My aunt from Chicago was in town last week so I was racking my brain trying to plan an itinerary for the week. She was staying with my sister in the Bay Area so we planned trips to San Francisco, Napa Valley and Sonoma, Monterey and Carmel. A tour of San Francisco is always a must for somebody who has never been to the city. I have had amazing experiences with limo companies and discovered that they not only rent limos, but cars and SUVs.

Since there were a total of 5 on the trip to San Francisco, we rented a 7-passenger Chevy Suburban from a company that provides limo service in San Francisco. The rate was $85/hr which included everything–tip, taxes and mileage. So it was a pretty good deal. We did a 4-hour tour and got picked up at my sister’s home in Oakland. We headed across the Bay Bridge, stopped at Treasure Island on the way to catch a view of the City and the Bay Bridge. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is even more beautiful at night when the city and Bay Bridge lights are lit.

Our next stop was Union Square, San Francisco’s main shopping attraction. From there we drove through historic Chinatown and made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 31. Our driver let us off to walk around the pier and take a glimpse of the sea lions and Ghirardelli Square. We also stopped for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which was fun with a complete rainforest theme and ambience. After lunch, we headed up to the Twin Peaks to catch a breath taking 360 panoramic view of the entire city of San Francisco, the East Bay, South Bay, North Bay, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the Richmond Bridge. They have coin-operated binoculars for a closer look at any of these sights.

From there we drove to Golden Gate Park past the Exploratorium, Palace of Fine Arts, California Academy of Sciences, Conservatory of Flowers, and Japanese Tea Garden. Drove down to Baker’s Beach and Fort Mason for an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge. After taking a couple photos there, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to the other side of Marin County and stopped at that end for another beautiful view of the bridge from a different angle. We observed many people walking and biking across the bridge.

We were so glad that we hired a driver to take us around as by the end of the tour we were pretty exhausted and fell asleep in the vehicle on our way home.