Extranomical Tours

What an absolutely fun adventure. We had a group of 8 going on the Muir Woods and wine tour. Anthony was a wonderful guide. He told us things about San Francisco that we didn’t know. He has such a great, fun personality. He kept us on track. Letting us know what we could and should do and how much time it would take. He gave a great commentary about the Golden Gate, Sausalito and the surrounding area. He explained about the wines and made suggestions so we could get the most bang for our buck. He pointed us it the right direction for lunch. At the end, he happily played photographer. In addition, he took our loud, crazy group in stride. If you are considering an extranomical tour, request Anthony— you won’t be sorry.

Went on the total Yosemite Experience and Giant Sequoias tour with my husband and 3 teenage boys. It was just what we wished for. Anthony was our driver, guide, and mother as he put it and he was incredible. If you book this tour you should request him. He was knowledgable and took us to the perfect spots. He even took the time to take the perfect picture of our family in front of the most picturesque backdrop. If you follow your drivers instructions and stick to the time limits he sets in each location, which are generous, you will be fine and nobody gets left behind for the next bus to be picked up. Rules are rules and you just have to pay attention. This tour is not for the lazy. There is a lot of physical activity involved so be prepared. Its a long tiring day but it is well worth it. When we go back to San Francisco we will definitely use this service again and will request Anthony.

Yosemite in a day was a perfect introduction to this National Park. John our tour guide was exceptional with his knowledge, his obvious passion for the outdoors and his general enthusiasm. He definitely deserves full credit for making our tour a wonderful experience for all.

Anthony was our Yosemite tour guide and he was excellent, extremely knowledgeable and provided insightful information on the way to Yosemite and back, especially for me since I’m a local and its always helpful to learn more about the place you live. In addition to live narration, he also provides taped information about Yosemite which helps him to focus on the driving. Some have complained about the size of the van, expecting more of a larger bus, but if size is an issue for you and the van is crowded, you may have concerns, but otherwise I was completely comfortable with the ride.

The Yosemite Tour was well organized and enjoyable. Comfortable bus journey and the guide provided entertaining and interesting stories along the way.

We got the wine lovers tour and it was a disappointment to us. Our driver Daniel was dressed NOT to impress, dirty jeans and not presentable at all. The ride to Napa was not descriptive what so ever. He talked on our ride out of San Francisco and then it was silence from there. The 1^st winery (Frogs Leap) was ok. We had to pay $ 20 ea. for the tasting. You basically walk in, pay and do your own thing. We expected more of an interactive tour. The 2^nd winery (Black Stallion) we chose to pay the $ 15 per person package. This winery was also not personable or interactive. They gave us the wine and had us do our own thing. Daniel dropped us off at the market for lunch and told us he would be back in about 1 ½ hours to pick us up. The third winery (Homewood) was an improvement. This winery was smaller but the guide, Christian, was very interactive with our tour group. He explained all the wines in detail and was very personable. This was a good change form the first two, since we got none of that. The 3^rd winery (Nicholson Ranch) was absolutely spectacular!!! Our guide,
Betty, was awesome. She was super interactive with all of us and she took us all over the vineyard. We went to where the wine is made and also the caves where the wine is stored in barrels. Awesome experience. At the end of the tour they charge you $ 30 per person for the tasting. We didn’t mind paying that for Nicholson Ranch because it was worth it.
Since this was supposed to be a luxury tour we expected much more from Daniel, which we didn’t get. We feel we paid $ 100 per person only for the ride to Napa. The shuttle was comfortable but that was it. We could have rented a car and had a better experience driving to and around Napa.
If you go with this tour company I would say make sure you do not get Daniel.
Keep in mind we are not wine drinkers and we do not have too much knowledge on wines, therefore we expected so much more.

Did a little googling before we headed out West and found this tour company. So VERY glad we chose them. We went to the Muir woods and then took some wine tours in Sonoma and Napa. Roman; our German tour guide, made the trip. He was knowledable and funny. Thank you for making our first expericne of the West coast a memorable one.

Amazing tour of the wine country with Lars who is probably the coolest tour guide there is!
I took the Muir Woods and Wine Country tour and it was great. Lars was very knowledgeable of California history. He was a very cool and very fun guy! I highly recommend this tour to anyone who is going to San Francisco.

Went on a 1-​day Yosemite tour, and was very pleased with Extranomical! We got Vlad as our guide for the day, and he was just great. Provided a lot of interesting information while we were on the way to Yosemite (about 4.5 hrs each way to and from SF), and had a good enough sense of humor to keep us entertained.
He came to pick us up at 6:20AM on the dot, so I appreciated the promptness. There is no restroom on the bus, so we stopped halfway past the trip at a supermarket to go to the restroom, pick up food, etc. Our group was very fortunate as we were the first group of the year to be able to hike the Giant Sequoias! Given that there was still a little snow left and was actually a bit of a challenging hike, Vlad graciously waited an extra 15 mins for a few of us who were still struggling to walk back. He was not so forgiving the next time, however, when we were given 1 hr 20 mins to roam the main Yosemite area (near the lodge), and a couple got left behind (they were running 10 mins late and still no where to be seen).
Overall, I really wished that we could’ve seen a lot more of Yosemite — it’s a VAST park and it really is impossible to cover everything within a day. For the most part, Vlad drove through most of the scenic areas, and he did make a couple more stops for photo ops, but there were still a large number of check points that we missed entirely. Not his fault or anything, but just not possible to do everything in a day.
Towards the end of our trip, Vlad took us to this amazing spot where we got a terrific view of the San Fransisco skyline — a perfect conclusion to the day! Contrary to what some of these other Unilocalers were saying, he was not pushy at all about the tip, and actually mentioned it only once at the last stretch of the trip. Nonetheless, he was a terrific guide and it really showed that he’s passionate about what he does.
Protip — When you go on these tours, please respect your tour guide (and everyone else on the tour) and listen to him/​her when he gives you a specific allotment of time to roam the area. Definitely be mindful of the amount of time you’re spending, because you will be expected to get back on the bus on time!

The day started early real early but our fantastic guide Antony picked me up right on time. He was funny, witty and very helpful. He explained what was coming up and was happy to pull over at the best spots to take happy snaps, even offering to be a selfie stick lol. Yosemite well words can’t even begin to describe how breath taking it really is. The waterfalls and mountains are amazing and I am so glad I got to experience my very first encounter with snow here. All in all ¹⁰⁄₁₀ fantastic. Oh and Antony’s pre recorded commentary was fantastic it was just like having David Attenborough on board with us lol

Our tour guide was Pam and she was wonderful. She took us to the Muir Woods and to Sonoma and Napa Valley to taste at three vineyards. I got my ticket half off through Goldstar and there was no problem with the ticket or disconnect between the two vendors. Bus picked us up right on time at the meeting place and continued to pick everyone else up at their hotels. We stuck to the itinerary and hit every stop on time. Pam was knowledgeable and fun. Gave us great pieces of info about the area and the specific stops.

I would give it just 1 star because of the awesome driver PHILL! We loved him. It was 3 of us and honestly none of us liked it. First of all I booked my ticket way in advance. Sunday hop on hop off and then Saturday wine tour and I booked my hotel for Saturday night because I dint want to drive back to San Jose after drinking all day, they called me 3 day before the trip to say how they have to switch my days be use they don’t have enough people for Saturday wine tour and I said sure no problem and I made arrangements. Then obviously there was no point staying in city Saturday night so we went home next morning we drove back and called them to let them know we won’t need a pick up from hotel anymore and will show up to their warehouse instead because why would I park in the city and pay $ 50-​$ 100 anyways so we get to the place and this rude lady opens the door I ask her if it’s safe to park and she kept on saying how they don’t take any responsibility and all and I get that but still you can give me a better option like hey there’s a structure close by or something I am spending $ 400 on this trip and this is what you have to say then she opens the door and my husbands parking, and I told her he’s coming he’s parking and she shuts the door leaving us outside in cold saying oh ring the bell again when you ready !!! Really!
Anyways then we find out that the driver was changed last minute which left poor phill to figure out what we gonna do today honestly I know he tried his best but we went to 4 and on the website it says we going to go to 6, and out of those 4 we only liked the first one .
This is was fail as a wine tour I would only ever take a trip with this company of I know phill is driving

The Muir Woods and Wine Tour is the easiest and best way to tick a bunch of great things off a San Francisco to-​do list. The wineries are excellent, the lunch stop in Sonoma is perfect and getting to Muir Woods before the crowds is key. Plus, the logistics are so easy– from pick-​up to drop-​off and everything in-​between. It’s definitely worth it! Anthony was by far one of the best tour guides I’ve ever had: zero cheesiness, just a really cool guy who wanted to make sure we all had the best time possible.

The experience of Yosemite in itself is majestic, grand, extraordinary. Me and my wife did the tour with your company. We only came a night before in SFO. So we were tired and after travelling to Yosemite again got tired but when our bus stopped at the tunnel for the magnificent view of el-​Capitan. All the tiredness was vanished. The experience we had of Yosemite was fabulous we will come again in near future to USA just for Yosemite.
Our experience was good only because of mother nature. Our tour guide wasn’t helpful.PAUL. Both me and my wife had the feeling as if he didn’t wanted to work that morning and he was little ticked off. He was bossy and pushy.
When he stopped at the tunnel for us to get the pictures of el-​Capitan. He blew the horn twice and start moving. We saw 2 people on the side of the road waiving their hands saying STOP. He didn’t stop there. He made them run a little bit and after opening the door. He dictated «guys when I honked twice. You come running towards me coz I have to stick to the schedule. Otherwise you are on your owe»
On the way back, when dropping all the passengers to their hotel. He was cutting the corner by telling guests «oh! You can get down here and from this red light walk down to left for 2 blocks for hotel will be on your right» aren’t you suppose to drop us off at the pick up point? Go figure!
He did the same thing when he dropped us off at the gift shop «make sure you are here by 2pm otherwise I will leave you and you are on your own» come on dude relax we know what you have to go through. Either restructure your attitude and body language or find some other job that suites you.
And then you expect to get tips… well i don’t think so buddy.

My sister and I took the wine lover’s tour this past weekend with Frank. He was AWESOME! He picked us up at the location specified and he was early.(Bonus Points) On the drive out to Napa we got some great history on San Francisco that I didn’t know. We arrived at our first winery at 10:01AM, most of the wineries open at 10AM. Frank was friendly with all of the wineries we visited, he gave us some first timer tips for the tasting and wineries and made sure we were taken care of right away. We visited 5 wineries all together and stopped at the Oakville Grocery for lunch which was a gem. I honestly can’t wait to take another tour with him, he was a lot of fun and very knowledgeable! Thank you Frank, you made our Wine Country Tour a memorable one!

We recently did the San Francisco City tour with Phil as our driver, tour guide/​guru on all things Frisco. Phil took us to all corners of the city and all the major sights all the while giving a passionate insightful and informative commentary all about the history and the people of this wonderful city. Phil managed to maneuvure his bus thru the streets and rain without ever semming to get caught in the traffic, I think it was his ability to distract you with his witty commentary that made the whole day flow. We had an awesome day that despite the rain was a highlight of our time in the US. Thanks again Phil, I would have no hesitation in recommending Extranomical tours. Cheers.

The trip to Yosemite national park was amazing, and Vlad made it fun. We got to see awesome sights. I would recommend it to everyone.

the pickup location wasn’t very convenient and super early but the tour itself was great.

My b.f. and I went on the Muir Woods and Sonoma Wine Country Tour and we had a BLAST! Our tour guide was very good! He was very informative without being TOO BORING! Hearing a little about the history of San Francisco and seeing the Golden Gate bridge on the way into Muir Woods was great! Never knew much about Muir Woods, except that that’s where they filmed Rise of The Planet of the Apes with James Franco; awesome movie by the way. We were dropped off at Muir Woods for about an hour and a half to 2 hours to explore and learn more about the woods. As we entered the woods, all we thought was wow! It was beautiful being there! Trekking the trails and following the crowd was at times frustrating but it was still nice just breathing in that FRESH air! Oh to be surrounded by all those trees and breathing in that air was just so AMAZING! As you go further into the trail there was a little gift/​food shop in the middle of the woods where you could stop by and get yourself coffee or something to eat. If not, you could just keep exploring the woods and following the trail till you get to the end and that’s when you wait for your tour bus to come back. After we got back in the bus we were on our way to the wineries in Sonoma. We stopped at three wineries along the Sonoma Highways and we got to taste some of their exclusive wine. We finally completed the tour coming back to stop at Sausalito. We got to look at some of the shops and walk around the area. It was really nice and quaint. This tour was pretty AMAZING.

Went on an amazing tour today with Extranomical Tours. Our tour guide was Phil, who is amazing. He gave us historical/​educational information about San Francisco, as well as providing scenic and historic sites. We were scheduled to visit Muir Woods, and Phil assured we were there early enough to avoid the massive crowds which do visit the site. By the time we were leaving the area we observed visitors walking a half mile or more after parking their cars along the road. Right call Phil. Since we were ahead of schedule, Phil took us off schedule to visit a couple of other scenic sites since San Francisco was having a couple of amazing fog free clear days. When you want to get out of the city contact Extranomical Tours, and be sure to request Phil.

This was an amazing tour with an awesome tour guide, PHIL!!!
My friends and I did the Muir Woods and Wine Tasting tour and we loved it. We arrived early to Muir woods and we were able to appreciate the monument before it got too packed and noisy. We even saw a deer!
We stopped at 3 wineries and sausalito. We would have loved to be there a bit longer since our lunch took forever and we weren’t able to walk around. So I would recommend to grab something fast and walk around.
Overall amazing!

Yosemite is such a majestic place, it’s worth the long ride from San Francisco. Vlad the driver/​tour guide is affable and knowledgeable, sharing interesting tidbits along the way. He made the trip fun.
HOWEVER, we were greatly disappointed with the tour bus. For such a long drive (4 hours), they should provide a bus with a lavatory. Yes we stopped 2 hours into the drive, but in my opinion the lack of a bathroom was unacceptable. Also the suspension on the bus was horrible, bouncing us up off our seats throughout the ride. For the amount of money paid for this tour, the we walked away with a less than favorable view.

We did the Muir Woods and Wine Tasting Tour with Anthony as our tour guide and he was AWESOME. Not only was he knowledgable about the city but he was super friendly and very informative.
At the end of the tour we stopped off a scenic spot for some breathtaking photos of the Gold Gate Bridge.
We would definitely recommend this tour for anyone coming to SF.

Muir Woods and Sausalito Tour **** San Francisco Half Day Tour *
Muir Woods and Sausalito Tour
****
Our guide was fantastic, providing interesting information, photo opportunities, and also adjusting the itinerary to add unexpected stops. We first went to the Palace of Fine Arts, with enough time for a short walk and photos. Then on to Muir Woods, which has beautiful, historic redwoods and sequoias, with scenic walking trails as challenging as you want them to be. Our guide then added an unplanned stop at a scenic vantage point overlooking Muir Beach. Last stop is downtown Sausalito, with its nice shops along the water, a bite to eat, before catching the ferry for the ride back to San Francisco. Make sure to ride outside for the views. This tour was a great experience.
San Francisco Half Day Tour
*
We were very dissatisfied, but Viator credited us some of our money back. We thought we would be on a tour bus but it turned out to be a van. In addition, the air conditioning was not working and there was an unpleasant odor. The tour guide had an odd personally, for example going on about the addiction and other issues in the Tenderloin district. We got off at the Painted Ladies stop and did not return.

Anthony was an amazing guide! He had us laughing the whole time and made the trip so much fun. The beauty of Muir Woods combined with the gorgeous wineries made for the perfect day trip!

First off, their customer service is awesome! I may have been too excited booking this tour and accidentally booked the wrong date. I booked and noticed after their hours of business, and also noticed that the date was within the timeframe that they claim to stop handling reschedules and cancelations… so I panicked. When I did finally get a hold of them the next day they were super understanding and fixed my problem immediately.
And now for the tour itself — I booked the 1-​day Total Yosemite Experience tour with a pitstop at the Giant Sequoias and thought it was great! I would highly recommend this tour if you a) only really have a day to allot to Yosemite, b) don’t want to drive, and c) it’s your first time! Our guide/​driver was really great in areas b (obviously) and c. I learned a lot of fun facts about areas we passed on our way to Yosemite, and throughout the park, without it becoming too field-​trip-​y or boring. We got to see a handful of the landmarks I had bookmarked (Bridal Veil Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls… probably a few more?), and realistically seeing everything I wanted to see would require a longer trip which we didn’t have time for this time around, and had two «free time» sessions where we could hike through the Giant Sequoias and a true free time to do whatever we wanted, which I spent «hiking» (honestly just walking) up to Yosemite Falls and enjoying a snack while enjoying the view. On the way there and back there is a pit stop at a little strip mall area with a grocery store, convenience stores, fast food places, small restaurants (I liked the taqueria for dinner: P), and of course, restroom breaks! Luckily we didn’t hit any traffic so since we had a bit of extra time, our guide took us to Treasure Island on our way back to San Francisco for some really nice far away views of the city.
You will obviously be on a set schedule, so if you’re looking to leisurely look around and soak everything in at your own pace this either may not be for you OR you may want to take a look at the camping overnight option! Tips: wear sunscreen, wear bug spray, dress in layers!

The tour to the wine country was excellent. Roman was a superb guide and driver with a huge sense of humor and knowledge about the area. He got us going on schedule and moved us to three wineries and Muir Woods so smoothly that the day went by very quickly. This may have been our best ever guided tour and we plan to do it again even for San Francisco, my home town. Roman treated everyone with a high degree of courtesy and seemed to be the kind of guide that could keep up the fun all day. We highly recommend Extranomical!
A few days later we took another Extranomical tour but it was actually conducted by one of the partner companies, Gray Lines, and it was no where as good as the one run by Extranomical. This Monterey/​Carmel trip was more like a regular bus tour and the driver/​guide was adequate but no personality like Roman. The transfer point to get tickets at the Wharf office was a pain which made it a much longer day. It was definitely not as much fun as the one to the wine country and we will be careful next time we book to check who is actually conducting the tour that day to make sure the Extranomical folks will be on the bus.

Really happy about the Yosemite 1 day tour I did yesterday !
The tour guide was great and the tour maximize the time there !
Merci beaucoup !!

The Wine Lover’s Luxury Wine Tour was great.
Booking the tour was easy. We did it with a short notice and found the phone service helpful in confirming our spots. The tour bus arrived on time and it was only the 4 in my group and 2 other people in the tour: a small group as promised.
The driver was very knowledgeable about San Francisco and Wine Country. He was also very flexible and the tour adjusted as we made suggestions. We wanted to do both Napa and Sonoma so we did both. We wanted more pinot noir so we went to a winery that specializes on pinot noir. We wanted more Italian-​style wine and were accommodated. We made it to 5 wineries that were all different and interesting. The tasting fees ranged from free to $ 25. Our stop for lunch in Sonoma Plaza was a nice break. Everyone was starting to feel the wine after the first 3 tastings.
The tour is not inexpensive at $ 130 (does not include lunch our tastings), but it worked very well for our group. It was great for a day tour without having to worry about overnight accommodations and designated drivers.
I would do it again, there are always more wineries and vineyards to visit!

We loved our trip to Yosemite! We did the 1-​day trip and our tour guide, Antony was excellent! We didn’t get to see the Sequoias and that was a little disappointing because we thought mid-​May would be warm enough but there was still snow on the ground.
Antony also had the great idea to stop at a grocery store before going into the park to get food for lunch. Saved us tons of money!

Went on the Yosemite/​sequoia trip yesterday and was definitely not disappointed — didn’t feel like 14 hour round trip at all.
As a young, female solo traveller, I worry about how comfortable I’m going to feel on big trips like this but everything was perfect, the group was a mixtures of friendly families and other solo travellers, so would recommend this to other people like myself.
Highlights for me were:
— driving through cowboy towns like oakdale and groveland and seeing the actual Wild West!
— endless interesting facts and stories from our tour guide (I want to say his name was lars but I’m not 100% sure, but I know he was from Holland)
— very comfortable mini van, even though it was completely full
— lots of stops for taking amazing photos
— the 2 hours we got to explore around Yosemite falls
— the drive home, where we drove through amazing scenery and stopped across from the city to see the skyline during the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen!
The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because it would’ve been nice to have longer with the giant sequoias and to have seen more of the bigger ones that Yosemite has to offer

I’m always a little skeptical about group tours, but my partner and I had a great experience with Extranomical! We did the Muir Woods and Wine tour. Booked it online using a discount code. We were the first to be picked up downtown, and our tour driver did a great job of narrating and telling jokes during the drive. Muir Woods was gorgeous, and it was definitely worth it to get there first thing in the morning.
For wineries, we went to Mayo, Jacuzzi, and Cline. All were very nice and had delicious wine! This was a wonderful way to spend our limited time in the Bay Area.

I used Extranomical back in 2009 for a Sonoma Tour. We had such a great time that I decided to use them again recently for a dual Muir Woods tour and a San Francisco «City Tour».
The Muir Woods tour can be described only as a Super Shuttle From Hell. In fact, this might be an understatement. Cramped 14-​passenger van that has seen way better days making all kinds of round-​about stops in downtown San Francisco. Not a comfy way to travel, especially when you’re paying this much. But that wasn’t what bothered me most. Our driver seemed to lack all concern for passenger safety. This was first evident in his driving around downtown SF – erratic, pulling in front of buses, running red lights. But — the kicker was when were driving through the winding, cliff-​side roads close to Muir (the kinds with no guardrail and 200 ft drops on the side). Our driver seemed to have no concern for checking his phone and digging in his backpack for his charger components while going into these dangerous curves. It was irresponsible and put all of us at risk.
We were so happy to get out of the van at Sausalito that we all did a little happy dance.
The «City Tour» was on a much larger mini-​bus, but still one that seemed to need work. The AC didn’t function and the guide’s loudspeaker was totally jacked. the 14 passengers (of which we were a part) waiting to be picked up at Fisherman’s Wharf at 1:40 were also pretty irritated when we had to wait until 2:15 for the driver to arrive. Salt on the wound was that the driver didn’t want to leave because one passenger was late and had to wait for permission to leave from «main office’. Nevertheless, the guide redeemed the day with his great knowledge of SF. He was friendly, easy-​going, and took special requests from passengers.
My bottom line — Extranomical completely lacks in quality, especially for what you pay.