. The tastings were a delightful journey through a variety of flavors, and we discovered several new favorites.

Check in process was easy. For an hour drive it would have been nice to have access to a restroom. Did not leave on time due to others, but still arrived at a fairly decent time. Grady was a wonderful tour guide. I never felt rushed and he was accommodating to late stragglers, and needed bathroom breaks. Visited: Madonna, Sutter Home and Napa Cellars (which is not listed on Viator site). In actuality, a 4th stop could be included, as lunch was 1.5hrs. Overall a great day...with a few weeks, this could be a solid 5 start tour

Our driver Steve was wonderful very professional one of the best tours we went on this trip give it 10 out 10 rating

Awful. Your guide told everyone to be quiet on the bus ride, thinking he was going to give some commentary. But he just mumbled a lot of nonsense and gave a lot of political views that were not exactly appropriate for a group setting. Stopped for a quick break by the bridge and he refused to let us take any pictures - only stop for washroom. When we didn’t need to use the washroom and tried to go to other side of parking lot for pictures he yelled at us to come back. Continuous rambling throughout the entire trip and telling people to be quiet so they could listen to the ramblings got exhausting quick and honestly ruined the day. The wines were not great. One stop was good - Madonna. One stop was so terrible it was barely drinkable. Not exactly the best quality wineries on this tour.

Nice informative estate winery with VG wine. Lunch on our own in Sonoma (a movie-perfect town!) Beautiful, shady lawn and good wine at 2nd winery (not estate).

Driver/guide was great. Tour left late, Bus had no air conditioning. We were promised to get a replacement at the first winery and again at the lunch stop, nothing. 100 degrees outside and no A/C on the bus until the end of the tour. Driver was embarrassed about situation. Tour operators did not provide solution.

Great time! People complained about too much time at each stop in other reviews, but we didn’t find that to be an issue at all. We felt it was just enough time everywhere! Highly recommend!

Lovely drive, too long at the wineries for tastings, the wineries are small and we didn’t need two hours at each, would rather have more time for lunch and possibly walking around another area. Lunch was after 2:00 pm and everyone was starving and rushed and did not get a chance to walk around the lovely area of Sonoma downtown. Less tie at the wineries would be my suggestion as everyone was done and just waiting around. Our tour guide was great Thomas was fun and very knowledgeable. Viator combined our tour with Grey Line at the last minute and there was some confusion as to where to pick up the bus. All in all it was an enjoyable day but some things need to be tweaked.

Fun trip. It's nice to see the beautiful wineries, taste the wines, and not worry about driving. Pickup/dropoff was reasonably close to the cruise pier.

It was our first time in Napa and what an experience. We had such a blast. Our driver Marco was excellent. He took us around, was courteous, knowledgeable and well spirited. Thank you Marco!

The full day trip could have been in four hours…however; the winery tours were nice and delicious! The bus driver was friendly. Not sure I recommend the full day though.

It was a great trip. 3 different vineyards and all had friendly staff. Highly recommend. Just make sure you eat something first.

The tour guide was amazing! I enjoyed being in nature amongst the beautiful vineyards. The tasting gave me a different view on Napa wines. I thoroughly enjoyed a select few. I was not a big fan of California wines at first.

We didn't visit a known winery on only unknown and had not good wines really expensive for just 3 wineries

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I've not visited Napa/Sonoma before and it was a treat. Marco from Tower Tours was an amazing guide.

We had an awesome experience with Silvio, the guy knows a lot about wine, and it was a wonderful experience, even the lunch they provide for us was great.

This was an absolutely great day touring three great vineyard. We learned so much about growing grapes and making wine. The best learning experience was the lesson taught about how to use your senses to enjoy the wine. Our tour guide could not have been nicer or better informed. George gave us so many pieces of trivia about wine and all of the areas along the route. Thank you George ...you were a great in this busty time of year.

Our tour visited 3 wineries: Madonna, Sutter and Andretti. Madonna gave a great basic introduction to wine tasting. Sutter has truly beautiful gardens that are well worth a visit in their own right, and have some nice crowd-pleaser wines. Andretti gave excellent, in-depth information about the Napa region and wine growing in general, and they have a lovely courtyard where you can sip wine overlooking the vineyards. Our tour guide/bus driver was friendly and informative, if a little over-talkative. The whole tour ran at a relaxed pace. The leisurely lunch break in Yountville was excellent. (Lunch itself wasn't included, but Yountville has an array of excellent options at different price points). We particularly appreciated Tower Tours flexibility in letting us stay overnight. Technically this is a one day tour, but they were happy to leave us at Napa at the end of one day, and tag along on the following day's tour bus to get home at the end of the next day. If you are a wine connoisseur, you may want to choose a tour that visits some of the more sophisticated wineries. But if you want a relaxed tour of the valley, interspersed with some nice easy-drinkers, this is the tour for you.

We loved this tour. You get to see the Golden Gate Bridge and views from the north end of the bridge. Then the information and tastings we received were fascinating and helpful. We learned so much...take this tour!!!

enjoyable, visited 3 nice wineries, learned a lot. Driver Bob was very informative and fropped us off were we needed to go.

<p>The bus driver was amazing and very knowledgeable on the history of SF. I went with a group of 6 people we had an great time.</p>

We were picked from our hotel in morning at a given time which saved our travel cost to the pier. The tour guide was very entertaining and friendly and knew the best to offer us. he took us the vineries one better than the other. A must have experience when you visit San Francisco.

Drive George did a good job but the tour was long 9 hr but they needed that time, and the bus was hot. We had 1 hr each at the first two winerys the tasting took 15 min then 45 min in the gift shop. Lunch in Sonoma was nice. If it was not for the stop at Gloria Ferrer winery the day would have been a bust a waste of time. Joe Uch Phila. Pa

I had planned on just going to Napa and seeing the wineries myself, I'm glad I didn't though because I didn't realise the wineries are so far from one another! This tour definitely made it easy to get around and wine taste. There was plenty of wine to taste and the wineries they chose were excellent. I particularly loved Madonna Estate. The guide was knowledgeable however talked a lot sometimes when it may have been nice to enjoy the views. The only real complaint i have which isn't a reflection of the tour operator completely, one couple left the tour at lunch and organised to meet us back at the 3rd winery for tasting. They did not, instead they arrived 30 minutes after we were done with the last winery. The driver had a bus load of 34 people who were tired and now held up by a couple who couldn't keep their word. We should have left them behind, that was incredibly annoying.

<p>Excellent all day tour of wine country. Our tour guide, Willie, made the day very special.</p>

<p>Excellent guide! He was very knowledgeable and entertaining.</p>

<p>This was a good trip..we enjoyed the three wineries that we visited... We thought the lunch stop was a little too long, and instead we could have seen more of the area.</p>

Exciting trip with good visits. Visit 2 out of 3 very commercial. Would rather have a greater focus on production. The guide Marco was super good.

George the very good guide, knows how to speak very well and pauses phonetically speaking very well. It is approved by the Royal English and Spanish Academy. The very boring tour nothing to see... as the title NI FU NI FA says. They should teach you to taste a wine and not just taste and drink it.