Alegro Private Tours

I decided last minute to book this tour. In the beginning of the tour the driver took us to the painted ladies then the second stop was the Castro district. He proceeded to refer to same sex couples as «they» and «them». He also said to watch out if you go to a restaurant in this area because «they» will kiss in front of you! He clearly did not know that my wife and I were on our HONEYMOON! I decided not to make a big deal about it on the tour but it was very uncomfortable.

There are not enough words that one can say to describe Pep, the owner. I will start with incredible, amazing, the best! She took us on the most incredible tour of San Fran and even helped me plan our entire trip over to the city. She was sooooooo knowledgable of the city, the history, the art, the culture everything. There is no other tour that anyone should use.
Pep, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!

We spent the day with Pep in late October in the Napa area. Friends treated my Wife and myself and other friends to a day in wine country for my friends 50^th B-​Day. What a treat that was. Having Pep along for the ride made it that much better. We visited 3 wineries plus stopped for a wonderful lunch at Auberge. She really knows her stuff. The amount of details about the wineries, the way grapes are grown, wine is produced and on and on is amazing. Highly recommend her service. She is great too with the picture taking.

Pep was awesome! My husband and I are on our honeymoon here in San Francisco and it was our last day. We still didn’t get to see a lot of things or experience as much as we could. We found Pep on Unilocal & she picked us up @ our hotel, and took us to places we couldn’t imagine. Our whole honeymoon has been great but after our private tour we took with Pep it made it Awesome. I recommend her to anyone & everyone. She is very educated on the historical sites and this whole city. She took pictures as a courtesy with our camera. It was classy, private, & worth every penny.

— – SUMMARY
PROS
–After denying us to participate in the large group tour, Pep did offer us a free upgrade to a private tour (after we proposed sharing our negative experience with Better Business Bureau, Unilocal,Google, etc)
–Pep hired a driver (Roland) who drove us safely and on time to/​from Sonoma
CONS
–I had to keep e-​mailing Pep to confirm our reservations
–Though Pep responded to many e-​mails quickly, she also forgot to respond to many other e-​mails (especially when she is giving a tour)
–Alegro Private Tours were unclear and inconsistent about the Google Offer policy (e.g. weekends excluded, need sufficient amount of people to run tour, reservations are not guaranteed)
–Pep told us that tours were sold out despite our reservations made 4 months in advance
–Alegro Private Tours gave us a tour in Sonoma when we requested for a tour in Napa
–3^rd wine tasting was not free (even though the Google Offer advertises this as included)
–tour did not include any educational experience as advertised (we were just driven from point A to B, etc)
RECOMMENDATIONS: I recommend NOT booking a tour with Alegro Private Tours and just going to the wineries yourself (and ask a friend to be a designated driver). This way, you will not feel time pressured and can save some money!
— – DETAILS
In April 2012, I saw a Google Offer for an 8-​hour Napa or Sonoma Wine Tasting Tour for $ 69/​per person. Because I saw Unilocal had some good ratings for Alegro Private Tours, I felt comfortable in buying this Google Offer for me and my friend (who was going to visit from the east coast).
In April 2012, I contacted
(Pep Cearnal) to make reservations so that my friend could confirm her travel plans. I had a lot of back and forth e-​mails with Pep (mainly initiated by me). At first, Pep asked us to offer 3 optional dates. As time passed, I asked Pep to confirm our reservation for one specific date. Initially Pep confirmed that one specific date but, after I reconfirmed it with Pep, she said that we could only reserve for Saturday or Sunday (she should have told us when I confirmed the first time and also should have put this in the fine print of the Google Offer). At this point, I was annoyed but quickly got over this little detail as long as we could get a tour when my friend was visiting. I chose a weekend day but, several days before that weekend date (when I contacted Pep to reconfirm), Pep told me that all tours were sold out that weekend and offered me a «deal» to pay $ 130 more for a private tour. At this point, I was OUTRAGED that my reservation I made 4 MONTHS AGO was completely disregarded and now I was asked to pay more on top of the Google Offer. Although my friend and I complained that we were mislead, Pep did not initially accommodate us and recommended that we either take her generous offer to pay $ 130 more for a private tour or refund our Google Offer. However, after my friend and I let Pep know that we would report our experiences to various venues (including Google, Unilocal and the Bureau of Better Business), Pep considered our situation more seriously and eventually got us a private tour with no extra charge.
The winery tour itself was okay. We had a good driver Roland (who partners but does not work directly for Alegro Private Tours). I was disappointed by several things including the following: (1) the tour was for Sonoma (when we requested for a Napa tour), (2) there was no real tour or educational experience (we were just driven from winery to winery) and (3) the last winery actually charged for wine tasting (this Google Offer advertised that ALL 3 tasting are included).

I just went on my second tour with Pep and had yet another fabulous time in wine country. Pep does such an amazing job coordinating your wine country experience. We bought a Google Offer, so for $ 69 we were driven to 3 wineries (all tasting fees included). Not having to drive or pay for the tastings? Um, it is a no brainer to go on this tour. I highly recommend going on her group tour. You get a great experience at a slightly lower price.
Pep is so knowledgable about wine and she knows all of the wine makers. It is nice having someone lead you around wine country since it is a little overwhelming otherwise. She also goes above and beyond and buys cheese for you to try. She is a generous and friendly woman and will give you an amazing wine country experience. Her tours are super flexible and she is always open to suggestions!

Based on the other reviews, I would’ve loved to go on this tour. Unfortunately, they were unreliable and unhelpful when we tried to book our trip. We emailed to schedule a tour, but Pep was curt, didn’t provide any useful information, and did not respond as she said she would. Then we called, but she was rude and told us to… email her. Awesome, thanks Pep. 13 email exchanges (4 of them reminders), 2 phone calls, and 4 weeks later, still nothing.
For being a tour company, Alegro gets a big thumbs down on customer service.

I really enjoyed pep and our driver Alvin. We got a lot of bang for our buck. She took us to five wineiries in the sonoma/​healdsburg area which I thought was more than most tours. Shg introduced us to symphony wine on the bus, she brought bread, cheese and chocolate nibbles. All in all it was an enjoyable day and I appreciated her genuinely caring attitude! The day was a blast!

Pep was very friendly and professional, and went out of her way to make sure we had a great time. She included lots of extra nibbles like chocolates and cheeses, which was a nice touch. She was attentive but not overbearing. I haven’t done any other tours in Sonoma for comparison, but this one was a treat.

This was by far the best private tour service I have ever experienced! My friends and I went on a girls weekend away and booked a napa tour. My friends had never been to Napa before and I had many times. I booked a private tour which included a SUV that comfortably fit 4 of us and a driver. We got picked up promptly at 9 am from our hotel and was at our first winery before 10. The driver, Her name is Pep, encouraged me to choose my favorite winery’s and offered to book the reservations. She also gave us suggestions for lunch and had us choose one so that she could ensure we get reservations for lunch if we needed and then she called the restaurant. She took pictures of us all day and emailed them to me first thing the next day. We had an incredible day and owe a lot of it to Pep and Alegro Private Tours! Try them! They/​she rocks!

very knowledgable