The Go San Francisco Card
Go San Francisco has a large array of options both inside San Francisco and outside of the city in the surrounding area
Go San Francisco Cards get you free admission to a wide variety of tours, events and places in the Bay Area. They are available in 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 day versions with prices from $49.99 to $131.74 (for adults, children's tickets are less expensive).
The strength of the Go San Francisco card is the variety of options you have. There are over 50 things to do in and around San Francisco, including Tours, Active Experiences (like Bike Rentals and Amusement Parks), Museums, Aquariums and Gardens, Historical Sites and Ships, and Wine Tastings.
- For information oh how to pick between CityPass and the Go San Francisco Card, click here.
- For information on San Francisco CityPass, click here.
- If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and you are primarily interested in using the Go Card to see museums, click here. If you are interested in using the Go Card for Family Trips / Activities, click here.
What Do You Get With The Go San Francisco Card?
It’s a credit card sized card that you carry which includes admission to the San Francisco area’s most popular attractions. You do not need to pre-purchase tickets, deal with the hassle of tear-out coupons, or carry cash. Using a Go San Francisco Card is simple and easy.
- Go to a participating attraction, restaurant, or shop.
- Present your Go San Francisco Card.
- You are granted general admission at the attraction (no cash changes hands) or get a discount automatically.
The Go Card is valid for 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 days from day of first use, depending on the card. The Attractions come in several major groups::
- Boat Cruises: it includes two different San Francisco Bay cruises and a whale watching cruise, which is out of Monterey. You can also get an Alcatraz ferry and tour but it is not standard (please see the Most Important Advice section below)
- Family or Kid Friendly Spots: It includes two major amusement parks, three hands on science museum type of venues and a wax museum. These are in San Francisco and surrounding towns (see the map on this page).
- Museums: The Go Card covers admission to all the major, and many of the minor, museums: roughly 22 in all. It also covers 3 different botanical gardens and 2 historic ships. These are in San Francisco and surrounding towns (see the map on this page).
- Tours: The Go Card includes a cable car ride, bike rental, two different guided walking tours, a bus tour of wine country, a bus tour of San Francisco, and discounts on self guided tours using the GoCar vehicle (there's more about the GoCar later on this page).
- Wine Country: As mentioned under tours, the Go Card includes a wine country tour and also 9 different wine tasting and/or winery visits.
The Go San Francisco Card comes with extras:
- A guide book for the attractions. This is available as a free download from their site, whether you purchase the Go Card or not (click on any of the Go San Francisco Card banners to get to the site).. This highlights the Go Card and the additional offers that come with the Go Card.
- There are a few free appetizer / desert coupons for area restaurants.
- There are a number of discount coupons for restaurants and stores.
- There are also discounts on other Gray Line Tours, including a Muir woods tour, and Segway Tours of San Francisco and Sausalito.
Go San Francisco Card Costs:
- One Day Card: Adults $49.99, Children (12 and under) $34.99
- Two Day Card: Adults $74.99 ($37.50/day), Children $44.99 ($22.50/day)
- Three Day Card: Adults $99.99 ($33.33/day), Children $54.99 ($18.33/day)
- Five Day Card: Adults $134.99 ($27/day), Children $74.99 ($15/day)
- Seven Day Card: Adults $154.99 ($22.14/day), Children $94.99 ($13.57/day)
Most Important Advice for the Go San Francisco Card
My highest recommendation for visitors is to go see Alcatraz (see my Top Ten Tourist Tips list). A tour of Alcatraz can be included in the Go San Francisco Card, but you must be very careful to follow the correct procedures for reserving and claiming your tour. Even then, your tour is not guaranteed during peak demand times so you need to talk to the tour operators to make sure you pick a good time and day of the week to maximize your chances of getting on the tour. You also have to order it through the Alcatraz tour people, not the normal Go San Francisco web site.
It's a hassle so, depending on your itinerary, you might just want to arrange an Alcatraz tour separately and do it on a day that doesn't count towards your Go Card.
Map of Go San Francisco Card Attractions
Here is a 'full view' map showing all the attractions.
View Larger Map
This is a public Google Map. You can search for Go San Francisco Card From www.SanFranciscoSelfGuidedTour.com on Google Maps or you can just click here to be taken to it.
The Pros and Cons of the Go San Francisco Card
Pro's:
- The number and variety of attractions on the Go Card is very impressive. It's everything from museums to wine tasting to amusement parks. There is definitely something for everyone using the Go Card.
- The Go Card includes a large number of indoor attractions. These include art museums, and a wide variety of other museums, but also include more kid friendly options like the Exploratorium, the Wax Museum, and Zeum. This means that you will have a number of options in case of rain.
- Speaking of kids: the Go Card includes a large number of kid friendly options. There are some that are unique to the Bay Area like the Exploratorium, Zeum, the Wax Museum, and the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz. There are others that are more generic, but still fun, like the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Six Flags amusement parks (both outside of San Francisco). This makes the Go Card a good choice for families trying to keep kids entertained.
- The Go Card includes bus tours of San Francisco and of Wine Country. You can also get discounts on other bus tours and on tours on Segway scooters (one in San Francisco and one in Sausalito). This makes the Go Card a good option for visitors who want to see a lot without having to do too much walking.
- The Go Card includes a number of cruises, including whale watching (which leaves from Monterey), and a number of ship tours, including the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, docked in Alameda in the East Bay. If you are a ship/boat enthusiast, this is the card for you.
Con's:
- No public transportation is included though you can remedy this with a Muni Passport purchased separately.
- The Go San Francisco Card attractions are very spread out. From the farthest Northern attraction, in wine country, to the farthest Southern attraction, in Carmel, is about a 150 mile drive. Many of them are simply not accessible without a car.
If the Go San Francisco Card is more than you need or if you are only looking for weekend's worth of attractions in the heart of San Francisco, check out the San Francisco CityPass and see if it has what you are looking for.
CityPass vs. the Top Ten San Francisco Attractions
| Attraction | CityPass Notes |
|---|---|
| Alcatraz | The Go Card can include a ferry to and tour of Alcatraz, but is complicated to set up. You might want to book Alcatraz separately.
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| Cable Car | You can get one Cable Car ride per day but you have to pick up the tickets at specific locations.
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| Chinatown | Chinatown is obviously free but you may want public transportation as I mentioned above.
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| Coit Tower | Easy to get to but you may want public transportation. It's also nice to either walk up the Filbert steps to the tower or, even better, walk down the steps straight into Levi Plaza.
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| Fisherman's Wharf | Easy to get to but you may want public transportation. The GoCard includes discounts you can use at Pier 39. It also includes admission to the Aquarium by the Bay, which is at Pier 39, and admission to the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien, a World War II cargo ship, at Pier 45.
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| Golden Gate Bridge | To go to the bridge itself you will want public transportation or a car. You should also have a good photo op from the Bay on the ferry to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate cruise, or the SF Explorer cruise. Another way to do it is to rent bikes, ride across the bridge into the North Bay, and then take the ferry back from Sausalito or Tiburon (the Go Card includes bike rental but not the ferry ticket). If you have good weather and you're a good cyclist, this last one is a great option.
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| Golden Gate Park | The Go Card provides admission to the de Young museum and the Conservatory of Flowers, both in the heart of the park. Golden Gate park is another area where you will either want public transport or a car. There is some good parking, reasonably priced, for the de Young.
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| Lombard Street | Easy to get to but you may want public transportation. One good option is to take the Powell-Hyde Cable Car, get off at the top of Lombard and then just walk down Lombard St. into North Beach.
This is another great photo op.
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| North Beach | Same as Chinatown: depending on where your hotel is you should be able to walk but you might want public transportation. Driving is doable but parking can be tricky.
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| Palace of Fine Arts | Another attraction where you probably want public transportation or a car unless you are doing a bike tour. If you are biking from the Ferry Building or Fisherman's Wharf to go over the Golden Gate Bridge, you will bike very near to the Palace of Fine Arts and it will be a short detour.
The Exploratorium, which is included in the GoCard, is also right next to the Palace of Fine Arts.
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Notes on Using The Go San Francisco Card
- 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 want to see both the de Young museum and the Legion of Honor (another art museum), you must see them on the same day. Going to the de Young gets you free entrance into the Legion of Honor, but only on the same day.
- If you go to the Legion of Honor and you like to walk, you can walk around Land's End to Point Lobos and then on to the ruins of the old Sutro Baths. If you get to the Sutro Baths site, there is a pretty good diner right there or you can walk over to the Cliff House, a San Francisco institution for oceanside drinks and dining
- I recommend at least one ferry ride while you are in San Francisco, especially if the weather is nice. If you bike over to Sausalito or Tiburon, you will wind up taking a ferry back (the bike rental is covered but the ferry ride is not). You can also take either the Golden Gate Bay cruise or the SF Explorer Cruise. Any one of these options will get you your ferry ride and good photo opportunities for Alcatraz, the city, and the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Taking a tour of the city isn't for everyone, but it is a good way to look around and I recommend it, especially if you don't have much time in the city. The Go Card has two options: a more conventional tour or a GoCar tour.
- The conventional tour is a one hour narrated tour aboard a replica of a motorized San Francisco Cable Car. It drives through San Francisco’s most scenic neighborhoods. You can hop off to explore on your own in Chinatown, Ferry Building or Union Square, and then hop on again when the next trolley comes by. This is the Gray Line Trolley Tour.
- The GoCar tour is done in little, three wheeled scooters that seat two and take you on a tour using GPS directions and audio information about the city. You get a half hour tour free if you have two people who both have Go Cards but you will probably want more time. You may think this is either great fun or something that makes you look like an idiot or maybe both. Watch the Video below if you're curious. - The Go San Francisco Card also includes a hefty discount on the Gray Line tour of Sausalito and Muir Woods, the later being one of the last groves of giant coastal redwood trees. If you want to see these iconic trees during your visit, think about this option.
- Consider having one day of your visit be a 'non Go Card day' where you visit Alcatraz and do one or two other things that are not included in the Go Card, I'd suggest walking the Barbary Coast trail. This might allow you to get a cheaper Go Card, with a day less time on it, while simultaneously getting you a good walk through the city and the highly recommended tour of Alcatraz.
- Take a look at the Google Maps: you can see how Go Card attractions are in three major clusters: one in wine country, one San Francisco, and one in Oakland/Berkeley. There are also some attractions in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Carmel to the South. If you are just going to be in San Francisco, you can pick up a Go Card and a Muni Passport and do quite a bit of sight seeing without a car. To take full advantage of the other discounts, you'll need a car, although you can take the bus tour of wine country..
The Completely Gratuitous GoCar Video
GoCar Note: Most people seem to really enjoy the GoCars but there are two things to watch out for.
- Check your GoCar and make sure the GPS is operational and set for the correct language. If you have problems, return the GoCar immediately and be very insistent that you need a fully functional car or you want all of your money back.
- Be careful about trying to take a GoCar up a steep hill, especially if you have two adults in it. The older GoCars in particular can have problems with hills and people have had to get out and push on some of San Francisco's steeper hills.