San Francisco Whale Tours — Attraction in San Francisco

Did the the 5pm golden gate tour with my husband, 2 year old, 4 year old, 7 year old, and 10 year old. Overall, fun and insightful tour. Beautiful views!! I strongly suggest the golden gate tour. If you don't see any whales it's still a fabulous way of seeing the city and golden gate bridge. Breathtaking experience.

Kids loved it. I would not suggest taking a 2 year old though. He was cold and fussy half the time. He did enjoy it alot, though. The crew was friendly and helpful. We appreciate and respect their respect for wild life and nature. I would definitely recommend the tour. They are a great group of people. Experiencing the golden gate from beneath it was breathtaking! We saw many whales and one even swam under our boat and popped up the other side super close to the boat. It was incredible!

Now for the negative. As with all things, there's a bad Apple in every group. Some people are rude and pushy. So many adults stood in front of our kids and pushed them aside. Even after saying something they didn't stop. They could've easily seen the same thing standing behind my 3-4 foot child. Personally, I feel the boat is allowed too many people for its size. It was crowded and hard to see alot of the time. That being said, we were still able to see many whales.

Also, at the end of the tour the crew mentioned giving tips if we enjoyed the tour. They definitely deserved tips. Great crew. My kids were excited to tip the crew too. We gave them each some money and told them to put it in the bucket and come back to us so we could safely exit as a family. When my 4 year old went with my 10 year old and gave the tips to the crew she happened to be in the way of the exit. I was a few feet away with several people in front of me. Some lady grabbed my young daughter and placed her on the ramp to exit and began pushing her down the ramp so my daughter wasn't in her way ( who the heck does that??!!). My older child followed trying to keep her safe and get the lady to stop. By time i got over there my two daughters were at the bottom of the ramp on the dock and scared as people exiting kept them blocked in on the edge of the dock between the boat. I was hollering and telling them to not move and wait for us. My daughter almost fell in the water between the boat and the dock several times. 2 crew members were down there and didn't do anything. People kept exiting and wouldn't let my daughters come back up or let us exit to them. So all I could do was yell to my kids to reassure them and pray nothing happened. It was terrifying. Yes, my kids are my responsibility and I understand that completely. Had this lady NOT PUT HER HANDS ON MY CHILD and caused this situation everything would've been fine. HAD THE CREW STEPPED in and demand people wait a minute then the issue could've been resolved quickly. Instead I had two girls traumatized and my husband and i fearing for their safety. If the lady hadn't been long gone by time we exited she would've got a piece of my mind and possibly a talk with the police for endangering my child.

Overall, the tour was amazing and other than the scary event at the end, we all enjoyed ourselves. I like to believe the crew members were just unaware of the situation and that's why they didn't step in...who knows. I hollared for help several times and asked someone to make sure they didn't fall in. But nothing was done. I didnt dare leave my spot where i could at least see them until my husband could get down the ramp to them. For the end reason, we will not tour with them again. But otherwise, I recommend them highly as long as you keep your children away from heartless pushy tourists who disregard the safety of children. Keep your kids close...like hand in hand and all should be fine. I accept partial responsibility for letting my child get 3 feet away from me. Maybe I'm too accustomed to small town living...

My husband and I went on the Golden Gate Whale Watch with San Francisco Whale Tours on Saturday, July 12 (12pm trip), and we absolutely loved it! From start to finish, the experience was smooth (aside from the choppy water on the way out and back), well-organized, and exciting. We appreciated how punctual and efficient everything was—the check-in process was quick, the staff had the passenger list ready, and we boarded right on time. One of the highlights even before we left the dock was getting to see Bear, the adorable and famous dog on board, who was the main reason we booked this tour in the first place (we saw Bear on TikTok and wanted to meet him in person)! The crew brought fantastic energy—everyone was clearly passionate about their work and genuinely excited to share the experience with us. That enthusiasm was contagious. The captain was both informative and funny, balancing important safety guidelines with humor and warmth. Once we were out on the water, the crew did a phenomenal job spotting whales and explaining how to find them—pointing out spouts and directing our attention clearly so everyone got a great view. We saw tons of whales! It was thrilling, especially since I’d only been on one whale tour before and hadn’t seen any at all (partly due to seasickness, which I thankfully avoided on this trip). This experience completely surpassed my expectations. The boat itself was as comfortable as you can hope for on the open ocean, and I really appreciated how the crew managed movement on the boat in a safe, considerate way—opening up areas gradually and maintaining a respectful distance from the wildlife. There were even fun little moments, like watching a bird draft behind the boat. We were also impressed by the emphasis on environmental conservation throughout the trip. The educational tidbits about local wildlife and ocean stewardship were engaging without being overwhelming. All in all, this was a top-notch experience. We would absolutely recommend San Francisco Whale Tours to anyone interested in seeing whales and enjoying a fun, respectful, and professionally-run...

10000/10!!! After researching best tours for months, we went with this tour and it was the best decision we could have made. We are extremely grateful to Captain Joe, and crew members Katie and Nicole and the most important members: Oso and Bear, the father and son German shepherds who navigated us and found the whales. When me and three friends went on the tour we didn’t expect anything, especially since the weather was quite foggy and windy, with extremely low visibility. Nicole and Katie are extremely knowledgeable and they love their jobs, which made all the little stories and lessons about the marine and the whales more special and entertaining. We didn’t expect how interesting the journey to the whales would be and honestly, thanks to the crew, even if we didn’t see the whales, we would have been just as happy, satisfied and eager to take the tour again.

We ended up seeing not just one but three whales, two of which were a mother and a calf and WOW!!! No image gives them justice! There creatures are majestic and otherworldly! They were curious about us and they swam up right to the boat and were staring at us, they spent more than 30 minutes just swimming around the boat and poking their anoints out to see who we are. We have taken some Orca tours in Washington but NEVER have we seen these animals swim up so close to us! I am especially grateful to the captain for being very careful and cautious around the whales (I know all the people working in the industry try to protect the whales anyways but still i was very happy to see how much the crew cared for them) and also for prolonging the trip a bit so that all the passengers could enjoy the whales. So thank you Joe, Katie, Nicole, Oso and Bear so the most otherworldly and memorable experience we could...