San Francisco Self Guided Tour

We Love San Francisco and You Will Too

• Home  |
• FogCityFog Blog   |
• Tour Information   |
• Free Advice  |
• Calendar  |

Different People Love Different Cards

Go to the Go San Francisco Card web site and you'll see testimonials from happy customers.

Go to the San Francisco CityPass site and you'll see the same thing. Both companies have been in business for years and do good work.

Here's two things you don't see on their sites:

• the testimonial from someone who figures out they should have bought a CityPass instead of a GoCard
• the testimonial from someone who figures out they should have bought a GoCard instead of a CityPass

That's where we come in: we like both cards; they're similar but they're not the same. We'll help you pick the best one for you and provide a link to so you can buy that product. Helping Visitors to San Francisco make good choices to have a great time is what we do at this site, in fact it's all we do at this site.

Our entire staff is people who live in San Francisco and love San Francisco. We provide free advice to people who want to come up with the San Francisco Tour that is just right for them, not some 'one size fits all' average tour. You'll be personalizing your 'just right' tour with the GoCard or CityPass: you'll decide what to see and when to see it. That's what our site is all about. That's why our site is called San Francisco Self Guided Tour.

We Compare Options So You Don't Have To

San Francisco is such a great city to visit that there are lots of different ways to see the town. You could sit down and compare the CityPass card to the 1 day Go San Francisco Card, and the 2 Day Go Card, and the 3 Day Go Card on up to the 7 Day Go Card. Then you could compare these options against the Top Ten Tourist Attractions in San Francisco. Then you could buy guide books or the internet for tips and advice, and then you could pick the right discount card for you. It would cost you time and money to do all that . . .

. . . or you could just read the rest of this page.

Here's What We Have For You

• The Quick, High Level Comparison: Go San Francisco Card vs. San Francisco CityPass
• When the Go Card has an advantage
• When the CityPass has an advantage
• A note about CityPass, Go Card and San Francisco's Top 10 Attractions
• Specialty Comparisons: what's best for children? for museums?

All Of This Is Free: You Can't Lose

San Francisco Self Guided Tour's service is absolutely free.  We don't care which discount card you choose, we just want you to have a good time and recommend us to your friends.

If you buy either the Go Card or the CityPass through our web site you pay the same price as anyone else but we get an affiliate payment from the company you buy from. If you don't buy a Go Card or a CityPass, or if you buy it through someone else, we get nothing.  There is never any cost to you.

All we ask is that, if you decide to buy either the CityPass or the GoCard, that you buy it using one of the links on this web site

Attractions:

• CityPass has six major and six minor attractions. You could do all of them in 3 Days, especially if you do not take too long at the museums.
• The Go Card has 48 attractions to choose from. You probably couldn't do them all, even in 7 days. Some of the attractions are clustered together within San Francisco and you could hit 5 or 10 of them in a single day but others are so time consuming or spread out you might only do two in a full day.
  
  

Time:

• CityPass attraction tickets are good for nine days while the accompanying Muni Passport is good for seven days.
• The Go Card is available in 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 day versions.
  
  

Cost:

• CityPass is $59 for adults, $44 for kids.
• The Go Card for adults ranges from $49.99 for one day to $154.99 for 7 days. The rate for the matching kids cards is $34.99 to $94.99. Sometimes discounts are available on specific cards.
  
  

Savings:

• CityPass: If you took advantage of all the discounts on the CityPass you would save somewhere around $50. Because of the relatively small number of Attractions on the CityPass and because they are concentrated in San Francisco, you should be able to easily get all of these savings if you have at least 3 days to sight see.
• Go Card: How much you save depends on how many things you do and how many places you go to. Savings of $10 to $20 are easy to get with the short duration cards and you can save $50, $75 or more with the longer duration cards. There are almost 50 Attractions on the Go Card and, while many of them are in San Francisco, others are spread through the Bay Area: you won't get through all of them. There are two general points about saving money with the Go Card:
• The first is that, in general, you will save more with longer duration Go Cards (5 or 7 day) than with shorter duration cards (1, 2, or 3 day) because, while the longer duration cards are more expensive, they cost less per day than the shorter duration cards.
• The second is that, again in general, you will save more money if you hit a lot of Go Card attractions that are located close to each other rather than fewer attractions that are either individually time consuming or far apart.
  
  

Locations:

• All CityPass attractions are inside of San Francisco and easily accessed with public transportation.
• Go Card attractions and tours are spread from well North of San Francisco, in wine country (about a 50 mile drive), to as far South as Carmel (over a hundred mile drive). Many of the Go Card attractions are in San Francisco and can be accessed with public transportation but many of the ones outside of San Francisco are not accessible using public transportation or even using regularly running tour busses.
  
  

Public Transportation:

• CityPass includes a Muni Passport for buses, Muni Trolleys and Cable Cars. The Muni Passport gives you unlimited rides on public transportation for getting around the city
• The Go Card does not include a Muni Passport but you can buy a Muni Passport separately, plus you have some other options for getting around.
  
  

Overlap:

• Almost all the major CityPass attractions are included in the Go Card package and several of the minor ones are too..
• Several of the top ten things to do in San Francisco are either free or not included in either package: for instance going down 'the crookedest street,' Lombard Street, or visiting the Coit Tower.

• If you have a car and want to see the whole Bay Area, not just San Francisco, the Go Card is the right card for you. It includes attractions in wine country to the North, Oakland in the East Bay, and Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel to the South.
• Similarly, If you want to see wine country in addition to seeing San Francisco, the Go Card is the right choice. The Go Card includes a bus tour to wine country. If you have a car, there are also a number of wineries and wine country attractions covered by the Go Card.
• The Go Card includes passes to two major amusement parks: Six Flags and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. If you want to go to these, or send the kids to them while you do something else, the Go Card is the right pass for you. Note that neither of these parks are accessable from San Francisco with public transportation, this is really a 'if you have a car' option.
• If you are going to be in the San Francisco area for 5-7 days, the sheer number of things available on the Go Card, or at a discount with the Go Card, will help keep you busy. There are a lot of Go Card attractions in the city and many more places where the Go Card will get you a discount at a restaurant or store. If you are a 'busy' tourist who like to go to a lot of places and see a lot of things, the Go Card is a good fit.
  -- If you are using the Go Card in San Francisco, I recommend getting a Muni Passport for transportation. Muni Passports get you unlimited rides on the Muni system, which includes the Cable Cars. You can get Passports for 1, 3, or 7 days for $9, $15, and $20 respectively. There's more information on Muni and the Cable Cars in my Top Ten Tips section.

• If you are focused on just San Francisco and want to avoid needing a car, CityPass is a good choice. All of its attractions are located in San Francisco and you can easily get around the city using the Muni Passport.
• CityPass makes a lot of sense for two scenarios: The first is if you only have three days or so and don't want a car. The number of Attractions is about right and the Muni Passport will provide transportation.
• The second is if you have a longer stay but want to take your time, either because you want a slower pace or perhaps because you are visiting people in San Francisco and want to spend time with them. The fact that you have 7 days to use your CityPass means you can do a leisurely 'half speed' visit to San Francisco without either paying for more attractions than you have time for or having to hurry through anything.

• 7 Open Attractions: Chinatown, Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street (the 'crookedest street in the world'), the North Beach neighborhood, and the Palace of Fine Arts are all Top Ten attractions in San Francisco. None of them have an entrance fee and all are easily accessible by public transportation (i.e. Muni) and, depending on where your hotel is, sometimes even by walking.
  
  
• Golden Gate Park: Golden Gate is a mix of park, which is free to the public, and specific Attractions, which often have an entrance fee. The California Academy of Arts and Sciences (covered by CityPass), the de Young Museum (covered by both CityPass and the Go Card), and the Conservatory of Flowers (covered by the Go Card) are all in Golden Gate Park. There are a number of other Golden Gate Park attractions that are not covered by either CityPass or the Go Card. The park is quite large and readily accessible via public transportation (Muni).
  
  
• The Cable Cars: Both CityPass and the Go Card cover the Cable Cars. It is, however, easier to ride them using a CityPass Muni Passport. With the Muni Passport you can ride them as many times as you want, from anywhere you can get on. With the Go Card you can only ride once per day and you have to pick up your ticket at one of three specific places. Honestly this is good enough for a visit to the city, but it's easier with a Muni Passport.
  
  
• Alcatraz: Alcatraz is a 'must do' for any first time visitor to San Francisco. Unfortunately, you cannot get confirmed reservations for the Alcatraz tour when buying either the CityPass or the Go Card on line. Please note that there are lots of tours/cruises that sail around Alcatraz but you only want the one that actually lands on Alcatraz Island and has the accompanying walking/audio tour. Here's what we recommend:
  
  If you are thinking about buying a Go Card, either just buy the Alcatraz tour separately or think about planning a day without using the Go Card. For instance, you could take one day and go to Alcatraz and some of the 7 Open Attractions (listed above) and then buy a 2 Day Go Card instead of a 3 day Go Card.
  
  If you are thinking about a CityPass, we recommend booking your Alcatraz tour separately. You can go through a rather involved process to buy a CityPass through the Alcatraz people, but you cannot do this on line.
  
  In either case, it is a good idea to book the Alcatraz tour well in advance. Tours routinely sell out, especially weekend and holiday weekend tours.
  
  
  

• Museums: The 'big 5' Museums of San Francisco are The de Young art museum, the Legion of Honor art museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Asian Art Museum, and the California Academy of Arts and Sciences (which reopens 27 September 2008). Both the Go Card and the CityPass offer you 4 out of the 'big 5.'
  
  The Go Card includes all the art museums, but not the California Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Go Card also includes The Exploratorium, a sort of 'hands on' science museum oriented towards children but interesting for all ages. The CityPass (starting 27 September 2008) offers SFMOMA and the California Academy of Arts and Sciences and a choice: you can either go to the Exploratorium or go to both the de Young and the Legion of Honor.
  
  The Go Card also includes 17 other museums, 3 different botanical gardens, and 2 historic ships (though several of these are outside of San Francisco and difficult to get to without a car). Many of these are very small and specialized, like the Beat Museum in San Francisco, but some are large out of town museums, like the Oakland Museum of California. If you are the kind of person who wants to see a lot of museums click here for more specialized information on the Go Card and museums.
  
  
• Kid Friendly Attractions: As already mentioned, CityPass includes the Exploratorium, which is very child friendly, and the California Academy of Arts and Sciences, which should have a variety of new exhibits interesting to children and the Aquarium by the Bay (a small, but interesting, Aquarium).
  
  The Go San Francisco Card also offers The Exploratorium** and the Aquarium By The Bay**, does not offer the California Academy, but additionally offer the Six Flags and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement parks, the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf**, the Zeum at Yerba Buena Gardens** ( hands-on art and technology exhibits for the whole family ), the Chabot Space Center and Planetarium, The Bay Area Discovery Museum** (indoor/outdoor family museum at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge), and the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. Note that the attractions marked "**" are in San Francisco while the others are in the Bay Area and require a car to get to.
  
  If you are planning a very child friendly visit, the Go Card has more places to go and things to do that are oriented towards children. If you want to use the Go Card primarily for family fun activities, click here for more information.
  
  
• Tours: Both CityPass and the Go Card include a discount on rental for GoCars (small, two person, GPS guided tour vehicles) and on bike rental for bicycle touring. The Go Card, however, also includes a motorized trolley tour of the city that takes you through the key 'tourist' areas and sights and is also a 'hop on, hop off tour,' which means you can use it for transportation to and from these tourist areas as well.
  
  The GoCard also includes discounts on a variety of other tours. These include tours to Sausalito and Muir Woods (a redwood tree grove just across the Golden Gate Bridge in the North Bay), tours to Carmel and Monterey, and tours of San Francisco and Sausalito on Segways.
  
  
• Boat Cruises: CityPass includes a one hour bay cruise. The Go Card has two different, but similar, bay cruises. The GoCard also has a whale watching cruise that departs from Monterey, which is quite a ways from San Francisco and would require a car to get to.

What Would You Like To Do?
Buy A Go San Francisco Card?	Buy A San Francisco CityPass?	Bookmark This Page So You Can Come Back Later (works for Delicious, Stumbleupon, and other services)

Check out more information on the two options and think it over. These links include notes on how well the two options stack up against the Top Ten Things To Do In San Francisco and some Pro's and Con's for both the Go Card and the City Pass.:

• If you want more information on the Go Can Francisco Card, click here
• If you want more information on the San Francisco CityPass, click here
  

| Problems With The Site? | Copyrights and Legal | Privacy Policy | Copyright Information

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web San Francisco Self Guided Tour