Redwood Forest Day Trip: San Francisco Adventure
3.4
8 Ratings
San Francisco
Embark on a thrilling day trip from San Francisco to the enchanting Redwood Forest. Ride the historic steam train, visit Santa Cruz Harbor, and relax on the picturesque Capitola Beach. Unforgettable memories await!
Duration:
10 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Roaring Camp - Travel over trestles, through towering redwood groves and up a winding narrow-gauge grade to the summit of Bear Mountain as conductors narrate the history of Roaring Camp, the railroad and the forest. In the 1880s, narrow-gauge steam locomotives were used to haul giant redwood logs out of the mountains. Roaring Camp’s steam engines date from 1890 and are among the oldest and most authentically preserved narrow-gauge steam engines providing regularly scheduled passenger service in America.
What's Included
- Professional bilingual (English and Mandarin) driver-guide.
- Admission ticket to Redwood Forest Steam Train included.
- Flexible transportation based on guest numbers.
What's Not Included
- Food and beverage.
- Personal expenses and other expenses not listed in the Cost Includes.
- Gratuities .
- Booster seat ($10.00/person/day) available upon request
Additional Information
Come see the Redwood Forest Steam Train, ticket provided.
Take a trip to the Santa Cruz Harbor!
Discover the charm of Capitola Beach.
Create endless memories on a day you’ll never forget!
Itinerary:
San Francisco → Redwood Forest Steam Train (entry ticket provided, 45 mins) → Santa Cruz Harbor (60 mins) → American Abalone Farms (60 mins) → Capitola Beach (60 mins) → San Francisco
-
- Customer under 18 years old MUST be accompanied by at least one adult. In consideration of the guest safety, pregnant women are only allowed to join the tour if pregnant for 24 weeks or less by the end of the trip.
-
- Please be sure to provide accurate and complete information upon booking. This includes name, gender, valid contact information (preferably a mobile phone), accurate tour location, etc., This helps to avoid any errors upon the reservation because errors affect travel. Any losses due to inaccurate or invalid information will be at your own cost and the company will not be held responsible.
-
- Any guests that have already purchased their own tickets or have a city PASS will not be able to use it on the tour. Please understand that you must purchase the admission tickets through our company in order to participate. For the optional admission tickets, you will reserve it from the tour guide directly. The tour guide will make this arrangement for you. As a tour group, it is highly suggested to make a reservation together rather than individually in order to get into an attraction. We greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Thank you again for choosing to tour with us!
-
- During the actual trip, the tour guide or driver has the right to appropriately adjust the tour sequence, stay time or assembly time of scenic spots according to the weather, traffic, and other conditions to ensure the smooth progress of the trip.
-
- If the scenic spots are temporarily closed or closed on a particular holiday, etc., the tour guide will adjust the appearance according to the actual situation or replace the location with another scenic spot to ensure the richness of the itinerary. The opening hours and capacity limits of certain attractions and national parks will be subject to change from time to time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the operating hours and capacity restrictions have an impact on the itinerary, it shall be regarded as force majeure. Thank you for your understanding.
-
- For state law, Children under the age of 6 require a booster seat in order to participate in the tour group(Price is under exclusions). Please make a request when booking the itinerary so that we may have the booster seat ready in advance. Please understand that the violations and fines are borne by the guests themselves. There is no need for a booster seat for bus travel on the day of travel, and the fee can be refunded to the guest.
-
- Normal health conditions are required to participate and enjoy our full itineraries. Contact us for specific policies or information regarding passengers with disabilities who do need to provide advance notification to make a reservation. JUPITER LEGEND Corporation and Ctour Holiday do not guarantee a wheelchair lift-equipped bus and/or seating availability to disabled passengers without prior notification and approval.
-
- We may alter these terms and conditions from time to time and post the new version on the website. It is your responsibility to check it on the website regularly and prior to making a reservation. Unless specifically stated otherwise herein or required by law, the supplier shall not be liable for any consequential, compensatory, indirect, incidental or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with the performance of its obligations under these terms and conditions.
-
- This product is a group activity. If you choose to leave the group, please inform in advance, and obtain the consent of the tour guide. You need to sign the departure agreement form and the unfinished part will be regarded as your own abandonment. The group fee will not be refunded.
-
- Gift items in the itinerary that cannot be given away due to force majeure factors such as traffic and weather conditions or personal reasons may be subject to change. Please understand that the fees will not be refunded.
Location
291 Geary St
Geary Street
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.4
(8 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Mubeenam2020
Aug 10, 2023
Great half day tour - This is a great tour to go with a family since we have younger kids and didn't have the energy or time to do extensive hiking and sightseeing. Our tour guide, Wu, gave us some historical information on the areas we visited as well as the best spots on the beach. We loved seeing the sea lions at Santa Cruz. Capitola beach was amazing. We got to see surfers, enjoyed a bite to eat and enjoyed the beach scene.
At the Redwood Forest (The main reason we took this tour), we got to ride on a steam train! The sounds and sights were amazing. I don't think I'll ever get an experience like this steam train. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip up the mountains and we got to see some of the oldest trees in the world. Talk to the blacksmith, he was very friendly!
We stopped at a strip mall to get some lunch and then we went to Abalone Farms. I think it was a decent spot to look around for a few minutes but it can be cut out of the tour so we could have spent more time at either of the beaches or Redwood forest.
With this tour, we hit many of the sweet spots we wanted to visit on our trip to San Francisco. The drive to and from is also very scenic and you have plenty of time to get a quick nap in between locations.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
484suyang
Oct 27, 2022
Yy - My God, this is a perfect journey. The tour guide from downtown San Francisco is Ryan, and the tourist train arrives at Red Shirt Park in an hour. After an hour of train travel, I saw that the redwood trees all over the mountains are more than a thousand years old. This tour guide told me that the next two beaches were perfect. We had lunch at the first beach. There was an abalone factory in the middle. We didn't know what it was. The tour guide said it was to experience the life of fishermen. , the tour guide said that it is a place with a history of 140 years. I saw a colorful hotel here with a few friends. It is really great. It is recommended that you take a look! The tour guide is very good and caring. I also asked him about other itineraries of their company. I will definitely participate. It's a perfect journey. Thank you Ryan
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Roderick_m
Jul 21, 2022
Great trip! - Anthony was an awesome guide and driver! We learned a lot and he took care of us. Also the steam train was a lot of fun for the whole family and the Redwoods are magnificent! We highly recommend it.
Review provided by Viator
Jasonws8848fi
Feb 27, 2022
Absolutely AMAZING trip! - Absolutely loved this trip! Guide was amazing with great service, patience and very knowledgeable. I must say I enjoyed the trip from the start to finish, highly recommended when you are in San Francisco and looking for a day trip getaway!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Julia_f
Dec 11, 2022
Good Trip But Transfer Horrendous. - We were so looking forward to this trip and can't overstate how stressful the start to the trip was. We were at our pick up point just before 7.15 am, for a 7.30 am pick up. Driver was fifteen minutes late and no one told us that we would be joining a shuttle pick up for people going to Las Vegas before being dropped of nearly three hrs later in a car park in Santa Cruz. The drive was horrendous with the driver constantly on his mobile phone, checking paper work, for the first time ever I felt so unsafe in a vehicle. Stopped twice on a motorway narrow hard shoulder to check google maps making us late for what we know now was the meeting point as he went house to house to pick up passengers. No explanation given to us, we kept asking what time our trip would start and he kept given us false updates. Fruit was our driver in the car park and he was so different to the driver who dropped us of. A careful driver and was so relieved to know that he would be taken us back to our hotel. We would of enjoyed this trip so much more if we hadn't gone through what we did before boarding the Redwood train and then Santa Cruz. I do believe that Viator should look into this trip as transfer to the main trip was horrendous.
Review provided by Viator
Mary_w
Oct 23, 2022
Was NOT as was described AND NEVER told us of the change - You booked us on a Chinese tour without prior warning . It was not a Viator . The driver spoke primarily Chinese and there was no discourse on history or background of any of the places we went to visit . The o Pt reason it did not get a 1 star was because the train ride was only awesome experience . I will follow up with a phone call to Viator . The guide was mearly a driver not a GUIDE . Not worth the money like previous tours through this company . I was Never Warned that we were placed with a Chinese tour company . We are English speaking and could not enjoy the experience
Review provided by Viator
Doug
Sep 8, 2023
AWFUL…. Miss information on TripAdvisor, Huge disappointment, Big waste of money, No national park - Our tour guide was awful. His English was so bad we couldn’t understand most of what was said.
And his microphone didn’t work .
There were two other couples on the tour. Both of them were of Asian descent as where are tour guides I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing but when our tour guide gave us a time to be back, my daughter and I were proximately 10 minutes early both couples were already on the bus, and our guy was fussing at us and telling us to “hurry up get on the van” like we were late, finally at the third stop when he was driving, partway down the road WITHOUT US I was frustrated enough I fussed back at him and say “you told us 2 o’clock” and he looked at me and he looked at his watch and he said “yes it is 1:52. We have to go now” absolutely ridiculous.
The description of the tour is NOT accurate on TripAdvisor.
You don’t go to redwood national park apparently that’s in the northern part of California several hours away from San Francisco. I did not notice because I’ve never been in California before I just picked what I thought was a really cool trip apparently NOT.
The final icing on the cake was our tour guide told us because we booked through Tripadvisor. He was owed a 12% tip.
Yes he actually told us that I gave a tip because he was training someone, and I’m not a jerk, good Lord I hope that person listens better Oh and as it turns out, he never gave the guy any of it.
I was furious , the train ride was cool but I put in hours of blood, sweat and tears to get to the train ride. I would give this a zero if I could.
Debbe North Carolina
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Slfam
Jul 2, 2022
Don’t bother…. - I am on this sham of a tour as I type this. I have never experienced such a terrible waste of time and money traveling ever. And have tried to get assistance from Viator and the touring company (Jupiter Legend) since this morning with zero actual help.
Started the morning by being picked up in a severely beat-up minivan by gentleman who speaks absolutely no English. He had one other couple in car (they don’t speak it either). I thought he was taking us to meet the tour group, as we had requested not to start in San Francisco as we’re staying in Santa Cruz. But couldn’t confirm due to language barrier. I did check to see if I had accidentally booked a tour group for their dialect, but my booking documents do all indicate it was an English-speaking tour. Unfortunately, made it hard for all of us.
But no, he was not taking us to meet the group. Realize when he takes us to 1st stop that he intends just to drive us around. He buys one group ticket for the redwood train and hands it to me. Making me responsible for the other couple while he leaves. Seriously. What? Train was fun, though. Just awkward having to keep the other couple in tow. For both parties.
2nd & 4th stops, literally just dumped off at the harbor and wharf and told to come back in 45 minutes to an hour. No context. No explanation. No maps. Just get out. We grabbed a quick lunch at the harbor and just waited to get back in the car at the wharf. At this point, just want to go back to hotel.
But 3rd stop takes the cake. Abalone farm. Which no longer even does tours. So we drove out there to find this out and left. I obviously don’t owe for any tickets for that as they clearly didn’t buy any. How do you not know they stopped giving tours? As a tour company??
So we leave and immediately pull to side of road for 10 minutes. Think we’re lost, but don’t know. Can’t understand what the conversation is. Finally get back on road for the bummer of the 4th stop.
Now waiting for the other couple to show up to get back to hotel. This was a very expensive waste of our last day. Won’t be using Viator or Jupiter Legend again. And will be contacting both for a refund. I’ll update review if either ever bother to respond.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
