Drive night:
Camp right
Stay at hotel or hostel
Burning Man Festival
Burning Man Festival Adventure Bus 2012 Departures:
Round Trip from San Francisco:
- Thu, Aug 30 - Mon, Sep 03
3 Days: $499 plus $55 for food/parks.
- Tue, Aug 28 - Mon, Sep 03
5 Days: $679 plus $87 for food/parks.
These fares do not include your Burning Man Festival ticket. See the "Event Ticket Info" section for information about purchasing a ticket through us. The food fund covers all of your meals and is not optional.
Frequent Crawler Program
- Points Awarded for this Trip: 1,000 (3-day) 1,500 (5-day)
- Points for Free Trip: NA
Join the Frequent Crawler Club today!
2011 Email Updates:
- New Bay Area Departure Location Option! Bigger and Better!
- Burning Man Update #1
- Burning Man Update #2: All About Bikes!
- Burning Man Update #3: Participation
- Burning Man Update #4
- Burning Man Update #5
- Burning Man Update #6
Get our Burning Man Updates directly in your inbox! Enter your email below and select "Burning Man 2011"!
Burning Man Festival - 3 or 5 Days
Take the one-of-a-kind adventure bus to the one-of-a-kind desert festival for a trip unlike any other! Burning Man is a radical freeform art festival in Nevada's beautiful Black Rock Desert—the wildest experience you've ever had!
Burning Man is not a spectator sport! Get some tips on how to participate!
The Low-Down
Green Tortoise is the simple and affordable way to experience the Burning Man festival -- leave the driving and logistics to us and concentrate on having fun! The cost of your trip includes transportation, food, water, and camping in our prime location near Center Camp.
We have multiple buses leaving San Francisco from the morning of Tuesday, August 28, through Thursday evening, August 30th. We offer pick up locations in San Francisco, Reno/Sparks.*
Our buses will depart the event from Sunday 9/4 evening through Monday 9/5 morning. Drop offs are possible at Reno/Sparks, Dixon, and San Francisco.*
Bring your most outlandish costumes or come as you are — you are welcome either way!
*Arrival times dependent on traffic, weather and other circumstances beyond our control.
Trip Reservation Policy
We require a $300 deposit for the trip.
If you buy an event ticket from us (see below), you must send the full price of the ticket along with your $300 deposit. Deposits are non-refundable and tickets purchased from us are good only for passengers on our bus. If you cancel more than twelve days in advance of departure, we will charge a $50 service charge, and the balance of your deposit will be held as "cash credit" and can be used on any Green Tortoise trip within the next two years, minus your non-refundable ticket cost if you bought one through us and then cancelled. No exceptions-if you cancel less than less than twelve days before departure all payments are non-refundable.
We will accommodate switching between the various Burning Man departures we offer, where possible. Please note there is a $50 bus change fee.
A spot on our buses for your bicycle can be reserved for an additional $40 fee, paid for upon reservation. If you reserve a spot for your bike and then do not bring it, your bike deposit is non-refundable. Bike space is limited so please reserve early.
Also note that bikes on our Thursday trip must be delivered to the departure point on Tuesday night.
Event Ticket Information
We will have event tickets available, for our passengers only. Please call the travel office for details.
Passengers must be traveling on the Green Tortoise Burning Man trip to buy an event ticket from us. Tickets will be issued to Green Tortoise passengers at the Burning Man gate, on the morning of arrival, and are only good for passengers arriving on our bus. Once purchased through us, ticket price is totally non-refundable, non-transferable, and cannot be applied to GT cash credit. Please be sure you understand all this before buying, and call us if you have any questions.
Food and Water
Meals will begin with a late breakfast on the first day at Burning Man and run through early dinner on Sunday night.
The tortoise will provide all drinking water to participants. There are no showers for passengers available at the playa from Green Tortoise.
Luggage restrictions
You may bring one checked bag, one carry-on, a tent, and a sleeping bag. Art projects need to be handled on a per case basis with the office manager before departure. No propane or fuel in luggage. Extra luggage above and beyond this is at a space-availability level and will go for a minimum $30 per bag and up depending on weight and size.
Survival
Passengers that have not been to Burning Man need to go to the Burning Man web site and read the survival tips on the website.
No pets. Sorry, Fido!
Children on the Tortoise
Children must pay full fare and food fund. Kids under 12 do not require an entry ticket to the festival but are still considered as a full fare passenger on the Tortoise. Passengers traveling with children need to speak with management before booking.
I'm ready to make a reservation!
Flexible Itinerary means that we may alter an itinerary depending on weather, local events, etc. Although we make every attempt to run our trips as advertised, please be aware that the itinerary may change to give you the best trip possible.
Have you been on this trip? Please tell us what you thought.