How to Plan a Group Architecture Tour of San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge is perhaps the most iconic thing in San Francisco. It is more of a symbol for the city than a mere landmark. However, all over San Francisco are other pieces of architectural beauties that are just as awe-inspiring as the Golden Gate Bridge. If you are a fan of architectural wonders, you should visit the range of beauties that SF has to offer at least once in your life. One good idea would be to invite your friends or family and turn it into a road trip that also serves as a learning experience. If you teach an architecture or related class, you could also take your students on an architecture tour of the city to inspire their young minds. But while all that is easily said, it is not just as easily done. There are a million things you need to organise and plan if you are arranging for a trip to San Francisco. One good place to start planning this trip would be to book the perfect transportation and accommodations. Half of your routes, traffic and coordination issues would be solved if you just book a San Francisco charter bus for travelling around the city.

Here are some guidelines to follow if this is your first time organising a trip like this:

Early to book, early to shine

When you are planning a group trip, it is always a good idea to organise everything in advance. This includes booking tickets to SF, checking the venues to see if they remain open the day you are planning on visiting them, booking the bus type for the tour, chalking out the places you actually want to visit while you’re there and making every other financial decision. At least take a few weeks to plan the entire thing and do the bookings. Also, remember to check in with everyone’s schedule to make sure they are free when the trip is supposed to happen.

Choosing the hotel

You can choose hotels that are right in the middle of the city or the ones that are a little closer to the suburbs. The city ones will technically be closer to the landmark. However, you don’t have to select a hotel that is too lavish since you only have to spend like two nights there. Anything that is comfortable and does not burn too big a hole into your pockets should be fine with everyone. Also, places away from the city are usually more peaceful and relaxing as well cheaper than ones near, say, the Union Square, so you can make your choice accordingly.

Choosing the perfect tour Bus

For a proper tour of the city, you will need to choose a bus that caters to your needs properly. For that, you have to go through some catalogue of buses to choose from and select the one that would be ideal. There are a number of websites that provide bus rental services. For the kind of trip you will be on, a minibus or a coach bus would be perfect.
Minibuses can hold around twenty people and are ideal for shorter tours. They have comfortable seats with access to Wi-Fi. Coach buses are better if the journey is longer and involves overnight stay. It can accommodate bigger groups of people (around sixty people), has reclining seats and on-board lavatories. Both have air conditioning in case it gets too hot on the way.

Places to visit

There a number of architectural beauties in SF that you can’t overlook easily. One of the firsts would have to be the Golden Gate Bridge spanning across the San Francisco Bay. The view from the bridge is terrific and you wouldn’t want to miss it. You can visit the Alcatraz island with the prison of the same name has been open to tourists a little over forty years ago. In almost all architectural places there is a tour guide who tells you about the history of the building. You can also visit several places like City Hall, War Memorial Opera House, Palace of Legion of Honour, which is a fine example of neoclassical architectural design, and the Transamerica Pyramid. You can also ride the cable cars, visit Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf for some good sightseeing and souvenirs.

San Francisco boasts of a rich cultural history with some of its Victorian Style houses still preserved and modern architecture standing equally tall. It will be a fascinating trip and a one you will remember for days to come.