4-Night STEM Experience In San Francisco & Monterey

Upon your arrival in San Francisco, you’ll meet your Tour Manager and begin your trip!

You’ll visit Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden inside the park. The Tea Garden provides visitors from around the world an opportunity to experience the natural beauty, tranquility and harmony of a Japanese-style garden in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The garden features classic elements such as an arched drum bridge, pagodas, stone lanterns, stepping stone paths, native Japanese plants, serene koi ponds and a zen garden.

After dinner, you’ll visit Pier 39 and have free time to shop and explore. PIER 39 is a 45-acre waterfront complex that is a gathering place for millions of San Francisco locals and visitors. In addition to its 14 full-service restaurants, 90+ shops and popular attractions, PIER 39 is home to a 5-acre waterfront park and a 300-berth marina. PIER 39 is known for its spectacular views of San Francisco Bay including the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge and Alcatraz, as well as the world famous California sea lions hauled out on K-Dock.

You’ll arrive at your hotel and check in.

After breakfast, you’ll board your bus for the day to continue your tour.

The historic waterfront district of Cannery Row on Monterey Bay was made famous by writer John Steinbeck, who illustrated Cannery Row life in his colorful stories. You’ll stroll through shops and eateries with the breathtaking coastline of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary as the backdrop.

After lunch, you’ll visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium which offers a window to marine life — for dive masters and non-swimmers alike. It’s home to sea otters, penguins, sharks, jellies and thousands of other marine animals and plants. Its mission is to inspire conservation of the oceans.

You’ll have time to shop, eat and admire the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf. This wooden pier is crammed with crafts and gift shops, boating and fishing operations, fish markets, and seafood restaurants.

After dinner, you’ll drive back to your hotel.

After breakfast, you’ll board your bus and continue your tour.

You’ll take the ferry to Alcatraz where you’ll receive a headset for an audio guided tour of the island. One of the most infamous prisons in the country for housing notorious criminals, Alcatraz holds much history that will interest buffs and novices alike. No longer housing prisoners and managed by the National Park Service, Alcatraz allows tourists to visit by the boatload. Alcatraz was used as a federal maximum security prison from 1934 until 1963, when it was closed due to high costs and security issues.

You’ll visit the Ferry Building. Today it’s a wonderful food market and also the home of San Francisco’s largest farmers market. The farmers market is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only. The building was first opened in 1898. Until the completion of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s it was the second busiest transit terminal in the world, second only to London’s Charing Cross Station. It served as the embarkation point for commuters to San Francisco from the East Bay.

After lunch, you’ll visit the Musée Mécanique, one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade artifacts. You can play with any of our 300-plus machines in their original working condition.

After dinner, you’ll have free free time to walk around San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. It’s best known as San Francisco’s Little Italy, with its high density of check-clothed ristorantes, cafes and Old World delicatessens. It’s also a popular pilgrimage for fans of the Beat movement seeking the old haunts of Kerouac and Ginsberg. In the early days, North Point docks served as a gateway for immigrants from South America, Europe and the Australian penal colonies. In the late 1800’s thousands of Italians made the area their stronghold and turned it into the local Latin Quarter.

You’ll drive back to your hotel.

After breakfast, you’ll board your bus for the day to continue your tour.

You’ll visit Muir Woods National Monument, established on January 9, 1908 when President Roosevelt signed legislation to protect an old-growth coast redwood forest from destruction. The trees range from 400 to 800 years old and their height can be up to 250 feet. You will have a chance to see these impressive trees as you take a self-guided walk on the park trails.

After a break for lunch, you’ll visit Picturesque Sausalito! Just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, the pedestrian-friendly Mediterranean-style village provides a selection of celebrated restaurants that range from seafood and Italian to Japanese, as well as specialty shops, art galleries and fashion boutiques. Its location on the waterfront offers gorgeous scenery, ocean breezes and beautiful California weather. You’ll have some free time here to enjoy the views and explore.

You’ll see the Golden Gate Bridge – a 4,200 foot long suspension bridge that was the world’s longest from 1937 until 1964. You’ll head to the viewing area on the San Francisco side of the water where you will have fantastic views of the bridge and the bay. Bring your cameras – there are lots of photo opportunities here!

You’ll enjoy an evening of dining and dancing as you cruise through San Francisco Bay.

After your dinner cruise, you’ll drive back to your hotel.

After breakfast, you’ll check out of your hotel room and you’ll board your bus for the day.

You’ll take a ride on one of San Francisco’s iconic cable cars. Since 1873, cable cars have run up and down the hilly city, though after the 1950s, these cars have been kept in operation more out of historic nostalgia. Seventeen miles of track remain and have been deemed a historical landmark

You’ll head to Fisherman’s Wharf where you’ll have free time to walk around and visit some of the numerous souvenir shops or fresh seafood stands. You’ll see great views of the harbor as you explore.

You will visit the California Academy of Sciences, a world-class scientific and cultural institution based in San Francisco. The Academy recently opened a new facility in Golden Gate Park, a 400,000 square foot structure that houses an aquarium, a planetarium a natural history museum and a 4-story rainforest all under one roof.

San Francisco Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia as well as the oldest Chinatown in North America. It is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity. You can easily become immersed in a microcosmic Asian world, filled with herbal shops, temples, pagoda roofs and dragon parades. You’ll have free time to experience the sights, sounds and smells!

You’ll head to the airport for your return trip home.