86% Review for Tour 2-110 - 3-Day Santa Barbara - Solvang - San Francisco - Silicon Valley - Stanford University - Yosemite Bus Tour
By: Sajag Porwal | Mon Oct 21, 2013 at 09.10 PM
The above mentioned tour which I took with Tours4Fun (T4F) was one of the best tours I had done. It had been a very memorable experience for me in terms of management and places covered.
To begin with pre-travel experience, I booked this t..our through website and during the course of booking I do had few queries which were resolved promptly by the T4F customer service department.
Also, they were pro-active in informing the change in the Day 3 itinerary (change to Monterey Bay instead on Yosemite) because of government shutdown. I was quite impressed with all this, though still apprehensive about the tour.
On the day of the tour, we had pick-up from the location specified on time.
The bus was comfortable and the tour guide (Kelvin) and the bus driver were very friendly and courteous. They were very helpful overall.
The places covered in the tour were same as mentioned on the itinerary (except for day 3 because of reasons mentioned above).
On day 1, we started from LA and went to Santa Barbara beach where we were given ample time, so that we were able to go to the end of the pier and return. Next crossing the scenic beauty of the area, we went to the beautiful town on Solvang which was built in Danish style. It was a very good place and we had lunch there only.
Around evening, we reached Silicon Valley area and saw offices of some of the major corporation. Subsequent to that, we visited Stanford University. After this, we stopped for dinner and then reached our hotel by 8.30. We got the same hotel as was mentioned in the itinerary. The rooms were very spacious and comfortable. We enjoyed our stay there for 2 days.
Day 2 started with visiting the Lombard street which was just amazing. After this, we were taken to the Golden gate bridge which was again a wonderful experience. Pier 39-45 was our next stop where we had almost 2 hours at our disposal to have lunch, do some shopping and of course, sightseeing.
We opted for both bay-cruise and city tour. Through these tours, we got to see almost all the attractions in SFO. The tour guide and driver also took us to another attraction (which was not planned) when one of the planned attractions was closed due to some temporary problem. Post this, we went for some shopping and dinner in the SFO Chinatown where though the restaurants were predominantly Chinese, we could find other restaurants / cuisines also of our choice.
On Day 3, we started early in the morning and went to Monterey bay area and visited the beautiful golf course of the world. The scenic beauty of the route impressed me quite a lot. By evening, we reached LA and subsequently our drop-off location comfortably.
There were stoppage every 1.5 - 2 hours so, there was no food / restrooms related problems for anyone. The stoppages were on places where we could find different kind of restaurants and could have food of our choice.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. It was well managed and well planned and gave a good coverage of SFO attractions. Though some people may find it a bit difficult to understand the heavy accent to the tour guide, but that is a minor part as compared to hassle free, well managed tour you are getting.
Highly recommended. I would definitely be taking another tour with T4F in near future.
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Oct 15, 2013 Peteevans
We did the 7 day Southwest tour visiting Zion, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley and The Grand Canyon. This was a truly unforgettable experience not only due to the amazing locations visited but because of the profession..alism of Khriss our tour leader. Everything was so well organised and nothing was too much trouble for him; he also treated everyone as an individual. He shared his passion for all the areas we visited with fascinating information and loved being asked questions! His enthusiasm was infectious; his 15 years of experience as a tour guide was apparent. The small group aspect of the tour allowed for flexibility for not only the group but for individuals in it. Unscheduled 'detours' could also occur such as our van joining in a Route 66 parade in the town of Seligman, Arizona!
We were in the U.S. for just over three weeks, fully occupied with touristy things each day (visiting Las Vegas, Los Angeles, driving the Pacific Coast Highway to stay in San Francisco) but our week on the road with Bindlestiff was the highlight of our whole trip.
If you are a bit worried about camping...don't! The tents and mattresses give you problem free sleeping...and it's fun. Whatever tour length you choose you are going to have a truly wonderful experience.
Thank you so much Khriss, thank you so much Rachel. Peter, Susan, Tony.
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“Truly excellent experiences, from A to Z”
Sep 1, 2013
I booked two day tours (ghost cities and Death Valley with Kerry) and the three-day tour of Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Monument Valley, and Great Canyon National P..ark (with Vernon). All of these tours were excellently prepared and organized, and paved the way for a truly enjoyable human experience, with the help of a very lively and pleasant group on the three-day tour as the ultimate blessing. Both Kerry and Vernon were, as persons, not only knowledgeable, but also very responsible and fun to travel with. The booking process on the phone was extremely easy. I warmly recommend the tours!!
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100% Truly amazing experience- National Parks Tour
By: Anonymous | Thu Sep 26, 2013 at 11.01 PM
“National Parks Tour”
Sep 13, 2013 Victori_H
Truly amazing experience, well organized by Bindlestiff, could visit a few parks within a short period of time. The parks and canyons are breathtaking, and the tour facilitates the visits ..in a very efficient, yet friendly and delightful way. Loved Bryce and Antelope Canyon, such a great tour! Highly recommend the experience.
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100% “7 day southwest tour - memories for a lifetime!”
By: Anonymous | Thu Sep 26, 2013 at 10.59 PM
Sep 16, 2013
The 7 day southwest tour (Zion Nat'l Park, Bryce Nat'l Park, Monument Valley and Grand Canyon) was an amazing experience, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Our tour guide, Vern, was a knowledgeable, world-trav..elled leader who made our tour fun and kept us organized and on-time. The scenery we experienced on this tour was breathtaking. Hiking into the Grand Canyon was definitely an achievement, but experiencing the serenity and peacefulness of Monument Valley was the unexpected (but welcome) highlight. Don't let the camping aspect turn you off. Each campsite had bathroom and shower facilities, and even wifi Internet. All you need is a warm sleeping bag (depending on the time of year), good-sized container for water (camelbaks are a good idea) and comfortable hiking shoes. This tour is great for anyone who loves the outdoors and the beauty of nature. Bindlestiff is a smaller tour company that really focuses on quality and customer satisfaction and I would highly recommend booking through them for a tour like this.
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This very competitively priced 6 day tour from Denver packed a great deal in, allowing us to see many of America famous sights in just a few days. It was very well organized, with a great tour guide and a very safe driver, and we couldn't ..fault them in any way. The days are quite long, and there are some early starts, but we really enjoyed the experience, and were lucky to have good weather as well.Read full review
My family booked in advance from Israel (parents + 2 kids). The price is not cheap and you should not forget to bring the additional fees with you (attractions + driver/tour leader fee). It's not easy to calculate the cost paid on the bus. ..The tour was successful, and Vivian, our Chinese/ English tour leader did her best. The bus tour was relatively convenient. Recommend the pick-up at Parsippany, NJ(free parking, coffeshop/ supermarket). Weather was splendid (August 19th, 2013).Read full review
In the second half of May 2013 we did an incredible 3-days tour of National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon) starting from Vegas. Our guide was Emmet, a guy extremely gentle, well-informed and also an excellent driver. Our.. locations were absolutely strategic and very comfortable. I higly recommend this experience for all tourists, including non-american ones (yes, I'm italian... :-).
I hope I can do it again soon, many thanks.
Justin
Visited May 2013
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100% Fantastic all round trip of 3day camping tour of grand canyon, bryce canyon, antelope canyon, zion and monument valley.”
By: Anonymous | Mon Aug 26, 2013 at 04.43 PM
My sister and I were going to book another tour with another company but thought the attractions would be too rushed luckily we found this company and it was excellent value for money. We weren't sure if we would be able to fit so much in ..3 days but it worked out fantastic we got to see so much with enough time at the places and our guide mike was full of so much knowledge and great stories and gave us pointers on where the best walking trails were and even gave us pointers for the rest of our trip as it was our first time to the states. We loved the fact it was a small group and Mike made the group feel like we were apart of his family or close friends. He also gave us an option of going to antelope canyon and organized it all for us at last minute. We also stopped at route 66 and at the las vegas sign. Mike would also stop if we asked, for other great photo opportunities. The places we went to eat were also really good and they were local businesses. I would definitely recommend Bindlestiff Tours to anyone as it isn't just another company looking to get money out of people like big companies they take pride in helping people to get the best value and time spent at the canyons and having a great time! It was the highlight of my 3 month trip to the USA.
Visited April 2013
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Thank you so much to Rachel, Vernaroo and all the team at Bindlestiff Tours. Those three days absolutely blew my mind, it was jam packed with action and adventure and there was certainly never a dull moment. Our guide was a super guy, incre..dibly easy going yet professional and was able to accommodate for everyones needs. I couldn't recommend this trip enough, it was a great way to see a huge amount in a three day period. Read full review
Tour was as described, no surprises. Some of the hotels could have been a bit better but not too bad overall. Guide and driver were very good and the itinerary was well planned out. Great deal for the price!
By: Heinrich Schmettkamp | Tue Aug 13, 2013 at 10.31 AM
We booked from Germany and that was a really great tour, 3 persons. But we had to pay 190 USD for tickets per person and we had to pay 24 USD for guide and bus driver. So we had to pay 642 USD extra - pricing is not transparent. If you book.. by internet this must be clear - we thought driver and guide is included. Great tour but price is not cheap!! Read full review